Separate the signal from the noise
this coming school year
Nate Silver, the approachable genius-type from FiveThirtyEight.com who correctly predicted the winner in each state and D.C. in the last presidential election, wrote an engaging book called The Signal and the Noise, which rocketed up the Best Seller lists after that accomplishment was touted by his skilled publishing team.
In the book, Silver dissects the public’s fascination with – and often misuse of – statistics to make a case, predict a result, set a marketing plan, and so on, using examples such as weather forecasting, political prognostication, and even the use of stats in sports. (Silver has since joined ESPN, applying his talents for sorting and analyzing data exclusively to sports.)
You don’t have to be a statistical geek to enjoy Silver’s book, and its basic premise carries a lot of truth for school district leaders who often have a difficult time separating the “signal” from the “noise” in their efforts to build and nurture strong school/stakeholder relationships.
We’re attracted to the noise, of course, because of our natural human desire to be liked by everyone we encounter. In the school district world, noise can take the form of a nasty e-mail. A frequent flier who shows up at every BOE meeting, singing the same song, next verse on his or her pet peeve. A person who uses any bully pulpit he or she can find to make things unpleasant, and so on.
It’s probably easy to see these individuals as falling under the “noise” category. But your district’s biggest cheerleaders fit the description, too, because they aren’t really representative of the views of typical patrons. (We define these folks as the “happys” and the “unhappys” in our work with school districts, and in our own book, School Communication that Works.)
The natural response is to be drawn to the supporters and to try to please (or educate) the negative folks.
The net result? Your efforts to build strong relationships with stakeholders are being dictated by the outliers – further separating you from the masses you need on your side.
If you’d like to separate the signal from the noise in your district this coming school year, here are some steps to take:
- Appreciate the supporters and manage the naysayers. Get past the fanciful notion that everyone – if given the right information – will eventually see things your way. Continue to communicate cordially with the negative folks, but keep their passion at arm’s length. By the same token, enjoy your encounters with positive stakeholders, but keep a realistic view of their prevalence.
- Keep your messaging simple and consistent. You can’t keep people from blogging nasty things about your district (for example), but you can create doubt in the community about the validity of their opinions. How? By overwhelming your stakeholders with regular evidence about your district’s strengths, using a small set of repetitive themes.
- Research your community. If it’s been a while since you took the temperature of your community-at-large, now might be the time to do so. Avoid methods like online, mail and public meetings that only draw the familiar faces. Instead, look to phone surveys (landline and cell numbers) or any other truly representative approach.
