Principles and Plans

Our college has a lot of people who are interested in a tool called StrengthsFinder (apparently now called CliftonStrengths by Gallup per Google). I'm never sure about prepackaged tools with "science" behind them that is obscured by being proprietary, but the Strengths work is interesting. My top five strengths put me solidly in a quadrant known as "strategic", which has always been hard for me to reconcile. I'm a very strategic thinker, but things like strategic planning and plans tend to make me a little bit sleepy. I've always described myself as more interested in principles than plans. Maybe it's a distinction without a difference, but not to me. Principles guide decision making when choices have to be made, and I think repeated decision-making based on principles that are internalized (a long obedience), leads to cultural change and as Peter Drucker said, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." I'm not downplaying the importance of strategic planning, I'm simply trying to say you should know your principles first. Here are a few of ours.

A first principle of Poverty Informed Practice is to embrace a mindset which allows us to stand in awe of our students who face the impacts of poverty daily and choose college anyway. This one comes directly from one of our guiding lights, Dr. Donna Beegle. (Dr. Beegle's website) She's great on social media and today she shared the following on Facebook, "I had a dream the people in the community would come together to stand in awe of their neighbors who live in the crisis of poverty. I dreamed they would treat them with dignity and respect..." She just described what we want to do perfectly. So many of us are so well intended, but I would argue we still fall down trying to "fix" people, or make them behave the way we do. If we get to a place where we genuinely stand in awe of what our students had to do just to be in front of us on a daily basis, everything starts to change. I know this. I'm experiencing this. One of the core principles of our college's strategic plan (see it all fits), is an idea called First Choice Service. Poverty Informed Practice is a form of first choice service that acknowledges the audacious courage it takes to pursue education when even your basic needs are tenuous.

Another core principle of what we are trying to do in Poverty Informed Practice is a commitment to reducing barriers for students, so they may use their education to change their economic reality. This principle informs our guiding mantra, Every Barrier That Can Be Removed, Should Be Removed. It also puts the onus where it should be for a student ready college. A focus on removing barriers assigns responsibility to us and not the students to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" or some other worn out cliche. Preparing the college for the students (vs the opposite) has always seemed like a no-brainer to me, but I may be naive on that front. There is a lot of judgment around individuals in poverty, and they often internalize it. Our vision of being poverty informed means we accept Dr. Beegle's directive to fight poverty, not the people living in it. There is probably an entire article or two to be written about how much people struggle with foregoing judgement, but for today, let's leave it at a core principle of removing barriers is key.

Another principle in our little movement is borrowed from my heroes at

Team Western in DC

Amarillo College. Poverty Informed Practice is an intentional choice to love the students we have, not the students we wish we had. I've written about the power of loving students before (read more here). I am seeing this take hold on our campus in real time. If you have read things I've written earlier, you have heard endless tales of staff connecting to students' stories and finding ways to help them move forward. These are acts of love, and they start to change the culture. My college has always been a very nice place filled with kind people, but this principle and our movement are helping us harness the power of the thing that unites us all, our caring for students. One of the most moving examples of turning to our students for wisdom is happening right now. We have a team in Washington DC telling our story to legislators, and for the second consecutive year, our Legislative Affairs Director made the choice to include a student living in the crisis of poverty. Our student government president made the trip as well, and our student government found the funds to support the students' travel. I've included a photo of the crew, which includes Board Members, Western staff, and the aforementioned students. The photo is a microcosm of the principles I've shared today. We stand in awe of the strength and wisdom of our students. We did what was needed to remove their barriers to participation. And we took the time to get to know them and their stories, because love for students means being partners in their dreams.

I firmly believe people are drawn to clear purpose and passion. Knowing the principles you rest on will give clarity and will attract interest. I've spent much of my career being "reasonable" and went about as far as reasonable could. Last week, I had two younger colleagues ask me to meet them after work, and they asked me a question I've heard several times in the last twelve months, "Chad, what changed?" At first, the question would bother me a little, because I believe what I've always believed, but I understand now. I think what changed is my commitment to principles. The clarity in what I'm trying to do, has eclipsed any need to be "reasonable" and settle for half-measures. I was always afraid if I went to that place, I would lose people, and I probably have. But I say without a doubt, that a steadfast commitment to principles has attracted more energy and enthusiasm than ever before. I can also say without doubt that we have made more progress in twelve months than we had in twelve years prior. We will not go backwards, we cannot allow it, and I hope others will join us.