Out on a walk this week, I ran into one of my neighbours who was also out walking his dog. He’s a high school teacher at a local school. From a social distance in our condo parking lot, I asked him how things were going at his school.
I know everyone’s region is different. Here in the suburbs of Toronto, we have a hybrid solution for high school. Separate small cohorts come in on alternate mornings. Learning at home the rest of the time. The teacher is the constant, going into the school every day. For my neighbour it’s working. It’s much better than what happened last spring.
I said, I had heard the same. I have a nephew in high school doing the same. And younger ones, logging onto Microsoft Teams each morning from home. It’s actually cool to see the young ones adapt so well to class being a virtual meeting.
I added – like an entitled techie – that I heard that some teachers are really struggling with the tech. The pandemic exposed that teachers really aren’t as tech savvy as they thought they were. Which makes sense as they don’t work at a computer all day like a typical office worker might. The chaos of the spring caught some of them unaware and scrambling. Some are really resistant to the changes. Which I find ironic because teachers should be all about embracing learning.
My neighbour agreed. He said most teachers in his school are adopting well. They gave them options of what they could use for virtual classrooms and assignments. A small few are completely lost. They don’t want to try to learn how to use anything new. He said they don’t realize this is the way things are going and they will be left behind. He shrugged.
Anyway… I’m not sharing this story to slam teachers. It’s just a familiar scenario for a lot us that know school age children. So it’s a good parable to highlight how easy it can be to let our own resistance get in the way of moving forward with our own marketing digital transformation projects.
Even if at the best of times we hold a learning and growth mindset. At the worst of times we can get bogged down in the craziness of “having to” change. And instead of adapting to the situation, we hold onto where we feel most comfortable. Even if that means we can be left behind.
So, is there any technology you are resisting getting more comfortable with even though you know your industry is embracing it? Do you question what is holding you back? What’s the biggest challenge for you?
