Attachment Reflection 1 (Mobilising Strength)

In the past 2 months, I have been visiting a neighbouring school on a weekly basis to facilitate a project about the use of videos in capturing teachers teaching in class. These videos will subsequently be used as a basis for the teachers to reflect upon their own classroom practices. After articulating the benefits of such video reflections on the teachers' teaching effectiveness, I managed to persuade 4 departments to get on board to try out this manner of feedback.

The context and the value of this exercise is very simple. Teacher effectiveness in the classrooms has been agreed to be the single most important factor in the pupils' learning experience. Teachers want to get better in the classrooms, and they need more specific feedback in the perspective of the audience, so as to know what is the current reality. With more information in this area, teachers can be more mindful about the changes they need to make to be more effective.

During my attachment, many insights, beliefs and philosophies about running an organisation were shared with me. I will like to pen them here in a series of reflections so as to share and digest what I had gained from the host's generousity.

Mobilising Strength

One of the earliest things I learned is the need to maximise individual's strength in the running of the organisation. This is not a new idea and I have been deeply influenced in this school of thought ever since reading Drucker's management philosophies. What I witnessed is the practice of this idea in the context of a school.

Before the deployment of people into areas they are strong in, we have to first know our people more thoroughly. Their values, their beliefs and the manner in which they work. This knowing forms a deeper understanding of our teammates which is essential for effective, strength-based deployment. Adjustments have to be made to cater to the diverse range of human differences while very importantly still catering to the needs of the school.

People like to be able to contribute and do their jobs well. Being placed in an area of responsibility which is one's strength enhances the individual's well being across many areas, their confidence, their capacity to excel and how much he or she is able to contribute to the organisation. People will also be happier as a result as they see personal congruence in how they live their working life.

Although the idea behind is good, execution is always tricky. There will not be that wide a range of needs to fulfil everyone's strength. Sometimes, structural adjustments will have to come in to support the fulfilment of this idea. We have to manage our tradeoffs carefully, and be confident that the organisation as a whole will benefit as a result.