Challenge Networks and Gospel Choirs

February is here. Most New Year’s resolutions are long gone, and those that are still kicking may be on the way out. A precious few will see the light of spring. 

Resolutions aside, it can be tricky to muster the energy for anything when it’s dark by four. 

What makes the difference between what gets done and what gets lost? The answer lies in motivation. 

Motivation is essential. It is what urges us over, under, around, and through life’s adventures. 

Author Dan Pink wrote a book about it called Drive, which is worth reading. In it, he exposes the serious limitations of traditional, carrot and stick motivation, and he sings the praises of intrinsic motivation. 

Intrinsic motivation is an inner drive, and Pink argues this is what gets us to the mountaintop. Intrinsic motivation is the brass ring, and it is fueled by passion, purpose, curiosity, and belief. Building the stuff of intrinsic motivation is what life, and particularly school, is about. 

Ironically, one of the ways we cultivate our inner drive is from the outside. We use the people around us - our teams.  
   
These teams often fall into two camps  - tough love and enthusiastic support.  

Which do we need?

Last year, Drew Brees, an undersized and often underestimated NFL quarterback, broke the record for career passing yards. In an interview following the game he was asked what fueled his success. Brees gave a refreshing response. 

“I have so many people who believe in me. I want to prove them right. “

It would have been so easy, cliche even, for Brees to call out his naysayers. Instead, he thanked his enthusiastic supporters, his gospel choir.  ( I read an article recently that introduced the concept of the gospel choir as the epitome of enthusiastic support - I grabbed it.) 

When that enthusiastic support comes honestly and regularly from people you value and trust, it is particularly  powerful. At Country Day, our students have a gospel choir of peers and teachers who believe in each other and earnestly work for the success of those around them. This mentality is very TIGER PRIDE, and it works. It cultivates valued relationships well beyond Upper School commencement.  
The late educational leader Rita Pierson said that every child needs a champion. To take her message further—everyone needs a champion, regardless of age. We all need someone who believes in us—our worth, our ability to grow. 

Who is your gospel choir, the champions in your life that provide you with enthusiastic support? Who are those people for your children? 

Who do you champion?

Having a full-throated gospel choir is probably not enough. 

Professor and author Adam Grant espouses the benefits of a cultivated challenge network. A challenge network is a group of people you respect whom you ask to shoot holes in your work—your ‘tough love’ team. They are the editors who trim eight paragraphs to five. They are the devil’s advocates who ask the question that exposes the fault in the perfect plan. They help us keep our eyes on improvement. 

Your children have challenge networks. They include teachers, coaches, siblings, and you. They also include peers and the world of popular culture. 

Constructive feedback can be hard to chew coming from the best of sources. As adults, we filter the feedback, we curate our challenge network. As parents and teachers we have an obligation to help the young people in our care see the value of a feedback filter, and to help them be intentional in its development. At GCDS we are intentional about not only providing frequent informed feedback, but building the confidence and core knowledge in our students that allows them to craft their filters. 

Who is in your challenge network? Who is the challenge network for your children?

In both cases, what voices are too loud? What voices are missing? 

Knowing how you are most powerfully, effectively, and honestly motivated by those around you  is a worthy aim. We should pay attention to our motivators, and we should help the children in our care do the same. It can determine what gets done and what gets lost.