Community Colleges of Ventura County
FUTURES FORUM
Meeting of January
21, 2000
Futures Forum held its first meeting of 2000 on January 21, 8:30-3:00 p.m., in the Community Room of the Thousand Oaks Library. At 8:30 a number of participants arrived and helped set up six large tables to match the Task Forces being organized in the afternoon. Some participants had indicated a Task Force preference before the meeting and others signed up as they entered the room; and a few changed Task Forces as they were developed. Participants were asked to sit at the tables that was reserved for the Task Forces they chose.
Elton Hall and Burt Peachy welcomed everyone and reviewed the agenda for the day. Elton noted that today marked the beginning of the second phase of Futures Forum activities. The first phase was the development of a Strategic Planning Model, a Flowchart for its operation, the CCVC Core Values, the CCVC Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and a Narrative that explained the Model and Flowchart. All that was completed in December. Elton reminded participants that the Model is due to begin running in April. The second phase of Futures Forum activities, from January through April 2000, focuses on implementing the Model. This work will be concentrated in the Task Forces. Elton distributed a current calendar that indicated, in addition to Futures Forum meetings, other meetings of working groups of Futures Forum, from January through August 2000. (The calendar is attached to these minutes.)
For the day’s learning point, Burt passed out a set of five quotations from Parker J. Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, the book first introduced to Futures Forum in May. Its insights form the core of the learning-centered theme that suffuses all Futures Forum activities. Each quotation had several questions attached. Elton read the quotations, and participants were asked to consider the quotations at their tables and respond to the questions as well as generate their own views and understanding. (Since the tables were asked to report on their discussions, the quotations that were handed out are included immediately below.)
Quotations from
THE
COURAGE TO TEACH
In our rush to reform education,
we have forgotten a simple truth: reform will never be achieved by renewing
appropriations, restructuring schools, rewriting curricula, and revising texts
if we continue to demean and dishearten the human resource called the teacher
[the classified staff member, the manager] on whom so much depends. Teachers [and all employees] must be better
compensated, freed from bureaucratic harassment, given a role in academic
governance [and all governance], and provided with the best possible methods
and materials. But none of that will
transform education if we fail to cherish—and challenge—the human heart that is
the source of good teaching. (p. 3)
1.
Doesn’t
this paragraph apply to everyone in every job?
2.
How
do we eliminate demeaning and disheartening our colleagues—that is, every
employee of CCVC?
3.
What
is it to cherish the human heart in a professional setting?
To
reduce our vulnerability, we disconnect from students, from subjects, and even
from ourselves. We build a wall between
inner truth and outer performance, and we play-act the teacher’s part. Our words, spoken at remove from our hearts,
become “the balloon speech in cartoons,” and we become caricatures of
ourselves. We distance ourselves from
students and subject to minimize the danger—forgetting that distance makes life
more dangerous still by isolating the self.
(p. 17)
1.
What
behaviors distance us from students and our work?
2.
What
does Palmer means by ‘vulnerability?’
3.
Why
does isolating the self make life “more dangerous?”
Mentors
and apprentices are partners in an ancient human dance, and one of teaching’s
great rewards is the daily chance it gives us to get back on the dance
floor. It is the dance of the spiraling
generations, in which the old empower the young with their experience and the
young empower the old with new life, reweaving the fabric of the human
community as they touch and turn. (p.
25)
1.
When
do you need mentors? When does the need
for mentors end in your life, career, work?
2.
What
is it to “empower the young?” What is
it to “empower the old?”
3.
Is
Futures Forum a place for apprenticeship?
How? For mentorship? How?
[C. Wright] Mills’s distinction between the on-stage
show and backstage reality mirrored a great divide in my inner life. Outwardly, I had learned how to make my
performance seem relatively smooth and accomplished, but inwardly, I felt
anxious and fumbling and inept.
The constant contradiction
between how I experienced myself and how other people viewed me created a
painful, sometimes crippling sense of fraudulence. (p. 27)
1.
