A Question of Morals
Leading change in education, any industry, or organization begins with a compelling, aspirational, and well communicated vision. A vision that will require people from a state of comfort and confidence to one of great risk emotionally and intellectually. In taking these risks, those we serve will ask themselves questions similar to these: How will this new vision affect me personally and professionally? For my colleagues? Who will I have to become to bring this vision to life? What sacrifices will I have to make? Do I really believe this is necessary for the future success of this organization?
As they weigh the risks of accepting and promoting this new vision, they will zoom closely in on the morals of their leader. Moral leadership is imperative to sustaining successful organizations, but it becomes incredibly important as change is heralded. Moral leaders are fair, consistent, self aware and honest.
When behavior from leadership is misaligned with the vision it causes people to pause and most often to join the resistance. Worse yet in some cases, it can cause people to not just resist, but to join forces with those who fight hard to protect the status quo, or what has always been. No matter how hard we may work to communicate the new vision and all the reasons for the change, when a leader’s actions, words, and behaviors contradict the vision, momentum is drastically halted. When those we serve are considering the personal sacrifices that will be necessary to bring the new vision to life and their leader’s morals send the message that they may not appreciate the magnitude of what is being asked or are they seen as not making the personal sacrifices required themselves, the change will be dramatically held up if not eventually stopped completely.
Oftentimes new visions come alongside a set of new belief systems that we ask those we serve to take on to bring the vision to life. One belief we hear a lot about in education is regarding relationships. Perhaps some version of “Relationships are the foundation to all we do.” Daily we ask our educators to prioritize relationships with students, parents, colleagues, and community. Oftentimes this means taking risks, making compromises, adjusting their communication, compromising on plans and goals, and coming out of their comfort zones. Do we as leaders do the same? When we are building our weekly calendars, do we prioritize relationships, even when it means having hard and uncomfortable conversations or adjusting the pace of the initiatives we are driving? Are we walking models of the beliefs and visions we are rallying.
Sometimes it’s easy to blame others when change is slow, stalls, or stops. Perhaps it's our behaviors that need a hard look.
Here’s one that’s always gotten me as a former school principal: I believe kids deserve an adult genuinely greeting them every day when they walk in their classroom doors at all levels. I think it makes kids feel valued, seen, and welcomed. This was a belief and expectation I asked our staff to follow. The personal sacrifices they made to follow this expectation involved time for final preparations for each day of teaching. If I believed this for students, shouldn’t the adults in our buildings get the same greeting as well? They deserved to be seen, heard, and welcomed daily as well. It ended up being the best part of my day- greeting the adults who will go on to pour into children. It’s a simple example of ensuring our behaviors always reinforce the beliefs and vision we espouse.
Our morals should be questioned as leaders when our behaviors contradict the underlying beliefs behind the change and vision we are advocating towards. It creates doubt, frustration, resentment, and will be one of the many reasons the reality of the new vision may struggle. May we not ask others to do what we are unwilling to commit to ourselves.