Post 18: Influencer, Kerry Patterson et al

Motivational School Leadership with Michael Horton

Influencer by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, and Ron McMillan

                There are a couple of leadership books that I’ve read more than once because they are so dense with great information.  One of them is Daniel Pink’s “Drive.”  I blogged about that one here, here, here, and here.  The other one is Influencer by Kerry Patterson et al.  This one is full of ideas for how to influence an organization to work together to achieve the organizational vision.  As I’ve said before, not all of the ideas in the book are unique as leadership authors seem to read the same research.  This one also discusses deliberate practice (Talent is Overrated here, Outliers, The Talent Code) and studying the best (Outliers here and here, Good to Great).

                One of the simple ideas that stands out in “Influencer” is that in order to create change, the group must identify a small number of “vital behaviors.”  These are those behaviors that without which the change will certainly not be successful.  These vital behaviors are determined by studying those who have already solved the problems that your school is facing.  Although there is no perfect school out there, no matter what your problem is, someone has figured out how to solve it.  Whether it’s Long Term English Learners, a negative culture, parent involvement, or bullying, there are numerous schools who have already figured out the solution.  Go study them!

                When studying these outliers, boil down their solution into no more than three vital behaviors.  For example, Patterson points out that research shows that the vital behaviors that lead to weight loss are 1) Weigh yourself daily  2) Eat breakfast everyday  3) Exercise on home equipment.  Although these three behaviors alone will not solve a person’s obesity problems, it is highly unlikely that weight loss will be achieved without them.  Patterson also discusses the research done by Ethna Reid who studied the vital behaviors of teachers that lead to high student achievement.  Dr. Reid identified two vital teacher behaviors, 1) Use praise frequently and 2) Rapidly alternate between teaching, questioning, testing, and make immediate correction.  Again, it will take more than this for teachers to be successful, but without these two things, success is highly unlikely.

                Once these vital behaviors are identified, then it becomes the leader’s mission to do whatever it takes to ensure that they are implemented thoroughly across the school.  I’d be willing to bet that some researcher has already identified the vital behaviors of a leader who wants to begin a change initiative.

                The caveat here is to ensure that your vital behaviors are actually behaviors, not outcomes.  For example, “Improve test-taking strategies” is not a behavior, it’s an outcome.  Many researchers (Marzano and Hattie may be the most prolific) have already identified teacher behaviors that have a high effect size on student achievement.  Although I’ve seen many-a-principal put the Marzano chart up in a PowerPoint in a faculty meeting, that’s typically as far as it goes.  That isn’t going to accomplish much.  These vital behaviors must become part of the school improvement plan, the accreditation report, administrator evaluations, classroom walkthroughs, instructional rounds, faculty meetings, department meetings, and Professional Learning Communities.  Yes, they are THAT important.  This kind of focused movement in the same direction is how change is influenced around vital behaviors.

                Once you begin to boil complicated issues down to two or three vital behaviors, you’ll find that change will no longer be a 4-letter word (I know, I know).

                What are some vital behaviors that you’ve identified as being critical to highly effective instruction?

Here's a video of Joseph Grenny, Influencer co-author, talking about influencing behavior change: