100 Posts in 100 Days
Point of view, or perspective, is a concept that I think about daily in my role as a school leader. I think about perspective when:
- Observing a behavior or hearing a comment: I wonder, “What contributing factors are at play?”
- Seeking understanding: I wonder, “What am I not noticing or considering?”
- Attending to emotion: I wonder, “What are the feelings that are emerging?”
- Soliciting input: I wonder, “Whose voices and ideas do I need to have on this topic or issue?”
- Decision making: I wonder, “How will this decision impact different stakeholders? What happens if we do X? What happens if we do Y?”
A combination of things has me thinking more acutely about this. One is the post I wrote on Crafting a Metaphor which encourages deep thinking about all the parts of the imagery. Another is a sentiment I hear and read about frequently and the last one is watching how lunch is served in our cafeteria. Let me try to explain and elaborate:
In it’s shortest form, the metaphor and common sentiment I’ve been contemplating is:
My/Our plate(s) are too full. What can we take off the plate?
I’ve been a member of teams who pose this question to our leaders, I’ve been a leader asked this question by my colleagues, and I’ve been on leadership teams asking this question on behalf of our school community. The question has value. It’s the ways in which leaders, teams, and individuals respond to the question that I’m thinking about.
At the core of the question is the idea of overload and overwhelm. Maybe it’s cognitive overload, maybe it’s emotional overload, maybe it’s a lack of clear priority so everything is equally important, maybe it’s the influence of limited resources such as time or budget, maybe it’s something else altogether, or maybe it’s some combination of these things. Either way, the idea is that “something” needs to come off the plate. But what?
This is where lunch in our school cafeteria comes in.
Barring COVID safety measures, lunch in our school cafeteria is served buffet style. At the beginning of the line is a table with plates and cutlery. Everyone collects their plate and then starts down the line. Typically, the first dishes are rice and beans followed by 2 meat options. Many days a vegetarian version of the main dish is also offered. Next up are the cooked vegetables followed by lettuce variations and some additional salad options. The last portion of the buffet has the dessert plates, fruit, and a dessert.
It’s interesting to watch people in the buffet line. Every person who goes through has the exact same options available to them. And every single plate looks different at the end of the line. The selections, the portions, and the proportions vary widely and with every single person.
When I think of taking something off the plate, I ask again, “but what?” Will the choice of what to take off the plate have the same impact for everyone? What if the thing taken off the plate wasn’t on all the plates to begin with? For that matter, what was on the buffet to choose from in the first place?
It gets even more complex. One day, I noticed that a colleague of mine walked right past the beginning of the line to the dessert plates. I thought she’d already had lunch and was ready for dessert. I was wrong. She was approaching the buffet line differently by selecting the smaller plate right from the beginning. For her, it’s not just what’s on the plate, but the plate itself that helps her remain healthy and feel good.
If some of us are eating from a dinner plate, some from dessert plates, and some from platters, the question of what to take off the plate has new meaning. And what if someone is eating from a bowl, what then?
My point is this: Asking what to take off the plate is a valuable question that comes with complexity. Addressing it can be more nuanced and effective by considering what’s on it, in what proportions, and if it’s even the right-sized plate. Adjusting for the person holding the plate is equally as critical. Solutions for one person or one group may not universally transfer to others. Thinking about all of the variations and elements of “the plate” is helping me to think about the important questions and considerations to discuss when that sense of overload and overwhelm sneaks in.