The Window
It was August of 2017. I was serving as the Principal of Brookside Intermediate school, a 6th-8th grades campus in Houston, TX. We started school with a lunar eclipse and a few short days later Hurricane Harvey devastated our community and campus. The classroom refuges teachers spent weeks creating were gone. The materials and resources we “needed” to teach were gone.
What wasn’t gone was the opportunity to reimagine education and school for these students in light of this natural disaster. What became so evident in the coming days as we prepared to welcome students back was the value of the heart and vision of the teacher, as well as the value of community. When the walls came down and the textbooks flooded away, the opportunity for innovation rose up.
“The window” was open. This tremendous crisis was really an opportunity to innovate, reimagine, and repurpose school for our students and each other. Admiring the crisis for the sadness, loss, and devastation it caused was not going to help us serve and emotionally respond to our students. It was time to positively “capitalize on this crisis.” What does teaching look like when the book you used to teach that lesson for 10 years is destroyed? What does learning look like when there are no walls in some of your classrooms? How do you allow students to process their personal emotions while still learning the standards you are charged with teaching? It was time to redefine teaching and learning for these students and with our staff.
Covid presented the world the same opportunity to reimagine education. I am worried we are pulling “the window” closed in our race back to “normal.” I am worried we will lose even more teachers who through reflection and struggle discovered that they long for more than just survival in a career. They long to be empowered, to thrive, to create, to inspire, to dream and to be surrounded by people who hunger for the same. The pain we are feeling in education as a result of Covid will not be eased by doing more of the same and protecting traditions that served us years ago.
George Couros reminds us in his book, The Innovator’s Mindset, that simply engaging students in school is not enough. We must empower them. George shares this quote by Bill Ferriter, “Engaging students means getting them excited about OUR content, interests, and curricula. Empowering students means giving kids the knowledge and skills to pursue THEIR passions, interests, and future.” The adults we serve deserve to be empowered just as our students do. They want to know their passions and interests matter and can be used to transform and cast a vision for a different and better tomorrow for public education.
We need leaders who are daring and vulnerable enough to ignite and inspire an innovation revolution. Leaders who seize the open window opportunities and constantly ensure the “innovation window” remains open.
Vulnerable leader inspire and ignite innovation by:
Challenging routines and traditions that no longer serve the mission or its people. We embrace opportunities to revolutionize the purposes and practices of our organizations and teams. This is accomplished through honest relationships and healthy boundaries. I have seen this first hand in an educational leader who reimagined the tradition of Open House. Open House, as originally designed, was not creating the kind of parent partnerships the staff shared that they longed to create. The staff felt it was becoming a waste of time, therefore Open House was reimagined to student-led conferences in which students walked their parents through their learning and progress.
Recognizing disillusionment and seeking to understand the source. Vulnerable leaders recognize that oftentimes the source of disillusionment is one of overwhelm and/or complacency. The feeling of being overwhelmed shows up when what we spend our time on is in conflict with the espoused mission and beliefs. Therefore, we are spending copious amounts of time focused on things we know will bring little momentum or positive change, yet they are still wrapped up in the expectations of our roles. Vulnerable leaders lean into conversations around the feeling of being overwhelmed openly, ready to help name where the dissonance between expectations and beliefs may live. We take responsibility for the dissonance and work hard for alignment. An example might be a school leader who proclaims to value social emotional learning (SEL) for students, shapes expectations for teachers to implement elements of SEL, yet spends little time focused on the social and emotional needs of the adults they serve. Disillusionment can also be a result of complacency. Complacency is best described as a loss of motivation, vision, and desire to act. Vulnerable leaders recognize complacency often stems from a loss of autonomy to try something new, to invent, create, and be a real voice in transformation. Vulnerable leaders get honest about their need for control and where this might be impeding innovation. We also ensure we are models of what we expect. Are we modeling pushing the windows open and igniting innovation or are we waiting for “normal” to return so we can “catch the kids up?”
Fiercely protect the innovators and risk takers. Vulnerable leaders admire the courage of those stepping out and deeply understand the importance of their role in sustaining their courageous spirit. We sit alongside the innovators, reminding them of their “why”, as well as ensuring systemic barriers are addressed as the innovation is implemented. We work diligently to ensure we are pushing against complacency and negativity as fear emerges. We destroy the concept of status quo. We live comfortably outside of our comfort zone.
The “window of innovation” is sometimes thrown open by disaster and crisis, but it stays open because of courageous and vulnerable leaders who ignite and inspire. Vulnerable leaders see every day as an opportunity to innovate. Let’s go open some windows!
Read connected content - Striking a Balance Between Rhythm and Revolution- Don’t Waste This Crisis.