Doug Johnson

Making Change Work for You
Head for the Edge, Technology Connection, February 1995

The Chinese have a wonderful curse: “May you live in interesting times.” In education we are living in interesting times, indeed.

Downsizing, restructuring, role redefinition, site-based management, empowerment, technology, consolidation, co-location, and TQM seem to be the current educational buzzwords of choice. The number of media specialists in our region has lessened, while the amount of work asked of those who remain has grown. As society changes because of the information explosion, everyone’s role in it will change - including yours and mine. Now I happen to be rather fond of getting a paycheck, but I also know everyone’s position is vulnerable to cuts.

Surviving Corporate Transition  (William Bridges, William Bridges and Associates, 1990.) is a pretty awful title for a pretty good book. While Bridge’s audience and examples are from the business world, much of the theory he extols works just fine in schools. Bridges offers three valuable suggestions for keeping one’s job.

1) Head for the edge. “The people who work along the interface between the organization and its external environment are the sources of all the information that is needed to survive in this rapidly changing world.”

Are you, as your building’s information expert, capitalizing on this important task? Do you read, filter and direct information to your patrons who not only use it, but become dependent upon it? As information moves from print to digital format, are you the “interface” to the Internet, to on-line card catalogs and databases, and to CD-Rom sources?

Are you the school’s emissary to other organizations in the community which also provide services to your “customers?” Do you facilitate use of other libraries in the community? Can you tap into the information services and professionals of local post-secondary institutions, government agencies, business, and health care organizations?

This advice - “head for the edge” - is so apt for our profession, I’ve chosen it as the name for this column. By going to the edge and peering over, I hope we’ll find some new ways to look at old ideas, some familiar ways to look new ideas, and begin to wonder and plan for what might be store for our profession!

2) Forget jobs and look for work that needs doing. “Security in turbulent times comes from doing something important for the organization, not from filling a long-standing position.”

The most successful media specialists I know listen to teachers’ and principals’ problems. Most teachers aren’t shy about sharing them. What in your building is important and may not be getting done? Interdisciplinary units? Staff development in technology? Care and circulation of equipment? Site-based council work? PTO chair? Building newsletter? Student council advising? Peer counseling? Computer network management?

I’ve always had an affinity for jobs no one else wanted, especially those my boss liked to pass off. I always hoped that if my job and someone else’s job were both on the line, my supervisor’s reasoning might go thus: “If I fire Johnson, I’ll have to find someone else to do all those nasty jobs he’s taken on. Otherwise, I might have to do them myself. Hmmm, let’s see who else I might axe instead…”

I would not be too narrow in my definition of a professional task either. It might be better to perform vital clerical or technical work, than an unnecessary “professional” duty.

3) Diversify your efforts into several areas of activity. “Like diversified investors, people with composite careers can balance a loss in one area with a gain in another. Consequently, they are not subject to the total disasters faced by people who have all their bets on one square.”

Some media people I know are removing their subject area teaching endorsement from their licenses. Now if you feel that if you can’t have a job as a media specialist, you’d rather not have a job in education at all, that’s the thing to do. But unless you have a real good feeling about that last lottery ticket you bought, be aware that the employment outlook in the “real world” is even worse than it is in education. I know. I knew somebody who worked in business once.

The smart thing for those of us who still need to work to do is to add areas of endorsement. Coaching, ESL, middle school, administration, and reading certification all make one a “value-added” employee. In the same vein, a list of successfully completed projects, grants, or workshops show administrators that you are versatile, and will help you develop a “can do” reputation. If your media job is reduced or eliminated, there is a better chance of the school finding another place for you.

“Making Change Work For You” is the chapter from which these nuggets of wisdom were lifted, and the title captures the spirit of true proactivity. Remember also another saying - that the Chinese word for crisis is made of two separate characters: one meaning danger, the other meaning opportunity!