The Good Project Core Concepts: Alignment and Misalignment

by Danny Mucinskas

Think about your current work and the organization or team that you are a part of. Take a moment to ask yourself some of the following questions:

• What are my goals? What are my colleagues’ goals? What are the goals of our organization or workplace?

• Do my colleagues share my opinions about our shared goals?

• How are the goals of our work made visible or tangible?

• What can I do to understand and bridge areas where others do not share my own views of our work?

It might be the case that you feel you know your goals well, that common goals are shared and discussed in your organization, and that others around you also subscribe to them. Or, less fortunately, you might feel the opposite.

In a previous blog post (linked), I emphasized the importance of personal and institutional mission statements and the role they can play in answering some of these questions and in guiding work to common purposes. Mission statements can help clarify the goals of individual and shared work and help to guide decisions.

When our team began The Good Project and researched a variety of professions, we looked not only at individuals but at all the constituencies involved in the work (e.g., in education, we spoke to students, teachers, administrators, and parents). In surveying the opinions of the various constituencies, we found two general states among the sectors we studied.

• Alignment: The people involved in a workplace or profession share the same goals as one another and have similar views of what constitutes success. Using the dimensions of “good work,” people in aligned workplaces or sectors have common understandings of excellence, of ethical behavior, and of what engages them in the work. This makes it easier for people to do good work with one another. It makes it more likely that quality, enjoyable work will be done together and less likely that ethical breaches will occur.

• Misalignment: The people involved in work together do not share similar goals or views about what their work should achieve. This situation can be due to differences of opinions at the individual level or to underlying structural issues. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to agree upon what successful work looks like. People are likely to work at cross-purposes, and “good work” is less likely to be achieved. Workers may feel disconnected from one another, and ethical mistakes can be made.

At the time of our investigation, we observed prototypical examples of aligned and misaligned professional domains.

First, genetics represented an aligned area. The interviewees we spoke to were united in a single common vision of bettering human life through scientific discovery. The common purpose united workers, providing them with a shared sense of excellence and a conviction that the work was serving ethical ends.  

Second, and not as happily, journalism was misaligned, especially between constituency groups. Depending upon their role, workers in the field seemed to have different priorities for what journalism was supposed to be or achieve. For example, while editors might have wanted to ensure profitability and involvement of their media outlets with high profile issues, rank-and-file journalists wanted to take part in investigative reporting that interested them, and readers and viewers of news largely just wanted to obtain information quickly and for free.

These two examples serve as models that might apply or relate to numerous workplaces today. Many of our readers come from the education sector, and if we were to guess, we might say that education is likely misaligned as a whole, although there are specific schools and institutions that have been able to help resolve or bring these misalignments together to form something new. For example, Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner’s new book The Real World of College describes how higher education institutions are today torn between the desires of multiple constituencies (e.g., should colleges be places that prepare students to get jobs, to learn about a topic area in-depth, or to be personally transformed?). The authors make recommendations regarding how colleges today might react to these misalignments via better onboarding processes, for instance.

It is also possible to think about alignment and misalignment through a political lens. At the national level, the federal government of the United States has moved from a period of relative alignment about issues like environmental protection in the 1970s and 1980s and being “tough on crime” in the 1990s to extreme misalignment today about issues including climate change, healthcare, gun control, and abortion. As in workplaces, “good work” politically is easier to achieve when people are aligned. Congress was able to cooperate in the past to pass legislation that was effective. In the present, it is extremely difficult to see a productive path forward, given considerable misalignments in perspectives about the work that the government should be doing.

However, we also believe that misalignment is not a hopeless situation and can result in great creativity. Misalignments about the goals and purposes of work represent an opportunity for those who can to invest in repairing them and to problem-solve with others. If people within a workplace are experiencing misaligned perspectives, it may be time to launch a new program or protocol that will help people find commonality. While in most cases not simple or easy, the benefits of attempting to bridge misalignments will be worth it if doing “good work” becomes easier as a result.

In the end, none of us does our work completely alone without interfacing or at least having an effect on others, and we will all contend with areas of alignment and misalignment in daily practice. It is also likely to be the case that most organizations and fields aren’t completely aligned or misaligned but fall somewhere in the middle, with these two states as opposite ends of a spectrum. 

Consider where your workplace falls and how you might wish to open up conversations with others about the purposes of your work and what excellence, ethics, and engagement should look like in your context. It may also be useful to take stock of who the parties or constituencies are that influence your work, taking time to deliberately step back and reflect on where differences in views might cause difficulties or disagreements. For example, certain colleagues might make decisions influenced by personal pressures not experienced by others, or a supervisor might see the work of your organization fulfilling a different purpose than you do.

