Quick point of explanation: This post is related to a personal blog assignment for a class titled “Differentiating Curriculum and Instruction” which is part of the Educational Leadership doctoral program I am completing at Evangel University. To learn more about this fantastic program, click here.

The last couple years have brought many unique challenges to every industry, but there have also been many silver linings. One of those silver linings includes the accelerated acceptance of personalized learning as well as the accelerated acceptance of personalized work environments.

To remain operative, schools and workplaces have had no choice but to be flexible in empowering learners and workers to take ownership of their learning and working environments.

Teachers were thrust into situations where learning methodologies were changed on the fly with learning materials being offered in several different ways including packets, online modules, and self-guided or self-directed options. Teachers had to quickly personalize the learning experience for their students based on each unique context and personality.

At the same time, employers were forced to personalize the working environments around each individual employee. They had to consider the out of office working environments, employee personalities, job roles, requirements, and expectations for each individual employee. Some could work from home with no issues while some could not. Some roles which were previously thought to be impossible to work from home were revealed to work quite well in working from home.

This experience has brought personalization to the forefront of the conversation for many schools and companies. Liana Jameson, writing for Work Design Magazine, says this, “Research suggests when we own more of our time, we feel like we’re in charge of our lives and our schedules, which makes us happier and, ultimately, better at what we do.” Additionally, the authors of our textbook state, “When learners have a choice in what they are learning, especially if it is something they are passionate about or interested in, they jump in and sometimes get lost in the task or project.” (Bray & McClaskey, 2015)

In the University Advancement office at Evangel, we are being diligent and intentional with our efforts to keep personalized workspaces and experiences as part of our new normal.

For me personally, I feel sometimes caught in the middle when it comes to hybrid examples of personalized work. I have experienced the benefits and possibilities of being able to keep projects moving and having more time to think deeply about projects when I personalize my workspace in ways that fit my style, schedule, and personality. However, there is the long-held belief in traditional office work that if someone is not in the office, they must not be working. In development work, where we are constantly attending events, off campus meetings, and travelling, that belief is not held as strongly, but it can still be an unspoken belief infiltrating the office. At the same time, in development work, it has been said that the more you see a Development Officer in the office, the less he/she is out in the field building relationships.

Educationally, personalized learning has gotten me through this program! As an outsider to the K-12 educational world, I have had to personalize many of my assignments to achieve the objectives and outcomes for each class. This has forced me to think more deeply about certain theories and assignments to apply them properly in my context.

As an adjunct faculty member and board member at a local private school, I am continuing to become a stronger advocate for personalized learning. If we consider a classroom or group of students as a small organization, then the parallels with the best forms of successful organizational leadership are obvious. Like parenting, the methods we use to teach or lead others will not be effective in the same way for each student or individual.

Employees play an important role in creating their own motivation for success. They are not robots who come from the same backgrounds, contexts, and life experiences. Thus, the things that motivate them or which they care most about are going to be different. The ability to motivate an employee or a student comes down to the ability of the leader or teacher to develop a relationship. In relationship, we can learn and discern how to effectively personalize the experience for students and employees.

As a leader coming out of the unique experiences from the past couple years, embracing personalization has been the key to developing our team and also attracting and retaining talent. We had a team member whose husband took a job in Michigan during COVID so the question became, can I work remotely and move to Michigan? Yes. Prior to that, we had someone who would be a great employee fill a key role for us, but who did not want to move her family from St. Louis. No problem. And just within the last year, a key team member was pregnant and wanted to adjust to working primarily from home after she had her baby. Absolutely!

Additionally, we have had more traditional team members who office with us every day who have had family issues put them in a position where they felt they needed to choose between family and work. Through relationship, we worked together to remove the choice, and they were able to travel to take care of their family while working successfully.

I believe this flexibility and personalization for each individual context has contributed to our team’s strong chemistry and achievement of a record fundraising year at Evangel.