Leading in Uncertain Times

The concept of leadership hasn’t changed, although the conditions under which leaders work and learn sure have. Prior to COVID-19, the vast amount of uncertainty in education lay in societal changes resulting from the 4th Industrial Revolution. The world of work was being disrupted right before our eyes. A rapid evolution in artificial intelligence, automation, and advanced robotics should have served notice to anyone in the education space that things needed to change. No longer did a “this too shall pass” mantra carry any weight.  In the end, though, scalable change resulting in a transformation of teaching, learning, and leadership was more of an exception as opposed to the rule.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic came crashing down on the world.  Schools were not prepared, as nearly no one could have envisioned the mass closings for extended periods of time.  Triage resulted as educators valiantly put remote learning plans in place while attempting to overcome a myriad of challenges.  Curriculum must be revised, assumptions are taken head-on, and a school culture that focuses as much on equality and equity as it does everything else.

The bottom line is that the world has been turned upside down, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. In times of uncertainty, strong leadership is needed more than ever.  

Embrace vulnerability

It is a misconception that being vulnerable means you are weak.  On the contrary, it is a sign of strength. Brene Brown shares the following in Dare to Lead, “vulnerability is the emotion that we experience during times of uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. It is having the courage to show up, fully engage, and be seen when you can’t control the outcome.” Leaders use this as a tool to build strong relationships with the people they work alongside by making known what is going on in their heads. As the saying goes, …sharing is caring.

Demonstrate empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I shared the following in a previous post, “As leaders, it is important for us to imagine ourselves in the position of our students, staff, and community members. This gives us a better perspective on the challenges and feelings of those we are tasked to serve. Better, more informed decisions can result from “walking in the shoes” of those who will be most impacted by the decisions that we make.” Empathetic leadership builds trust and helps to create a culture where change will be more readily embraced in uncertain times. 

Exhibit courage

Now is the time to challenge assumptions, tackle bias, take risks, and make bold decisions. To move forward with needed change, we need leaders who are able to persevere in the face of uncomfortable situations and not back down when things get difficult. Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone.

Be a great listener

There are many ways to earn respect and build trust, both of which are needed to get change efforts off the ground. Active listening helps to accomplish both while opening up a leader to new ideas, strategies, and feedback. Research has shown many positive outcomes associated with excellent listening skills.

Health & safety first

As we continue to move forward in unprecedented times, the pandemic has made painfully clear that health and safety must supersede everything else.  Closing achievement gaps and addressing learning loss will always be critical, but in challenging and disruptive times, leaders must emphasize Maslow’s over Bloom’s.  

Model the way

Leadership is not about telling people what to do. It’s about taking them where they need to be. Don’t ask others to do what you are not willing to do yourself. Empowerment rests on leading the way through observable actions. Modeling helps to instill belief.

Ask questions

No one has or will ever have all the answers. To assume as much is unrealistic, to say the least. One could even say that there are no definitive answers in uncertain times.  The best leaders ask questions, and the more of them, the better. Developing, asking, and following up on the right questions can lead to answers that will help usher in the changes that are needed now and in the future.

Provide support

Support can come in many forms, such as resources, time, and professional learning opportunities.  It can also manifest itself through many of the points listed above, such as showing empathy, listening, putting safety first, and modeling.  Leaders need to determine what types of support they can readily provide as well as those that need to be acquired, such as needed professional learning on personalized/blended learning, purposeful use of technology, relationships, Tier 1 instruction, and digital leadership, to name a few areas.

Relentlessly communicate

You will not find an effective leader who is not an effective communicator. It’s all about getting people the right information at the right time through the proper means. During uncertain times you can’t communicate too much. Digital leadership is essential, and it compels us to meet our stakeholders where they are while employing a multi-faceted approach.

Learn from the past

A great deal has been learned since the onset of the pandemic and the social justice movement. We can ill afford to continue to do what we have always done and expect a different or better result that aligns with reality. Critical lessons have been learned, which can lead to new opportunities to transform teaching, learning, and leadership.  Leaders need to make sure past mistakes are not repeated.

None of us know what the future holds in the face of these unprecedented times.  What we do know is that schools and educators need leaders to guide them in ways that help to subdue the fear and confusion that naturally arises during uncertain times. Leaders set the tone, and they are needed more than ever to step up and accept this responsibility.

Want to learn more? Check out the presentation I did on the topic below. 

Leading in Times of Uncertainty with Eric Sheninger from Pear Deck on Vimeo.