Below are some resources you might use to explore alignment and misalignment.

• A video explaining alignment and misalignment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4jkCNA48xg&list=PL5sNbw1uznitpzLCwnv49tgumEAh1bcxG

• The Good Collaboration Toolkit, a resource that attempts to create better alignment between partners in a collaborative endeavor

• “When In Doubt… Make It Excellent,” a dilemma about a teen working at a school newspaper and navigating expectations of others

• A blog on the meaning of solidarity at work

May 2022 Resources Round-Up

by Shelby Clark

Each month, we spend some time gathering and sharing some of the latest newsletters, podcasts, and other resources that keep us informed. Learn more below about new ways to keep up to date with the latest topics and issues related to social good, character, and education.

Newsletters you might want to sign up for… 

The TED-Ed Daily  (here)

TED-Ed aims to help educators “discover ideas that spark the curiosity of learners,” “create customized lessons for [their] students,” and “inspire [their] students to share their big ideas.” “The weekly newsletter delivers excellent TED-Ed content to your inbox every Saturday. It’s your one-stop shop for everything TED-Ed from the previous week including TED-Ed Animations, TED Talks Lessons, TED-Ed Best of Web and blog posts. Don’t have time to check ed.ted.com every day? This newsletter is a perfect solution.”

Jobs for the Future (here)

“Jobs for the Future (JFF) drives transformation of the American workforce and education systems to achieve equitable economic advancement for all.” JFF focuses on three areas: equity, employer needs, and the future of work. They “focus on today’s most urgent issues while preparing for the future.” Sign up for one or all of their many issues touching on topics such as policy, research, corporate leadership, and more. 

Podcasts that might interest you… 

The Education Gadfly Show (here)

“For more than 15 years, the Fordham Institute has been hosting a weekly podcast, The Education Gadfly Show. Each week, you’ll get lively, entertaining discussions of recent education news, usually featuring Fordham’s Mike Petrilli and David Griffith. Then the wise Amber Northern will recap a recent research study.”

How to Be a Better Human (here)

“Join How to Be a Better Human as we take a look within and beyond ourselves.How to Be a Better Human isn’t your average self improvement podcast. Each week join comedian Chris Duffy in conversation with guests and past speakers as they uncover sharp insights and give clear takeaways on how YOU can be a better human. From your work to your home and your head to your heart, How to Be a Better Human looks in unexpected places for new ways to improve and show up for one another. Inspired by the popular series of the same name on TED’s Ideas blog, How to Be a Better Human will help you become a better person from the comfort of your own headphones.”

People Taking Action Podcast (here)

“People Taking Action is a podcast intended to publish the inspiring actions of people fighting for a sustainable future. By interviewing leaders who are pioneering their own environmentally sustainable projects, whether it be in advocacy, climate change mitigation or adaptation, or technical and community projects, we want to bring their voices to the forefront. Drawing on a global network of inspiring professionals, this podcast brings a positive, upbeat and informal perspective to the sustainability podcast scene.”

Webinars to check out … 

CASEL’s Demystifying Systemic Social and Emotional Learning: 10-Part Series  (here)

“Educators around the globe are seeing an increase in demand and attention to social and emotional learning (SEL) to create successful and equitable outcomes for young people. As a result, education leaders are grappling with what high-quality, systemic social and emotional learning looks like in schools, what the current research says, and what policies will best support students. This monthly series of thought leadership webinars addresses ten key aspects of high-quality systemic SEL. Join CASEL and collaborators for insights on prioritizing academic, social, and emotional learning for all students across all school contexts.”

Next Level Lab’s Distinguished Speakers Series  (here)

“The Next Level Lab Distinguished Speaker Series launched in Spring 2022 to provide an opportunity for the broader community to learn from scholars who are engaged in work related to the learning sciences, innovative learning design and technology, and workforce development. Summaries of prior presentations are posted at the links [on this website], along with video recordings of the sessions where available. We hope you can join us when the series resumes in Fall 2022!”

Top 5 Articles - Spring 2022

by Kirsten McHugh

Over the last few weeks, there has been no shortage of provocative and interesting articles, books, and podcasts related to “good work”. As always, our team would like to share the Top 5 articles we have been reading with you all. We hope you enjoy these pieces, that they give you some “food for thought”, and that they contribute to your thinking about what it means to do “good work”.

1. In the latest Good Project Newsletter (link here), we highlight a few articles and tools for effective communication with those who hold beliefs or values different from your own. In keeping with the theme of encouraging respectful discourse, take a look at this article from The Ethics Centre’s Dr. Tom Dean, “How To Have A Conversation About Politics Without Losing Friends” (link here).

