Forces of Influence: How Educators Can Leverage Relationships to Improve Practice

by Fred Ende, Meghan Everette

In Forces of Influence, Fred Ende and Meghan Everette contend that schoolwide success starts with relationships—not only between students and adults, but also among all adults up and down the education hierarchy. It's by leveraging these relationships that educators can influence outcomes and effect real change. But how can educators make sure they exert their influence astutely and sensitively, navigating education's priorities and pressures while keeping their work focused on the mission? This thought-provoking book helps readers navigate this tricky terrain, introducing four "forces," or levels, of influence and explaining how educators can use them to support one another's practice and push for positive outcomes for all learners. The authors

* Explore each of the four forces—the pull, the push, the shove, and the nudge—and explain why they work and what research shows about their effectiveness.
* Introduce the Forces of Influence Leadership Matrix (FILM), a framework that identifies how the four forces connect and helps readers determine when to use which force, with whom, and how.
* Provide advice on how to course-correct by switching and layering the forces for positive results—and how to recover from setbacks.
* Offer copious tools to support this work, including role-plays, self-assessments, templates, and questions to spur reflection and action taking. Everything educators do requires them to build, sustain, and leverage relationships. With this guide, they no longer have to wing it.

Genres: Education

196 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2020

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professional development book club read. Good ideas. I'm glad I read it. Good reference for defining relationships and what goes into the forces of influence: the pull, the push, the shove, and the nudge. So-so about the authors' cutesy writing style at times. But overall good content quality.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forces of Influence: How Educators Can Leverage Relationships to Improve Practice by co-authors, Fred Ende and Meghan Everette, was pure joy to read. While the content is deep and useful, the tone and use of language made the book fun to read. Fred and Meghan get into the depths of how we use different forces to influence our relationships, with the intention of supporting growth for those involved.

The description of the four forces (pulls, pushes, shoves and nudges) and the examples provided, were spelled out so that it was easy for me to see the places in my own life in which I apply these forces. I was able to walk through aspects of how I may have made some of the decisions I made when using a force, and why some of the forces I applied were successful or not. Lots of questions for both self-reflection and group discussion are provided for readers to use to dig into the forces that have been applied, are currently implemented, or are intended for use in the future.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a really clear cut approach to making change. I really appreciate the vignettes which illustrate the big concepts and the consideration of more complex ways to approach change. For example, the authors examine how to layer different forces and give examples of what that might look like and they help troubleshoot when a force fails. I also appreciate the opportunities for self-reflection and worksheets to walk through my own leadership style.

[Michele Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forces of Influence is a practical guide to building productive relationships and outcomes. Ende and Everett have included anecdotes and tools to help build our skills at managing and leveraging influence. It will be a book I continue to use throughout my career.

[Susan A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was given to me upon request for leadership books. The push, pull, nudge, shove concepts are fine, but the writing in this book is incredibly dry. Too many ideas in one book.