AG 1

Storytelling

Challenge    As a project manager at a non-profit organization that provides psychological services to children and teens, my  organization was recently faced with what our course has referred to as a “wicked problem.” My organization was  confronted by a sharp rise (almost double compared to the previous year) in referrals from school counselors and  school-based juvenile probation officers for children and teens who had violated school policies to the extent that  expulsion was warranted. The spike in referrals was due to schools’ increasing adoption of “zero tolerance” policies  related to drugs, alcohol, and violence on school grounds—rather than discipline students individually, schools were  opting to expel students in large numbers after their first offense.    The challenge, then, was to develop a systematic and evidence-based approach to meet the psychological and social  needs of students who had recently been expelled, in order to decrease school expulsions overall throughout the  community school corporation. This challenge was “wicked,” however, because the students’ needs and backgrounds  were vastly different. A “one-size-fits-all” program was simply not going to resolve the challenge faced by the students,  schools, and our community as hundreds of students were expelled from area middle & high schools each semester. My  team and I were tasked with rolling out an outpatient psychological treatment program that would decrease the level of  school expulsions in the community by addressing the needs of the students who had been expelled for a variety of  offenses—drugs, alcohol, and violence.    Selection    I’d like to jump ahead a bit to the point in the process when preliminary plans had been made to roll out our program  for the first time. After two months of preparation, my team and I had obtained school, community, parent, and student  perspectives to inform the development of an evidence-based therapeutic program to decrease school expulsion rates.  The next step was identifying particular schools in the area to take a leap, and partner with our organization to  implement the new program. In order to obtain buy-in from school administrators, we selected the storytelling tool to  incorporate into our on-site presentations while we visited schools to advertise our program. As our course has outlined,  storytelling provides program managers like myself with the opportunity to synthesize a complex array of variables to  communicate a clear, compelling message to stakeholders. As Jesus Villalobos explains in Module 2:

“What I think storytelling does, is it brings a different element. Storytelling says it's not about the list of things  we have to do, it's about the connection that we give to people about a piece of information that we're trying to  share. A good story at its essence, is simply conveying a message that has logic. It has emotional connection,  and  it also has larger purpose. Storytelling is the difference between solving a problem and creating a cause.”

In order to pull together the diverse sets of needs, perspectives, and goals of the students committing policy violations,  the families responding to the stress of the expulsions, and the school administrators doling out expulsions at alarming  rates, my team and I opted to centralize the stories of the students themselves. In this way, we cut through the ambiguity  of stereotypes about “trouble makers,” and provided anonymous stories about the students whose lives were disrupted  by poverty, divorce, bullying, and grief. We shared their personal stories with school administrators to increase empathy  for the students, and generate stakeholders’ emotional investment in not just punitive measures, but reformative  disciplinary strategies that aligned with their mission as educators—to put students first.    Application    As the program lead, I scheduled on-site presentations at dozens of area schools to meet with school administrators and  introduce our new program. I scheduled presentations with any school administrator who would make time for me. I  presented formal PowerPoints in conference rooms, took impromptu walks with principals as they monitored their halls,  and settled for the occasional phone call if that was all they could do.   All of my presentations were anchored by specific stories of students who belied the typical “trouble maker” stereotypes  that are often conjured in administrative discussions about disciplinary policy. The reality was, I argued, that very few  students commit serious violations with the elaborate planning and malicious intent we impose on the “trouble maker”  type. Through student accounts and stories, I demonstrated that many students actually lacked coping skills to respond

