MAK MItchell keynote address at Fusion 2012, the NWEA summer conference in Portland, Oregon. "Finding Ground Truth in Data: Consensus Rules!" MAK leads a consensus governance model for 900 principals of public schools and charters co-located on 380 campuses in New York City. In this keynote, she will tell the story of how her powerful learnings from campus consensus work became the source of a unique consensus turnaround model. After detailing best practice consensus strategies from her governance work with campus principals, she poses the question: Can consensus become a lever for producing achievement results that last? MAK will be offering a workshop session later in the agenda that unpacks the turnaround consensus model in greater detail for those who are interested in implementation. MAK Mitchell is the Executive Director of School Governance for the New York City Public Schools and President of ARMAK Associates. Previously, MAK served in Washington State as a professor and consultant of organizational change, superintendent and founder of numerous small high schools in Alaska. MAK earned both her master’s and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is a founding member of the Society for Organizational Learning.

1. Finding Ground Truth in Data:
Consensus Rules!
Dr. MAK Mitchell
New York City Public Schools / Consensus NOW!
June 2012

2. The Consensus Culture We Are Creating
Can consensus become a lever for producing
achievement results that last?
There is growing evidence that schools on
campuses improve when principals change
their solo behaviors into campus consensus
teams that learn…

3. LETTING THE
CULTURE DRIVE THE
WORK
Campus Development CULTURAL
USING THE WORK
TO CHANGE THE
Distributed
CULTURE Leadership
Shared
LEARNING THE Campus
WORK Vision
Autonomy Consistent
& collaboration Practice
Footprint (simultaneously )
Solo leadership
TECHNICAL
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4. CAMPUS: Pre and Post Consensus
Defensive routines Trust routines
Solo advocacy Balanced inquiry
Self interest MM Group interest MM
Accusations based on Understandings based on
high inference mutual alternatives
Data as basis for winning Data as basis for shared
the argument ground truth
Autonomy justifies Shared mental model
behavior justifies behavior
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5. Consensus Rules!
# # #
Ground Truth Data
+
Consensus
=
Shared Vision
(based on changed mental models)
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6. What is GROUND TRUTH DATA?
In US military slang, "ground truth" is used to
describe the reality of a tactical situation on the
ground as opposed to what intelligence reports and
mission plans assert the reality to be.
Typically derived from a number of converging
evidential sources close to the action, as opposed to
a solo or remote source of evidence.
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7. What is CONSENSUS?
Consensus is a process for group decision making, a method
whereby an entire group of people who own the issue come to an
agreement.
The input, evidence and ideas of all participants are gathered and
synthesized to arrive at a final decision acceptable to all.
Consensus does not mean that everyone thinks that the decision
made is necessarily the best one possible, or even that they are
sure it will work. Everyone feels their data was given a fair
hearing, and collective intelligence prevails
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8. What does Consensus Look Like?
During the dialogue process, people learn how
to think together—not just in the sense of
analyzing a shared problem or creating new
pieces of shared knowledge but in the sense of
occupying a collective sensibility, in which the
thoughts, emotions and resulting actions
belong not to one individual, but all of them
together. David Bohm

9. Consensual ground truth is essential
to enact a shared vision
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10. Turn and Talk
G: Video: How does Denise’s campus
story reflect the perspective levels ?

11. 11

12. 12

13. The Instruction Culture We Are Creating
There is growing evidence that student
performance improves when teachers change
their solo behaviors into consensus teams
that learn…

14. LETTING THE
Instructional Team Development: CULTURE DRIVE THE
WORK
CULTURAL
Distributed
Leadership
USING THE WORK
TO CHANGE THE
CULTURE (changed
mental
models)
LEARNING THE Autonomy
WORK & collaboration Shared
Team
Solo teaching (consensus Alternatives
instructional change)
(ground truth)
Research and
Student data Best practice
TECHNICAL
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15. Consensus Rules!
# # #
Ground Truth Data
+
Instructional Consensus
=
Shared Vision
(based on changed mental models)
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16. Turn and Talk
From your own experience, how are ground
truth data and consensus related to your
process of instructional or organizational
decisions?

17. Synchronicity: Two Consensus Stories
LEVELS CAMPUS CONSENSUS INSTRUCTIONAL CHANGE CONSENSUS
Vision Shared vision for campus Shared vision for instructional results
Mental Common team purpose: Common team purpose:
Serve all students on campus Get all students to mastery
Models
Systemic Consensus decisions: Consensus collaborations:
• Breaking defensive routines • Breaking solo routines
Methods • Balancing advocacy with inquiry • Balance advocacy with inquiry
(flow, patterns, contiguous space) (research and best practice)
• Generating mutual alternatives • Generating mutual alternatives
• New mental models • New mental models
Patterns Footprint data=ground truth Student data=ground truth
over Time
Events Solo advocacy Isolated classrooms, students
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18. CONSENSUS TURNAROUND CYCLE
Colleague
Survey
Analyze Ground
Analyze Data
Truth
Research
Question
CONSENSUS
TURNAROUND
Turnaround
Plan
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19. Systemic Methods:
Defensive Routines
Habitual ways of interacting that protect us
and others from threat or embarrassment, but
which also prevent us from learning.
> Maintaining isolation, solo behaviors
> Avoidance, preference for status quo
> Faced with conflict, smooth over differences
> Speak out in a no holds barred, winner take all way
> Speaking in a guarded way, not transparent about data

20. Systemic Methods:
Unlocking Defensive Routines
• Suspend assumptions
• Examine multiple points of view
• Reveal the incoherence of thought (become an
observer of your own/others’ thinking)
• Hold the context of the dialogue; avoid distractions
• Avoid focusing down consensus, seek opening it
up to more options

21. Systemic Methods:
Generating Alternatives
• Have each person describe the problem in their own
words
• State the shared best outcome they are seeking and
verify by consensus check
• Identify perceived resources: time, money, space,
people
• Brainstorm possible trade-offs and new or combined
resources
• Declare best alternatives and adopt

22. Systemic Methods:
Advocating and Inquiring Productively
Advocacy Inquiry
 Make your own  Ask others how
reasoning explicit. they arrived at
 Share your data their views
and its source  Check out your
 Invite others to assessment of
inquire into your their views with
thinking, mindset, them.
worldview ,etc.  Be genuinely
curious.

23. Conclusion: “It’s In Every One of Us”
http://www.personalgrowthcourses.net/video/every_one_of_us

24. Dr. MAK Mitchell
Consensus NOW!
mak@consensus-now.com
www.consensus-now.com
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