Is
this state of mind sometimes true of me?
2.
Is
it true of many of our colleagues—employees of CCVC?
3.
Why
does this condition arise?
4.
What
do we do to eliminate this contradiction?
Good talk about good
teaching can take many forms and involve many conversation partners—and it can
transform teaching and learning. But it
will happen only if leaders expect it, invite it, and provide hospitable space
for the conversation to occur….
Becoming a leader of that
sort—one who opens, rather than occupies, space—requires the same inner journey
we have been exploring for teachers. It
is a journey beyond fear and into authentic selfhood, a journey toward
respecting otherness and understanding how connected and resourceful we all
are. As those inner qualities deepen,
the leader becomes better able to open spaces in which people feel invited to
create communities of mutual support.
(p. 161)
1.
How
do we build a community of leaders?
2.
What
are the relations between leader, teacher, learner?
After about 40 minutes of discussion, each of the six tables was asked to share their key thoughts with the whole group.
TABLE 1 Report:
Ø The “favorite” teacher is not necessarily the “best” teacher
Ø The teacher plays multiple roles, including drill sergeant and cheerleader
Ø All learning-centered employees must have a buy-in on institutional core values
Ø Institutional leadership must consistently emulate the values of the organization
Ø Leaders were identified as all of those who come into contact with students
Ø Different individuals emerge as leaders and all individuals should be encouraged to emerge throughout the organization
Ø We all start as idealists and we become damaged along the way
Ø The kind of culture we have will shape the kind of future we will have
Ø If we value humans, we need to prove it
Ø Don’t compromise relationships with your colleagues
Ø Everybody is responsible for leadership, for “doing,” and for being successful: share in the responsibility
Ø It is “key” to connect with the student; however, opening up to connect increases vulnerability
Ø Trust increases wellness
Ø In a genuine atmosphere of trust, everyone is vulnerable
Ø Maintaining an atmosphere of trust is much more difficult than attaining trust at the onset
Ø The assumption that hierarchy is tied to power does not support trust
Ø Everybody in the organization has some impact on the student; everyone must, therefore, exemplify the culture of the organization
Ø The student does not visualize a top and a bottom to an organization; a student only knows and sees what he or she experiences
Ø Recruit, promote and train community building
TABLE 2 Report:
Ø Sources of demeaning/disheartening environment
o Not enough time to do own work
o Not enough help
o Insufficient cross-training
o Lack of salary increases
Ø Environment causes: “must do” vs. “want to do”, reactive vs. proactive
Ø Not feeling appreciated
Ø Rumors
Ø Game plan changing mid-task
Ø Lack of sufficient communication
Ø Reality
Ø Hence need to eliminate behaviors that demean and dishearten (and so devalue)
Ø Make sure everyone understands how each fits into the picture
Ø Empower people
Ø Value what everyone does
Ø Increase flexibility
Ø Increase teamwork, cooperation
Ø Eliminate compartmentalization
Ø Let others know what we fear
Ø Ways we distance ourselves
o We don’t look approachable (sometimes because we are all busy)
o We objectify people
o We sometimes don’t have enough information to help others
Ø Vulnerability
o “I should be able to handle this”
o Levels of stress, internal and external
o Faultfinding comments rather than support and help
o Not always doing our best job due to time or other pressures
Ø Crisis management
Ø Lack of opportunity to expand knowledge, skills, awareness (e.g. with Banner)
Ø Why does isolating ourselves increase danger?
o We become less productive
o Our self-esteem goes down
o We’re not moving forward
TABLE 3 Report: (Individuals wrote responses to particular quotations. They are given here without any attempt to collate or compress them.)
