Soon, schools were solving the problem of fixed mindsets with strategies for promoting a growth mindset. The result? By 2015, Dweck (2015) was publishing articles clarifying that there was more to it than praising students for effort:
Recently, someone asked what keeps me up at night. It’s the fear that the mindset concepts, which grew up to counter the failed self-esteem movement, will be used to perpetuate that movement. In other words, if you want to make students feel good, even if they’re not learning, just praise their effort! Want to hide learning gaps from them? Just tell them, “Everyone is smart!” The growth mindset was intended to help close achievement gaps, not hide them. It is about telling the truth about a student’s current achievement and then, together, doing something about it, helping him or her become smarter.
In effect, when educators see a fixed mindset, they treat it as a problem for which the solution is a growth mindset that they can create by teaching students that effort creates ability. They praise their effort rather than saying, “You’re so smart.”
However, while having a fixed mindset is a real problem, a growth mindset is only one of two interdependent sets of values. Readiness to learn specific content and processes is absolutely key, or effort will get you nowhere. Ask yourself, for example, “Am I ready right now to develop calculations to identify the gravitational pull of a black hole? Or might I need some prior knowledge and skills before I put in the effort required?”
Figure 2.2 (page 28) summarizes the interdependencies and dilemmas present in working with growth mindset strategies, using the infinity loop diagram we’ll be using throughout the book to examine twelve big, ongoing dilemmas—the leadership lenses—that require both–and thinking.
Can you see how applying this kind of both–and thinking while planning an initiative, such as fostering growth mindsets, can ensure that students are ready for the tasks on which you’ll be asking them to persevere, bringing the upside of both sets of values? That’s the sort of systems thinking we’ll be using to examine the ongoing dilemmas present in leading a thriving, whole-child school.
Figure 2.2: The readiness and effort loop.
Polarity Identification Instead of Unsolvable Problems
Another example of an ongoing polarity that leaders often treat as a problem to solve is accountability. Teacher accountability encompasses just one set of values that is interdependent with the values of supporting teachers for growth and development even as we hold them accountable. No one is actually born with all the complex skills the profession requires. Too often, schools lack the resources or mechanisms to truly support new teachers in developing in multiple areas such as pedagogy, classroom management, building relationships, and more. The inevitable problems that arise when you treat a system as a linear problem to solve show up in teacher strikes, decreased job satisfaction, and stretched resources for evaluation at the expense of other forms of professional development. For accountability measures to actually improve teacher quality, we also need action steps for supporting teachers’ growth.
How do you know when you have a polarity instead of a problem to solve? Here are four key factors.
1. Is it ongoing? Look back to the opening example of the waves of reform that often lead to a pendulum swinging back and forth between collaborative and individual work. This is indicative of a polarity.
2. Are the alternatives interdependent? Think of breathing, or how short-term goals add up to long-term goals.
3. Over time, are both poles or solutions necessary? Consider how school districts swing between centralizing and decentralizing how they make policies and other decisions—decentralization leads to schools with different practices, so certain things are pulled back to the district office, only to be farmed out again.
4. What happens with only a singular focus? Examine what happens, and might happen, if we focus only on one upside, and ask whether we might undermine our original goals, as Dweck (2006) articulates with mindset.
In grappling with these questions, consider the goal you’ve already identified that you’ll be thinking about throughout these pages. In chapters 4–14, each lens establishes an underlying interdependency, providing plenty of thought for how the lenses most connected with your leadership development goals might require both–and thinking. (The interdependencies for chapter 15 work a bit differently.) The goal isn’t balance between these sets of values, but instead placing the right amount of emphasis to get to the upside of each, avoid their downsides (look back at figure 2.2), and move ahead toward your purpose.
Note that the primary description of each lens comes through stories of leaders who have learned to work well with it. When people are locked into dualistic, either–or thinking, arguing your point of view often simply causes them to become even more entrenched in their own position. Telling stories that help them truly see the dilemma is often a crucial step into helping them see the bigger picture of both–and thinking (Rohr, 2013).
Polarities, Priorities, and Emotional Intelligence
Interwoven in the lens-focused chapters is the core idea that a thriving whole-child school requires an atmosphere of trust, safety, equity, and skilled collaboration. Creating that kind of atmosphere takes an entirely different set of leadership skills than a full-on accountability effort typically emphasizes. When leading holistically, the soft skills of emotional intelligence, which are often the hardest to learn, become vital. Leading a school for both whole-child success and academic success requires leaders who are physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy. In the next chapter, we’ll look at the far-ranging domain of emotional intelligence and how it fits into your developmental needs, given your goals and situation. As you ponder the dilemmas of both–and thinking, note that being able to work with seemingly contradictory ideas is a marker of both wisdom and adult development, especially as you lead in a VUCA world.
Three Ways to Improve Your Use of Both–And Thinking
Consider the following three action items for reflection.
1. Revisit figure 1.2 (page 19), listing the Twelve Lenses of Leadership. Read the description for each lens, which read as and statements. All of these are polarities. Where have you seen each interdependency in education policies, practices, initiatives, or dilemmas? Which are relevant to your current situation?
2. Review the following list of common polarities. Reflect or engage with another leader in conversation about when you have seen these in play in education. For example, you could examine the pushback against the Common Core State Standards in terms of the polarity standardization and customization.
a. Top-down and bottom-up
b. Centralized and decentralized
c. Individual responsibility and organizational responsibility
d. Competition and collaboration
e. Content and process
f. Individual freedom and community safety
3. For one of the interdependencies you identified in question 1 regarding figure 1.2, try to