D. Trinidad Hunt

Congratulations HSFCU!

Posted on 01. Jun, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

Hawaii State Federal Credit Union was voted one of the top 10 companies to work for in Hawaii.

Yea and Congratulations… what an honor!

As schools and organizations take on the goal of transformation it is wonderful to learn of organizations who have gone through the process of change and renewal.

Organizational transformation is based on individual transformation. And it takes a high level of emotional and social awareness or ’literacy’ on the part of leaders and their teams to make the work environment a safe and exciting place for everyone. This requires a willingness on the part of leaders to improve their communication skills, coaching skills, and their all around IQ, EQ, SQ competencies.

I spent 4 years working with different departments and teams within HSFCU. The goal was to move the organization from the traditional or mechanical model of business to the New Paradigm or the Human Side of Enterprise. The arrow represents the changes that were achieved during that time.

I have been and still am engaged with leaders in various industries including the educational sector, to transform their organizations. This means dissolving silos, engaging teams in cross functional projects and assisting leaders in increasing their Emotional and social skill sets.

The neuro-science research is research invaluable in accelerating the changes that leaders are capable of making. If leaders want to change, what used to take 4 years, might take 2 1/2 today. I look forward to sharing some of the latest research in my coming blogs.

For now, congratulations HSFCU… a job well done!

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Love You, Australia!

Posted on 27. May, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

Dear Australia, you are here in my heart as I am in the midst of re-entry here in Hawaii. Every time I return from your shores, I find that my life is richer… new friends, new experiences and ever deepening connections with old friends!

I’m still getting my day and night switched back to U.S. time. The International Dateline switch is always a test when I return to my home and today I’m feeling it!

Let me get my land legs again and I have much more to share!

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What is the Impact of our Curriculum?

Posted on 18. May, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

In all my years working in organizational development I have been results-oriented.

I believe in results and outcomes.

I understand results come from action and focus.

I think in terms of focus, then action and finally the results.

So if I turn my attention onto the education of students, I see that schools focus primarily on intellectual development.  Obviously intellectual development is important, and shows up in scores in math, reading comprehension, English, science.  The results in all core subjects areas are directly related to the amount of time and energy spent on these subjects.

What about the social and emotional development of our youth?  Where do you think those results might show up on a school’s report card?

From my perspective it shows up in classroom behavior, schoolyard interactions, as well as student dealings with teachers, administrative staff and each other throughout the campus.  It shows up in how students communicate with each other.

Most schools review the numbers of principal referrals and bullying incidents.  Some schools might interview teachers on the classroom management issues they are facing.  All of these give us information regarding the job we are doing as educators.

Measuring Emotional and Social Literacy on a scale like that used for intellectual development is much harder.  It might even be an illusive ideal to have a school wide measure for these things.  But it might be time to start thinking along these lines.

The community in which your school, your family and in fact my family and friends live is dependent on us measuring and developing the emotional and social well being of students in our classrooms.

The community we want tomorrow is dependent on the results of schools today.

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Meeting Real People

Posted on 16. May, 2010 by David Linke.

It has been an exciting week.  I have been on tour in Australia.  As a result I have had the opportunity to connect with many of you who are following my blog.

Thank you!

Although I receive dozens of emails from many of you regarding your thoughts, this has been a rare opportunity to be with you in person.

Our personal conversations have inspired and encouraged me.  And it’s really nice to connect the dots by putting your names with faces. From here on in when I receive e-mails from you I’ll be able to see you in my mind and heart.

Lynne and I still have a week and a half to go. So I’m looking forward to meeting many more of you. Please come up to me and introduce yourself so we can have a bit of a chat.

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National tests – Yes, No or Maybe?

Posted on 07. May, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

I have been toiling away as a blogger for 18 months now, I hope you feel I am starting to understand this new medium.  My decision to begin a blog was to continue a conversation. For 30+ years I have worked across classrooms, schools, districts, education department central offices, chains of stores, multinational conglomerates and everything in between.  I have worked with CEOs and Super-Intindents, classroom teachers, principals, eight-year-olds and school receptionists. I have come to learn a lot, I have been privileged to work with people that amaze and astound me.

I have developed life-long friendships that will live forever in my heart.  And I pray that a bit of my heart lives on in the lives of the people I have touched.

My personal gift from this journey has been one utmost central and important lesson. 

The world is full of people and all these people are unique and truly beautiful with their own set of beliefs, strengths and insecurities.  And these uniquely human pieces are just amazing when they come together and act as one.

This lesson sparked me 20-odd years ago to begin formulating my ideas that today, I call my Whole Person Learning Model.  Where each person is a combination of their Intellectual Qualities, their Emotional Qualities and their Social Qualities – IQ, EQ, SQ.

As an American I lived through the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) period of a previous administration.  I personally saw the impact such policies had on teacher morale and principal self-esteem.  This week sees Australian schools complete their national tests.  Governments all around the world are currently, or at present planning, such national tests.  I guess these tests are now part of the landscape of our schools.

But these tests have made me pause for a moment and reflect.

