A deliberately developmental organizational culture persistently pushes team members to the edges of their current competencies. By definition, that is not a place where most people feel comfortable. Fear, insecurity, and conflict live in that place. It’s a reach into the unknown. How do you get your team to go there? The first step is to convince them that no one will be asked to journey alone. You’ll go together.
Responding to “Ye Olde Curmudgeon”
A significant reason that restorative conferences are so successful is because they are voluntary. By choosing to come to an event, participants are predisposed to make the process work.
Building a New Reality…in Detroit?
by Ted Wachtel Most people think of Detroit, Michigan in negative terms. Like the guy who laughed when I said I was going to an international conference in Detroit. “Attractive destination,” he said, sarcastically. Despite its reputation as a struggling city, Detroit is building a new reality. I asked Kerra Bolton, an award-winning journalist and frequent CNN […]
On Meeting Henry McClendon and Restoring Brokenness
Writer Kerra Bolton interviews Detroit’s Henry McClendon, who comments, “To me, ‘restorative’ means bringing something back to its original intent. It means helping family be a real family, helping communities resolve problems, repairing harm, and strengthening relationships.”
Restorative Practices Give Hope to Hope Academy Charter School
This is the fourth in a series of articles by Kerra L. Bolton, on her experiences with restorative practices in the city of Detroit. by Kerra L. Bolton Dr. Ronald Williams, superintendent of Hope Academy Charter School in Detroit, is a self-described “old school educator,” who spent most of his 30 years as a strict […]
Can Better Workplaces Make Detroit a Better City?
“Restorative practices changes how you think,” she said. “It changes you, so that you avoid these problems in the future. If you can change your attitude and lifestyle, you can change the whole community.”
Why Schools Should Be Going Around In Circles
West Philadelphia High School was the worst. Suspensions and expulsions didn’t stop the frequent fights and fire setting. The good news is that “restorative practices” came to West Philadelphia. “Circles have changed our class because we’ve had to talk to one another. It’s not just the teachers. It’s all of us together. So we’ve kind of had to come together as a team and talk.”
The Theory of Everyone
“A theory of everyone” asserts that we get better results if authorities, in every setting, engage stakeholders with more voice and choice, in exchange for taking more responsibility. The theory is based on a fundamental premise that “human beings are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes in their behavior when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them.”
