The purpose of the Anklebiter's Handbook is to help instructors and others at NOLS who are fighting battles with the administration. I spent years doing this and these are my observations about what works and what's important.

The advice I wish I had had when I came to NOLS Naturally you want to nurture the administrators. You want to encourage them to be the kind of role models who display the lifestyle, values and attitude that wilderness people admire. But the fact of the matter is that increasingly they aren't, and much of it is for reasons beyond your control. So don't take it personally, and don't get burned out trying to "fix" them. Energy I invested in courses and friends paid off into something I will have for good. Energy I invested into trying to reverse NOLS's slide into "corporate" goals, attitude and style was gone forever. Don't let your altruism burn you out. Whether NOLS will remain you want it to be is beyond your control; how you feel about your time there is within your control. No one in the NOLS administration will care whether you leave happy, inspired and optimistic, or bitter, angry and resentful. It's your choice.

Ed Abbey said it better than I have: 

Here's what you're working against: your own organizational culture. NOLS administrators see instructors the way NOLS instructors see students. Think about it: students consistently ask for more pounds of trail food, but instructors never ask the rations people to provide it. Why? Because the company has a culture that says instructors know better than students. So advocating that students get more trail food is no way to impress the people you work with. In fact, rolling your eyes at the persistent requests of the students becomes a great bonding experience between instructors. Even though most of us were students at one time. Getting the picture? That's what it's like to be in the administration and be dealing with instructors.

So here's what you have to do: you have to influence administrators from above and below. The Board is the "administrator's administration," and as long as it keeps sending the message down that the admin is doing fine, instructors and other "employees" have no hope of changing the school's direction of travel. You have to woo the Board into echoing your concerns. And unfortunately few of the Board members are still deep enough in the wilderness community to really care about the details of what NOLS stands for. BUT there is one little fact on your side: just as administrators feel a commitment to make time to hear anything students want to tell them, Board members will make time to hear you out. It's part of their job. And just as every now and then administrators like to honor a student complain by censuring an instructor, you can get the Board occasionally to censure an administrator.

Other limitations of your organizational culture…

 It is taboo at NOLS to complain about someone without confronting them first. So administrators will not take it kindly when you contact the Board, just as you would not take it kindly if a student went to your debriefer to complain about you without first telling you. So you either have to get comfortable with breaking the taboo, or you must get comfortable with confronting administrators.

 Do give feedback to administrators. Challenge them not only on their decisions, but on their attitude, behavior and words. Be prepared to argue your points coherently and don't hesitate to challenge their ground rules if they limit what you can say (e.g., the forum topic ignores the real issue).

It is taboo at NOLS to complain about something if you cannot offer a alternative, productive solution. Be positive, but don't sit on a gripe simply because you can't think of a solution to suggest.

It is taboo at NOLS to get angry. Anger is considered a sign that productive discussion is over. Unfortunately this has been generalized further to also mean that anger is not significant: it is not part of the "equation" of discontent at the school.

Don't be overly concerned about being too confrontational. If you are angry, let there be anger. If you disguise it, you may contribute to the illusion that there is no real problem. But be aware that the presence of anger will usually provoke them to dealing with the anger itself, rather than the issue. So don't expect anger alone to produce more than damage control.

Secondly, you have to present a consistent message that the administration, when it finally tires of opposing you, can just say "Yes" to.

Don't be confused that the person who is defending something you have a problem with is a person whom you like. The presence of excellent people does not imply the presence of good decisions or leadership. It is up to you to help them bridge the gap.

Do try to develop a consistent set of points that are yours. This is a good way to double-check that you aren't simply blowing with the prevailing wind. It also reduces the amount of time and energy you have to put into thinking of a response to the next unacceptable thing that comes from an administrator. (Not to be negative, but it seems like an endless stream sometimes: don’t they get the message?)

Don’t count on the "channels of communication" to reproduce your message faithfully at the other end. If you tell your supervisor or debriefer that (a random example here) "the Mission Statement is a meaningless piece of shit that inflates the administration's ego," the message will arrive at the top levels (where someone can make a difference) stripped of its emotional and body language content. It becomes an insipid "There was some dissatisfaction with the mission statement."