Ø Regarding first quotation
o Eliminate demeaning and disheartening our colleagues; treating all with respect and honor; setting an atmosphere based on honesty and truth; appreciating each other; and valuing all by giving praise and encouragement to grow
o To eliminate such behavior, we need to step out of our egos, set aside status, really listen to our colleagues, and really respect them
o We cannot transform education if we fail to cherish/challenge the human heart
o Need for governance involvement, strokes and praise, rewards of student success, teaching for teaching’s sake; teaching = facilitated learning
o It’s important to get to know your co-workers, employees, etc. Every person is at a different place in life and each approaches life and its challenges differently. Every person has strengths and weaknesses. When you begin to know those around you, you begin to recognize strengths, and they are the resources to be tapped into. It’s important to offer suggestions rather than merely criticize.
o Value of “teachers” in all aspects of life, including mentors, others, who are often little understood and often ignored
Ø Regarding second quotation
o All reforms fail if not for the heart: outside change that doesn’t affect inside won’t work. Problem of “fix-it” culture that works on people and not with and through them. But people need to be fixed, too.
Ø Regarding third quotation
o No one person knows how to handle every situation. It is sad to think that you don’t need anybody to get through life.
o We always need mentors, and we always need to be a mentor
Ø Regarding fourth quotation
o Vulnerability reveals self with weaknesses and strengths. In a performance culture, there is a presumption that all can improve. Hence the tendency to hide defects and play act the performance
Ø Regarding the fifth quotation
o Leaders are marked by allowing people to be themselves and by promoting strengths
TABLE 4 Report:
Ø Problem: using rules/laws to disconnect and not listen
Ø Problem: using rules to create barriers
Ø Listen to identify real problem and not jump to a solution
Ø Problem: being rigid and knowing “what’s right for them”
Ø Look and listen to the spirit of AB 1725 (AB 1725 versus the letter of the law)
Ø The issue is not simply what we are doing with students but what we are doing with everyone
Ø Be willing to take risks to be vulnerable, stepping out of your comfort zone and your role
Ø Break outside the box
Ø We disconnect from what we believe and from what we are supposed to do
Ø Be open to what is good or bad
Ø Distinction: love vs. tolerance
Ø Spirit of generosity
Ø Ask for feedback and don’t be afraid of it
Ø Need for an environment (system) that rewards connection and love
Ø Eliminate fear: being afraid to take risks = culture of fear
Ø Need to change culture not only for ourselves but also for students
Ø Isolation paradoxically perpetuates not being able to get out of the box while getting the job done
Ø Need to move away from fake distinctions
Ø You can’t change the institution until you change yourself
Ø You need to conduct yourself so that you are proud
Ø We don’t effectively deal with our differences
Ø We segregate ourselves and the system does not encourage interaction
Ø Comfort is your enemy
TABLE 5 Report:
Ø Mentoring is constant and never ends
Ø Opening up relationships is empowerment
Ø Informal mentoring: mentors in disguise
Ø Many mentors in our lives
Ø Mentors open up opportunities and possibilities
Ø Types: full-time between part-time
Ø Types: existing employee and new employee
Ø Change: overlap in assignments (cross-training)
Ø Change: student workers in mentoring relationships
Ø Change: open internships with high schools
TABLE 6 Report:
Ø Teacher-learner relationship = dance
Ø Cultural perceptions of time:
o past is past vs. building on the past
o learning from the past vs. repeating history
Ø Power/control issues
Ø Comfort with uncertainty
Ø Lack of freedom/no fear
o to create
o to express
Ø Mutual respect
Ø Freedom to fail
Ø Trusting climate
Ø Recommendation: add to KPIs: Number of successful failures
Phil Westin reported on recent Board activities to Futures Forum. He announced that the Board had unanimously approved the CCVC Strategic Planning Model, the CCVC Core Values, and the CCVC Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). (The Board was not called upon to approve the Flowchart or Narrative, since those might have to be revised as the Model runs through its first cycle.) Phil indicated some of the high praise that the Board had given Futures Forum. He also noted that this year’s Board President Diamond Awards went to Futures Forum participants: Shirley Baskin, DO Administrative Assistant IV; Elton Hall, MC Instructor; Becky Lawson, Student Trustee; Kitty Merrill, OC TV/Radio Production Specialist; and Cheryl Shearer, Dean of Economic Development.