2. Ethics Unwrapped is well-known for their video series and case studies of ethical scandals. They also have a blog series in which they explore the behavioral ethics of scandals in current events. They recently released a third part in their series focused on the infamous “Varsity Blues” scandal (here), in response to the Sports Illustrated piece on Coach Center (here). This latest post by Robert Prentice takes a look at one of the central though perhaps less glamorous players in this story—a tennis coach who accepted a “marginally qualified” student in return for a bribe from the student’s wealthy parents. 

3. In a recent Slate Magazine article, Karmela Padavic-Callaghan and Hossein Taheri examine the barriers women face to fully participating in their careers and contributing to their fields. In their article “Women Have Been Disappearing From Science for As Long As They’ve Been Allowed to Study Science” (here), the authors compare the career trajectories of scientific heroines Madame Curie and Harriet Brooks, pointing out the differences in each of the women’s support networks, along with how that contributed to (or hindered) their ability to fully engage in their work. The authors draw parallels between the barriers that ultimately ended Brooks’s career and those that still affect many women today. 

4. Here at The Good Project, we encourage students to engage in respectful dialogue and deep reflection. Many of the lessons in our new curriculum (here), incorporate opportunities for students to discuss big issues, listen to the range of perspectives in their class, and identify what they personally find meaningful in their work as students and members of a community. A team from The Civic Engagement Research Group just published a new related study in the American Journal of Education. In “Is Responsiveness to Student Voice Related to Academic Outcomes? Strengthening the Rationale for Student Voice in School Reform”, Kahne et al. argue that strengthening student voice leads to academic benefits such as higher attendance rates and better grades. Access the article and a short summary here. 

5. Stateside, it seems like every conversation about work quickly leads to a discussion of “The Great Resignation”. There is a lot of “doom and gloom” talk by those who believe that Americans have abandoned their attachment to work and to their identities as professionals. However, Carolyn Chen argues in her recent article “What the Anti-work Discourse Gets Wrong”, published in The Atlantic (link here), that the work culture we see in places like Silicon Valley–where companies provide access to benefits such as meditation spaces and mindfulness retreats in an effort to foster “devotion to work”—is “not an outlier but a harbinger for American professionals.” Chen states that, despite the rhetoric, “...many professionals describe a good job with words such as calling, mission, and purpose—terms that were once reserved for religion.” 

   Our work highlights the 3 E’s of “good work”—excellence, ethics, and engagement. This framework came out of the original “Good Work” study of 1,700 professionals back in the mid-1990s. In that study, those participants who were doing what we would consider to be “good work” were very much finding purpose and meaning in their professions. Although the decades since that original study have seen many changes in the way we work, it appears that engagement holds steady as a central tenet of what Americans seek in their employment.

The Good Project Core Concepts: Responsibility

by Lynn Barendsen

As we think about what’s involved in carrying out good work and the challenges we face in our efforts, whether or not we realize it, issues of responsibility are often at the core of our decision-making. Some examples:

• Should I stick to my principles and speak up in a group meeting or go along with a majority that feels otherwise? 

• Should I confront my colleague about hurtful actions or remain quiet in an effort to keep the peace? 

• Should I tell the truth or remain quiet to protect someone close to me?

In the mid 1990s, when we began our research into what eventually became a study of good work, we interviewed well over a thousand workers in a variety of different domains. One of the most revealing questions we asked was “to whom or what do you feel responsible in your work?” Using this question as a reflection prompt for students and for educators, we have been struck by the impact of this simple inquiry. One student, having written a long list of his responsibilities, said “no wonder I’m so stressed!” Of course, simply making a list of responsibilities doesn’t mean that choices between them are spontaneously clear or obvious. But the process does help to reveal the factors that pull us in various directions, and sometimes this additional information can aid in decision-making.

When we grapple with ethical dilemmas, we are often wrestling with conflicting responsibilities:  responsibilities to ourselves, to our friends, to our families, to our co-workers, our workplace or profession, or to the wider world. Some of us express a sense of responsibility to our religion, to our identity or identities, to principles or ideals. Responsibility is a core idea on The Good Project for many reasons: how we understand our responsibilities (and which responsibilities take priority) is closely related to what we value and, which of those values have priority, how we construe our roles in the world, and what we understand our identities to be. Taking ownership for our work and its impact on the world is key to our understanding of what it means to do good work.

Over the years, we have written a great deal on the topic of responsibility. In fact, we’ve written an entire book on the topic, where various authors examine different aspects of responsibility through the lens of “good work” and additional perspectives: i.e., the relationship between creativity and responsibility, how responsibility may be understood differently by various groups (genders, types of workers, individuals who are/are not religious), considering responsibility as an “ability” to be responsive. 

