In chapter 5, Collins uses the metaphor of the hedgehog to illustrate the seemingly contradictory principle that simplicity can sometimes lead to greatness. When confronted by predators, the hedgehog’s simple but surprisingly effective response is to roll up into a ball. While other predators, such as the fox, may be impressively clever, few can devise a strategy that is effective enough to overcome the hedgehog’s simple, repetitive response.
What should Brilla College Prep's Hedgehog be? What are we going to be the BEST IN THE WORLD at?
Over the past year this is the one topic that has drove me CRAZY! I mean I want to get 100% of 3rd graders to pass the state test, reveal courage justice,wisdom and self control in students, and be sustainable, along with all of the other obvious things schools want to do but when people say Brilla College Prep what do I wan them to associate us with.
ReplyDeleteThink about the companies people know they are always the best at something (like or hate them)
Walmart= cheap prices
Ritz Carleton= customer service
Apple= innovative "cool" design
I want Brilla College Prep to be school known for the best customer service in the world. What do I mean by that: we call families all the time and keep them in the loop, we respond to emails and phone calls within 24 hours, WE say hi to EVERYONE (staff, students and families) We go out of our way to help people out. I believe this will set the stage for everyone to feel welcome in our building and want to be there.
Think about places you go that treat you amazing and care about you. One thing we are doing is taking pictures of every students during home visits and their family. WE will create a book so all staff can memorize names and faces. Imagine a culture where we know all parents and kids (not just our class) and can call people by name (Dale Carnigie in How to Win Friends and Influence People says this is the single most important word to any human: their name)
We will give hi five, hand shakes and hugs to EVERY student in the morning and at dismissal and also to every staff member (We will ahve a culture where everyone is welcoming and shows the highest Customer service to others.)
I can just see it where visitors, families and staff want to be her and know each others names and faces and are genuine about wanting to go above and beyond for each other.
Brilla will be the Worlds Best in Customer service!!!
The school leaders who embrace, design and implement customer-driven systems will be the ones who thrive in the future."
Delete– Ellan Toothman, 2004
You hit right on the head Mr. Gillaspie!
In My years in leadership, I made it my personal quest to learn every child's name and to get to know their families. I agree with you, we always remember the person who invested and took the time to know you as an individual. I find that people tend to invest more in something they feel apart of. That sense of pride and ownership in the journey of education is invaluable. I too will continue my Customer Service value in our wonderful community of Brilla!
Mr. Gillaspie, I totally agree with you that "customer service" is key in the success of a school. One thing that I thought of when reading your post was thinking about how that great customer service leads to a great partnership between parents and teachers. Some of my most successful students are kids whose families I have a great connection with, because we are working together; something we need to do with every parent/family. So many great things can come from great customer service.
DeleteHello Mr. Gillaspie, I agree with you that customer service should be number one at Brilla because it is vital to achieving key success factors. As a former Ritz-Carlton employee, I can attest to the fact that this model works because employees at all levels are committed to strong team work and excellence in performance. I found that greeting guests by their names and wishing them fond farewells made a good impression but when you took the time to say it in a genuine manner, looking at the individual or the family with a sincere smile, it became a great impression. Anticipating and fulfilling customer needs was key. Quite often, guests were open to sharing their "experience(s)" with managers who in turn shared the feedback (good or bad) with their teams during mandatory daily meetings. These feedbacks served to motivate and reward the staff and also to help improve where necessary.
ReplyDeleteHaving our own "Gold Standards" at Brilla will help us make a and long-lasting impression on our customers. They will not only want to come back, they will bring their family and friends. If we add a genuine desire to go above and beyond our call of duty to anticipate and fulfill our guests needs, I have no doubt that Brilla will be the best in customer service.
Ms. Ortiz,
DeleteI would love to hear more about your experience at the Ritz-Carlton. I can only imagine the great influence you had over your customers' stay while on vacation. I really appreciated what you said about "anticipating and fulfilling customer needs." I believe that this is an extremely crucial point because sometimes our students may not be able to verbalize their needs/problems and therefore we may have to anticipate what they need in order to remedy the situation quickly. This anticipation also plays a huge role in our lesson planning and putting ourselves in the minds' of the students and where more explanation/detail would be helpful. With our Gold Standard approach, each student's challenge will be met with sincere concern and kindness and therefore success will be inevitable! Thank you for a wonderful reflection!
