My role involves leading change in our school to make the paradigm shift from traditional to 21st century learning.
Leading change can be full of distractions. This is particularly challenging for school leaders as we facilitate change. As school leaders lead their teams down different pathways they are constantly lured by a variety of different temptations. Funding for different ‘y’ initiatives here, professional support for ‘x’ initiatives there. These are all very tempting. And often we find ourselves wanting to take bites of these apples. As tasty as they may be, increasingly I am discovering they may not always be in the best interest of our school, children or community. In this reflection I would like to talk about some of the insights that I have learned this year and how my leadership is changing as a result of this.
Stick to the vision. Simple but true. Prior to this year playing out I did not truly grasp the importance of these words. The vision is what ultimately guides us. It is our destination. As part of my NAPP programme this year I shadowed Kevin Choromanski, Principal of Pomaria School. He discussed how he has not accepted funding as it did not fit with his school’s vision. Initially upon hearing this I was confused. Why would he reject funding for his school? Surely this would benefit him and his staff? Would they not be better off with more cash? As I expressed my thoughts and asked my questions, Kevin explained that funding is not free, there are conditions and requirements that come with it. If those conditions are not compatible with the school’s vision then ultimately that funding would not benefit his school or community. This was a far cry from my initial opportunist mindset set that required me to take advantage of all the freebies available to me but it makes sense. It is the job of the leader to find suitable funding. If funding is made available but is not relevant then it is the job of the leader to find funding that is relevant. This can be achieved in a variety of different ways which I will not go into here.
This idea was also reinforced by Michael Fullan in Stratosphere where he discusses distractors (p. 70) - meaning, the things that can take our attention away from what we really want to achieve, our vision. This again reinforces the notion that leaders need to keep focused on their vision. I have found this to be a real challenge as it can be contrary to human nature. For example, I suffer from ‘kid in a candystore’ syndrome, meaning I want everything and I want it now. I can be this way with change as well. A vision gives me comfort in knowing where I am going and it gives me a sense of place. This clarity helps when talking to colleagues about our direction. I had a conversation with a colleague who wanted funding for a particular technology. Rather that saying, ‘sounds good, let’s do it.’ I found myself going back to our vision and Strategic plan. I started asking questions like: how will this investment fit in with our vision? How will it help us to achieve personalised learning for students? Having all this clarity is good for leading change, without it we can end up going round in circles.
Finally, I would like to refer back to a workshop I attended with Cheryl Doig (content here). She emphasised how future focussed leaders are essentially the filters, sifters and selectors of information. With the vast amount of information out there (particularly on the internet), it is easy to get distracted and overwhelmed. This goes back to the ‘kid in a candystore’ idea where someone can be so overwhelmed with all the content that they do not know what they should be focusing on. With this being increasingly the case it is even more important for leaders to have the skills required to ‘filter the distractions’ from this vast sea of information.
Distraction are everywhere. They come in the form of funding, gimmicks (the latest tech fad - everyone’s got one so we need it), and information. As leaders, this can be difficult terrain to navigate. It is important to have that vision, focus and keep going forward.
