Leadership GPS: Five Tools for Finding Your Pathway Forwardby Joe Schroeder, Ph.D.Associate Executive Director, AWSA
COVID was an unprecedented series of gut punches, with leaders often struggling just to keep the lid on the place. So how do we now help our schools and communities emerge to a better future? In short, how do we reclaim and deepen our identities as leaders of transformation through all the trials and complexity? This article will highlight five tools that you and your teams can use to promote reflection, find focus, build coherence, identify leverage points, and grow commitment to a better pathway forward. My expectation is that at least one or two of these tools can be used for your next team/staff meeting to better engage others and lead the change needed. In my work as a facilitator and coach of continuous improvement efforts with various teams and leaders over the years, the following tools have proven to be some of the most helpful. This table describes the purposes of each along with a link to the given tool. Under the table, I also provide some brief commentary about each one.
Common Root Cause Problems This tool ensures that leadership looks in the mirror when trying to improve teacher practice and student learning because, at its roots, the core problems lie at the organizational and leadership levels. Moreover, in working with countless districts/schools over past decades on continuous improvement and regardless of the specific teaching practices prioritized, virtually every system has the same three root cause problems: 1) getting focused, 2) being clear about what quality looks like, and 3) supporting teachers with many repetitions of practice, feedback, coaching, and support so that they can become deeply skillful in use of the focused practices. Solving them is not a snap of the fingers, but the numeric sequence provided in the tool is the most effective progression, as resolving the first problem provides momentum and greater ability to resolve the second, etc. Force Field Analysis This tool based on the work of Kurt Lewin asserts that the status quo for any situation is essentially the balance of various driving versus restraining forces. So if we wish to “move the needle” we can either (A) add a driver or (B) remove an obstacle. This tool is especially helpful as a brainstorming exercise that builds deeper understanding around the room and also as a reminder that oftentimes the best way to make improvement happen is to think about what barrier can be removed/minimized rather than adding yet one more driver to the equation. Managing Complex Change In leading for improvement, it’s often very easy to “lose the forest for the trees.” Therefore, many people find this tool helpful because it boils down effective change to its most essential elements and also because it describes shortcomings created when any key element is missing. This has helped many teams re-assess current improvement efforts and make a commitment to growing a missing and/or underrepresented key change element. Phases of Change For well over a decade, Michael Fullan has described the long-term change process as occurring in three phases: initiation, implementation, and institutionalization. This tool is helpful because it describes the leadership actions needed in each phase to support teacher practices moving through the three phases over time. This is especially helpful because leadership practice audits I have observed show that most often leadership actions remain largely in the initiation phase/column. Is it any wonder then why most initiatives for improving teaching practice stall out somewhere in early implementation? Leaders who avoid such a common problem do so by focusing on leadership actions within the implementation and institutionalization columns over time to provide the support their staff needs to be positively impactful with all their students. Theory of Action Whether or not we acknowledge it, we all have underlying theories that guide what we do. This tool helps bring that thinking to the surface in visible ways so that all the folks surrounding a problem can grow a common understanding of how to effectively take action and monitor progress over time. We find this short read a particularly helpful companion to anyone thinking about drafting a theory of action. In conclusion, leading for the change can seem a daunting task when the needs are so many and the work so complex, especially as we head out of the fog of a global pandemic. My hope is that providing these five tools in a concise, organized way and with a bit of background for each can shrink the cognitive load for you and others so that you can more efficiently get underway and/or go deeper with your leadership efforts. Regardless, please know that I am only an email ([email protected]) or call away (262.366.4903) if you would like to talk through any of this. Alternatively, diving more deeply into tools like these is a key part of our 2022-23 BEL and MLA academies, where registration is now open. So let me know how I can help, and best wishes for a productive and purposeful spring, everyone! References Fullan, M. (2007). Leading in a culture of change. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons. ORI Results. (2022). Managing complex change and the human element of customer experience. [Blog post]. Rasmussen, H.T. (2015, February 12). What’s a theory of change and why do we need one? [Blog post]. |