Do take your ideas, objections, praise straight to the high level people who can make a difference. If you discover that the person you have chosen feels they have no latitude to change their decisions/behaviour because of what they are hearing from above, go up to their supervisor. And up and up until you find the person who can make a difference. NOLS is tremendously vulnerable to role modeling and expectations from above.

Don’t be attached to the expectation that because you gave input it’s going to be followed. Resentment on your part does not impress them. (Again, think of the student.)

Do state in your feedback the consequences of the outcome. The point here is not to be pushy – it is to exercise your personal authority and communicate effectively your attachment to the outcome. If your actual thought is "If he doesn't change this, I will no longer recommend NOLS to other potential instructors" (imagine how hearing that from a student would get your attention!) then say it. If instead you wrap up with something mild like, "I just wanted to let you know how I feel about this issue," you just threw away your influence.

Do ask for a response. A requested response requires a person to make a decision about answering you. They must blow off responding, or they must answer and be aware of whether they are telling you what you want to hear or not.

Don’t accept an argument that what you are advocating isn’t in the Mission Statement. The Mission Statement was written to be improved upon.

Don’t necessarily accept the argument that organizations have to grow. The world is full of non-profits which have opted for growth in quality over growth in quantity. You constitute the organization, and it can be whatever you dream it to be. 

Do spend time with board members, if you are able. They have terrific influence and are very much the source of strategic direction at NOLS.. A board member can change the history of the school simply by asking a pointed question. (Whether you liked the outcome or not, look what happened when they asked "Why is there fasting?")

Don’t be cowed by the statement "It’s not in the budget." There is money at NOLS: the rest is a question of priorities. Budgets are designed by people, people you can talk to.

Do join and support the NIA – but don’t limit your involvement to participating in the NIA.. The NIA gets tremendous respect from upper level administrators and the board, but it is hampered by trying to build a consensus among instructors. When an idea reaches critical mass the NIA can lead the way, but until then you need to deliver your feedback yourself.

Don’t be afraid to tell someone who no longer instructs much - but has been at NOLS far longer than you - that you disagree with their philosophy or their decisions. As an instructor or in-town staff you are more closely in contact with students and the outdoor community than anyone else at NOLS. You actually have the clearest picture of whom NOLS serves, what the purpose of NOLS is, and what NOLS should and shouldn’t be doing. Don't be snowed by the idea that administrators have some kind of special knowledge that gives them a bigger or clearer picture than you have.

Do take opportunities to develop friends among the people who do not display the knee-jerk reaction of defending wrong decisions or attitudes: some of the branch directors, board members, and NIA people. They may have more clout than you do, and they are pleasant to talk to because they just ask questions and don’t try to justify. They may do no more than nod thoughtfully and thank you for your input, but you know your words went in and are being saved.

The Principles of Inquiry and Advocacy (from Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline) are a good model if you have to argue someone point by point into seeing your way (and if you find yourself in this kind of house-to-house fighting, why do you think that winning the argument will produce real change?)

Advocacy…

Inquiry…

When you arrive at an impasse (others no longer appear to be open to inquiring in to their own views):

When you or others are hesitant to express your views or to experiment with alternative ideas:

Newton's laws of administration. Understand what makes these people tick, and you have a better change of influencing them.

1. Administrators are influenced by their peers.
2. Administrators want to imitate their superiors.
3. People rarely lie at NOLS, but everyone is willing to avoid examining an idea that appears to be true and makes their life easier (such as the idea that NOLS courses never have an unacceptable impact on the land).
4. Boredom with their jobs causes administrators to begin projects which make trouble for everyone below them.
5. It’s easy to listen considerately to an instructor or in-town staff who won’t be present when the next decision-making session comes around.

Remember the proverb, "A sign is enough for the alert, but a thousand counsels are not enough for the negligent.

-- Idries Shah, Learning How To Learn