These days, all the problems of society end up in the classroom, said Margaret Wheatley during her General Session presentation. While discussing how to handle these problems, she asked educators in the audience if they thought their work life was going to get any easier in the next year.
Because the future is uncertain, the only way to prepare for it is to prepare our relationships to sustain us, said Wheatley, who works to inspire life-affirming leadership as president of the Berkana Institute in Provo, Utah.
Educators can do this by supporting each other rather than going it alone, she said. "We live in a culture that tells us that if you're strong, if you're worthy, if you're a good person, then you can make it on your own. This is just non-sense—it's one of the most paralyzing concepts we have right now."
Wheatley also took on the topic of productivity. She questioned the logic of leaders who mandate that staff members stand up during meetings so they will stick to a 15-minute time limit. Does speed really equal productivity? she asked. Wheatley suggested key questions for evaluating a meeting's productivity:
- Did we create more trust?
- Did we understand each other?
- Did we come up with a good idea?
- Did we review what we did last time to see if it really worked?
Margaret Wheatley
"We are trying to operate at the speed of light," she said. "We think we're going to get somewhere at this speed. I think the only place we're getting is sick and tired and overwhelmed."
Human beings work best at "the speed of life," taking time to think, reflect, and see the bigger picture, Wheatley said. "We're losing those slow, open conversations in which new ideas are born."
To get out of this mess, educators must reclaim time to get together, form nourishing relationships, and think, she said. For example, she told of a school whose staff members meet every day after school to connect with one another and share ideas.
Becoming better listeners will improve the school environment as well, asserted Wheatley, whose latest book is titled Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope for the Future. "The quality of our attention to each other is something that we have the ability to change."
