Touchpoints

TouchPoints book 

In the school I was teaching at previously, the Principal gifted us all a copy of the book 'TouchPoints' by Douglas Conant and Metter Norgaard as part of the pre-readings before a professional development (PD) workshop. It was interesting to me then as the book was about 'creating powerful leadership connections in the smallest of moments' with a business point of view (POV) including case studies from the corporate world. I remembered wondering how relevant the book could be as public schools were not really run like businesses. 

After reading the book, there were still some doubts in me although I appreciated the ideas and insights in the book. Nonetheless, after the PD workshop which was conducted by an NIE lecturer, I felt a sense of enlightenment as she helped us connect the dots and link how touchpoints can be thought about in the school setting.

Head + Hand + Heart = High Performance

In the book, the authors shared about how in every touchpoint experience there are 3 components; a leader, a stakeholder and an issue. So, leaders take the lead and make the initiative to offer help or support (Four Magic Words: 'How Can I Help') to the stakeholder regarding the problem. After the PD, I thought about how teachers as leaders in the classroom communicated and interacted with students and parents as major stakeholders in the 'business' of education.

Thus, the leader (teacher) needs to use his/her head, heart and hand to address those touchpoints. Note that the 'and' is bolded because if any one or more were missing there would be bigger problems that may arise.

Missing the mark

Thinking about addressing touchpoints with a designer's lens, a designer-leader would therefore take notice of opportunity areas and the take action based on the interactions/touchpoints. He/she should intervene as necessary using his/her head, heart and hand while committing to inquiry, reflection and practice respectively and working towards mastery. Then, the Design Thinking (DT) approach, with time and effort spent to empathise with the user (as a stakeholder) could kick in to add to insights and address the user's challenges/needs/problems with ideas and perhaps eventually a working prototype.

Summary (borrowed from NLB)

Quotable Quotes

"The average leader does not change until the cost of not changing becomes greater than the cost of changing. That may happen when he gets a bad performancce review, something blows up in his face, or he lands in a job where he feels that he's in over his head.

Leaders who want to be influential, in contrast, look ast leadership as something they must get really good at. Because they work at it, they improve, which makes them feel more committed, so they practice more and continue to accelerate their own development." 

Key Points: The Four A’s of an Effective TouchPoint

1. Alert
2. Abundant
3. Authentic
4. Adaptable