Preparation for the New World of Work

A great deal has been written about the future and the importance of preparing students with the skills, mindset, and attributes necessary for success in a rapidly evolving world. Truth be told, this is quite the harrowing task and one that should compel us all to pause and critically reflect on not only where schools are, but more importantly where our students need them to be. If schools continue down the track of sustaining outdated practices we will continue to churn out a population of students that are only good at doing school.  This applies not only to K-12, but also higher education.  Change is not coming, it is already here beating down the door. 

Speaking of change . . . With the rapid pace of technological change, specifically advances in robotics and artificial intelligence, it is nearly impossible to hypothesize the types of jobs that will be available.  Thus, schools and education in general need to create a learning culture that not only inspires students, but also prepares them for success in their future. This means re-integrating trade-based courses and programs that use to be the norm in virtually every school.  After all, the world will still need plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and auto mechanics well into the future. The caveat here though is to employ forward thinking to create new areas of study and exploration. These revamped programs should afford students the opportunity to use real-world tools to engage in meaningful work that aligns with a future-focused vision. How well schools do this might ultimately determine not only the future success of our students, but a prosperous future in general. 

Without a crystal ball it is difficult to foresee with certainty what the future will hold.  However, an endless array of cues garnered from technological innovation affords us the opportunity to reinvent schools in ways that can give students a fighting chance in the new world of work. We first acknowledge the fact that the way many of us were taught and assessed has little value in today’s world, let alone the future.  The second acknowledgement is that an effectuation with standardized test scores, grades, and homework will only result in schools going deeper down the rabbit hole.  Something must give.

The new world of work presents a wakeup call of sorts. A business as usual model based on efficiency, repetition, and knowledge acquisition will only prepare students for a world that no longer exists.  Skills that emphasize the unique abilities specific to human beings will enable not only current, but also future generations of learners to prevail in a world where technology will eventually replace most jobs currently available.  The challenge for education is to begin to embrace new modes of thinking and innovative practices that are disruptive in nature and difficult to assess using traditional metrics.  This shift will not be easy, but the outcome could pay off tenfold. 

We are at a crossroads in education.  Traditional measures of success often blind us from the truth.  Consider looking at the current job market and see where the trends reside by conducting an audit.  Then compare these to your curriculum, course offerings, pedagogy, learning spaces, available technology, schedule, and other key components of school culture to determine how prepared your students are for the current workforce.  Take your audit one step further and determine how/if imagination, negotiating, questioning, empathizing, storytelling, connecting, creativity, and design are emphasized in your school culture. This audit will help you determine preparedness for the new world of work. 

The Silo Effect

It is hard to debate that education is the key to the future.  With each passing day new opportunities and challenges arise that will require a new generation of thinkers who can rise to the occasion.  Schools must unlock the potential within our students while preparing them for a rapidly changing world. For this to happen we must rethink the very essence of education and ask ourselves if our students will be adequately equipped to succeed in their future, not ours.  As the world changes, education and leadership must change as well. If it does not change, we then run the risk of preparing students for a world that no longer exists.

Herein lies the problem.  The silo effect in schools has created a false dichotomy as to what constitutes essential learning and skills in the 21st Century and beyond.  As a result, many school leaders think everything is awesome.  Just listen to the theme song of the Lego Movie and you will know exactly what I am talking about. Then ask yourself if everything is really awesome in your school? Or better yet, ask your students to come up with a list of all the awesome learning activities they get to engage in on a daily basis. Their answers alone can best predict the learning culture of a school and whether or not it is meeting their needs. It really doesn’t matter if the adults keep beating the drum that teaching and learning are changing. Proof is in the pudding. In this case the proof comes from conversations with students. 

Everything is Awesome - Lego Movie

The silo effect creates a mirage that everything is great.  It also restricts the thinking of the collective in order to implement innovative ideas that can transform teaching, learning, and leadership.  Many schools are unwilling to change because a factor such as high achievement on standardized tests is, in their view, an indicator of high performance.  The reality for many learners is an environment focused on a traditional model of education and criteria for success that lack relevance, meaning, and value.  Thus, a natural disconnect occurs the second they enter a school building.  Looking beyond our walls while moving outside comfort zones are key actions that can begin the process of breaking down school silos.

The same silo effect applies to our own learning and views or that of our colleagues. Information is readily available to all who are willing to venture in the digital space to take advantage of it.  Being a disconnected nomad is no longer an option if the goal is to improve professional practice and the learning culture of a school. Accessing the wealth of information out there is just a start though. To truly break free of the silo effect teachers and administrators must turn the information they access into new knowledge and action.  

