Once again Godin has me thinking about school - Is the answer this simple?

This post reminds me of the whole selling job that we are doing with so many of our stakeholders regarding embracing technology integration in order to access all of the new tools for engaging students that are available to us. In my school specifically, we are going to be a 1:1 environment next year and we sometimes get caught up in important but complicated discussions about how we are going to do certain things.

Maybe I am wrong, but I feel as long as people begin to understand why we need to make this change and they begin to believe the why then we will have the momentum we need to answer all of the hows that will pop up along the way. The why is the easy part and the how is the complicated part.

"The answer is simple"

via Seth's Blog by Seth Godin on 12/11/10

...is always more effective a response than, "well, it's complicated."

One challenge analysts face is that their answers are often a lot more complicated than the simplistic (and wrong) fables that are peddled by those that would mislead and deceive. Same thing is true for many non-profits doing important work.

We're not going to have a lot of luck persuading masses of semi-interested people to seek out and embrace complicated answers, but we can take two steps to lead to better information exchange:

1. Take complicated overall answers and make them simple steps instead. Teach complexity over time, simply.

2. Teach a few people, the committed, to embrace the idea of complexity. That's what a great college education does, for example. That's what makes someone a statesman instead of a demagogue. Embracing complexity is a scarce trait, worth acquiring. But until your customers/voters/employees do, I think the first strategy is essential.

You can't sell complicated to someone who came to you to buy simple.

Posted via email from bhsprincipal's posterous