AG 2

to serious triggers in their personal lives—the death of a sibling, or an abusive event that they’d kept a secret, for  instance.    I used key quotations from students and their families, data related to expulsion rates, and success stories from my prior  patients to weave together a clear message for my audience: when students are expelled from school, everyone—the  child, their family, the school, and the broader community—suffers. For most at-risk youth, school is their source of  social connection with peers, nutrition, and mentoring with safe adults. As a result, no one benefits when students are  permanently removed from their classrooms. My program would provide individualized assessments and treatment  plans, in collaboration with students, their families, and their school administrator, to address the challenges that led to  expulsion. If the treatment plans were successfully completed and the student demonstrated progress (measured by  creative goal-setting with the student and their parent), the administrators agreed to allow the student to complete online  classes during treatment, followed by readmission to school.    Insight    As I reflect about utilizing the storytelling tool to increase stakeholder participation in my psychological program, I  realize just how valuable the tool is to bridge divides between social groups with very little in common. Often, my task  was to tell the stories of underprivileged students in a way that made their pain, pressures, and goals tangible to school  administrators with immense power and privilege. Storytelling provided me with an incredible opportunity to “create a  cause,” rather than “solve a problem,” as Jesus Villalobos suggests above. Before my meetings with school administrators,  they viewed students and their illicit behavior as “problems,” which made expulsion an increasingly common tool in  their toolkits; expelling students, to the administrators, eliminated the “problem.”     In the first year of implementation, however, the program cut school expulsion rates in half throughout our community.  This was, in large, part, due to the ability of storytelling to reframe the problem space for school administrators,  students, and their families. When stakeholders stopped viewing the students as problems, but as whole people with  unmet needs, the possibilities and potential for collaboration flourished. When students succeeded in quitting drugs,  managing anger, or working through secret traumas, everyone felt a sense of pride about their progress. Now that I’m  pivoting from psychotherapy to the tech space, I’m beginning to acquire language for the way that design thinking was  (unknowingly) an effective framework for the development of my program. I didn’t realize that, much like The Good  Kitchen case example in Module 1, design thinking was so applicable to matters of social programming (and not simply  tech). I now see that the core questions—What is? What if? What wows? What works?—provide a path to successful  problem solving across disciplines and problem spaces.    Approach    The course learning about the steps in the design thinking process have made me realize that I could have used personas  to generate a more comprehensive and compelling account of why my program was relevant to stakeholders. I didn’t  know what persona building looked like at the time, but now realize that I could have generated a handful of personas to  lend an even more human-centered dimension to the roll out of the therapeutic program. This might have been  especially useful in my meetings with administrators who were skeptics, that only gave me about 10 minutes of their time  to explain my program. I could have attended those meetings equipped with visual copies of personas, and asked them  to tell me about which ones reminded them of their students to generate a quick, more emotional connection to the  students’ stories.


