Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble
Task Zero, Review:
I honestly had a hard time getting through this book. From a format point of view, I felt the font and font size was unnatural to the eye and the size was really small which made it really confusing to read this book for long stretched. In Debra Meyerson’s, Rocking The Boat, she introduces a different way to look at organizational change where individuals walk a fine line between conformity and rebellion. She called these individuals Tempered Radicals. Meyerson splits the book into three parts. The first sections explains what is a tempered radical and shows through stories of different ways you can be a tempered radical. The second part of the book focuses on how tempered radicals can make a difference through different case studies. The last part focuses on the challenges tempered radicals may face as everyday leaders.
The book describes how organizations can be moved through small wins and how being different is a good thing. Although, I can see this book being valuable in the corporate world, I didn’t find it particularly useful in the education industry. Teaching is my second career, and I believe being a teacher is all about affecting change in your environment.
Task One, How am I different?
Meyerson identifies three different ways people experience being “different” from the majority:
I clearly feel that I am different in my philosophical differences with my colleagues, but most of all CPS. Being an educator as my second career, I came into this lifestyle with strong beliefs and opinions on curriculum, discipline, budgeting within schools, and teacher voice. Being a former computer programmer/consultant and growing up with technology my whole life, I feel I know what is best for my students learning and what will make them successful in the workforce. I strongly disagree with Meyerson point about resisting change quietly. I believe as an educator, it is our duty to speak our opinions and to speak our mind even if it goes against the grain. We need to be the voice for our student’s learning and if we aren’t I believe you shouldn’t be in teaching. I have strong beliefs in how CPS should be budgeting our money, especially when it deals with technology. At my current school, I do have the luxury of having an administration that trusts my knowledge and expertise, as I have worked with other principals who need to be in control at all times.
Task Two, Becoming a Tempered Radical:
Debra Meyerson includes a list of strategies when becoming a tempered radical. I feel I am on different parts of the continuum at the same time with different people. I think it all depends on what I am trying to accomplish in my job. Unlike most teachers, who just teach, I also have to manage and work directly with administration and CPS to successfully do my job. In my personal work, I tend to feel most comfortable in “staying to one’s true self.” I will not hesitate to voice my opinion if need be, but I feel less inclined to do it, because I work at a school that matches my values of being a teacher. When I’m trying to get a new technology initiative or program started, I usually try to leverage small wins first before organizing a collective action within the school. Many schools like to jump from initiative to initiative or whatever is trending in the educational world. When I deal with teachers, I always like to pilot the program with a few grades or teachers, before doing a mass change within my school.
Task Three, Facing Challenges:
Meyerson describes four levels of challenges: the difficulties of ambivalence, the lures of co-optation, damage of reputation, and frustration and burnout. I think for me the biggest challenge in making change is frustration and burnout. I know to make change there are bumps in the road and often times, especially in education, it is a slow arduous process. I have often felt frustrated and wondering to myself if all the work that I put in is actually making a difference in the grand scheme of things. I admit I am a workaholic and I don’t have a healthy work-life balance. So often times when I put in so much effort to change the way things are run, I get apathetic to even trying when I know the outcome looks bleak. The quote on page 154 really resonated with me; “It is a struggle to swim against the tide, and those of us who do it often feel unjustly devalued and marginalized.” It’s a feeling I have far too often in this job.
Meyerson, D. E. (2008). Rocking the boat: How to effect change without making trouble. Harvard Business Press.
I honestly had a hard time getting through this book. From a format point of view, I felt the font and font size was unnatural to the eye and the size was really small which made it really confusing to read this book for long stretched. In Debra Meyerson’s, Rocking The Boat, she introduces a different way to look at organizational change where individuals walk a fine line between conformity and rebellion. She called these individuals Tempered Radicals. Meyerson splits the book into three parts. The first sections explains what is a tempered radical and shows through stories of different ways you can be a tempered radical. The second part of the book focuses on how tempered radicals can make a difference through different case studies. The last part focuses on the challenges tempered radicals may face as everyday leaders.
The book describes how organizations can be moved through small wins and how being different is a good thing. Although, I can see this book being valuable in the corporate world, I didn’t find it particularly useful in the education industry. Teaching is my second career, and I believe being a teacher is all about affecting change in your environment.
Task One, How am I different?
Meyerson identifies three different ways people experience being “different” from the majority:
- Those who have different social identities from the majority and see those differences as setting them apart and excluding them from the mainstream.
- Those who have different social identities and see those differences as merely cultural and not a basis for exclusion.
- Those who have not cultural but philosophical differences, which conflict with the prevailing values, beliefs, and agendas operating in their organizations.
I clearly feel that I am different in my philosophical differences with my colleagues, but most of all CPS. Being an educator as my second career, I came into this lifestyle with strong beliefs and opinions on curriculum, discipline, budgeting within schools, and teacher voice. Being a former computer programmer/consultant and growing up with technology my whole life, I feel I know what is best for my students learning and what will make them successful in the workforce. I strongly disagree with Meyerson point about resisting change quietly. I believe as an educator, it is our duty to speak our opinions and to speak our mind even if it goes against the grain. We need to be the voice for our student’s learning and if we aren’t I believe you shouldn’t be in teaching. I have strong beliefs in how CPS should be budgeting our money, especially when it deals with technology. At my current school, I do have the luxury of having an administration that trusts my knowledge and expertise, as I have worked with other principals who need to be in control at all times.
Task Two, Becoming a Tempered Radical:
Debra Meyerson includes a list of strategies when becoming a tempered radical. I feel I am on different parts of the continuum at the same time with different people. I think it all depends on what I am trying to accomplish in my job. Unlike most teachers, who just teach, I also have to manage and work directly with administration and CPS to successfully do my job. In my personal work, I tend to feel most comfortable in “staying to one’s true self.” I will not hesitate to voice my opinion if need be, but I feel less inclined to do it, because I work at a school that matches my values of being a teacher. When I’m trying to get a new technology initiative or program started, I usually try to leverage small wins first before organizing a collective action within the school. Many schools like to jump from initiative to initiative or whatever is trending in the educational world. When I deal with teachers, I always like to pilot the program with a few grades or teachers, before doing a mass change within my school.
Task Three, Facing Challenges:
Meyerson describes four levels of challenges: the difficulties of ambivalence, the lures of co-optation, damage of reputation, and frustration and burnout. I think for me the biggest challenge in making change is frustration and burnout. I know to make change there are bumps in the road and often times, especially in education, it is a slow arduous process. I have often felt frustrated and wondering to myself if all the work that I put in is actually making a difference in the grand scheme of things. I admit I am a workaholic and I don’t have a healthy work-life balance. So often times when I put in so much effort to change the way things are run, I get apathetic to even trying when I know the outcome looks bleak. The quote on page 154 really resonated with me; “It is a struggle to swim against the tide, and those of us who do it often feel unjustly devalued and marginalized.” It’s a feeling I have far too often in this job.
Meyerson, D. E. (2008). Rocking the boat: How to effect change without making trouble. Harvard Business Press.