I hope everyone who is reading this blog responded to its title in one of the following ways:
- Gosh, I hope I’m a multiplier!
- Hmmm…what is a multiplier? I’m intrigued!
- I don’t like the sound of “depleter.” Hope I’m not one of those!
- I’ve never been good at math!
Actually, my initial reaction to an article titled “Multiplying is More than Math—It’s Also Good Management,” was closer to the last bullet. I was in my high North mode and scanning the latest issue of the Kappan Magazine when I came across this article. Thankfully, I paused one moment more to look at the authors. When I saw Liz Wiseman’s name, a connection was made to a past Learning Forward annual conference where she was one of the keynote speakers.
So, I stopped and read the article, wanting to refresh my memory of the multiplier concept. In short, Wiseman (author of Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter) defines a multiplier as someone who has “an approach and style that makes us better and smarter.” She notes that multipliers operate in what she terms “dramatically different ways.” And, they hold “radically different assumptions” about those with whom they work and interact.
In the article, Wiseman and co-author Elise Foster identify the five “disciplines” possessed by multipliers:
- Managing talent: Multipliers look for the natural talent in those with whom they work and match that talent to roles and tasks.
- Fostering a productive environment: Multipliers create a workspace where “everyone has permission to think and do their best work.” They ensure it is a safe space, open to ideas and mistakes (from which one learns). At the same time, Wiseman notes that it is “an intense environment that demands people’s best efforts.”
- Setting directions: The opposite of micro-managers, multipliers “seed opportunities” and provide the right type of challenge. This reminded me of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development—often referred to as the Goldilocks effect—when applied to adults rather than students, where colleagues are given the right type and amount of challenge.
- Making decisions: Not at all dictatorial, multipliers operate with transparency and welcome discussion, dialogue, and different points of view. This management style ensures that decisions are made “in a way that informs and readies the organization to execute those decisions.”
- Getting things done: Believing one of their key roles is that of investing in their employees, multipliers give ownership and provide the required resources and assistance to those with whom they work, all the while expecting excellence.
As an educator, are you a multiplier or diminisher? Wiseman found two key characteristics that she labels “accidental diminisher tendencies”:
- “The leader who doesn’t like to see people struggle, make mistakes, or fail. His intention is noble. He wants to protect his people. The obvious problem here, as educators will readily identify, is that learning through struggle is often more effective. When these well-intended ‘rescuers’ step in to help, they actually starve people of vital learning opportunities that could prepare them to spot and avoid problems in the future. This creates a cycle of dependency that is often difficult to escape.”
- “The leader who is ‘always on.’ She is full of energy, always present, and always armed with something to say. She thinks her energy is infectious, but what actually happens is that others are unintentionally shut out of the conversation. Her people feel suffocated by all of her energy and enthusiasm.”
Consider what you are doing now that helps multiply the talents of those around you. And, likewise, see if you can’t rid yourself of any “accidental depleter behaviors.”
As Wiseman notes at the article’s end:
“We need everyone’s best thinking to tackle the challenges and issues that face us…there is a tremendous need for educational leaders who find ways to get more capability and productivity from their current resourses…[so that they] create an environment where students are challenged and inspired to achieve at their fullest.”