In the world of education, teachers juggle multiple responsibilities, and during these past few years, many have felt overburdened by them. Although many tell us they feel their primary responsibility is to their students, they are conflicted about how best to fulfill these obligations. Some examples of dilemmas in which teachers struggle with responsibility might be found here (links in titles):

• The Protest: A teacher struggles to decide whether to take a stance about an issue she believes in (responsibility to ideal) or to respect another’s privacy (responsibility to colleague).

• Discriminating Decisions: An educator is deeply conflicted about following directions at work when the request conflicts with her core beliefs (responsibility to workplace versus responsibility to an ideal).

• The Meaning of Grades: A professor grapples between his responsibility to his beliefs (learning for learning’s sake) versus responsibility to his students (opportunities that might be lost if their grades aren’t top notch).

• Looking Good: The issue of grade inflation is explored from a slightly different angle as a teacher in a new pilot school is torn between his responsibilities to his students and to the school itself.

• Excellence at Risk: A teacher’s safety is at risk when a student threatens her, and she is torn about whether or not to press charges (responsibilities to self, to student, to the community).

We offer a number of additional resources on our website that address responsibility in various ways:

• This video describes the research findings that led to the development of the Circles of Responsibility.

• These writing prompts which encourage reflection about our various obligations and decision-making.

• This video, in which the GP team uses the idea of responsibility to unpack and analyze an ethical dilemma from our dilemmas database.

• Several blogs tackle the topic of responsibility from varied angles. Howard Gardner uses the rings of responsibility in this blog to analyze the life and work of John F. Kennedy. Two blogs consider responsibility in light of the COVID pandemic: Shelby Clark writes about encouraging student responsibility during the pandemic here; in this blog, Kirsten McHugh uses the rings of responsibility as a tool to reflect on how understandings of personal and professional responsibilities since the beginning of the pandemic.

Revisiting responsibilities regularly can be a useful exercise, especially as most of us are regularly juggling multiple obligations. Taking the time to pause, reflect and consider our responsibilities (perhaps using the 5 Ds as a guide) may help to identify core values driving our work.

Dilemma Discussions: An Overview for Educators

by Danny Mucinskas

The Good Project’s curricular resources, including our lesson plans and activities in our online database, focus in large part on discussions of dilemmas.

If you have never led a dilemma discussion before, we recognize that it may be daunting, as it is not always easy to open up a conversation with a room full of students that is not about a traditional disciplinary topic. As an educator, you might wonder how students will react to discussing a specific story, particularly if it deals with a sensitive topic or particularly thorny issue. You might also wonder whether students will find meaning in the activity, and how to keep the conversation “on track” by focusing on what is most salient. Here, our team provides further context about why we use dilemmas as a teaching tool; how you and your students might read dilemmas; and how a productive dilemma discussion in a classroom might unfold.

The Ideas Behind Dilemmas

Our dilemmas are narratives, each of which tells the story of an individual who struggles to make a difficult decision under complex circumstances. All of the dilemmas included in our materials are inspired by real-life cases, and they can be used to as a basis for reflection and conversation about how to do “good work.” As we define “good work,” it is excellent, engaging, and ethical. Oftentimes, the dilemma will involve someone who is torn between these three aspects of our framework of good work. For example, the narrative might describe someone who feels that performing their job responsibilities well would mean a conflict with their moral values, and therefore sacrificing ethics for the sake of excellence (e.g., a lawyer who is forced to defend someone who they believe is guilty of an abhorrent crime).

You can think of dilemma discussions as part of the tradition of the “case-study” method. Case studies are often used as a component of the curricula of professional schools, such as medical, business, or education schools. Such case studies provide students with authentic, in-depth problems of practice that they can discuss and analyze. As a result, they can develop insights that will be applicable in practice to their future careers. Dilemmas have been used as pedagogical tools in a variety of classroom environments, from elementary through graduate school. Additionally, dilemmas offer a powerful method of analyzing students’ ethical reasoning skills, a practice that traces back decades to the work of developmental psychologists like Carol Gilligan, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Jean Piaget.

Like the case studies of professional schools, the dilemmas compiled by The Good Project are intended for students to reflect upon and ideally discuss together, to analyze, and to extrapolate lessons. Our hope is that students will take these lessons with them as they inevitably encounter dilemmas in the world, in their schools and in their future workplaces.