Ms. Clair, I totally agree with you. Anticipation is a crucial point. Some students may be shy, scared to say what they need, or they may not even be aware of their need. As teachers, we need to develop and use a sixth sense, if you will, to get ahead and recognize their needs. Best results are often achieved when immediate action is taken to address/cure a client's need.
DeleteProviding a service that is founded on values was significant for me at the Ritz-Carlton. They instill a sense of pride and integrity in performance no matter how routine they may seem. I also learned that by understanding my role within the organization I could build strong connections with team members in my area and in other departments. This was very helpful when I could not ensure guest satisfaction within my resources. I knew that all I had to do was make a call and a staff member or manager would immediately assist to ensure guest satisfaction.
A full understanding of my role, participating in advanced trainings, a genuine desire to anticipate and create memorable experiences, and taking ownership were key factors to success. These values tie into the hedgehog concepts that we are looking at for Brilla.
As we understand our roles we become empowered to create distinctive experiences for our students. Keen observations can help us identify opportunities to create a unique experience. We observe during line up, class activities, recess, lunch breaks, and even dismissal and can sense if something does not seem right with a student. However, confirmation that there is a need is not enough. Once we identify the need(s) we have to take ownership and proceed to resolve it immediately. When the resolution is out of our hands, the relationship we have developed with our team and with appropriate departments will allow us to request assistance and resolve the need(s) swiftly. This completes the cycle of excellent service.
Students remember the teachers who genuinely cared and helped to remedy a need that was perhaps not mentioned. Often, they will tell their parents and want their siblings to have the same experience. We can weave this fabric of excellent services for Brilla and with that establish permanent footprints within the community.
I think the Hedgehog concept is so interesting in thinking about schools. The other major networks have a thing that distinguishes them:
ReplyDeleteKIPP- Culture
Uncommon- Data
These networks often get criticized for having so much of one, but lacking the other. Obviously we want both of those things in Brilla, and need them, but as the hedgehog concept illustrates, having too many strategies and too many priorities ultimately can steer you off course. So what do we do? How do we frame our mission so that we can achieve all of these things, but with a balance that always brings it back to one thing?
I have to say that Mr. Gillaspie planted this seed for me long ago, and I haven't been able to shake it. I really do think that the idea of "customer service" is a niche that has not been filled, that will ultimately lead us to make the best decisions for all of those involved. The student is the customer, the families are the customer, and even the staff is the customer. If we use this to guide our decisions, every kid will want to come to school! Every parent will want their kids with us! Staff will want to come to work every day! It's a big thing that will address soooooooo many other aspects that we want to see successful. A school that all stakeholders are satisfied with is a school that will see results on across MULTIPLE standards of excellence.
The biggest question I am seeing as I read is what we classify as customer service it is like saying good results? So we must define what it encompasses. I think from all of the posts I read many people bring up community, sustainability and culture along with results how can we focus on 1 hedgehog that can result in all of this. It is a brand we must make sure everyone understand what we mean. WE can't just do the famous world peace and expect people to understand what we are doing. for customer service to be our hedgehog we must have points of what this looks like and if it can be measured/ seen every day in our actions and how.
DeleteGrowing up, I always remembered the teachers who taught to my interests. It made learning meaningful and interesting; it also proved (perhaps not at the time, but definitely now) to me how much my teacher cared about her students. When I decided to become a teacher, I knew this would be high on my priority list.
ReplyDeleteTaking the time to know our students on a personal and individual level allow us to understand and appreciate each little mind and personality that we will be influencing every day. We can learn what triggers their passion, and then tailor lessons or activities to help them internalize content. This can be teaching a math lesson around Bey Blades, or finding books gymnastics for a student who likes to do cartwheels, or conducting a paper airplane activity to reinforce measurement.
Teaching to students' interests falls in line with customer service. This is another way to show our families how much we care. We take into account all of our students, what they like, and we use this knowledge to help them learn. Basically, we will do what it takes to reach each and every student to support them and help them reach their academic goals.
