Nearing the final F2F of this season, I have been thinking about a few of the central aspects of this experience that will linger beyond the final reflection post. I am not a natural collaborator, more often mentally driven to seek solutions and overcome hardships in solitude. It has been this attribute that has been significantly eroded throughout the course of CH21. Recognition of the inevitably limited nature of the singular or isolated “best laid plans” has helped me grow in my new leadership role this year. As I entered into the design process I was consistently required to examine the limitations of my own approach and thinking. The self-criticism of my action plan, as well as the opening up to the constructive feedback of the group, exposed the shallowness of considerations which I conceived to have depth. As the design process unfolded, so too did the layers of superficiality which came with privatization of thinking. I am grateful and humbled by the amount of creative and thoughtful conversations I have had with colleagues about my action plan. The diversity of theoretical and conceptual lenses examining my ideas has shifted my approach to leadership and work in general. Transparency and slow-collaboration are now integral aspects of my daily practice.

As far as my action plan is concerned, I am both inspired and realistic. I have managed to almost complete the “digital space” that I set out to develop. That said, it still simply seems like a Google Drive full of neatly arranged resources. I enjoy the collaborative and dynamic aspects of Google that allow the team to edit, arrange and contribute, yet there is a part that will always feel static. On the one hand it is a powerful ‘living’ space, filled with important resources for the team, and on the other it is still just a Google Drive that could be lost in the cloud…

I will continue to work on this resource for years to come. Hopefully the investment of my time and efforts will find traction in the department. I am aware that access to the tools of change do not make culture change inevitable. And yet we continue to build new tools in the hopes of empowering new users.

Check out my Action Plan Presentation Here

3 thoughts on “Slow Collaboration

  1. @jsmall this is a powerful reflection. This line in particular resonated with me:
    “The diversity of theoretical and conceptual lenses examining my ideas has shifted my approach to leadership and work in general.”
    I agree with you here – it is the conversations and varying perspectives at C21 that have had a profound impact on my approach to teaching, learning, collaboration, etc. Now I just call it the #cohorteffect. I enjoyed our discussions this year and I look forward to seeing how your work continues to develop.

  2. @jsmall Sounds like you are at the end of the beginning for sure! Don’t discount all of the work you have done getting thing “neat and orderly” in Google drive. This process of shifting to the cloud is an important one. You have to make sense of it all and know how to organize it meaningfully before you can layer on “innovation” and really start to mine the platform for opportunities. Happy to have you over at the York School to show you how our teams collaborate using it.

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