In conversation with Elsa Fernandes

Introduction

While walking through the old centre of Funchal, the capital of Madeira, I was preparing myself a bit to see how I could connect different stories in time. The Madeira University, a Portuguese public university founded in 1988, established its headquarters in an impressive old building originally founded by the Jesuits community in the 16th century.

These academic headquarters was the location where I found myself having a dialogue on Female Leadership and Managing Change with Dr. Elsa Fernandes, vice dean of the Madeira University on February 23rd, 2023. I was convinced that Dr. Elsa, a professional in mathematics and an inspiring leader, could share with me a variety of stories which would enable me to bridge the past with an innovative academic future

While entering this ancient building I walked over cobblestones and massive old staircases breathing the art of craftsmen of centuries back. I felt at ease. I approached the reception and asked for Dr. Elsa.

…’Dr Elsa ainda esta em uma reuniao… voce pode esperar por dois minutos, por favor?…’
…’Claro Signora, nao problema. Deixe-me saber sempre que ela esta pronta para me encontrar…’ I replied.

A strong Portuguese espresso with a small pastel da nata compensated the waiting time

The Dialogue

I introduced the dialogue topics to Dr. Elsa Fernandes, currently focusing on new ways of learning in education, and kicked off the conversation with the question: can you share a story and some of your experiences about a change process which impacted your professional life?

She nodded and collected her thoughts. She prepared our dialogue by sharing a project: how to improve the educational teaching process by developing a new methodology and tools for teachers in mathematics in Madeira. The project started in 2006 and lasted until 2014. The Portuguese government approached Dr. Elsa to implement necessary innovations in learning mathematics to create better results. A main condition in order to achieve the expected results was to have more motivated students in primary schools and high schools in Madeira. The focus was on teachers across Madeira, their mindsets and attitudes towards students and their colleagues as obviously this is one of the critical success factors as well.

Dr. Elsa was aware of the technical aspects of the project, however, even more focused of the nontechnical parts of the project: how to change the ways of teaching, more specifically the mindset and behaviour of these experienced professionals?

Dr. Elsa shared: ‘important for my project-team, consisting of 14 female teachers and myself as the leader of this change process, was to focus on how to change the mindset and the attitude of all our Madeiran colleagues during the process of teaching maths. How to guide a student who will be at the centre of this learning process? We need to focus on long-term results by asking ourselves after completing the change: how to sustain the initial achieved results?’

This challenging story reminded me of an academic project I, myself, managed in the Netherlands around 2004: how to guide professionals of several universities of applied sciences to guide students who should be in the epicentre of any learning process? The challenge at that time was to trigger, stimulate and motivate the professors to add a more coaching and guiding style of teaching to their usual approach. I can share that this wasn’t an easy task for everyone. In Madeira, the challenge was apparently the same in 2006. I shared that story with Dr. Elsa and we both agreed that irrespective of time, disciplines, and location, changing teaching methodologies according to the needs of the end-users, will always be key in the area of knowledge institutions.

I was more than curious about the setup of her team in 2006. ‘Why were only female teachers part of your team?’, I asked. Male teachers apparently had other priorities she explained to me. They were too busy or realized that the project would have an impact on themselves as an individual professional: a change in their mindset and behaviour was a must and the question was if they were ready. I told them clearly, they could join the project at any time, if they felt ready

The turn around

Dr. Elsa continued her story by expressing her philosophy and vision of the project of developing and implementing new ways of teaching in mathematics:

…’Our philosophy and vision was to train all the teachers in Madeira in the newly developed teaching methodologies and tools. We collaborated intensively with them from day one and supported them during tough moments. We also were present in the classrooms to figure out together what could be the best answer to new questions from the students since we worked with new ways of working. It was very exciting, yet scary at times too.…’

How many teachers have you trained from the start was my next questions.

‘...Well, first of all, I trained my small team of 14 people by myself. I trained them in more technically oriented innovations and how to develop all kind of new methodologies and tools. Moreover, I focused on how to guide the required change on individual and team level at all the schools and lyceums of Madeira Island. The content of the implementation was clear. The process of the implementation on such a scale was new, for all of us…especially how to lead and guide all the unexpected changes with the people involved.’

Dr. Elsa was quicker than me taking my next breath and said: ‘before you ask your next question Marianne, which is probably about scaling up the project, I would like to mention something else. Our strong team of 14 members having the responsibility of implementing something so new was one of the success factors of this project. Without this team we were not be able to realize the educational goals of the Portuguese Government. Furthermore, it was values that brought us to success as well. Values like respect, two-way communication and trust were and still are main conditions for us to collaborate and communicate. You know when you are respected or disrespected. In my view, when you talk about change, it’s all about human engineering. As a leader you must be aware and behave accordingly. Indeed, modelling behaviour plays an important role to keep the team and the goals in place. I felt this as my responsibility throughout the journey.’

‘We started to implement the project with a pilot of 50 teachers. After achieving the first round of goals we trained the teachers such so that they could take it forward themselves and train their colleagues in the same methodologies and tools. Simultaneously, we supported them in guiding their colleagues through the change process. We started with 50 teachers first, then 150, up to 250 and so on. While sharing this story to you Marianne, I hardly believe how much work we have done to improve the education and teaching methods of mathematics in Portugal. I'm grateful for the competences I developed to lead change. My passion for innovation, my love for my work and my colleagues and the experiences led me to applying the same in my personal lives. I got better in understanding my fellow human beings during rocky times. I also developed an ability to shift old habits to new and better patterns. Patterns, invisible at the beginning of a change, yet slowly appearing on the horizon while moving along the change. And last but not the least, I surprised myself with my perseverance. I will simply never give up....’

I observed Dr. Elsa’s passion and pride. She was reliving this change while taking me through the story of leading change between 2006 to 2014. It was about tackling resistance and reviewing happy and tough moments while asking ourselves ‘did we achieve the results to sustain the learnings for the future? She wondered what was left today of the project completed in 2014? I empathised with her as I know the feeling of completed projects you were once in charge of. As if Dr. Elsa could read my mind, she continued: ‘letting go is an important part of leading change, which is easier said than done’. ‘...In my current work with lots of responsibilities like AI, robotics, VR, and new ways of doing research with newly developed teaching methodologies I can apply all my learnings gained during this fantastic project...’

I thanked Dr. Elsa Fernandes for her openness and honesty and started walking towards the exit of this old and characteristic building realising I was back into the 21st century. I felt a fresh new spark of inspiring wisdom. I walked to my old cafe near Rua da Santa Maria. The café had a lovely owner and while chatting with him, he started to share his knowledge on baking a sweet pastel de nata.