Growing up, I had a hard time making myself vulnerable in front of others. I was a strong individual and I didn't want to show my weaknesses.
During this journey of re-imagining education, I have had a crash course in allowing myself to be vulnerable with others. Experience is the best teacher, but those experiences don't always feel awesome in the moment.
Trust is at the core of vulnerability. Bringing the idea of innovation to our school, as well as the some of the new practices that accompany this new way of teaching and learning put me in a very vulnerable place. I had an idea, a vision, but what if it didn't work? What if I lead these teachers down this crazy sounding path and we got stuck or we lost interest? We weren't talking about a few changes or tweaks, we were looking at transforming the learning experience for all.
The most important step in allowing myself to be vulnerable was to first establish the WHY for all of this change. If I was confident in sharing my why with my staff, and they could understand and come alongside me, then the how became less of a focus.
Once the fire of inspiration was lit for a few early adopters, I knew I wouldn't be totally alone on this journey. We then began to try new things in small sprints of learning. One of the biggest shifts in my own vulnerability was being ok not having the answers, and in Dayton Pirate fashion, admitting that we were "building our pirate ship as we were sailing".
I openly shared my heart, passion and vision to re-imagine education with my staff, and that I didn't have a 3 year plan to execute this movement, rather a 3 week plan. This "nakedness" is when vulnerability is at its greatest, yet when the trust is high, it can also be when the excitement and anticipation for what is to come is what fuels the soul.