In addition, along the lines of customer service, I hope we take it upon ourselves to nurture our students' social and emotional growth as well. Learning isn't purely limited to academics. We spend arguably the most time with our students throughout many of their days; we are their parents when they are not with their parents. Caring about our students also means that we look out for them as they grow; we help define their character, we influence their judgement and values, and we instill their sense of responsibility to the community. We are shaping who our students grow up to be - not just ensuring their ticket to college.
Ms Wang, you hit the nail on the head with what many charter and teachers get upset and miss. We teach so much of the test and forget to get to know the whole child and their wants and desires. Along the way too we must include items the teachers want to teach and see in the classroom.
DeleteI always thought it would be cool if 1 time per month teachers could take 30min-1hr to teach anything educational they want in any way they so choose.
It is like show and tell in schools no longer exists but this is the individuality we need
That sounds really amazing! It would be a lot of fun and I think the kids would really enjoy that.
DeleteI'm so looking forward to seeing all of this in action! Student engagement will be through the roof!
DeletePersonally, I would really like to see Brilla excel at being "one" with the community. Although it may be more abstract, I would like "our hedgehog" to be complete immersion in Mott Haven. By fully embracing both the strengths and limitations of Mott Haven, we will not only better our understanding of the students, but also "shine" our light farther than we may ever realize.
ReplyDeleteI stress the importance of community because my time in Baltimore has shown me that someone's neighborhood is an essential component to their identity. Therefore, Mott Haven is critical to Brilla's identity. I have also come to realize that there are countless ways to engage with a community whether it be through local businesses, faith communities, or politicians. By continuously challenging ourselves to reach out into Mott Haven, we will plant seeds that will flourish far beyond our time at Brilla.
Ms Clair, I love this idea of being one with the community; and I also think it is crucial when building a foundation for a school. I think the school I work at now has done a pretty good job with being involved in the community and you can see the difference it makes. This is one of the reasons I am excited about working with St. Pious church and having an after school with them. That is already one way we are connecting to the community. In a high population of Latino families, there will be many religious (mostly Catholic) families who attend church; and I think by offering this after school option it is the start of getting connected with the families of our students.
DeleteThe idea of community and identity are so important. I agree that community is a defining element to a growing child's identity. To appreciate what the world has to offer, children need to learn to love and appreciate where they come from.
DeleteThis could be a very meaningful part of Brilla's social studies unit - the study of community, our social responsibility, culture and identity, etc. I see our students benefiting from this immensely.
Building a scalable and sustainable workplace model is going to be key to the success of Brilla. One of the biggest problems that a start-up has is dealing with both employee turnover and knowledge turnover (meaning once an employee leaves they take with them important institutional knowledge). The process of building, maintaining, and ultimately sustaining a workplace that values work-life balance is huge to employee retention and ultimately to providing an environment that will allow teachers to teach. Our core business objective is educating children. Building an environment that retains excellent staff members is crucial to our success. To do so we must keep a few things in mind:
ReplyDelete1) Are we a school that preaches staff sustainability or works to build a model that is sustainable in theory as well as practice?
2) How do we go about building redundancies into our processes? Staff attrition in a start-up is not only possible but also highly probable. What can we as a team do to minimize the impacts?
3) How will we hold the Admin team and our other staff members accountable for maintaining sustainability?
In my brief time in the charter world it seems to me that there is a good deal of burn-out associated with the industry. One of the ways we'll be able to differentiate ourselves from other charters is to build a truly sustainable workplace model.
Brilla is school that strives to be different, but in being dif different we are results driven in eveything that we do like many other schools. We want to have high results and great student/adult cutlure. Many networks are known for this. One thing we have to remember is that we can not sell our results or culture, because we have no data to support that.
ReplyDeleteI believe our Hedgehog is two headed. We must have a welcoming enviornment for all stakeholders, that falls under customer service. We must also have a sustainable work environment. These are the two things we must get right out of the gate. Currently, all we have is our brand. People we interact with will remember us because of our enviornment (Presence) and attitudes. If we are always welcoming and pleaseant to individuals they will remember us for that. It is imperative that we produce a quality welcoming environemnt, because without student achievement data, family survey data, and all the other data we only have our environment and customer service.
Sustainability is something that we are really selling with staff members. Many people are drawn to Brilla, because of the sustainable model that we are going to have. We must keep true to this promise, because at the end of the day our school does not exist without quality staff members. The last thing we want to happen is have individuals leave, but say that we our a school that does not live up to their promises. It is so important that we do not have any negative language in year one. The one way we stop this from happening is by holding true to our words.
