The Turning Point

For the last few weeks, I have felt discouraged, believing that power wins over what's right when it comes to education. As an adult educator in the adult public education system, I have seen it as my responsibility to create/run/oversee programming that is as good as I can make it, because we're affecting the Manitoban population ... not just individual lives, but society and economy. (If you're not sure what I mean, imagine taking away adult education, and imagine what we're left with in the categories of society and economy.)

However, as happens so often, there are stakeholders who have a great investment in keeping things as they are for reasons of image, power, control, money. They're not driven by great programming that leads to positive change. Change is frightening, but also carries the risk of a loss.

But the aim of all education is change, change in knowledge, skills or attitudes, and so how can we not be prepared to constantly respond to changes?

For those who prefer the status quo, change agents are therefore equally frightening. These people (program planner who dare to risk challenge, question, change) represent a potential loss of power, prestige, money, etc. And in some cases, it must feel like they must be managed and gotten "under control" again, so that the perceived loss doesn't occur. There is no ability to see loss and gain as flipsides of the same coin.

It's up to the program planner then to decide whether the end-product of being "controlled" will still be acceptable to the ultimate audience and goal, the learner and transformative change. Perhaps there is a useful midway point between status quo and change, a resting place that allows all affected by change to catch their breaths and reduce their collective anxieties. If yes, then being controlled and potentially limited for a time may be acceptable. If not, then - at its most extreme - it may become necessary to pack up ones tools of the trade and bid a project and stakeholder group a fond adieu.

I've hit that crossroads now, and have decided to take the road less travelled, the one of standing up and insisting on much better treatment for students. Emergent program planning? What "emerged" was a complete impasse, and not one that I was prepared to pass through by compromising quality of services to adult learners. It is indeed an interesting turning point.

Politics and Power

Ah, but there have been some hard lessons about power and program planning lately. In fact, I've reached a complete impasse because of a particular set of power dynamics and they've now set me back by more than 2 years.

In short, a change in leadership occurred on a particular project a year or so ago and, as a result, the last year has been an endless effort to get forward movement on something that had been previously approved. Immediate supervisor is now afraid and powerless. Two layers above that are micro-managing to attempt to get control, but they're not knowledgeable and so things are faltering. Ie. three layers of the hierarchy are now completely bogged down in ineffective processes, and all the support from other places in the province, at the middle levels of the organization, and at the grassroots are doing no good.

In terms of program planning, the transformational aspect of the project has become scary, and the institution is pushing back against change. However, the change is not optional, as at some point the institutional mandate runs counter to the effect of NOT changing. More clearly stated, if we don't change, we won't be doing our job anymore.

Solutions? One choice is to wait until the problem can no longer be hidden, ie. to wait until it's so big that it becomes a logistical nightmare that requires a complete tear-down-and-start-again. That's always damaging, because it inevitably leads to blaming and shaming as everyone tries to get out from under what they've known and not acted on. It requires being in charge of a plan crash, watching it and allowing it to happen. Another choice is to keep pushing for change, but the person pushing inevitably gets ostracized and incredibly worn down. Unwanted change is hard on everyone. What to do if staying the same is not an option either? This is the "program planner as activist" stream. Another choice is to take a lot of time to slowly, painfully make one tiny, inadequate but palatable change at a time instead of just rolling up the sleeves and getting 'er done. This is a bit like hoping to outrun a freight train. And a final choice is to walk away from an impossible task.