• Being able to exercise control over which emotions guide our actions
• Being able to help others act on emotions that serve their best interests
• Psychological resources
• Optimism
• Habitually expecting positive results from our efforts
• Recognizing where we have, and do not have, opportunities for direct influence and control
• Taking positive risks
• Self-efficacy
• Believing in our own abilities to perform a task or achieve a goal
• As a result of positive self-efficacy, taking responsible risks, expending substantial effort, and persisting in the face of initial failure
• Resilience
• Being able to recover from, or adjust easily to, change or misfortune
• Being able to thrive in challenging circumstances
• Proactivity
• Being able to stimulate and effectively manage change on a large scale under complex circumstances
• Showing initiative and perseverance in bringing about meaningful change
Their list is broad and applicable in many contexts. The Institute for Education Leadership (2013) writes:
In addition to recognizing and undertaking effective leadership practices, effective leaders also tend to possess and draw on a small but critical number of personal leadership resources when enacting the leadership practices. There is a compelling research base for including cognitive, social and psychological resources. (p. 22)
Aspiring and emerging leaders should take note of these skills and mindsets and learn to develop them from the get-go; for more experienced leaders, the list is a terrific self-assessment for our continuing growth. The development of these three main capacities of personal leadership—the need for the development of (1) cognitive, (2) social, and (3) psychological resources—undergirds this book.
This book will look at the big-picture cognitive, social, and psychological capacities through a smaller frame and focus on the four foundational skills for leaders working in the deep end. The four foundational skills are as follows.
1. Thinking before we speak
2. Preempting resistance
3. Responding to resistance (for when we do speak)
4. Managing ourselves through change and resistance (after we speak)
These are not the only skills you need to swim in the deep end, but these skills will help you be more successful as you consider a new project or initiative that pushes you to uncharted waters in your leadership work. Those who are leading projects and initiatives for the first time as well as those who are more experienced but want to up their game for the next challenge that comes their way will benefit from cultivating these skills. Given that resistance to change is commonplace and inevitable, the focus on resistance in these foundational skills should not be unexpected. It is pervasive and normal. The skill sets we are building around anticipating resistance and verbally managing it when you encounter it will take a major role in this text. How to build up your ability to understand where it comes from and how to respond to it is key for leaders to effectively swim in the deep end.
The questionnaire in figure I.2 (pages 9–11) contains questions to guide you as you read the text in relation to your work at your school, and to help you see where you are in terms of the four foundational skills for deep-enders. The book is best read with a personal foundational case study in mind. Think of a real project or initiative you are beginning or will begin soon. (For examples of initiatives, see the list of deep-end challenges in schools [figure I.1, page 3].) The deep-end self-assessment questions provide the basis for the contents of the rest of the book. It is important to complete this assessment before moving on to the subsequent chapters, and to have it readily available as you work through chapters 1 through 4. This assessment, like all preassessments, is central to scaffolding the learning to come. Taking a minute to consider the questions as you begin gives you a sense of the whole and connects your work to this book so the text can be more relevant and timely for you in your work. Completing this assessment will also help you determine which chapters of the book you might want to focus on more deeply as you increase your capacity to be even more effective as a leader in your school. Responding to these questions will help you identify where you might have learning edges—areas where you need to grow and improve. Use the + or – column in figure I.2 to annotate where you might feel you need some more support for your project or initiative as you move forward. Mark a + for items that are strengths and a – for items you need to work on. I will address each of these questions as the book progresses.
Figure I.2: Deep-end self-assessment—four foundational skills.
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership for a reproducible version of this figure.
School-improvement initiatives, with their never-ending challenges, provide us with amazing opportunities to swim in the deep end. They require us to have robust cognitive skills, social acumen, linguistic facility, and psychological strength. This book is an attempt to give you some resources and strategies to strengthen your ability, no matter your role, to swim more confidently in the deep end. While I cannot be there to lift you back into the boat when your mask fills with water, I will try my best to help you have strategies to tread water and stay afloat.
About This Book
When I share the swimming in the deep end metaphor with others for the first time, it brings forth many reactions. I tell folks I want to write for readers who want to push themselves to be more capable and courageous during moments of change. Some of the responses I receive include the following.
• “Hmm …”
• “You know, some might really want to be in the shallow end. That’s deep enough for them.”
• “You might lose a lot of readers if you go too far ahead of them.”
• “Some folks don’t want to know how to swim in the deep end. They are exhausted. Can the book just be a life jacket? Or a boat to come rescue them?”
I understand the concerns. Leaders have had little time to learn how to swim in the deep end and have either thrown themselves in for the sake of the students or have been put in deep waters without the supports they need. Leaders are struggling to breathe before they even really begin an initiative, and they burn out fast. Mental health challenges and turnover of administrators is seen in schools daily, and both the schools and the students suffer.
While this book isn’t an immediate Coast Guard rescue, it does provide support from the perspective of a swimming teacher—a Mr. Patton if you will—to help you build the skills to swim in the deep end and support you in facing whatever change is coming to you or that you are making happen at your site. We need to build up our strength