If my 30+ years of work with people has had any impact, I need to think about the Whole Person in these testing regimes.  How do tests of literacy and numeracy measure the Whole Person?  Aren’t schools more than literacy levels?  Isn’t the IQ, EQ, SQ balance of a child, classroom, school or entire system important?  Don’t we need to reflect on the fact that good schools might have low numeracy levels.  Yet these same schools may be developing human beings that will make an incredible impact on the world in years to come?

I have to believe that the decision makers who are rolling out these national tests must be asking these very same questions themselves.

These questions are not easily answered and I don’t have  the answers myself.  In fact, I am not even sure that I have any answers.  What I do know is that my education over 60-odd years has instilled in me a need to ask the hard questions.  Because of this, I am willing to live ‘in the question even though I can’t always answer it.  I am willing to live in the paradox of questions without the certainty of closure.  I feel that the questions are important to our students and the future generations to come.

These questions and this thinking lead to this whitepaper – Beyond Standardised Tests – in which I try to think through this issue.  I hope you read it and it triggers some of your own questions.  I hope it prompts you to stop and give pause for a moment too.  And please, once you’ve read the piece let me know your thoughts whether in email or the comments section below.

Beyond Standardised Tests Whitepaper

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Classroom Lesson for Teaching Respect

Posted on 05. May, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

Now that I have defined Respect and provided the introduction to a classroom discussion let’s put some rubber to the road and build a lesson plan.

When teaching values or character skills to young people you need to remind yourself about the comfort zone.  Every individual has a zone of habits where they are comfortable, if we stretch this comfort zone too far the student will shutdown emotionally and not take in the lesson. If the step is to small the student might get bored and again zone-out of the lesson.

With the comfort zone in mind, this lesson is designed to allow the student to express some feelings without the need to exhibit their feelings to the entire class.

Materials You Need:

1. Colored Paper
2. Pens or Pencils
3. Scissors
4. Writing Paper

Classroom Discussion:

Use the definition I posted earlier this week and the explanation that I provided for your middle years students to begin a full class discussion on Respect.  Take a pop culture figure relevant to your students, maybe singer or an actor.  Have the group define why this person should or shouldn’t be Respected.

Ensure that you conclude the discussion with a link to the Social Qualities (SQ) attributes of a kind and caring human being.

Small Group Activity:

Now that the group discussion has provided a model for the students to follow, ask students to pick a person in their family that they really respect, someone that is a role model for them.  What qualities does this person exhibit?  Why do they respect this person?  Ask each student to write 3 or 4 things they respect about this person.

Then ask the students to form groups of 3 or 4 to share their thoughts with the others.

Conclude the activity by giving the students coloured pens or pencils, coloured paper and scissors.  Have them draw and cut out a star that represents the person that they respect. Then put that person’s name in the center of the star. Have each student also sign their name below their star. Make a bulletin board of the stars in your students’ lives.

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Respect in the K-12 Classroom

Posted on 03. May, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

My recent post about respect in leadership has generated an avalanche of emails on respect in the classroom. So this post is an attempt on how to define Respect for students in the K-12 Classroom. You know that at times it is hard to explain these values and character traits to students. So here goes…

Respect is defined as having high regard and actions that demonstrate honor and esteem for another person or entity.

Here is a definition that can be used with your Middle School Students:

Respect is a very special quality. It is a basic feeling between human beings. If you have respect, you are considerate, courteous, and caring. Respect is so important that songwriters even wrote a song about it.

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Find out what it means to me”

Student Engagement
In order to get students involved in the lesson I suggest that you play Aretha Franklin’s song (as noted above) and then open the class by asking what respect means to them. Here are some questions that might help you initiate a lesson on respect:

1. What does respect mean to you?
2. Do friends demonstrate respect to one another? In what ways?
3. Is respect important in the family? Why? And how is respect demonstrated between siblings, child to parent, etc.?

Discussion

Respect is an attitude of caring. There are many types of respect and all of them are important.

There is self-respect, and respect for others. There is respect for property and respect for our environment. All types of respect are important.

Self-respect means that you value yourself. You feel that you are a worthwhile person and you have self-esteem. You count on people to treat you in a kind and caring way.

If you respect someone else, you are interested in them as a person. You honor and value them. You act in a kind and caring ways toward them. This kind of respect shows up in what you say and how you say it. If you respect someone you will speak in a kind and caring way. Your tone of voice and your behavior will have a nice quality when you are respectful.

Respect for property is how you treat things. It takes careful attention to deal with your own things as well as other people’s things in a thoughtful considerate way. It is treating other people’s property and public property as if they were your own.

‘Respect for all life’ is also very important. This means you respect Planet Earth. You care for the environment, and you are kind to all living things. You can show this kind of respect by not littering and not wasting Mother Nature’s resources, such as water.

Without respect there would be a lot more rudeness in the world. No one would care about anyone else. Respect makes our world more peaceful and it makes all of our relationships more friendly and more fun.

How Do We Demonstrate Respect?

