Reverb Consulting

I am so lucky to be able to be travel and be in different schools each week. It gives me a unique perspective as I am able to compare one culture to another, from one industry to another. Yesterday I had an amazing experience visiting New City School in St. Louis, Missouri. I traveled there from Memphis to see for myself what New City Head Tom Hoerr talks and writes about, and I was impressed with the mission driven, truly collaborative, student-centered learning community that he has grown and orchestrated.

As I left my hotel, Moonrise Hotel, a new, hip, boutique entry in the St. Louis market, I was thinking about shared vision and its tremendous organizing power in a culture. I was thinking of this because of two encounters I had upon checkout. One with the room service valet in the elevator and the other with the facilities manager who helped me find my car.

I love hotels because I am so familiar with their challenges and opportunities having run my own hotel in Memphis, which we developed from back-of-the-napkin to daily operation for 10 years. Our hotel, Talbot Heirs, existed quite successfully in the armpit of the most well known and historic hotel in the state, maybe the region, The Peabody Hotel, in downtown Memphis. One reason we were did was because we had a story to tell, and we told it consistently, loudly, and widely.

The room service valet thought twice before he entered the elevator with me. I recognized him for a few hours before when he brought my tray to my room. “The breakfast was wonderful,” I said. “In fact my whole stay has exceeded my expectations. I would come back. I notice this is part of Desires Hotels?” I said. “I am not familiar with them.”

“They are an boutique hotel operator with hotels in Miami, New York, Milwaukee, and I think L.A.,” he said, which impressed me that he knew. “We are their newest. We opened only 5 months ago.” I asked him how many rooms they had and about their theme, the moon. He went on to tell me about their growing success in the city and the sleek mystique the theme of the moon offers. I was impressed that he knew the vision. “Have a great day,” we offered each other in parting at the lobby stop.

The valet was away when I needed my car. The facilities manager grabbed my keys and we set out to look for my car which the valet secured the night before. “Who owns this hotel?” I asked him. He was able to tell me the owner’s name, the other properties he owned in the area, and the strategic vision of why this area needed a sleek, hip hotel. I was impressed.

When I arrived at New City School, amazingly, I had a very similar experience. I had the luxury of spending my first hour talking with a small group of parents who were sitting in the Parents Reception Area, a designated area with an area rug, couch, chairs, toys for preschool children, and a coffee station stocked by the school where parents are encouraged to linger. Imagine the impact this has on the perception and reality of the parent-school partnership. The parents, in a very certain yet second-nature way, were able to explain to me the vision and mission of the Multiple Intelligence framework of New City School. They were able to tell me the difference between New City and the other schools in the area. I was impressed.

Tom Hoerr collected me from the conversation with the parents and handed me a facilities map. He marked where I was, told me when to be back at his office, and sent me on a self-directed tour. I was impressed, for this reason: he wasn’t worried; he didn’t seem anxious that I might not see the school he wanted me to see. In fact, he was confident. I was impressed.

As I followed the noise echoing in the wide, turn of the century hallways, I entered classrooms quietly so as not to distract. Every classroom I entered continued their work without caring that I was there. If the teacher could break free, she would warmly greet and welcome me, asking if I were a teacher or a parent, trying to instantly calculate what I might be most interested in. In each instance I introduced myself, “Hi. I am Jamie, a consultant from Memphis.” I would show the map that Tom had given me and continue, “I am giving myself a tour.”

More than one teacher responded, “Tom gave you that map and said Go for it!”

I was immediately at ease, also laughing, “Exactly!” I said. Each teacher told me about the physical arrangement of her room and how it was laid out to support the development of the nine different intelligences and grade level theme that are the organizing framework of their curriculum. She would explain what her students were engaged in learning at the moment and invite me to stay as long as I liked. Even the substitutes that I encountered could tell me exactly the overarching purpose and framework of the school’s philosophy and of their daily work.

Everyone I interacted with relished the opportunity to share with me their work. None seems annoyed that I showed up, unannounced. That is not always the case when I tour schools.

Traveling through the spectrum of grades, I developed a full version of New City’s story, and it was consistent from class to class, teacher to teacher, and it was detailed and balanced. I was impressed that Tom was so aware and confident in his colleagues’ ability and joy in telling the story of New City School that no tour guide was needed.

I knew what I was experiencing was shared vision, shared leadership, and shared responsibility. I was seeing the work of collaborative, mission-driven colleagues proud of their environment, their students, and their work. Both at my hotel that morning, and on my self-directed tour, lots of work had been down to create shared ownership and stewardship, if you will, of the story of the place and the work. I was delighted and impressed and gratified in seeing the power of story recognized and utilized by two businesses in the same day.