The most successful leaders are getting away from the notion that conflict is a bad thing. Actually, disagreement is perfectly acceptable, and a divergence of opinions is expected and can make a school far better prepared for the challenging world around it. In chapter 7, “Using Conflict and Repurposed Energy to Improve and Inspire,” we will explore how the best leaders reframe conflict and disagreement and repurpose that energy as a mechanism to improve the culture and inspire deeper levels of innovation.
In terms of psychological well-being, decades of research have been devoted to the importance of resilience and the merits of demonstrating high levels of will and determination. Healthy organizations work in very much the same way. In the past, we didn’t spend much time talking about leadership that encouraged accelerated levels of will and determination in response to difficult challenges. It was just assumed that the system would respond accordingly. As discussed in chapter 8, “Encouraging Will, Determination, and Resilience,” the reality is that schools have to be led toward these capacities in a thoughtful way.
In many cases, the greatest barrier to next-level performance is the belief that it is even possible. Striving for that next level can be difficult due to the fact that we are altogether transfixed on achieving this thing called “average.” The best leaders in schools and beyond understand that you must have a deeply held belief that a next-level performance is not only possible but is the expectation, as explored in chapter 9, “Developing Individual and Systemic Belief in Next-Level Performance.”
In many earlier texts there have been discussions about the importance of shared leadership. That principals or other system leaders would give away the power in certain circumstances is certainly a warm, benevolent idea. However, the complexity of organizations today makes this notion antiquated; due to the speed of technology and other change elements, leadership cannot grow only when these capacities are made available by the leader. Instead, organic leadership should emerge as needed, when needed, and with confidence. In chapter 10, “Cultivating Organic Leadership,” we will address this powerful leadership potential.
In addition to a short discussion about each individual concept as it relates to outdated Taylorism ideals, I provide related strategies to help you lead your staff forward, including critical conversations you must have with your staff regularly. Each chapter also includes chats I’ve had with educators in the field. I’ve been fortunate enough to talk with many exemplars in leadership over the years, and I hope they inspire you as well. In addition, the chapters end with the impact, or takeaway, for each key concept.
You have an incredibly important job, and you deserve a leadership coach who can encourage and support you—this book is written with that kind of coaching in mind. You’ll notice that my style will be encouraging, but I’ll also tease and cajole you. And I’m willing to challenge you as well. I want to confront your assumptions, and I’ll be using a coaching platform to do it. Leadership coaching is available in most other professions, and I think the principals and building-level leaders in K–12 education deserve a good coach as well.
Spoiler Alert
Let this be fair warning: optimism abounds in this book. If you’re somebody who loves to regale your friends with stories about gloom and doom in the field of education, you might be frustrated by my coaching efforts. I recognize the grim reality of the challenges we face in schools today, but I remain an incurable optimist. I was a principal in an extraordinarily tough learning environment, and in a relatively short period of time, our team came together and made a significant impact on the students we served. This progress wouldn’t have been possible without optimism and a belief that better outcomes were just around the corner. I carry this perspective with me today, not just in terms of the fortunes of one school at a time but also in terms of the profession in general. Here’s why. Even though our problems and challenges are as tough now as they have ever been, our opportunities to find answers have likewise never been this robust. A teacher in your school might have a challenge reaching a particularly difficult student with a very discrete and challenging learning deficiency. Rather than toiling away in frustration, with just a few clicks, that teacher can reach out to a limitless number of colleagues who may very well be dealing with the same issue. Therefore, even if we have more questions than before and the questions are more difficult, our access to answers has grown astronomically.
I have spent over a decade doing leadership and organizational culture work in private industry, as well as in private and public schools. These experiences have provided me with a unique perspective on what Fortune 100 companies do to compete in outlandishly challenging environments. After coaching CEOs in some of the fastest growing, highest performing businesses in the United States and working with executives in some of the most well-established businesses internationally, I have learned that the challenges of leadership remain remarkably consistent across disciplines. While public educators often wring their hands and bemoan the fact that they don’t have the same tools or resources as private industry colleagues, it is clear to me that it doesn’t come down to the tools or the financial accoutrements; rather, it has always, and will always, come down to the capacity to create a culture that encourages leadership. After watching outrageously successful leadership in private industry, I’m more convinced than ever that, when it comes to leading meaningful innovation in schools, we can do this.
One great example of what it takes to be successful in leadership is American Express, which has a long tradition of investing in leadership training. After becoming familiar with my work, American Express invited me to train a handful of leadership cohorts on the vice president promotion track with the company. The human resources director was particularly interested in helping leaders stimulate systemic learning. At a key moment in the training, I remember one of the attendees reflecting out loud on the training components (highlighted in this book) that speak to the importance of leaders’ capacity to influence, which improves the learning acumen individually and collectively throughout the organization. During this salient moment, this future vice president said, “I think I get it now, Casey. All these tools you are sharing can really help me. I will be able to lead others by helping them become better learners. It really does seem to me that to be a great leader, I have to first and foremost be a great teacher.”
Obviously this was a teachable moment for both the young executive and for me. While I’ve always believed that what we learn in education is valuable, this exchange convinced me more than ever that the expertise educators carry with them is more important to our culture than many of us, even the biggest fans of the profession and of learning itself, could ever have realized.
To compound this, we are living in a time in which technology makes everything easier. Technology, if used correctly, allows machines or devices to do the laborious heavy lifting, freeing us up to focus on the most interesting and engaging aspects of our jobs. We are living in a time when handheld devices have given teachers access to just-in-time information about each student, allowing them to adjust their work as they go. Teachers can use technology to open up the entire world to their students—a world that wasn’t available to them just a few years ago. We are also living in a time when we can share resources and help each other dramatically increase our own performance levels like never before. With all of these blessings, however, comes a renewed need for good choices to be made and for schools to never stop striving to be well led. If we can step up and accelerate our leadership capacities and truly lead with strategies that are appropriate for today—not yesterday—I believe we can open up an unprecedented world of opportunity for the students we serve and do a better job than we’ve ever done before. So are you ready? Let’s get started.
CHAPTER 1
Establishing Vision