I beleive that our Hedgehog is two pieces, but they somewhat overlap. I truly feel in order for us to be able to get results, and be the best we must have a welcoming enviornment and sustainability at the top of our agenda. If these are the two main priorities, then we will be keeping all parties satisfied and also building our brand at the same time.
I love the idea of customer service. Leaving scholars, teachers, administrators, and families of Brilla College Prep happy - every day. Throughout your posts I see "culture" mentioned everywhere. I too see it being a huge piece of our hedgehog. But if you ask each of us, our scholars, our families what "culture" means, we'd get many different answers. It can mean that all of the faculty, family, and students are welcoming, approachable, optimistic, and caring. This is essential, yes, but I also think that a piece of our hedgehog is to develop cultured students.
ReplyDeleteThis way we have an incredibly warm culture, but we go deeper. I love Mr. Gillaspie's idea of knowing every single student and family member's name. It will make us as strong as the strongest communities. But let's go further. When our students learn about each other's culture, families, and backgrounds they'll open real world doors that will always stay open. Learning about your classmates, teachers, and administrators is engaging! They'll be learning about culture without even knowing! I've said it before and I'll say it again - we are family. Yes, lets strive for Uncommon's data driven instruction. Yes, let's strive for Kipp's culture. Yes, let's push even further. When our scholars graduate they will be well-versed in what goes on in the world, how families develop and where they come from. When they leave Brilla College Prep they will have learned culture far beyond the classroom.
Ms. Mann -- This is one thing I am most excited for about starting at Brilla. I cannot wait to put great emphasis on character, values and building a strong culture that will help these students succeed inside and outside our doors. Before we can ever achieve our vision of academic success, that culture needs to be established, and that process is going to be great to contribute to.
DeleteI think Brilla's hedgehog needs to be rooted in character and character development. Whenever I think about an ideal school/network motto, I always think about KIPP: Work hard, be nice. It is so simplistic, so accessible, and so powerful. The idea of being "nice" is genuine and is what people should strive to be. Nice encompasses respect, compassion, empathy, thoughtfulness, self-control...essentially the values that we at Brilla hold to the highest esteem.
ReplyDeleteAt Brilla, our hedgehog must highlight the character and academic development of our scholars. Perhaps our hedgehog can be honesty and trust, and that can manifest itself as a student created honor-code that everyone in our community abides to. The honor code could be developed year one and transcend time and place, and root us in our core values.
In order to do this, we MUST embrace and celebrate the core values we've listed as important to Brilla. We must make them ours and own them/defend them. We have to truly believe in what we are sharing with our students and their families so we can get to the incredible customer service, education, and character development.
Companies and organizations that have a "hedgehog" are identifiable by this symbol or idea because they live and breath their core values. Creating a hedgehog that embodies character and academics will lay a solid foundation for Brilla as we grow over the years.
Hi Ms. Barry!
DeleteI wholeheartedly agree with your reflection. In order to really "sell" our core values and our character, we must fully embody them as faculty first. Students will learn by the way we treat each other as staff, and also the way we interact with them. By committing ourselves to self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom, we are one step closer to our students' development as well-rounded people. As symbols of exceptional character, Brilla's success will be widespread and highly respected. Have a wonderful day!
Character development is crucial, I agree. Values are instilled, taught, and strengthened throughout our lives. People can be innately good, but without reinforcement these lines become blurred. I hope that we are never too caught up in meeting/surpassing academic standards that we let character development fall to the side. In my opinion, that would be a failure on our end, to our students and to our integrity as educators.
DeleteHi Ms. Wang,
DeleteThanks for your response! As I was thinking more about this concept of a hedgehog, I arrived at a similar conclusion...integrity will be key at Brilla. Perhaps integrity should be our hedgehog because integrity embodies a number of the core values we've all been discussing. Integrity of character, an adherence to expectations and the concept of consistency to these values is what will truly make Brilla different and special. As we continue to build our school for our students and families, integrity will drive our decision making process. Integrity also ties into the idea of costumer service because integrity of character is a sincere venture, and modeling integrity will empower our students to be thoughtful, well-developed young people.
Thanks for your reflection!