You can practice and demonstrate respect every day. What you do comes back to you so follow this simple law of cause (what you do) and consequence (comes back to you). Think about how you want to be treated and treat others in the same way.

You can demonstrate respect when you see older people. If an older person is standing on the bus and you are sitting, a respectful thing to do is give them your seat. Older people deserve a little extra respect and appreciation. Because you are younger, you have more energy and more strength. It is important to be sensitive to the needs of your elders and always try to help them.

You can practice respect by speaking quietly and not interrupting when others are speaking. You can listen with respect by staying focused on the speaker. You can act with respect by noticing the feelings and needs of others.

You can also show respect by kindness towards animals and all of Earth’s creatures. Feed and care for your own pets and be kind to all living things.

Remember that you are a center of influence. Your words and deeds make a difference. What you say and do, and the way you say and do it can influence others. If you demonstrate respect to everyone and everything you become a positive model for other people. You will influence them in a positive way and your life will make a difference.

Journaling

Ask students to journal for a few minutes at the end of every day on some act of respect they participated in or saw demonstrated by others during the course of that day.

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A Simple Gesture of Respect

Posted on 26. Apr, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

Recently I read an article that touched my heart. It was about a simple gesture of respect that turned a potential insurrection into a peaceful withdrawal. It served to remind me that respect in all stations of life comes in many forms. It does not require the same language nor the same cultural background. What it does require is an understanding of the human heart and human needs.

It reminded me once again that the primary atom of leadership, is a based on a nucleus of respect.

Adapted from an article in the New Yorker 17 Jan 2005: Battle Lessons by Dan Baum

In April of 2003 a group of American soldiers walked down the road in Nadjaf towards the holiest Shia mosque in all of Iraq. Their intention was to liberate the city. However, Iraqi agitators had spread the lie that these American troops were going to seize the mosque and take the cleric prisoner.

Within minutes hundreds of Iraqis began pouring out of buildings and doorways on either side of the troops on the road to the mosque.  They pressed in on the troops – shaking their fists and screaming.  Their rage was palpable – visceral and it was closing in on the troops.

Seeing the danger, an American officer stepped through the crowd.  He raised a rifle over his head and turned the barrel intentionally to the ground as he said to his men, “Smile.”  Then he added, “Take a knee.”  It was an old sports term that meant kneel.

The soldiers looked at him as if he was crazy.  And then slowly, one by one, their bulky 60 to 100 pound back packs swaying on their backs, they went down on one knee their rifles pointing to the ground, before the enraged crowd.

A hush quickly fell over the crowd and the anger dissolved.  The officer ordered his men to retreat.  They quietly turned and slowly walked back to where the officer directed them. With his men out of danger, the officer turned to the crowd and bowed his head in acknowledgment.

Months later the officer, Lt Colonel Hughes was asked by a reporter how he knew what to do, and was he trained to do that, and was it specific to the Iraqs – this holding the rifle down and taking a knee?

Hughes was perplexed, he said it could have turned into an uprising.  But what it really needed he said, “was a gesture of respect”.

It seems to me that at the heart of this story is a lesson in leadership. In so many of our daily dealings with people what is really needed is a simple gesture of respect. For maybe the rope that binds us as human beings is made of many strands of various gestures of respect woven over time.

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eSeminars

Posted on 22. Apr, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

My lack of activity in the blog for the past few weeks is directly linked to the hard work I have been putting into my first eSeminars.  My learning curve has been steep and I have certainly been stretching my Comfort Zone as I embrace this new training medium.

Back in November 2009 I locked myself away with Lynne and David to develop the eSeminar plan.  I agreed to a big schedule, little did I really know how big a schedule I had agreed to until I was in the middle of producing the programs.

I see the movement of my work to this new remote training model as the biggest and most exciting step for me from the past few years.  I am really just starting to understand the power of remote training and how I can transfer my message to this new medium.

I guess that you too might be wondering about this whole eLearning thing and that I am doing.  Each of my eSeminars is something like 30-45 minutes of video and audio.  Once you are registered I email the notes, handouts and worksheets before the eSeminar is made available.  In some of the eSeminars you will also need to have completed some activities before the session begins, in others we will work through the activities together.  Then I send the link to the video and audio component.  You can watch the video or listen to the audio as many times as you like.  You can even start and stop the video or watch from home, school or your iPhone on the bus if you like.

As I get my head around the whole eSeminar modules I will even do some live events, you get the link and phone number and a designated time.  Then you log in and get to see me, hear me, ask me questions as we work through a topic together.  The whole thing is recorded and you can watch it again later, or even just the bit that you want to review.

This is the introduction to my first eSeminar – Strategic Listening.  The actual complete eSeminar will be released next week.

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Women in Leadership Program

Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

One of my great joys is teaching leadership skills.

During the past 2-3 years on my Australian Tours I have had the chance to teach a truly special program.  My Women in Leadership program is a 3-Day event.  I have had such great fun and enjoyment during these sessions.

The program runs again in 2010.  You can register with the Centre for Strategic Education here

This is an overview and introduction to the program.

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