Guest blog written by: Jasmine Dhingra, Sunil Sharma, Nitin Sharma, Isha Shingte, Gurtej Singh
In one of the very first individual assignments during the PDIA for Education Systems course, we learnt about 1804 challenges – ‘How would it be like to travel from one part of the country to another in the year 1804?’ Building capability in the system for FLN implementation is a similar wicked, hard and complex challenge that requires us to work with uncertainty in an environment that is affected by multiple dynamics. Matt and Salimah emphasised early on that PDIA is not about delivering pre-packaged solutions but traversing the path to solving a problem through repeated trials and consistent effort. We remember discussing that this approach looked different – it was real and we were finally interacting with coaches who understood and helped us deal with the issues that we
faced working in the public sector on a day-to-day basis.
We started on a very specific cause to be addressed during the course and the 5-Why drill helped us reflect that our problem statement was a solution that we had presumed to solve the problem of low learning outcomes in foundational stages. After a good number of deliberations, the group arrived at a consensus on the problem construction, that is, Punjab had not achieved the expected level of FLN outcomes (95% of students achieve National Benchmarks). Further, a breakthrough came for us during problem deconstruction through the Fishbone Diagram wherein we were able to brainstorm on the intricate causes and sub-causes of our problem. During the process, we realised the importance of diverse perspectives and the availability of data to justify them. We were overwhelmed by the number of ‘bones’ that our diagram had but the next sessions came to our rescue as they helped us to zoom in and identify key areas of immediate action. The triple A analysis tool helped us identify the entry points by looking at the problem through multiple lenses of Authority, Acceptance and Ability in the system.
The team then Crawled the Design Space to find ideas to act upon. As a team, we had discussed concepts such as Isomorphic Mimicry explained in research by RISE but the framework of the design space was the first time we were able to practically map out solutions that are technically correct as well as administratively and politically feasible for our context. Our biggest discovery in this process was to realise that we need to identify and tap into latent practices within the state and iterate on them for which speaking to as many stakeholders as possible was essential.
The last stage of the PDIA process was the combined practice of building authorisation and iterating on our solutions. Slightly before this last stage, our team had begun facing major turbulence due to changes in the state’s bureaucratic leadership and our authoriser. We remember feeling slightly dejected at first that we might not be able to build the right kind of momentum for implementing FLN better. But while studying how to maintain an authorising environment we saw that the uncertainty and fickleness of authority structures were integrated into the concepts of PDIA. A key statement that stuck with our team was – ‘Authority needs to be treated as a variable and not as something fixed.’ The resultant shift in mindset allowed us to find our strength and grit to come up with solutions and get authorisation through unconventional means.
Iterations on our selected strands of the fishbone followed and we remember discussing in our group initially that the phase of iterations sounds like just regular work. But we soon realised that doing this work was one of the biggest learnings. Consistent effort, regular reflections, celebrating the small wins and finding motivation in each other was a different experience from just ‘regular work’. We were able to create two major breakthroughs in the period of merely four weeks – setting up a core group to review and create new teaching-learning materials for FLN for the upcoming academic year and planning for organising a state-level event with the Education Minister and multiple levels of officials, from teachers to state, to discuss and align the purpose of education going forward.
Completing this course resulted in significant shifts in our mindsets towards creating an impact with the work we do. One of our key shifts in approaching solutions was to not hesitate to iterate consistently. We realised the importance of rapid implementation of latent solutions in the system and then learned from what didn’t work to adapt as we moved forward. We also inculcated more patience and resilience. It was important to not look for immediate big results in some of the aspects of our work and instead celebrate our small wins. We also experienced first-hand the effects of having a team that leads to balancing out of levels of motivation and focus in the face of repeated challenges.
One of the most innate elements of the PDIA process was a constant reflection on what we have done and what we aim to do. Unfortunately, during the final stages of our sessions, the team couldn’t meet in person, however, the motivations were higher than ever and we all ensured to connect from different parts of the region. Reflecting on our key learnings from the programme, all of us concurred with each other that focusing on the problem and not on the solution was integral for us and it helped us sail through other steps much more smoothly. During our discussion, we all agreed that developing the team constitution helped us learn the importance of teaming. Six different people, with different backgrounds and perspectives, could utilise the constitution and the tools provided over the course to
communicate effectively, build trust, manage time and support each other while holding themselves and others accountable. Our authoriser was extremely appreciative to observe our output and team dynamics and shared his learning with us. He learnt that, as a leader, having a better conscious of
people’s emotions and the ability to regulate one’s own emotions, can be equally rewarding as it helps individuals to get their share of success. He also shared that the perspectives on effective delegation were different and made him reflect collectively with other leaders across different countries. The overarching learning for all of us was that we started thinking better and together each day.
Towards the end of the discussion, we realised that our Tuesdays won’t be the same now but we resolved to meet once every ten days to check on each others’ progress in our action areas the same way as we did during the programme. PDIA has helped us improve our outlook towards problem-solving, towards people we worked with or will in the future, and towards our stakeholders. It is an approach which is not necessarily restricted to one context and that is its best feature. We intend to continue using the approaches that we learnt to apply to the next set of ‘bones’ that we will address to solve our problem. Moreover, looking at the progress we made, we realised that these approaches can not only help us solve foundational learning problems but also various other challenges arising in different levels of school education. Hence, we decided to orient the key resource persons from Upper Primary and Secondary levels of education on the PDIA tools and methods and aim to make their processes as systematic as possible.
During the last sessions, while we iterated on our interventions, we learnt some of the most valuable lessons about our communications, teamwork, trust, celebrating our small wins, and leadership in our action areas. These intangibles are going to help us in the long term both in our professional and
personal endeavours to improve the quality of education in the country. While we always looked up to Matt and Salimah for words of wisdom each week, a few aspects that we understood and that will stay with us – There will be challenges, especially unforeseen and peculiar ones, at each step. But it’s still possible to
keep finding ways by being willing to take action in whichever capacity one can and by focusing on building the team stronger and honing the skill of teaming.
In sum, we realised that the power and capacity to shift the system do lie with us.
This blog was written by the alumni of the PDIA for Education Systems Online Executive Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. 56 participants from 8 countries successfully completed this 12-week program from September – December 2022.