The best ideas and strategies are now at our fingertips. We can now break free from the self-imposed silos and begin to have critical conversations about innovative change schools need.  To begin to break free from the silo effect consider these questions:

• Is our school/district relevant? Am I relevant?
• How can we prepare students for the future if we are stuck in the past?
• How do we know if we are meeting the needs of our learners?
• What are other schools and educators doing around the globe?
• Do we collaborate and connect with educators near and far to push our thinking as well as access the best resources, ideas, strategies, feedback, and support? 

It is important to peel away the many layers at the surface in order to gain a better understanding of where a school culture is currently. The silo effect often creates a feeling of content and satisfaction since the doorway to fresh ideas is not open.   Learning from others beyond our walls and traditional comfort zones presents limitless opportunities for innovative change. This will not only greatly impact learners, but also each other.

Disruptive Innovation

Education is ripe for disruptive change leading to innovative practices that improve learning outcomes for our students. What might have worked in the past will not necessarily have the same impact today, as the world has changed dramatically in a short period of time.  It’s safe to say that the seismic shifts we are witnessing as a result of technological advances will continue to reshape our world in ways that we could never have imagined.  Disruption has become commonplace in the new world and organizations have moved from adaptation to evolution in order to not only survive, but more importantly thrive.

We can learn many lessons from the past about change and disruptive leadership as certain organizations have embraced innovative ideas while changing the way in which they learn. Let’s take a walk down memory lane to see firsthand some powerful examples of disruptive innovation in action. Remember the days when many of us had a Blockbuster video card? If you didn’t have one you couldn’t rent a VHS tape of your favorite movie. If you did, the joy of watching the latest released movie was often squashed upon our arrival to the store as all the copies were quickly rented out. This didn’t change much when we saw the shift from VHS to DVD. So where is Blockbuster today? 

Many of you know the answer to this question already and know that Netflix caused the demise of Blockbuster. Netflix was willing to innovate and change the way they learned. No brick and mortar stores, DVD’s by mail, and eventually streaming video. Blockbuster never really knew what hit them until it was too late. The innovative ideas embraced and employed by Netflix were much more consumer friendly. They also aligned nicely with the technological changes that were occurring. The stubbornness and shortsightedness of Blockbuster along with their unwillingness to move away from business as usual resulted in their ultimate demise.

Let’s look at another example. How many of us had a Blackberry as our first smartphone? I sure did and many members of my Personal Learning Network (PLN) still make fun of me for it as I held on a bit longer than most. Well, the story of Blackberry ended just about the same way as Blockbuster. Apple and Steve Jobs disrupted the smartphone business with the iPhone. Not only did the iPhone decimate Blackberry and forever knock it off the pedestal as the gold standard device, but it also sparked the smartphone wars.  Virtually every touchscreen smartphone device today has come to us thanks to the iPhone. This is another example of a willingness to innovate resulting in a fundamental change to learning.

Here is one final example that is unfolding right before our eyes. The taxicab industry has been steadfast in their opposition to change. Any attempts to innovate now are futile as Uber seized on an industry that was not very consumer friendly. Uber owns no physical cars, yet is now valued at around 68 billion dollars. Anyone can get a ride using a consumer-friendly app to hail a ride for a fraction of the cost of a cab. In some cities you can even order food, helicopters, and jets. Don't think for a minute that Uber is waiting around for the next disrupter to come along and eradicate their business model. They truly understand the nature of disruptive innovation and change and are committed to being ahead of the curve.  They are doing so by investing in driverless cars. Their commitment to embracing innovative ideas and relentless pursuit of learning will keep them relevant for a long time.

There are powerful lessons schools can learn from the above stories of disruptive innovation.  In many ways I see similarities between schools and our education system to Blockbuster, Blackberry, and the taxicab industry. Even though there has been incremental change resulting in some isolated pockets of excellence in schools across the world, system change has been hard to come by. By employing disruptive strategies we can begin the process of creating a more relevant learning culture for our students. If we don't, history has already provided a glimpse as to what might happen. 

“Innovation, in an educational context, is creating, implementing, and sustaining transformative ideas that instill awe to improve learning.”

Disruptive innovation compels educators to go against the flow, challenge the status quo, take on the resistance, and shift our thinking in a more growth-oriented way.  Disruptive leadership will lead to disruptive innovation. If we hang on to the same type of thinking we will continue to get the same old results…or worse. This is why digital leadership is so important in a time of rapid change. There is time to go down the path less traveled and create systems of excellence that will be embraced by our learners and in turn better prepare them for their future. Think differently. Learn differently. Disrupt the system as we know it by embracing a business as unusual model. Let’s create a new normal.