We all have a knowing – doing gap. It’s that space between what we know to be right, to be most effective, to be most important, to be fair, to be good, and yet fail to put into practice. This gap is more than a blind spot because it actually lives in our conscious thought and reflects a choice of values.
Need an example?
We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is so important that schools make sure students eat breakfast during testing periods by offering special incentives, issuing reminders to families, and stocking classrooms with portable foods. Yet, too often, they do something completely different during learning periods. They leave breakfast to chance in the name of bus schedules, time on task, and trash. Of course, many of us adults have that same knowing – doing gap in our personal lives (she writes while thinking she should have had that green smoothie for breakfast)!
How about the knowing – doing gap that exists in so many places – schools, offices, organizations, and even our culture overall – about harassment? Just this week there is yet one more story about a powerful man alleged to have harassed women for decades. It appears to have been an open secret, one for which the accused has already apologized, and yet no one took meaningful action for years. They knew and failed to act, letting it continue regardless of cost to those effected.
Although bullying is now a national buzz word, there are plenty of places where it is ignored in the exact same way. We know where it happens, when it happens, and to whom it happens, yet fail to act to stop it. Worse, we make excuses about why it is not a big deal or not the right time or not ours to confront, while we know the damage it causes. We choose to leave that knowing – doing gap wide open.
Strategic Question
What do you know and fail to do? Self-care in the face of a busy day/week/life? Taking time to reflect on the effectiveness of your work/your teaching/your leadership while continuing to do the same things over and over? Using strategies you know do not meet the needs of your students/staff/clients, yet save you time or trouble? Ignoring or making excuses for behavior you know is abhorrent, yet failing to act?
Asking yourself this strategic question and, perhaps more importantly, getting feedback on it from those with whom you work and those you serve, can be step one in taking action to improve.
Time to close the gap. Time to act on what we know.