Activator's Guide | The Portrait Project

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Activating the Portrait of a Nevada Learner

Activators Guide

How might we bring the portrait to life by empowering learners know themselves, connect with their communities, contribute to make an impact, and thrive?

This guide offers resources and tools to support Nevada’s Activators in integrating the Portrait of a Nevada Learner into their schools, districts, and communities. The guide is organized by the following topics:

What is an Activator?
What Activators Do
Activator's Basic Toolkit
Building an Activator Team
Dream to Action Transformation
Change Activation
The Big Picture

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Module A: What is an Activator?

Module A.
What’s an Activator?

Activators become Architects of Culture...

Inclusion-actuating
Risk-taking
Empathy-developing
Passion-sharing

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Design Principle

An activator is a change agent who helps turn ideas into reality. They ignite passion, build momentum, and drive an organization toward its desired future.

Overview

An activator encourages teams to join together and turn dreams into reality. An activator builds momentum for needed change, helping a community grow toward its desired future while ensuring everyone is included and valued.

You probably know activators in your life. You can find them everywhere, at every age. Teens come together to advocate for solar panels on school roofs to the School Board. Middle school librarians push to add music construction studios to their libraries to attract students who otherwise wouldn’t come. A principal enlists teachers to help build a flex schedule so students can pursue project-based learning or internships blocked by the traditional uses of school time.

Activators:

Ignite contagious creativity, passion, and energy in a team.
Encourage others to get involved and stay committed.
Lead by example and serve as both guides and motivators.
Are empaths who can absorb the diverse perspectives, voices, and feelings of others and bring a group to consensus.
Foster a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment and encourage strong relationships through collaborative teamwork.
Model adaptability and openness to new ideas.
Keep integrity and trust central to how they lead and participate in teams.
Are authentic leaders.

Project Idea: Personal SOAR Analysis

The SOAR analysis is an appreciative inquiry tool. It is different from a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) because it focuses on your future, not your past. Understanding what you believe about growing as an activator is vital to supporting team members who value being open to learning. That personal development will drive the work toward change so we better serve young people to grow, develop, and embody the Portrait of a Nevada Learner.

This project will help you assess your own potential growth in leading a team that responds to this question: How might we create learning relationships, experiences, and Environments that put the Portrait’s shared values into practice.

Activating team members to grow as learners begins with your own learning empowerment. The Portrait itself provides a framework for self-exploration through these questions:

How do I reflect on my personal strengths and unique qualities to leverage them in all aspects of my life?
In what ways do I approach learning and life experiences with curiosity and a growth focused attitude to find ways to connect them to my passions and interests?
What do I do to be self-aware, monitor my needs, and advocate for myself in a variety of environments?
How do I strive for balance by asking for support related to my intellectual growth, physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being?

Write these questions on Post-it notes and keep them close to your work area. Put them in a notes app on your phone. Reflect on why these questions are important to your team as they work together to initiate change, no matter the scale.

Think Abouts:

How well do you listen?
What gets people excited when you share your dreams with them?
What are you curious about in your work?
What are your burning questions?
What excites you about students?
What do you do when you don't know what to do?
How do you find time to think about your own needs?
Who do you go to when you need support as a learner?

You in the mirror…Pro

Engage in Personal Appreciative Inquiry: Initiate a personal SOAR analysis using the above Portrait questions as a guide to frame and record your own self-assessment and goals for growth:

What do you perceive as your Strengths? List Dispositions, Skills, and Personal Qualities
What do you consider as Opportunities for learning? Where might you grow? What do you seek to improve?
What are your Aspirations for growth as an activator? What would you like to accomplish? Become? What will you do?
How will you know you are getting Results in your own learning journey? How will you get feedback? Mentorship? Coaching?
Most importantly, assess your own current and desired state on each of these questions. What priority do you have for your own growth as an activator. Why? What goal will you set for yourself?

What are my strengths?

What are my aspirations?

What are my growth opportunities?

What results do I expect from my growth?

