If there is a barrier - find a way around it

In my career I have had moments when it has been as clear as day that a barrier has been erected and a wall is firmly in place. 

But you see when I was growing up I was what was called a ‘tomboy’ so I kind of knuckle down, put trousers on and got climbing. Now don't get me wrong. I’m like anyone else when confronted with something. 

I stop or stumbled.  Yes I will admit I've cried with frustration (just not doing it in front of you if I can help it!), I have stared in disbelief with my mouth open (catching flies), I have had that puzzled look on my face like that character played by Gary Coleman in the American TV sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. His catchphrase was "whatchu Talkin bout Willis? His expression was priceless. I have seethed inwardly and when in my car screamed out loud cussing invisible people.  I have even turned the music up too loudly so that no one can hear me screaming profanities at the top of my lungs. Yep I was also that boring person at parties who just talked work and how 'these people' where trying to make me insane. Yes to all of these and more besides.  But instinctively I searched to grab for my trousers and got ready to climb (metaphorically speaking).

I got to a place in one job where I had taken some years working my way up the promotional ladder. Moving from pastoral, senior supervisor, cross college supervisor role (really a management role but paid at supervisor rate (I know you know what I'm talking about), a special projects coordinator, teacher to department manager. I put on weight; lost it, put it on again. I had natural braids short, twists and long braids. I tried wigs, weave short and long all in an attempt to blend in (and no I’m not bald). I switched from causal to more corporate attire and mingled and networked. However when someone thinks your face doesn't quite fit what do you do?  When it seems like opportunities are not extended to you but you don't have a legal leg to stand to challenge it. What do you do? When you suspect, no when it becomes obvious, that your ideas are being passed off by others as their own. When your confidence slowly gets eaten away and anger becomes your so 'friend'. When all this keeps you focused on other people’s actions and their crap rather than on your own solutions. What do you do?

During this time I applied for senior posts within the institution hoping to create a shift but I found an invisible ceiling or barrier preventing me from the promotion I wanted. Feedback from the attempts kept stating that they felt that I did not have enough strategic experience. They tried to say that I was not forward thinking or objective enough. Now although there were aspects of my work that indicated that I had the ability to be strategic I found my line managers did not want to provide me with the experience to develop it.  So what did I do? I asked for a mentor to help me and rationalised it as part of my appraisal plan. I said that it would add to my development and would enhance my performance in the job. What actually happened was another story. Anyway at one session my mentor simply said if it’s not inside is it outside? With that simple question I acted, broke through my barrier and moved on. I just couldn't believe how simple the answer was. So I acted. 

 What good is knowledge and experience if you can't help others? So I have used what I have learnt along the way to help others.  I have been mentoring, coaching and advising others over the years. One of my current mentees has just had a breakthrough and I would like to share it this example with you for encouragement to us all. Bear in mind that sometimes we beg for someone to help us but the real question is are you ready to listen? My particular skill has been the willingness to say what needs to be said rather than just what you want to hear?

So I have been mentoring a gentleman who worked in the world of Design but had taken the brave decision to transfer his skills into the teaching profession and who had completed a teaching qualification. God only knows we need more business people to impact the education system by sharing real life experiences and expectations. I could chat on about that for ages however getting back to my mentee. I'm not sure of the procedures elsewhere but when you graduate here with a teaching qualification you have to find a teaching post. You are considered a newly qualified teacher (NQT) and have to complete one year probation in teaching. Once you pass this year you access higher salary and start on the ladder of progression within the system. It is crucial to get this year under your belt. Completing the course is one thing trying to find schools that will take you on is another thing. Why? Schools want good teacher to improve their results so NQT's can either be seen as a risk or investment (depending on their mind-set). I suspect that if he was some younger recent graduate he would have found a post straight away. I also suspect that because he was a mature black man changing careers that some stupid institutions/people overlooked him. While I understood how he was sometimes disheartened I spoke about how he thought he could overcome this particular barrier? I asked him if a school was the only places that he could teach. What agencies had he joined so that they could be tasked with helping him to find a placement? The questions went on and on. Needless to say he got thinking and acting. One of the agencies he joined found work in Pru centres. These are where children that schools deem too difficult to work with are sent out to graze (ok that's a little harsh but some centres are just that a 'holding pen').  If you are lucky you find a good one that seeks to integrate the learner back into mainstream school while others appear to hang on to these learners. I can't even go into it because we'd be here ages.

