The Power of Finding Your “One Thing” in Changework

There’s a million things to do – so where do we choose to start?

In my day-job, I oversee professional learning for eight public schools, most of them in Western Washington.

In practice, this means I train and work with a team of coaches who then work with teachers in these different schools. Or said another way: I coach coaches who teach teachers.

And let me tell you: creating change within schools is pretty brutal work.

I love teachers (I was one after all), but we can be a fickle, stuck-in-the-muck type of professional. It’s not unusual to have a coach come to me with a specific refuse-everything-and-slam-the-door teacher in mind, asking what to do.

And I typically respond with a question:

Given what we know about this teacher and their needs, what is the one thing you can do that will move the needle?

Sometimes, the answer is to focus on building more of a relationship before trying to coach that particular teacher; sometimes, it’s to ask more questions or learn more about that teacher’s challenges. And sometimes, the “one thing” is so simple it can seem insignificant: just be kind and offer help when asked.

We often want to make big, bold change in big, bold ways.

But sometimes it’s the small, right-in-front-of-us actions that actually make the largest impact. Omkari Williams writes, “When babies are learning to walk, they are celebrated for each wobbly effort. One single step is an accomplishment. [We can] apply that same approach to what we are doing as activists.”

And just as Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother that masterpieces come not from “impulse alone, [but] a succession of little things brought together,” meaningful change is often made the same way.

So that’s the question I have for you this week:

No matter what the change is you seek to make in the world: What is the one thing you can do that will move the needle?

It is no small thing to do what we can do – especially in times that require our courage.