Let’s talk about how school administrators can increase improvement by having a clear understanding of the difference between bypass and engage approaches. In today’s blog, I want to help you to understand and help you break down the two approaches and think about which approach you are implementing to help you get clear on the best way to make an impact with teachers. You’ll walk away from this post with a reflection and a decision. Are you a bypasser or are you an engager and how will you move forward to get more traction to move your community forward? So get ready to know what kind of direction you should take on your leadership journey!
I deeply believe that when you are intentional about crafting how you interact with teachers and how you implement expectations, it makes them feel important and loved. It cultivates fond feelings and trust, and when you nurture them along the way, they feel like you’re present with them, that they matter and aren’t just another number. There are two options to approach implementing new ideas, improvement, or change – engage or bypass. I am going to walk you through the two theories of action but it is important to know why you should assess which theory of action you have been implementing and the effects of it. As a leader, you are always looking to move the needle forward and nudge the community to either change, improve, or progress. This involves two theories of action: the action of the leader and the action of the teacher the leader wishes to influence. How you interact will determine how much of an impact you make with the person as well as how much progress you will make. Therefore, knowing which type of an interactor you are is that important!
Like I stated earlier, there are two approaches leaders can take to make an impact with teachers, the engage approach or the bypass approach (Robinson, 2018). The Engage approach requires the leader to inquire and have dialogue with the teacher that goes deeper than trying to implement the leader’s change agenda or to gain reaction from the teacher (Roblinson, 2018). The engage approach requires the leader to dig into deeper conversations to inquire about the values and beliefs of the teacher that drive his or her current practice. It is those types of conversations that can reveal so much. It can reveal sources of objection, purpose, and ways to motivate and inspire so that all parties can make progress.
In the Bypass approach, the dialogue and the inquiry into values and beliefs are not present. It is exactly as it sounds. Leaders bypass the important conversations and dive in head first to implement change or expectations. It is a type of ‘bull in a china shop’ approach where leaders go in and try to make change or give feedback without digging into the values or beliefs of the teacher. In this approach, there are two outcomes that can happen, teachers comply or resist. Either way they do not believe in the work, change or expectation that is being placed on him or her by the leader. Let’s be honest, compliance never gets traction or is sustainable. Resistance isn’t good either because the teacher does not feel listened to or that his or her work is valued. The bypass approach is unlikely to be effective because tensions are high and not resolved and people are more likely to resist because they do not feel valued. The result is often confusion, frustration and overwhelm for both parties.
I want to walk you some examples of the bypass approach and the engage approach to give you some proof of how these two approaches affect how change and expectations were implemented. For example, let’s talk about a leader who took two different approaches for implementing a reader/writer workshop approach to how teachers taught english language arts. The first approach he took was more of a bypass approach and taught the teachers about workshop and then set the expectation that they would all start implementing this new way of teaching into their classrooms. He talked about why he thought this would improve student’s reading and writing skills but forgot to check in with his community. Instead he rebutted the reasons or objections that came up and bypassed those important conversations. After a few months, this leader was frustrated because he had little to no impact. It was then that he decided to take more of an engage approach and started to inquire about the values and beliefs of the teachers and their take on workshop. He found out that the teachers believed the approach was forced upon them and that they were not receiving support from their leaders to implement. He listened to their values and beliefs about how this workshop structure could be implemented in a more supportive way that promoted deeper learning. He found out that they were unsure what workshop was and how they could plan and keep the students engaged in an effective way. It was then that he devised a support plan to implement workshop. He empowered experts in his school to invite teachers in to team teach and coach each other. He invited workshop giants in to do some professional development. All of the meetings were about reader/writer workshop and he began to model his expectations. When he went into classrooms, he focused on feedback about workshop only rather than trying to talk or coach about it all. He provided resources to help teachers. The result of his engage approach, was way less resistance and actual implementation. Not to mention, more teacher cooperation, progress, and deeper student learning. The principal’s initial bypass approach left him frustrated with hardly any progress, set him against the teachers, left him unaware of the true values and valid reasons for objections, and was ineffective. By taking the engage approach, it became a collective effort by everyone because their values and beliefs were heard and they felt supported.
Let’s talk about how to avoid the bypass approach and implement the engagement approach so that we can get more traction and get closer to our end goal and most of all build the best relationships we can with the people we work with.
Step One: Select the most important reform initiative that you are part of and discuss or reflect on whether you as a leader are taking a bypass or an engage approach. So for example, in our school, on year, we focused on improving assessment for learning strategies inside the classroom that includes kids showing proof of their learning within their work. As an admin team, we looked at how we were implementing it and I made a list of what an engaged approach would look like.
Step Two: Brainstorm some questions that you might ask your community to help to reveal their values or beliefs on the change or improvement you are looking to implement. In our case that focused on assessment for learning, we got our teacher leaders together and we asked them what they believed needed improvement within assessment for learning strategies. We asked them how we could support them and asked them about the 7 actions for assessment for learning and how they felt it could look in their classroom and perhaps what might be getting in their way.
Step Three: Listen to your community’s values and beliefs about the change or improvement you are looking to implement. The teacher leaders went back to their teams to discuss our questions and then brought their ideas back to us. We realized that they wanted clarity and a step by step action plan with modelling on how to implement the first action for assessment for learning. We realized they did not want all seven actions at once, like we, as leaders, were assuming. They wanted to learn about it and then have admin support alongside as they implemented the first action. They wanted time to spend on that action until they felt comfortable moving onto the second action.
Step Four: Make a plan of action to support teachers to help address their beliefs or values. After listening to the teacher’s values and beliefs about using assessment for learning strategies to improve their assessment strategies. Our admin team developed ways to support teachers and show them how to gather evidence so they knew the progress they were making.
Step Five: Stick with the action plan, keep listening, and readjust as needed. The most important thing you can do when taking the engage approach is to commit to repeating and refining so that you and the teachers never have to start from scratch again. So for us, our assessment for learning initiative is on it’s fourth year and it is flying now because the 7 actions were integrated through an engage vs a bypass approach and it has improved our assessment practice and deepened the learning, leadership, and teaching practices.
So there you have it, a step by step guide to implement an Engage Approach to your leadership! Here is what I want to leave you with. At the end of the day, if people feel valued and heard then they trust you and understand that you are in it together. That’s when things start to happen. My goal is just to remind you today that you can really make a difference in the way teachers teach, impact students, and believe in themselves if we really take the time to listen, engage, and develop an action plan.
Alright now let’s get to some action steps before I leave you for today. Think about what shifts you could make in your leadership to take on more of an engage approach vs. a bypass approach. Choose one thing that you want to improve and then develop some questions to ask teachers and an action plan.
If you are interested in learning more about how to inspire and motivate teachers, I have a free live masterclass that you can enroll in now. In this new masterclass, you will walk away with a system to inspire and motivate teachers and get rid of the frustration and overwhelm that comes with implementing change and improvement. Click here to enroll now!
And….I have the most exciting news! The doors to School Administrator’s Academy are officially open! In this digital course, I will teach you a problem solving system that you can use to solve problems for yourself, teach your teachers how to use this to solve problems and get results, and how to use it to get teachers coaching each other. In this course, you will go from feeling frustrated and overwhelmed from the endless fires that need to be put out to confidently implementing and automating a problem solving system where problems finally get solved and teachers know exactly how to take action to get the results they are looking for. Click here to enroll now! Hurry before the doors close on August 26th at 12 am MST.
Robinson, V. (2018). Reduce Change To Increase Improvement (pp. 26-35). Thousand Oaks, CA: A Sage Publishing Company.
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