Resources

Soar Analysis https://peregrineglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/SOAR-Template.pdf (Peregrine Global) “Appreciative Inquiry is a transformational change process that focuses on improving existing organizational processes and challenging established belief systems through sharing of new ideas and knowledge; in essence, to change how people think rather than what people do. Appreciative Inquiry is a way of thinking about the world around us with constructivist ideas. It is a philosophy of seeing the possibilities in life, of seeing the glass half full. Appreciative Inquiry employs a SOAR analysis: Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. It is different from the traditional SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).”

Assessment of Personal Agency Belief Patterns (Dr. Martin Ford, George Mason University) “Personal agency belief “habits” can be altered or even transformed once you are aware of those habits. Sometimes it just takes a conscious effort to think realistically and consider positive as well as negative aspects of a situation. At other times we may need a little help focusing on future possibilities rather than on current problems. Or perhaps you simply need a “change of scenery” in terms of the life goals you are pursuing or the circumstances in which you are pursuing them. If so, the Assessment of Personal Goals (APG) and the APG Personal Application Guide can help you identify your core personal goals and to then align those goals with your capabilities and life circumstances.”

The Art of Listening (Simon Sinek) Sinek focuses in this video on what it means to really listen even when engaging with people with different perspectives

Smart Growth for New Leaders (Edutopia) Four strategies to help new leaders find success in the face of challenges are shared by an assistant principal.

The Leadership Playbook (Council Chief State School Officers) While this playbook is written to support state school officers, it has good resources applicable to leading school districts and even schools. “This playbook is intended as a primer on what inspirational leadership at a state education agency looks like. While it includes the good management practices one would expect to find in such a guide, this playbook also includes detailed descriptions of the types of behaviors and actions unique to inspirational leaders. In addition, we have included tips, case studies, resources, and guiding questions that together aim to make these concepts tangible and meaningful for your context.”

Qualities of Educational Leadership Exercise (Center for Leadership and Educational Equity) This 35- minute protocol can be used with teams to reflect on qualities of leadership from the team members’ own experiences.

Lessons from the Field:
The Role of an Activator in Organizational Transformation

Design Principle

An activator is a bridge between strategy and execution. They inspire and empower a team to embrace new ways of doing.

When activators work with their teams, whether community members, staff, students, or parents, they demonstrate behaviors representing their own sense of efficacy and mission.

The role of an activator can be challenging. Here are seven important activator responsibilities that those working with activators have identified as key to their success in working with others:

Championing the Vision: Activators are passionate advocates for transformation. They communicate the vision clearly, inspiring buy-in and enthusiasm across the organization.
Overcoming Resistance: Change often meets resistance. Activators identify and address barriers, building momentum and fostering a positive change culture.
Building and Leading Teams: They assemble high-performing teams, providing guidance, support, and motivation to achieve transformation goals.
Driving Accountability: Activators establish clear expectations and hold teams accountable for delivering results. They create a sense of urgency and focus.
Enabling Change: They help to provide the necessary resources, tools, and training to support the transformation. They create a supportive environment for experimentation and learning.
Measuring and Communicating Progress: Activators track progress, celebrate successes, and adjust strategies as needed. They ensure transparency and open communication.
Inspiring and Motivating: Activators create a positive and energizing environment, fostering a sense of purpose and belonging. They recognize and reward achievements.

Some of the inherent qualities of an activator are a part of who they are. Others are the result of hard work. Activators observe closely, noticing what effective leaders around them do, especially resilient leaders who persist in the face of setbacks. They seek out critical friends who can advise, mentor, or coach them so that they become strong leaders who inspire and influence others. They believe their own learning never stops. Activators are constantly adding new strategies and tools to their toolkit.

As you use this playbook, the tools and strategies here are designed to develop your own activator toolkit by recognizing and building essential skills:

Excellent Communication: Clear and effective communication skills.
Change Management Expertise: Understanding of change processes and strategies.
Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to identify and overcome challenges.
Relationship Building: Strong interpersonal skills to foster collaboration.

Module A

Module A.
What’s an Activator?

Design Principle

Overview

Becoming an Activator: Guiding Questions

Project Idea: Personal SOAR Analysis

You in the mirror…Pro

Resources

Lessons from the Field:
The Role of an Activator in Organizational Transformation

Design Principle

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Module A. What’s an Activator?

Design Principle

Overview

Module A.
What’s an Activator?