 Anyway my mentee moved from one Pru to another. What he realised from this experience was that one of his key strengths was managing behaviour. At his second Pru experience he realised that he spent more time managing behaviour than actually teaching! I will skip over the details because there were many horror stories that I could share and I want to focus on breaking through. Anyway last night I got a text message asking me if I could look at his lesson plan because he had an interview for an institution that he really wanted to work for.  A few minutes later another text came through asking if he could call me instead. So a telephone call took place.  He detailed all the things he was going to do in this lesson and I listened. Then I fell silent. Why? Because I was so bored listening to what he was going to do. I suddenly felt like that student sitting in the class listening to him and I lost the will to live.  Now as his mentor I wanted to encourage him but there comes a time when you just have to bite the bullet and say it like it is.  He noticed my silence and I wrestled with my thoughts. I wanted to build him up but not for a fall. I knew how much this interview meant to him, it was one of the organisations that he had wanted to work for in the very beginning of our talks but he was not ready. Listening to him again I wondered if he was ready for my level of honesty. How do you measure the impact of your words when you cannot see the result? All I knew was that I felt uncomfortable and just had to take the plunge. So I told him I had gone to sleep, Well  actually I told him I had died after about 3 minutes of listening to him talk!  

Silence. I continued. I asked him really think on this. If I was falling asleep and I was his mentor what should he expect from these students? Yeah he came back at me trying to justify why he was going to do what he had stated but I wouldn’t let him short change himself. I told him that today's teaching was all about the progress that pupils made in that lesson. Progress that each child would make in that lesson. How was he going to show that? How was he going to know that? How was he going to measure that? I reeled off five other key points he needed to consider and agreed to send him the points in an email. When I got off the phone I sent him what I had promised.  I did wonder how he had taken my comments and what might happen. In the morning? In the morning I sent a good luck text and left it at that.

He texted me at 14.24 “I got the post!". Well you know I had to call!

I will spare you the whole conversation but learnt this.  I was glad that I followed my intuition and overcame my struggle to be open/honest with him. He reported that what I had said had shook him up and he looked again at what he intended to do and in no particular order he mentioned  1) he refined his questions so they asked more of the learners 2) he put the onus on students engaging with their learning and allowed them to take the lead  3) every child got involved in the lesson and spoke and 4) he didn't have time to focus on his reading from his lesson plan because the students were so into what they were doing that they created their own buzz.. This buzz continued as they were walking out of the classroom!

Before our talk he was using the lesson plan as a crutch but in so doing lost the contact with the learners. By the time the observers of his lesson got around to interviewing him he was more confident and open. When they asked him what was his weakness and strengths he was clear about what he could offer and the distance he had travelled ( and don't mean from where he lived to the institution)  He was clear about what he had learnt from the work that he had done that brought him to where he was now. He was present and clear about himself. He answered the questions himself. He stood in his own power and reaped the result. As I said I feel proud of him. I am proud for him. It’s all him. Yes! He is on new journey now. Will I keep in contact? Yes. If he needs support again will I be there? Yes I will. Why? We all need someone at some time or another who can snap us out of it. Whatever IT is.

There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child. I want to add something to this. It take people that are willing to serve each other and hold each other up within this village that will be the measure of its success Let me tell you  something, any job that invests in  young people is tiring. Take my word for it. Staying motivated can be difficult. Sometime the negatives seems like they are winning then someone, or something, comes along and give you a little bit more hope,  Energy to keep doing what you are do is key.  Sometimes we are so emerged in the battle that we do not have time to come to the surface to breathe. It is at these times we need someone to extend a hand towards us and do what we might need to continue on. Sometimes it might mean seeking someone out to help us. Sometimes it may mean paying for that someone. Never give up connecting with people because one day that might just be the person who can help. Some people are not brilliant about sounding their own trumpet while others do it so well. Some people talk a good talk while other say nothing yet deliver. Each encounter will  be a journey of discovery for you but aren't you worth it? 

Every village needs different skills. What skill are you bringing to the village? Who can You help to overcome a barrier. Who do you need to connect with so you get the help you need? It's not always about the money (although I can’t lie money helps).You need to ask if it will be money well spent? If you have a skill, that can help someone break through, are you sending down the ladder for others to step on so you can help lift them up or is your ladder firmly held up and never reaching down? 

Today I am glad that my ladder reached down and helped someone rise up.