Ms. Barry
I found the idea of a hedgehog quality for Brilla to be interesting. I definitely believe that embracing the idea of customer service in a school environment is huge for the success of students and creates a work environment we all want to come to in the morning. The biggest thing about Brilla is that we want to provide the BEST education that any student can possibly have.
ReplyDeleteFor this reason, I'll focus on something that to a certain degree lies within customer service. I believe that our hedgehog quality should be embedded in the idea of team. I want Brilla to be the best team in the world, and our teammates are not only us staff, but the students, the parents and members of the community.
The idea of team will present itself in a variety of ways. On day 1 (and even before then) we will lay out our vision of character to our students and their families, and they will be a part of the team on achieving this. The other day, I was talking to a friend that works at KIPP. He said that they have instilled such a high culture of values and character, that when teachers or staff slip up, the students will call them out (he used the example of when he called a student "smart", and a student called him out saying that he implied other students were "not smart"). Most importantly, parents will be a part of our team, and from the lottery until the moment these students leave Brilla we will all be on the same page, working towards the same goal, with the same mission in mind -- and that will ultimately be achieved through said customer service.
Finally, another aspect of being a team is that we pick each other up when we're down, we help each other out when we need it, and we encourage and praise each other when we succeed. I've already seen this at Brilla, and can tell we are well on our way to being the BEST at being a team.
The hedgehog principle was very interesting to read about. It makes sense to make things simple and focus on the one thing that is going to get you the results you want, rather than pulling from so many places and from so many other directions to try and succeed. Simplicity really is the key.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Brilla's hedgehog is an interesting concept. Obviously our goal is to have each and every student succeed and achieve in our school. But how do we get there? What one thing, if focused on diligently, is going to bring us to that end goal? I believe that is our team. I think as long as you have the right people, your goal can, and will, be achieved. In order to have every child succeed and achieve to their best ability, you are going to have to have a strong, knowledgeable, dedicated and flexible team. I think once you have built the right team, you can reach your goal. If not, you will be constantly trying to reach into other avenues, trying to find another bag of tricks, so to say, and coming up short handed in the end. A great company starts with the right people. I believe this is Brilla's hedgehog.
Hi Ms. Maxwell!
DeleteI agree with you 100%, our team is definitely going to be what sets us apart. In thinking about excellent teams, there is a certain level of integrity that everyone abides by. I think integrity, as a hedgehog, will define our team because it seems to pull together the key components that you mentioned in your post. I also really like how you included the idea of a "flexible team" because as we work together, we will have to work together, support one another, and be adaptable. Thanks for sharing, have a great weekend!
Ms. Barry
Without even having opened our doors, I believe Brilla's hedgehog is and should continue to be the relationships we are building with our students, their parents and the community in Mott Haven. We are opening up Brilla in a neighborhood that needs better and is welcoming us with open arms. There is no better feeling than being greeted by a parent and student after endless phone calls and emails getting them interested in Brilla. We have a mission to fulfill and that is to reach lives and give them hope. Brilla is here to give Mott Haven hope and a future.
ReplyDeleteWith the right team and the right goals, Brilla will not only change the lives of 200 students, but change Mott Haven as well. I hope that these relationships being created now will only get stronger and truly make us a family.
Ms. Martinez,
DeleteYou are so right. Relationships are so powerful. We have to remember that not only are these relationships helping to shape our students now, but forever. Even when they move on to the next grade, we will forever be a part of their support system. The same goes for their family. When their younger siblings then arrive to Brilla the relationships will continue to grow. Our scholars will graduate high school and go to college. This is our ultimate goal. You better believe that the entire Mott Haven community will be there to celebrate. This is our ultimate goal together. If we keep relationships strong and growing with trust and openness, the Mott Haven community will have so much to be proud of.
This community is in desperate need of a collective group of people who will embed themselves truly and genuinely into the community and show them that they are our top priority.
ReplyDeleteI have never identified a school by it's utter devotion to the community that it serves, and I fully agree with Ms. Clair that the ONE thing I believe we can and should be identified by is our "oneness" with the community. I say this because we already have made great strides in the way of developing real relationships with our families in Mott Haven, and our doors aren't even open yet! We have so many families absolutely on fire about what we as as school represent. That's something that parents have communicated to us on so many occasions which differentiates us from any of the area's other's charter (not to mention public) schools.