Cheryl Shearer reported on Process Facilitator training and the status of Process Improvement Teams. Facilitators already trained (FATS) and deployed, often in Futures Forum, have been undergoing additional training. At the same time, they have been assisting in the training of additional Process Facilitators. Six new Facilitators in Training (FITS) have joined the group, and several other individuals have expressed interest in undergoing training this summer. The goal is eventually to have 100 trained Process Facilitators so that virtually every meeting at the four locations in CCVC can have the services of a Process Facilitator. Cheryl also reported that all of the Process Improvement Teams (PITs) have sponsors and some have already settled on membership. The Financial Aid PIT has been suspended for the time being, since outside consultants are currently reviewing Financial Aid services in the CCVC and will make recommendations for improvement after a thorough analysis of the situation. During the week of February 14-17, each PIT will meet with Elton Hall, review their charters, and lay plans to undertake and execute their tasks.
Burt reported on grant activities, noting that grants are available for both the organization transformation that is a goal of Futures Forum and for teacher development. He stressed the need to secure grant support for Futures Forum work, so that Futures Forum does not remain wholly dependent on the general fund for its budget. The general fund cannot support the wide range of activities envisaged for Futures Forum (see the draft study of the future of Futures Forum, distributed electronically in December 1999), so grants must be sought to meet Futures Forum requirements.
Phil announced that he had joined CQIN (pronounced ‘sequin’). CQIN is dedicated to continuous quality improvement. It is an organization of CEO’s from both business and education who are dedicated to meaningful organizational transformation. Each member appoints institutional representatives who prepare the way for annual visits of institutional delegations to some site, where they see firsthand efforts at quality improvement in action. Recently, such delegations have visited Motorola University, an entirely corporate university, and Saturn, a corporation that has experimented with unusual management/worker collaboration. This year, delegations will travel to Orlando to look at Disney’s human resources organization. Elton Hall and Cheryl Shearer have been appointed as lead representatives for CCVC, and a delegation will be formed later.
Larry Calderon announced that he had joined CQIN as well, naming Diane Moore as lead representative for Ventura College. Burt invited Steve Arvizu and Jim Walker to consider the same course of action, noting that CCVC could send a significant delegation to the annual events, if all four were members.
Scott Corbett and Marc Boman used an on-line connection to demonstrate the uses of the website being developed for Futures Forum. In addition to being able to access calendars, archives, and Futures Forum documents, the site will have a “team room” for each Task Force and PIT. These rooms will allow for real time and virtual meetings, for capturing conversations and discussions of issues, and for reviewing plans and documents. In addition to useful links, Task Forces and Team who might be affected by the work or actions of a given group will be automatically notified. One aim of the Team Rooms is to cut down on the number of face-to-face meetings any working group has to have just to stay on task and communicate with one another. The Team Rooms will go into effect after the CCVC switch to Lotus Notes 5.1 at the end of January. Every aspect of the Futures Forum website will be accessible to anyone in the world. This means that anyone who so wishes may look into a Team Room and review what is going on. The site will make Futures Forum and all its constituent working groups completely transparent to all of CCVC and the community.
Lunch was provided by the Hotel and Restaurant Management Program at Oxnard College. During the lunch break, Elton provided each member of Futures Forum with a copy of Parker J. Palmer’s The Courage to Teach.
The afternoon was spent in Task Forces. Burt explained that each table was identified with a Task Force. These Task Forces are:
1. CCVC External Scan Design and Implementation Task Force, responsible for the design of an external/environmental scan, conducting the scan, and organizing the results;
2. CCVC Internal Scan Design and Implementation Task Force, charged with receiving initial location plans, organizing the internal scan, and conducting GAP and SWOT analyses;
3. CCVC Key Performance Indicators Implementation Task Force, responsible for developing analysis of CCVC performance in terms of its KPIs;
4. CCVC Futures Forum Learning Design/Summer Institute Design and Implementation Task Force, focused on learning in Futures Forum, dissemination of that learning throughout the locations, and development of summer institutes of learning for CCVC employees and, eventually, staff from other institutions;
5. CCVC Resource Development/Grants Task Force, charged with exploring additional resources and funding outside the CCVC general fund to support the work of Futures Forum; and
6. CCVC Communications and Website Development Task Force, a group that will oversee using CCVC technology in effective ways to further the work of Futures Forum and all CCVC working groups.