Rather than adhere to any one domain or area of practice, our dilemmas cover a span of professional and academic settings. We chose to include a variety of environments in our narratives so that students can see what “good work” looks like no matter their life course. Additionally and ideally, students will develop skills that are applicable in any setting, including critical thinking, ethical reasoning, perspective-taking, and the ability to reflect.

Through dilemmas, students will put themselves in the shoes of others, gaining exposure to authentic problems that have arisen for individuals in real workplaces or schools. By engaging with the complexity of the narratives, students will become better prepared to make well-reasoned decisions. They will develop insights related to concepts like personal values, responsibility, and ethical frameworks. Using these concepts to pull apart what makes a dilemma complicated and vexing, students will be able to similarly confront real dilemmas that they are likely to encounter in their own lives and navigate them successfully to do “good work.”

How to Read a Dilemma

When looking at a dilemma for the first time, we recommend that you and your students prepare as follows. This process should help you to get the most out of the narrative and be ready to have a productive discussion together as a group.

1. Read the short version of the dilemma. Each dilemma begins with a 1-2 paragraph summary that covers the main elements of the narrative. (If time is short with your students, or you would like students to imagine details to add to a dilemma, you may want to use the short version only as a basis for discussion.)

2. Read the full version of the dilemma. The full dilemma will contain more information about the person at its center, what precipitated the situation, and which factors may have influenced  decision-making. As you read, make sure to highlight or write down information that is key to understanding the person and the circumstances that are described.

3. Look over your notes and scan through the text of the dilemma again. Now that you have an understanding of what happens in the case, it will be useful to ask yourself questions such as:

• Why is this situation a dilemma for the person described?

• What values are at stake?

• Are conflicting responsibilities present, and if so, what are they?

• What roles and identities does the person in the dilemma hold? How might these various roles and identities conflict? Would people who hold different roles handle the situation differently?

• Do excellence, engagement, and ethics play a role in the story? If so, how? If not, why not?

• What advice would you give the person in the dilemma?

• What other situations does the dilemma remind you of, perhaps in your own life?

It may be useful to create a mind map or other visual organizer of some sort as you analyze the dilemma. Or you could simply write down your thoughts under headings so you don’t forget your insights as you answer some of these questions. Feel free to use whatever aid to thinking and problem-solving works well for you.

4. Finally, consider your opinions about the conclusion of the dilemma. What do you think the person should do (or should have done), and why? Prepare to discuss or write about your opinions using evidence from the text or your own ideas about what might be missing.

How to Have a Dilemma Discussion

Dilemmas can be a source of individual reflection, but they are likely to be most fruitful as teaching tools in group settings. Classroom or small group discussions are ideal formats for students to grapple with dilemmas and to surface multiple viewpoints. Through discussion, your students will learn directly from their peers and be exposed to perspectives that perhaps they had not previously considered. They will practice sharing their opinions and resolving conflicts, and they will become more attuned to doing good work in practice.

We make a few recommendations for successful dilemma discussions below.

• Allow for debate. Students will (hopefully) have divergent views from one another, and it may lead to disagreements. Seek to uncover the source of differing opinions. Why does one student believe one course of action is appropriate in a dilemma, while another student prefers another course of action? Set ground rules for debate, such as those provided by the Better Arguments Project (e.g., “take winning off the table”) in co-designed workbooks available here.

• Ask open-ended questions. There may be lulls in the conversation, or students may not be talkative at first. Prompt them to contribute by asking questions that invite them to take part in the discussion.

• Probe for new ideas. It may seem like students are sharing only a few points, or the dialogue may be moving in circles. Try to expand the conversation by raising new points for students to consider.

• Encourage participation. It’s important that students be able to advocate for their views and that they feel the classroom is a safe space to do so. Students should also feel free to contribute examples from their own lives that may relate to the dilemma at hand. You may also wish to use strategies like picking names out of a bowl so students know they may be called upon, dependent upon your class norms and comfort level of students speaking up.

• Try different formats. It may be helpful for students to discuss first in small groups, to be assigned a position to advocate for in a debate, or to role-play as a particular stakeholder in the dilemma. 

• Maintain a climate of safety and respect. Students should make space for each other’s contributions and approach the conversation with kindness and empathy.

Importantly, an overall principle to keep in mind throughout the discussion is that there is no right or wrong answer to our dilemmas, even though there may well be better or worse solutions that merit discussion. Instead, a dilemma discussion is about the process of students asking one another questions, listening to perspectives, and understanding more deeply the circumstances that led to the dilemma to begin with, rather than arriving at any ultimate correct interpretation.

We hope you and your students enjoy working with our dilemmas! For a set of resources regarding structuring dilemma discussions in practice, including setting norms, developing trust, and how to deal with controversy, please see this post for more information.