From Parent Education to Growing All Learners

Early in the ERG story, Alice was called to a day of jury duty. While she was waiting there all day, she read a book that had been recommended to her as a way to build some business background. It was called Good to Great by James Collins, and The Hedgehog Concept was at the heart of the book. The basic idea is that you need an intersection of what you are passionate about, what you can be the best at, and what people will actually pay you for.

As it turns out, in ERG’s story that last little circle – what will people pay you for? – is the kicker.

We had passion, and we never doubted we could bring educational expertise to the table that would make us the best. But we quickly learned that our original idea of providing parent education to families was not something people would pay us for. Oops.

We learned from experience that we could create workshops to help support families of young children bridge the gap from home to school. We knew this was a problem and we could be the solution. Hope and I could teach parents all sorts of insider things like education jargon and ways to support math and literacy development at home. We could answer their questions and help calm fears and also point them toward resources.

It turns out – and ironically, we already understood this for ourselves – that families with young children don’t really have time to take workshops at night or on weekends. Like Hope and I during that time, parenting was another full-time job already, and the add on was just not sustainable. That didn’t mean ERG Parent Education workshops were not valuable or that we had not worked hard enough; it simply meant we could not sell directly to parents. They just would not pay for it.

So, we pivoted before pivoting was cool.

At our card table, we reflected and asked questions. We started thinking about who would pay for support services. Who could possibly have funding to educate and develop adults so they could help students achieve? Who would actually pay ERG on a regular basis to support them? The answer was obviously not random families running around town who are just trying to get two matching shoes on themselves and their child. 

Instead, the answer was schools. We pivoted our time and energy towards schools, and just like that, we were able to fill up that third circle and actually pay our bills. With a little bit of reflection and a slight shift, ERG was on the way from being good to being great. 

For Reflection:

• When things are not working well, what barriers prevent you from recognizing and owning it?
• In order for you to pivot, what is currently within reach with a slight shift? 
• Where do you already have passion, expertise, and resources? What is one step further?