Principal Camilla Cream loved the facts, but never confronted the brutal ones. Principal Cream was always worried about what the staff thought of her decisions. Today she was fretting even more than usual. The school board was scheduled to visit. There were so many people to impress.

Mrs. Cream  began her walk around all forty-two classrooms, but none seemed quite right.  She stopped inside Mrs. Red’s room and looked at the students.  Then she screamed.  “Oh my Heavens!” she cried.  “You’ve turned into worms!”  This was certainly true.  Some of the students at Shannon Elementary were now scary, slimy, and squiggly.  Principal Cream had to do something before the school board came.

On Tuesday, she had the teachers display their data walls, but more students turned leg-less.  On Wednesday, she asked the teachers to make sure attendance was turned in on time, but even more students became creepy and crawly.  On Thursday, Principal Cream demanded every room have a safe place. 

But, by now all the students were giant invertebrates with faces. Nothing worked. That night she called five specialists to help examine reality.  

On Friday, Mr. Collins, Mr. Senge, Mr. Lencioni, Mr. DuFour, and Mrs. Dweck went to work on the students of Shannon Elementary.  “Oh what we have here is a bad case of squiggly worms.  One of the worst we’ve ever seen!" the experts exclaimed. "Someone has not been analyzing all the facts of reality."

“I think I can help,” said Mr. Collins brightly.  “Ask questions about the problem to better understand it instead of having all of the answers.” 

"Just like little kids, we have to ask, WHY?"

“Mine for conflict to get to the bottom of this squirmy problem.” declared Mr. Lencioni .

"Then, actually talk about it. The right people need to be in the right type of meetings and not be afraid to speak up, yell, or express themselves.",

“Analyze how your own decisions affected the students,” Mr. Senge added. “To cure the system you can’t blame one part.”

"You must take responsibility for your bad decisions and learn from them. My friend, Mr. Collins, calls it conducting an autopsy without blame. I say, organizations learn through individuals that learn."