Delk-Le Good, Cheryl

Gear, Caroline

Kraft, Lisa

Phillips, Jennifer

English

Syracuse University Research Facility and Collaborative Environment

Caroline Gear, Executive DirectorInternational Language Institute ofMassachusettsAt the end of Stakeholders 2020, it was hard topress the Zoom leave button. I love the sense ofcommunity that EnglishUSA created throughthe conference. We are all dealing with somany unknowns, and those hours togetherwere reassuring—especially the discussions inbreakout sessions with peers who arestruggling with many uncertainties. A participant in one of the breakout roomsbrought up the idea of a Book Club, and soonwe were filling out a survey and makingsuggestions on what to read. The surveyresulted in 12 books for a vote. Leadership IsLanguage: The Hidden Power of What you Say– and What you Don’t was the winner. Our firstmeeting was set for February 24. All we neededwas to make time to read. Yes, the book lived on my nightstand for a goodpart of January. I would start reading a fewpages before I fell asleep with it open on mychest. I realized that I needed to take thisseriously if I wanted to be an active participantin the Book Club. With pen in hand, I startedreading again, and the words began to speakdirectly to me. My copy is now filled withunderlined passages and notes.Author David Marquet uses a powerfulexample to prove the point that the words youuse have an impact on the people you lead. Acargo ship, the SS El Faro, headed on a routine View variability as an ally, not as an enemy.Focus on the journey and not thedestination, remembering to pause andcelebrate.Good leadership continually reflects thelanguage you use.trip between Jacksonville, FL and Puerto Rico,goes down in a hurricane with 33 crewmembers on board. Marquet presents specificpassages from 25 hours of conversations thattook place on the bridge of the ship to analyzethe language used by the team in making whatturned out to be life and death decisions. Heclearly delineated how the ship’s disastrousoutcome might have changed under aleadership style employing different, moreeffective language. As the author posits, “Ultimately, the purposeof learning and innovations is behavior change.If there is no intention of doing anythingdifferently in the future, you can save yourselfthe mental heavy lifting of learning somethingnew.” At the International Language Instituteof Massachusetts, we are always pushing ourstudents to take risks with their language. Wemodeled that desired behavior when thepandemic hit, and our teachers took the bigrisk of embracing online teaching. Waiting foreverything to go back to normal was NOT anoption. For my part, I was open to new ways ofimproving my leadership while we examinedhow to improve the school and avert adisastrous outcome. As I closed the book a few days before the firstbook club meeting, three key points resonatedwith me. 1.2.3.So, variability. My vision of leadership hasalways been a flock of geese moving togetherin the same direction. Now I’m taking a closerlook at that V-shape to include the willingnessof others to take turns in heading up the flockas we move forward. Increasingly, myleadership role is to create an environment inwhich folks feel safe to take the lead with a new 2021 SPRING | PAGE 13EnglishUSA Book Clubidea. As Marquet writes, “The point is that wedo not want a ‘harmonious conversation.’What we want is an accurate picture of reality.Dissent creates a sense of excitement andenergy – a leaning forward, a rubbing-the-hands-together feeling of ‘this could be thestart of something interesting and new.’”To the point, I didn’t always have harmoniousconversations with a particular staff member. Iwasn’t appreciating their difference of opinionand often shot down their ideas rather thanlistening to what they had to say. As a leader, Iwasn’t creating a safe workplace for this staffmember. But I am learning to listen better, andour relationship is improving. In fact, Irecognize they have good ideas that havehelped improve the school. (Recently I cameacross Kate Murphy’s, You’re Not Listening.What You’re Missing and Why It Matters.This book is most definitely a good companionto Leadership is Language.)And there’s looking at the journey rather thanthe destination. I always look at goal setting asa staircase with steps leading to a goal at thetop. Marquet also uses the staircase visual. Forhim, it’s a journey divided into Redwork(doing) and Bluework (thinking). You’ll findmore details about Redwork and Bluework inthe link at the end of this article. Importantly,his staircase is not only about full steam ahead.It’s also about taking a pause to celebrate thework and to reevaluate where the project isgoing, creating a culture of collaborationrather than coercion along the way: “If wecollaborate effectively, the result iscommitment. If we coerce, the result iscompliance.” Finally, throughout the book there areexamples of different ways to change yourlanguage to flatten the power gradient andenhance participation. This includes taking outjudgment language and replacing it withobservation language. Appreciate don’tevaluate. As Marquet reminds us, “Leadership is about making the lives of others easier, notblaming them. Leadership is about the hardwork of taking responsibility