“Have you seen what teacher Y does with (insert name of APP/ technique here)?
It's amazing, they have started using it in a way I would never have thought possible. And teacher X has thrown out doing (insert name of mandatory school-wide protocol) because they thought they would try a different way.” said not very many people ever, probably.
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It is a constant balancing act between innovation and consistency that I see regularly in schools and teams within those schools. The community and administration (not necessarily always ‘The Administration’ though) require predictability and consistency. People need to know where they stand, where to get information and how communication will work. As part of a community it is respectful and necessary to be predictable in the way you go about your work. It enables others to make decisions knowing they can depend on you to manage the part you play with a particular methodology.
But what if these routines and protocols are holding back effective working practices? What if the solution is not clear and easily implemented change? What if they are not actually bad methods, but there are opportunities to improve?
If we accept that innovation is the application of a better solution to meet a need, whether articulated, new or unarticulated, we can consider the two main ways that can happen: Evolutionary type innovation where incremental improvements are made.
Revolutionary innovations, which are disruptive and new.
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The key question when looking at how practice can change to more effective methods is; what capacity does an organisation have for these kind of innovations?
The limits on capacity can come from any part of the community, and are many. It takes a brave individual to ignore the discontent that can emanate from trying something new. Particualrly of the revolutionary type of innovation.
As I read back through what I have written so far, I’m wondering where this train of thought is taking me. I guess really, I want to be innovative. I want the freedom to try out any idea that looks like there is some merit in it. Some communities have taken an overt and explicit approach to innovating in their community (check out SIS Hack) and I can’t remember where I heard it, but the phrase ‘The sacred cow, makes the tastiest burgers’ resonates when this kind of approach is taken.
As amazing and inspiring that kind of leading is, this isn’t happening for me. I need to find another way to innovate without disrupting the consistency in my context so much, that I get shut down. So I suppose it falls to me to be ‘innovative in innovating’. We’ll see how that goes.
