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Bruce WaltuckM.A., Complexity, Chaos, and Creativity
President/Owner: Freethinc. . . For a Change
www.freethinc.com
THROUGH THE NEW LENS
COMPLEXITY AND THE PRACTICE OFSCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY
REVISED, MAY, 2015
QUESTIONS
• What is history?
• Why do we care about, or study history?
• What is YOUR role and responsibility in the history of psychology?
• What are the most fundamental questions you are trying to answer for yourself, and the kids and people you work with in the schools?
• What does the history of psychology tell us about
• Causality
• Uncertainty
• Practice-Based Evidence
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO IN A GIVEN SITUATION?
• WHAT INFORMS YOUR SENSE- AND DECISION-MAKING?
• IF IT WORKED, WAS IT “RIGHT” OR OPTIMAL?
• “EVIDENCE-BASED” PRACTICES IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE DOMINANT DISCOURSE,HISTORY, AND PRACTICE OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY
• What are the fundamental questions psychology seeks to answer? How have theories evolved? (theory, test, results, learn, keep/discard)
• What are the fundamental assumptions that drive K-12 school and teaching design?
• Are there “limiting beliefs” that we should seek to change in ourselves and others? (What if “what ya know, just ain’t so”?)
AND…
• What is the one thing you wish you knew. Or could to, to improve outcomes in your work?
• When an intervention worked, how do you know why it worked? When an intervention doesn’t work as planned or intended, how do you know what happened? What are the factors that determine whether something will work or not?
THE EMERGENCE OF IDEAS:CARL ROGERS AND FACILITATION
• Genuinely free of desire to impose ready-made truths or control the outcome (See Dale Hunt, “The Art of Facilitation” pg. 27)
• Help people engage in genuine dialogue
• Respectful hearing of all attitudes and feelings
• Members of a group permitted to choose, collectively and individually, their own processes, and work towards their own goals
SO THAT…• Long suppressed feelings will surface
• Trust & mutual respect will be strengthened
• Irrational feelings will lose their power
• Feelings based in common experience are clarified and strengthened
• Collective understandings become more realistic
• Power struggles resolve and collaboration increases
• Actions emerge aimed at changing the existing situation
• Group is strong enough to withstand individual radical action
DOMINANT IDEAS IN THE DOMINANT PARADIGM
• HIERARCHY
• ORGANIZATION AS MACHINE (SEE GARETH MORGAN)
• SOCIETAL NEEDS AND INTENTIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES (DIFFERENTIATION OF LABOR; ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY; WEALTH CREATION; EUDAIMONIA. SEE ADAM SMITH; DAVID KORTEN; UMAIR HAQUE)
WHAT’S NOT IN THE DOMINANT DISCOURSE?
• CAUSALITY
• MEASUREMENT
• FEEDBACK LOOPS
• ADAPTIVE CAPACITY
• COMPLEX SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE
NOT ALL PROBLEMS ARE CREATED EQUAL
Simple, or Obvious
Technical, or Complicated
Adaptive, or Complex
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
SIMPLE, OR OBVIOUS PROBLEMS
The domain of KNOWN KNOWNS
Everyone knows the solution
Emotion can block outcomes
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
COMPLICATED, OR TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
The domain of known unknowns
Experts can give us a range of viable options
Reasonable certainty of desired outcome
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
COMPLEX, OR ADAPTIVE PROBLEMS
The domain of unknown unknowns
No one now knows what the solution is
Explore promising options in ways that are "safe to fail"
Any movement from the status quo will require adaptation & change
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
OPTION ASSESSMENT
Focus on underlying interests, not positions
Express & Agree on core values and operating principles
What is important to me/us?
What do I/we want?
How will I/we act in making sense & decisions?
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
FEAR, FAILURE, AND UNCERTAINTY
We simply CAN NOT KNOW everything we want to know
But WE CAN ACT IN WAYS THAT ARE CONGRUENT WITH OUR CORE VALUES & OPERATING PRINCIPLES
We have learned to presume solutions are knowable and to fear ambiguity & failure
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
TRUE NORTH: THE COMPASS & THE MAPACCOUNTABILITY NOW, & LATER
Did we do what we said we would do. . . In the way we said we would do it?
New information can shift understanding, redraw the map, & reorient the compass
Are my/our positions congruent with my/our espoused values & beliefs?
