What can Teachers, Tech Coaches, IT Support, and Administrators Learn About “Collective Teacher Efficacy” From F1 Racing Pit Crews?
Some may view F1 racing as an epically pretentious, colossal waste of time, but we can all learn from the way F1 pit crews function
Formula 1 is a dynamic, ever-evolving sport with constantly changing technology and regulations (like school). The relentless pursuit of improvement and innovation is ingrained in the DNA of Formula 1 (maybe not so much like school). In the 1950s, the typical pit crew team consisted of four engineers— today there are as many as twenty specialized crew members in the pits.
Pit stops became faster and faster as the sport caught up to the reality that pit stops play a critical role in race outcomes, and teams gradually involved more and more people in the process. Equipment and performance improvements have evolved so that average stop times take 96% less time today than they did when F1 began in 1950.
What makes high-touch support and collaboration like this possible?
Matching outfits and headsets help, but it’s the shared vision— clarity, and planning done ahead of time and around the work of helping the driver (teacher) succeed that drives the teams. It takes collaboration, communication, and consistent feedback loops—as without feedback, a system does the same thing again and again.
A pit stop is the educational equivalent of a specialist integration
Having this collaborative purpose/vision means they’re all working on fueling and changing the tires as quickly as possible, making the car go faster (more students learning) and keeping the drivers (students & teachers) safe from accidents. Yes, it’s all of those, but they all share a much bigger purpose, too. Even though the pit crew members are all specialists, they think bigger than their specific task, focusing on the success of the whole as much their piece of the car (learning).
Ad hoc tech use, and the fire-fighting problem solving it creates, should be avoided because of this tendency toward invoking Process Behavior Jams (PBJ). Instead, collaborative Practice, Insight and Execution (PIE), all the time, every time, as much as possible wins races. (eg- good days teaching; everybody loves PIE, PBJ, not so much)
Commonalities with team dynamics that contribute to the success of F1 crews that inform our practice in teaching teams are:
* Preference for collaboration (scheduled meetings ahead, or just in time). Does everyone on your team dig collaboration because it’s a catalyst for “winning”: innovating, getting support and avoiding unplanned jams?
* Periodicity of feedback; not just per lap, but per race, per season (or per lesson, per unit, per year). Deliberate periodicities of feedback aid understanding, optimize readiness for intervention, and inform changes and improvements.
* Listening to & leveraging the driver/user feedback (staff, students, admin, IT). Are you consistently monitoring that all user needs are being met as effectively as possible? Is your work “computationally kind” to your users; eg- systems and processes that are easily accessed and focus on usability and engagement for students?
This is just one example to begin to build our mental models around what is possible if we consistently apply a systematic approach that focuses on collaboration and collective efficacy—it’s the top of what moves the needle for gains in student achievement. (Hattie, Visible Learning)
Asking questions, digging, double-checking, and caring enough to push through the inertia of “we’ve always done it that way” (ad-hoc) is the key to identifying and redesigning systems and processes that fritter away–in large and small increments of PBJ– hundreds of hours of our most precious resource—human brain cycles.