The more we, as a school, devote ourselves to Mott Haven through service and leadership in the community, the more we will see doors open up to us the more we will see so many lives touched as a result. People will identify us as not simply the school with outstanding academic results (we all know there are great charter networks and private schools with fantastic stats), but as a school who first and foremost has become a part of the Mott Haven community. Wether it's coaching a sports team or being active participants and leaders in community affairs, we should aim to embed ourselves into Mott Haven as best we can collectively.
I agree Mr. Martinez. Investing in our partnership with the community is essential.
DeleteWe need to immerse ourselves in the community we are serving. What we invest in today
will be blessed and given back 10 fold!
Mr. Martinez -- I completely agree that the Mott Haven community is the most important partnership we can have. Back in March, when we had the opportunity to walk around and greet people in the community, I can tell the impact Brilla would have and what we would not only contribute but also gain from everyone. As we send our students back into the community equipped to face the different challenges Mott Haven has, the community and Brilla will show how reliant we are on each other.
DeleteMy personal hedgehog is an understanding that Brilla’s product is children and its focus is student gains. Our team is going to be excellent in servicing our students so that they can progress from low academic levels to high ranking levels within an appropriate time frame.
ReplyDeleteI cannot forget that our students are coming to Brilla because they were the lucky winners of a drawing. It saddened me to think that so many other deserving children will not have the opportunity this year. But I am thrilled to be part of the team that will be great at creating an edge in education. Within five or ten years Brilla's can become the model for East Coast schools that all children can receive a great education by right and not by chance.
I can remember how I felt transferring to a different school in the Bronx every couple of years so that I could take advantage of their programs. Luckily, my anxiety level when facing change was low and did not interfere with my schoolwork. Next September, as we meet with the student we will come close to behaviors, lifestyles, and needs that can lead to some type of interference with schoolwork. Knowing when we cannot provide proper service and when it is necessary to ask for helps ties in with excellent service.
Asking for support strengthens the progression of our students towards success. Their successes will be Brilla’s capital gain and not vice versa. As Collins suggests, let's take advantage of the momentum to move the “flywheel” as fast as possible to increase our student body and generate superior results.
I thought Collins’ idea of a “hedgehog” was very interesting. He discusses how companies need to find that simple, “one big thing” and stick to it; and even though hedgehogs are simple, “they have a piercing insight that allows them to see through complexity and discern underlying patterns.” I definitely agree with Mr. Gillaspie in that “customer service” would be an extremely important hedgehog for Brilla to have, but I also thought of something else as I was reading Good to Great. One “hedgehog” that would be important for Brilla is teamwork.
ReplyDeleteI believe that true teamwork can lead to so many positive outcomes. When there is great teamwork there is more of a personal drive and investment in what you are doing. You want to work hard for yourself, but also for your team—whether that be your grade team, or the school overall. Also, a great team includes things like sharing resources, or helping each other with lessons/projects. Naturally I feel like this leads to a much less stressful life. I have experienced this first hand. These past two years I have worked on an extremely strong grade team that works together on every aspect of our teaching/lesson planning; and I feel that while being a first year teacher can be stressful at times, I never felt overwhelmed. I truly believe that I have my grade team to thank for that. Furthermore, in an environment where teachers feel invested and the stress levels are low, you are likely to see a higher retention rate for teachers. So many charter schools do work hard for their students, but when you have a third or more of your staff leaving every year you will never truly thrive as a school. You want your teachers to stay and continue to mature into master teachers. This leads to my final, and most significant, thought about the importance of teamwork—the affect it will have on our scholars. Our students will flourish and succeed under teachers who are working hard to become the best teachers we can be—teachers who are doing this together.
Ms. Cuevas,
DeleteYes! Yes! Yes! Teamwork is an incredible hedgehog. It's so simple, yet sometimes it's significance is overlooked. I totally agree with how much if will affect the sustainability and creation of master teachers. Working together is essential to success. I just wanted to add that not only does working as a team help everyone involved, it will also be a perfect way to model teamwork for our scholars. If our students see us offering to help one another or witness us sharing materials, they will want to do the same! We sometimes forget how much they are watching. If we remember to visibly model teamwork, they will follow our lead.