for how ouractions and words affect the lives of others.”Changing one’s language doesn’t happenovernight, especially when you have beenthinking and saying the same things over andover for years. Early in the pandemic, a speakeron a webinar reminded the participants that ifyou continue to do the same thing, you’llalways get the same result. Reading Leadership is Language as part of theEnglishUSA book club has allowed me to lookat my leadership, language and specificvocabulary in a new light as well as hear fromother leaders in our field and how this bookholds lessons for everyone. Therefore, whenasked to write about our book club for theEnglishUSA Journal, it seemed that my voiceshouldn’t be the only one in this article. Belowyou’ll hear from Jennifer Phillips, Lisa Kraftand Cheryl Delk-Le Good on how readingLeadership is Language impacted them. And ifyou click on this link, you’ll also have access to a Leadership is Language One-Pager Resourcethat we used during the book club meetings.This group is open to new members, so pleaseconsider joining us!Jennifer Phillips, Director Wisconsin ESL Institute (WESLI) I have so enjoyed reading Leadership isLanguage and have even more so enjoyeddiscussing the book during the EnglishUSAbook club. What has struck me most about thebook so far (fair warning, I have not yetfinished the book) and our related discussions,is the concept of what Marquet describes asRed work (doing) vs. Blue work (thinking) andhow that relates to the work that we do. Bydefault of our industry, I believe we aseducators are quite good at placing value inBlue work. However, when it comes toprogram administration, I feel that it is oftendifficult to find the time or space for this type 2021 SPRING | PAGE 14of creative thinking and decision making. Thediscussion on how stress significantly impedesBlue work is timely in light of the past year andhow we’ve dealt with COVID-19, borderclosures, etc. This book has been a goodreminder of the importance of taking time topause, reflect and think of the multitude ofpossibilities we do have, rather than focusingon the current restrictions we must operatewithin. We must dedicate space in ourschedules to reflect, be creative and build thecapacity to be agile. Although finding the timecan be difficult, or even impossible feeling, Ihave found that it has given me an increasedsense of control over our current situation,which is incredibly motivating. And the abilityto discuss these thoughts and hear from othersin the book club has been invaluable and fun!Lisa Kraft, Director of Academics andInternational Special ProgramsEnglish Language Institute, Pace UniversityAn EnglishUSA book club…“YES, sign me up!”I’ve been part of a local friends’ book club formany years and have enjoyed the comraderythat comes with discussing a text andconnecting it to our lives. Combine that withEnglishUSA professional development and youhave a winning formula. The EnglishUSA bookclub has felt more intimate during a time whenin-person networking events are not possible,and I’ve really enjoyed that.  The book Leadership is Language has takenall of us to another level when thinking aboutleadership and decision making especially asdata and news that inform our decisionschange on a daily basis. We’ve learned that weneed to be nimble and flexible, and that it is okto change direction at a moment’s notice. Thisphilosophy has even spilled into my personallife and how I consider larger life decisions. I do not need to stay the course because that’swhat I decided two years ago; I can changedirection without losing face or derailing myinitial plans. If joining a book club and moreprofessional development are on your wishlist, please come and join us.Cheryl Delk-Le Good, Executive DirectorEnglishUSABeing part of the EnglishUSA Book Club duringCOVID-19 has been one of the most rewardingprofessional development experiences for me.In addition, as Executive Director ofEnglishUSA, it’s been so informative for me tohear from members who are coping with theday-to-day operations in their Englishlanguage programs and the challenges thepandemic has brought us all. The personalexamples that are being shared about directingor teaching in a program have resonated withmany of the concepts in Leadership isLanguage. One of the main concepts around“Questions” and the seven questioning typesto avoid has been most useful and applicable tomany of us in the group. The author providesspecific examples of how to improve ourquestions with peers. For the past severalmonths, I’ve been trying to avoid the “Why”question because even though it is open-endedand allows for an extensive answer, the choiceof using “Why” is immediately evaluative.Prompting discussion and responses with “Tellme more” is more objective. We have alsoexperimented with the author’s suggestion oftaking a Yes/No/Maybe vote prior todiscussions to allow for honest and gut-reactions to be expressed by the whole groupbefore hitting at individual input. Join us for the next book club meeting on June10th at 5:00pm (ET). We'll be discussingChapter 6. 2021 SPRING | PAGE 15

EnglishUSA Book Club

https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1059&context=englishusa_journal

EnglishUSA Book Club

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