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
THE COMPLEXITY OF OUR LIVED EXPERIENCE
CONSEQUENCES OF BEING ALIVE
Experience
Expectations
Engagement
Response
DEGREES OF DIFFERENCE
www.getfluxed.com
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
MIND THE GAP
Work to NARROW THE GAP BETWEEN EXPECTATION AND EXPERIENCE
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
QUANTUM MIND: THE “BOTH…AND…” TRUTH
• RESONANT COUPLING
• MASSIVELY INTERCONNECTED
• MULTIPLE INTERPENETRATING FIELDS OF “ATTRACTORS OF MEANING”
• ROLE OF OBSERVER
THROUGH THE NEW LENS:LEARNING FROM THE STUDY OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS
• AUTONOMOUS AGENTS
• SIMPLE RULES; COMPLEX BEHAVIORS
• EMERGENCE
• CO-EVOLVING
• CAN NOT PREDICT BEHAVIOR OF THE WHOLE, FROM ANALYSIS OF THE PARTS
• CAUSALITY ONLY ATTRIBUTABLE RETROACTIVELY
• THE SYSTEM CAN NOT BE CONTROLLED, BUT MAY POSSIBLY BE INFLUENCED
• COHERENCE IS EMERGENT AND DYNAMIC
IMPLICATIONS OF A COMPLEXITY PERSPECTIVE
• TWO FUNDAMENTAL TYPES OF CHALLENGES (SEE RON HEIFETZ; SHARON PARKS)
• CYNEFIN FRAMEWORK (SEE SNOWDEN ET AL)
• A SIMPLER WAY
• STACEY COMPLEX RESPONSIVE PROCESSES; MATRIX
• EOYANG CONTAINERS, DIFFERENCES, EXCHANGES
• KNOWLES 3 X 3; IDENTITY, RELATIONSHIPS, WORK
LIBERATING STRUCTURESHTTP://WWW.LIBERATINGSTRUCTURES.COM/
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved
SEYMOUR SARASON
• We are imperfect people in an imperfect world (pg. 361)
• We expect there will be discernible variation [in results of schooling]
• How will we know…[objective truth via defined criteria]
• Encouraging student questions (non-linear; novelty; control; predictability; assessment)
• Far from being chaotic [classrooms respecting where and what students are] pg. 364
• If we started over, would we design the same thing? (complex attractors vs. intentional design. Always… unintended consequences)
SEYMOUR SAYS…• So CHANGE THE ASKER-ANSWERER
RELATIONSHIP (pg. 367, and implications for PBE vs. EBP)
• TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, AND PARENTS COOPERATIVELY PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING ACTION FOR CHANGE (PG. 368, REQUISITE DIVERSITY & VORTICITY for ADAPTIVE CAPACITY & INNOVATION- Waltuck)
• POWER TRANSFERS TO STUDENTS AND TEACHERS (pg. 369)
I WAS INFLUENCED BY MY STUDIES WITH ANTHROPOLOGIST TOM GLADWIN…
• “who taught me a great deal about culture and the complexities engendered by trying to change it.” – Seymour Sarason, footnote at page 374
WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT?• We must view the work of change and our practice of school psychology
“through the new lens” of complex adaptive systems
• Recognizing the true underlying dynamics of behaviors and outcomes in these highly complex and adaptive systems
• We work with others in collaborative, respectful dialogue, giving voice and consideration to competing ideas
• We STOP the “as if…”” thinking and behavior, of treating the truly complex AS IF it were technical/complicated
• We recognize there is no single best solution to complex problems
• We try “safe to fail” experiments with promising ideas, and learn from all results
• We continuously observe, reflect, learn, and adapt theory, and methods, as needed
EVALUATION PERSPECTIVES & METHODS
• ORIGINS OF THEORY
• OBSERVATIONS OF PROCESSES
• SENSE- AND DECISION-MAKING
• EXPECTATIONS OF STABILITY, PREDICTABILITY, AND CONTROLLABILITY
• UNDERSTANDING OF CAUSALITY
• UNDERSTANDING OF EMERGENCE
• DEFINING “EVIDENCE”
AS CITED BY MICHAEL QUINN PATTON IN“DEVELOPMENTAL EVALUATION”
• Most…professionals and organizations that I have exchanged ideas with about social change, agree that social change is a non-linear, long-term, and often unpredictable process requiring efforts at multiple levels. However, most organizations continue to frame their strategies in measurable cause—effect terms, AS IF their programs can be evaluated in isolation from other efforts, and can demonstrate effectiveness in the short term.”
- Virginia Lacayo, in Lacayo, Obregon, and Singhal (2008, pg. 138) “Approaching social change as a complex problem in a world that treats it as a complicated one.” In Investigacion y Desarrollo 16(2) 138. Emphasis Added.
• What have we learned, about..
• Different kinds of problems
• The best ways to respond to different kinds of problems
• The biggest mistake people make trying to solve problems
• The persistent presumption that leads to the biggest mistake
• The roles of context and culture
• New methods for better results, through the lens of complexity
SOURCES AND RESOURCES…
• MARGARET WHEATLEY- A SIMPLER WAY; WALK OUT, WALK ON; SO FAR FROM HOME; PERSEVERANCE
• RALPH STACEY – VARIOUS, ESP. ON VIEW OF THE SELF & GROUP THERAPY
• PATRICIA SHAW – CHANGING CONVERSATIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS
• SEYMOUR SARASON – REVISITING THE CULTURE OF THE SCHOOL AND THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE
• MICHAEL FULLAN - VARIOUS
• DAVID SNOWDEN – A LEADER’S FRAMEWORK FOR CHANGE (HBR)
• RICHARD KNOWLES – THE LEADERSHIP DANCE
• GLENDA EOYANG – FACILITATING ORGANIZATION CHANGE
• BRUCE WALTUCK – COMPLEXITY & PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PRIMER
• BRUCE WALTUCK & DENISE EASTON – THE WORLD ACCORDING TO FLUX (JQP)
THANK YOU
Bruce Waltuck, M.A., Complexity, Chaos, and Creativity
Yes, it really says that on the diploma
Freethinc. . . For A Change
Consulting Through A new Lens
Change, Employee and Labor Relations, Dialogue, Participatory Narrative Inquiry
[email protected] 609.577.1584
Copyright © Bruce Waltuck 2015. All Rights Reserved