AG 1 Storytelling Challenge As a project manager at a non - profit organization that provides psychological services to children and teens , my organization was recently faced with what our course has referred to as a “ wicked problem . ” My organization was confronted by a sharp rise ( almost double compared to the previous year ) in referrals from school counselors and school - based juvenile probation officers for children and teens who had violated school policies to the extent that expulsion was warranted . The spike in referrals was due to schools ’ increasing adoption of “ zero tolerance ” policies related to drugs , alcohol , and violence on school grounds — rather than discipline students individually , schools were opting to expel students in large numbers after their first offense . The challenge , then , was to develop a systematic and evidence - based approach to meet the psychological and social needs of students who had recently been expelled , in order to decrease school expulsions overall throughout the community school corporation . This challenge was “ wicked , ” however , because the students ’ needs and backgrounds were vastly different . A “ one - size - fits - all ” program was simply not going to resolve the challenge faced by the students , schools , and our community as hundreds of students were expelled from area middle & high schools each semester . My team and I were tasked with rolling out an outpatient psychological treatment program that would decrease the level of school expulsions in the community by addressing the needs of the students who had been expelled for a variety of offenses — drugs , alcohol , and violence . Selection I ’d like to jump ahead a bit to the point in the process when preliminary plans had been made to roll out our program for the first time . After two months of preparation , my team and I had obtained school , community , parent , and student perspectives to inform the development of an evidence - based therapeutic program to decrease school expulsion rates . The next step was identifying particular schools in the area to take a leap , and partner with our organization to implement the new program . In order to obtain buy - in from school administrators , we selected the storytelling tool to incorporate into our on - site presentations while we visited schools to advertise our program . As our course has outlined , storytelling provides program managers like myself with the opportunity to synthesize a complex array of variables to communicate a clear , compelling message to stakeholders . As Jesus Villalobos explains in Module 2 : “ What I think storytelling does , is it brings a different element . Storytelling says it 's not about the list of things we have to do , it 's about the connection that we give to people about a piece of information that we 're trying to share . A good story at its essence , is simply conveying a message that has logic . It has emotional connection , and it also has larger purpose . Storytelling is the difference between solving a problem and creating a cause . ” In order to pull together the diverse sets of needs , perspectives , and goals of the students committing policy violations , the families responding to the stress of the expulsions , and the school administrators doling out expulsions at alarming rates , my team and I opted to centralize the stories of the students themselves . In this way , we cut through the ambiguity of stereotypes about “ trouble makers , ” and provided anonymous stories about the students whose lives were disrupted by poverty , divorce , bullying , and grief . We shared their personal stories with school administrators to increase empathy for the students , and generate stakeholders ’ emotional investment in not just punitive measures , but reformative disciplinary strategies that aligned with their mission as educators — to put students first . Application As the program lead , I scheduled on - site presentations at dozens of area schools to meet with school administrators and introduce our new program . I scheduled presentations with any school administrator who would make time for me . I presented formal PowerPoints in conference rooms , took impromptu walks with principals as they monitored their halls , and settled for the occasional phone call if that was all they could do . All of my presentations were anchored by specific stories of students who belied the typical “ trouble maker ” stereotypes that are often conjured in administrative discussions about disciplinary policy . The reality was , I argued , that very few students commit serious violations with the elaborate planning and malicious intent we impose on the “ trouble maker ” type . Through student accounts and stories , I demonstrated that many students actually lacked coping skills to respond AG 2 to serious triggers in their personal lives — the death of a sibling , or an abusive event that they ’d kept a secret , for instance . I used key quotations from students and their families , data related to expulsion rates , and success stories from my prior patients to weave together a clear message for my audience : when students are expelled from school , everyone — the child , their family , the school , and the broader community — suffers . For most at - risk youth , school is their source of social connection with peers , nutrition , and mentoring with safe adults . As a result , no one benefits when students are permanently removed from their classrooms . My program would provide individualized assessments and treatment plans , in collaboration with students , their families , and their school administrator , to address the challenges that led to expulsion . If the treatment plans were successfully completed and the student demonstrated progress ( measured by creative goal - setting with the student and their parent ) , the administrators agreed to allow the student to complete online classes during treatment , followed by readmission to school . Insight As I reflect about utilizing the storytelling tool to increase stakeholder participation in my psychological program , I realize just how valuable the tool is to bridge divides between social groups with very little in common . Often , my task was to tell the stories of underprivileged students in a way that made their pain , pressures , and goals tangible to school administrators with immense power and privilege . Storytelling provided me with an incredible opportunity to “ create a cause , ” rather than “ solve a problem , ” as Jesus Villalobos suggests above . Before my meetings with school administrators , they viewed students and their illicit behavior as “ problems , ” which made expulsion an increasingly common tool in their toolkits ; expelling students , to the administrators , eliminated the “ problem . ” In the first year of implementation , however , the program cut school expulsion rates in half throughout our community . This was , in large , part , due to the ability of storytelling to reframe the problem space for school administrators , students , and their families . When stakeholders stopped viewing the students as problems , but as whole people with unmet needs , the possibilities and potential for collaboration flourished . When students succeeded in quitting drugs , managing anger , or working through secret traumas , everyone felt a sense of pride about their progress . Now that I ’m pivoting from psychotherapy to the tech space , I ’m beginning to acquire language for the way that design thinking was ( unknowingly ) an effective framework for the development of my program . I did n’t realize that , much like The Good Kitchen case example in Module 1 , design thinking was so applicable to matters of social programming ( and not simply tech ) . I now see that the core questions — What is ? What if ? What wows ? What works?—provide a path to successful problem solving across disciplines and problem spaces . Approach The course learning about the steps in the design thinking process have made me realize that I could have used personas to generate a more comprehensive and compelling account of why my program was relevant to stakeholders . I did n’t know what persona building looked like at the time , but now realize that I could have generated a handful of personas to lend an even more human - centered dimension to the roll out of the therapeutic program . This might have been especially useful in my meetings with administrators who were skeptics , that only gave me about 10 minutes of their time to explain my program . I could have attended those meetings equipped with visual copies of personas , and asked them to tell me about which ones reminded them of their students to generate a quick , more emotional connection to the students ’ stories .