Today’s post is our third installment of “SCALERS: Round 2.” Originally created by Paul Bloom at the Duke University Fuqua School of Business’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, the SCALERS model identifies seven organizational capacities that support the successful scaling of a social enterprise: staffing, communicating, alliance-building, lobbying, earnings generation, replicating impact, and stimulating market forces. (You can read an introduction to each driver in our first SCALERS series.)
Now, we’re asking DEI colleges about how particular SCALERS drivers have contributed to their scaling efforts. So far, we’ve covered staffing and communicating. Below, Nick Bekas of Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, shares what he’s learned about successful alliance-building over the years.
Ten years ago, we had an initiative at Valencia focused on developmental math. It failed. However, it did not fail because of its ineffectiveness in improving student learning. It failed because of people, and no one person could be blamed. It was really an organizational failure. I watched from the sidelines as a promising initiative that showed real learning gains for students unraveled because the key players never developed working relationships. (Note: Watching from the sidelines makes you part of the failure. Had I stepped on the field and tripped someone, I might have made a difference.) One would think that professors who are committed to learning could put aside philosophical differences or perceived slights for the sake of improving student learning. This one failure taught me a very important lesson about the importance of building alliances. All relationships are personal even if they are professional. In my checkered past at Valencia directing a variety of initiatives both successful and not so successful, here is what I have learned about building alliances.
1. Find the acid drippers.
We use this term for people at our institution who will criticize everything even if they proposed it. By seeking their advice and participation, I head off issues down the road. This is not to say that we will agree on the direction and scope of the project or that they will actively participate, but it does make them part of the conversation and validates their voice. I don’t try and convert them; I listen to them, hear what they have to say, and tell them how they can help. If they choose not to, it’s on them, but at least I tried. I have found that I get less interference and more cooperation even though it is mostly passive. And maybe on the next project, they will participate.
2. Engage people on the ideas, not just the process or the product.
If I want an initiative to get off the ground, I don’t talk just about the initiative. I focus on the ideas informing the initiative and get people to have conversation about the ideas. When you give someone a finished product and ask them to comment on it, you have already divested them from it. Educational initiatives are not new products; you are not showing them the latest version of a Snickers bar and asking for comment. You are asking their opinion on something they are experts on, so they want to be part of the process, not just the product. Ideas excite people.
3. Build on natural alliances.
You have to know your institution and your people. Find people of like mind and purpose and put them at the core of your work. I am not advocating for a “clone” army, but for a group of people who are philosophically aligned with the goals of your project. This group should be the “true believers” who help you shape the scope and direction of your work. You can then use them as “subversive” agents to help build support for your project. The director of a project or the lead on a project is often at a disadvantage when it comes to getting buy-in simply because he or she is the face of the project and not a person. I am not “Nick” but DEI. However, someone else talking about DEI is perceived differently and may get more of a response. A project director is perceived as having an agenda, which is true, but sometimes this perception precludes engagement with different groups, especially if it is not immediately clear how the goals of the initiative align with their everyday work.
4. Tap the “newbies” and “oldies.”
New faculty are always willing to participate and bring fresh ideas to the game. They see things through a different lens because they have not been part of the organization long enough to have been assimilated into its culture. They are also willing to be “exploited” for a small stipend and food because they are excited to be part of something, and if they are adjuncts, they need the small stipend and food. Also, veteran faculty are sometimes not involved because they are not asked to be. You can’t assume that they just don’t want to participate because they don’t respond to an all call. You have to give a personal invitation and tell them why you need their experience and expertise.
5. Be persistent and consistent.
I learned this from my kids. It applies to other forms of life as well. People crave consistency and reward persistence. I don’t stalk, but I do suddenly show up at an office to say, “Hi.” You have to work at building relationships, and you have to be consistent in your message. This is the only way to change behaviors and to get wider participation. I have failed at this with my kids up to this point, but I have been pretty good with my colleagues.
Nick Bekas is DEI project director and professor of English at Valencia College.
No comments:
Post a Comment