Category Archive

Audrey Hicks is principal at Rorimer Elementary School.

My overall association with Ball has really transformed me in many ways. Three years ago, when Sue Brewer mentioned that we were among several districts that the Ball Foundation was considering for a partnership, I remember thinking, “What is the Ball Foundation?” We were told that they were a seed company and that we might know them as the producers of Burpee Seeds. This in itself seemed unusual, and at that moment I thought, “I wonder what they’ll give us.” A million needs came to mind, and my ideas were very materialistic. I thought about literacy programs and training. But then, early on, I started to realize that this wasn’t about what they were going to give us. Instead, this was really a process of transformation.

Many of the strategies that Ball taught us were very powerful – like the World Café or Open Space Technology or just the un-mapping of the process on a timeline grid across the wall. They were all strategies that allowed people to have a bigger voice. Seeing these processes empowered me to be a better leader. So, I changed the way I operated at my school, and I began to run my staff meetings differently. I strategize more in preplanning a meeting to make sure that people have a voice. The meetings are  designed to allow leadership to emerge.  I’ve noticed the teachers are much more energetic and excited about meetings. They feel they’ve learned from each other, and I feel I’m learning from them as well.

I’ve also noticed that we do more collaboration at our District Leadership Team meetings than we did before. I never knew that much about our high schools, and now that I’ve interacted with their teachers and principals, I see that they’ve become more aware of our needs and we’ve become more aware of their needs. So these processes from Ball have transformed all areas of the district.

Sometimes when we’re in discussions with the Ball Foundation, they talk about different rooms that your mind visits, one of which is the room of confusion. Every so often when we meet, I go into that room of confusion, and I think, “Oh my gosh, how are we going to finish this in one day? Where are we going with this?” But it makes me think about things at a higher level, and I wonder, “How are we going to make this connect?” Then at some point, with all the dialogue and all the points of view, it starts to come together.

Something that happened recently at home is a great illustration of this. My husband bought the movie Doubt, and when we put it in the DVD player and it started playing, something seemed wrong. My husband said, “Is the movie jumping around? It just seems so confusing – like we’re seeing the end of the movie.” But then pieces would unfold, and we would say, “Wow, isn’t that interesting? Now I understand, but it seems like this scene should have been at the beginning.” Because of the confusion, I was thinking a lot more about the movie and what it was all about. Then the credits came up midstream, before the movie ended. I said to my husband, “There is something wrong with this DVD. It seems that we’ve watched this whole movie out of sequence. You ought to return it.” He stated, “Let me just try it again and see what happens.” So, he put the movie back in, and sure enough, it played in the correct sequence.   We viewed it a second time.  I said to my husband after, “You know what? I liked it better when it was jumping around.” I really had to think about what was happening and try to make the connections, which brought the movie to another level for me. It actually was a little boring when we played it in order.

That experience reminded me of that room of confusion which stretches my mind and in actuality moves me to the next level. Before, if I felt confused in a meeting, I would think, “Just give me the answer already. I’m getting frustrated.”  Now, I realize that confusion is part of the process of learning, and it’s what moves you forward in your thinking.   As a result,  I don’t get frustrated anymore or think, “Come on, let’s end this and get an answer.” I know that it’s all part of the process, and that it’s transforming us. As a district, we now realize that sometimes we have to work slower to get further.   It may take us a while to get to our goal, but when we get there, it’s well thought out, everybody is committed, everybody has had input, and our plan is more effective.

I used to wonder about Ball, “What’s the hidden agenda here?”, but realized early on that they didn’t have a hidden agenda.   They were not trying to sell us anything or get us to do a particular program. I do think there was an agenda in terms of transforming the district and its leadership. I also believe that Ball continually researches these processes that transform the interactions of people, and that they knew if they had the right group of people in the room, they’d be able to teach them to view their assets and improve literacy. I’m just thankful that it wasn’t a traditional partnership, because if they had given us so many thousands of dollars to buy programs, we’d have to implement those – and maybe they would have worked and maybe not. Instead, this is a much more enriching relationship. I just marvel at the expertise the Ball people bring. They’re brilliant minds, and I’m fascinated that somebody was willing to give money to allow these brilliant minds to have the time to do the research and bring it to us.

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