A Process Facilitator was assigned to each Task Force. Each Task Force was asked to elect a chair. Then the afternoon should be used as the initial planning meeting of each Task Force. This meeting would be dedicated to brainstorming a list of to do’s, developing a calendar for meeting and working, schedule a Team Room training session, and developing a brief report for Futures Forum. (Basic Task Force information is attached to these minutes.)
The Task Forces reported at the end of the day, as follows.
External Scan:
Ø MC external scan first completed about 1.5 years ago; summary available
Ø VC external scan complete; summary available
Ø OC recently completed self-study for accreditation, including external scanning, involved in external scan now as post-accreditation follow-up
Ø Irene Pinkard and Sharon Dwyer selected as co-chairs
Ø Linda Chaparro (a FIT, see above), requested as Process Facilitator
Ø List of to do’s include
o Review previous external scans and collate them
o Contact those providing information for scans, e.g. educators, business persons
o Determine how to do an effective external scan
o See what other districts have done
o Review school planning documents (from primary through higher education)
o Review work of others, e.g. Department of Finance, CPEC
o Decide what product will be
o Coordinate our work with what others have done
o Check out UCLA Leadership Academy
Ø Get a successful document used in the past by CCVC; don’t reinvent the wheel
Ø Check “ideal program review process” at Delta College
Ø Decide who to send scan inquiries to the Board of Trustees and consider criteria
Ø Decide goal and/or develop goal
Ø Priorities include:
o Ask Carolyn Inouye to help
o Research other scans and relevant documents
o Each college to have own external scan
o Develop focus groups?
o Do scan summation by location
o Meet with Carolyn Inouye Friday? Also meet with Cheryl Shearer for scan information
o Schedule first meeting Friday, February 11, at Institute on Day Road
o Get these notes out quickly!
o At 2/11 meeting, schedule Team Room training
o Name Sharon Dwyer as reporter
Ø Miscellaneous notes for Task Force:
o Possible documents (some from Carolyn Inouye) include scans from Foothill-DeAnza; CSUCI and UCLA Leadership Academy (seen Lyn MacConnaire); articulation models from UCSB, SLO, Cuesta, Cabrillo, UC Santa Cruz
Internal Scan:
Ø Tasks
o
Organize the process by which Task Force will analyze
the inputs
o
How to organize information so that it is
user-friendly?
o
Strategic direction preparation follows
o
Goal: to budget 2001-2002 around this plan
Ø To
do’s
o
Collect location plans
o
Collect external scan data
o
Collect KPI reports
o
Develop a process for presentation
o
Get trained in SWOT and GAP analysis
o
Look at other plans
o
Talk with other districts (Dallas?)
Ø Calendar
o
Feb 2000: read Dolence materials
o
Mar 2000: training in GAP and SWOT analysis; receive MC
plan and DO plan
o
Apr 2000: look at other plans and districts
o
May 2000: receive OC plan and review external scan data
(and KPI data?)
o
Nov 2000 Futures Forum presentation?
Key Performance Indicators:
Ø Design a research system
Ø Who does research? (District, locations)
Ø How do we collaborate among all locations?
Ø What is common to all?
Ø What KPIs are readily available?
Ø Gather data that is already available
Ø What are the research questions? (Where are we trying to go?)
Ø How will KPIs be tied to Action Plans?
Ø Provide KPIs in a usable and understandable form
Ø Use website scorecard for KPIs
Ø Start
o Training on the Team Rooms
o Gather more input from other members
o Review KPIs