Simon Sinek’s work on starting with Why has been widespread, I have written some thoughts on this and how it relates to education in a previous blog. I do think though that there is one thing that is often missing from this model and that is the Who. 

When it comes to developing lessons for our students we should have a dual focus of Why and Who. The Why of what we are doing is of course our outcomes that we are trying to meet, but the Who is equally important when we consider how to best design that lesson. If we are not cognizant of our learners in the room, we will have a mismatch between the delivery of the lesson and the reception of them.

Who are our learners? How do they learn? How can we best match our instruction to their learning profiles? What do they already know? A simple example could be that you are working on statistics in math and in an effort to make it relevant you use hockey stats. When you finish the dynamite lesson that you felt was highly engaging, you later learn that your room is filled with soccer fans! Another example could be that you offered some choice instruction, but left out some options that many students would have availed of, or, you prepped for options that no one had any interest in. 

Getting to know your students, both as people and as students is an essential piece of good teaching. For leaders, this extends into your staff. Knowing your Why is crucial since it helps you to determine your vision but knowing Who you are leading is also critical. If you don't know where people are it becomes difficult to help them get to where they need to go (which is why things like professional learning needs inventories are important). Knowing Who you are leading allows you to capitalize on the strengths of your team, it also allows you to tailor your approach when collaborating with them. 

As an example, when I was teaching years ago my administration wanted to implement an imitative where teachers would be recognized in front of the school and then they in turn would do the same for the students in their classes. One of my colleagues was deeply uncomfortable with being recognized on stage like that and said he preferred a good job or clap on the shoulder to anything public. He was very willing to recognize student efforts, but did not want the same for himself. This idea was fantastic, it was about recognizing the efforts of students and giving them a moment to shine (which is something we need to do more), but for that teacher, it made them want to shut down and avoid it entirely. For this teacher, a different approach might have been a private word or a thoughtful note that to express the sentiment, while still allowing them to be comfortable with that exchange to carry forward the ideas embedded in the initative. I have met many teachers since then who would likely feel the same way and try to be mindful of them and their feelings when giving praise. 

Education is a people business and that will not, and should not, ever change. In fact, I would argue it is one of the most ‘people businesses’ that we have since we are literally in the business of developing students. Knowing our Why is absolutely important since it helps determine where we are going, but our Who is equally important since they have to come with us on the journey.