Leadership & Sustainability System Thinkers in Action

1. Leadership & SustainabilitySystem Thinkers in Action By Michael Fullan

2. Sustainability • “The capacity of a system to engage in the complexities of continuous improvement consistent with deep values of human purpose.” (Fullan 2005, p. ix) • “It does not simply mean whether something will last. It addresses how particular initiatives can be developed without compromising the development of others in the surrounding environment now and in the future.” (Hargreaves & Fink, 2000, p. 30)

3. Chapter 1 The Starting Point • Where are we in large-scale reform? According to Fullan, we are not nearly there yet. • Apparent success: Nearly all success stories involve improvements in literacy and numeracy at the elementary level with a slight closing of the gap between high- and low-performing schools.

4. National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies,(NLNS) England • The most celebrated case of national large-scale school reform initiating improvement in literacy and numeracy. • Used a combination of “accountability & capacity building” to mobilize leadership for literacy and mathematics. • Leadership roles established at the school, district, regional and national levels. These roles were later supplemented by direct professional development for school principals and initial teacher education. Leadership was central to success. • Capacity building involved the development of collective ability - dispositions, skills, knowledge, motivation and resources - acting together to bring about positive change.

5. Results of NLNS • Impressive results in two stories: • 1st: Within a 4 year period (1997-2000), literacy and math proficiency increased from over 60% to nearly 75% in 20,000 schools. • 2nd: Performance plateaued in 2000, well below acceptable levels and has remained as such for 3 years although strategy has become more sophisticated. • Even the good results were not sustainable and there was no indication that “deep learning” had occurred even though the number of students who learned to proficiently read and numerate increased.

6. “Deep Learning”as defined by Guy Claxton Four aspects: • Resilience – ability to lock onto learning and to resist distractions either from outside or within. • Resourcefulness – ability to draw on a wide range of learning methods and strategies as appropriate. • Reflectivity – to think profitably about learning and themselves as learners. • Reciprocity – making use of relationships in the most productive, enjoyable and responsible way. Guy Claxton (2002 - Building Learning Power)

7. Bereiter argues that what school reform needs is far deeper learning for both students and teachers as deep learning is one of the eight elements of … Sustainability. Deeper Learning NeededBereiter (2002)

8. Other reasons for failurein school reform… • Critics such as Bereiter (2002) and Barber (2002) argue that reform strategies are heavily, centrally directed at the district or state levels. • They also argue that centrally driven reforms can be a necessary first start measure when performance is seriously unacceptable but can never carry sustainability. • Barber argues that some conditions for reform can be “knowledge poor” to “knowledge rich” meaning quality knowledge is not being generated and assessed on an ongoing basis.

9. Chapter 2 The Intriguing Nature of Sustainability • In order to achieve large-scale reform, we must first look toward the concept of sustainability and strategies essential for whole-system capacity building on an ongoing basis. • Solutions must be theoretical and practical to people working on the real problem of transforming real systems.

10. Public service with a moral purpose Commitment to changing context at all levels Lateral capacity building through networks Intelligent accountability and vertical relationships – encompassing capacity building and accountability Deep learning Dual commitment to short-term and long-term results Cyclical energizing The long lever of leadership Understanding Sustainability: Eight Elements

11. 1 – Public Service With AMoral Purpose • Moral purpose must transcend the individual to become an organization and system quality in which collectivities are committed to three aspects of moral purpose: • Raising the bar and closing the gap of student learning; treating people with demanding respect; and altering the social environment for the better. • The eight elements of sustainability, when pursued in combination, compel all levels of the system to take moral purpose seriously.

12. Commitment To Changing Context At All Levels • We must invest in and develop institutions which are “learning systems” - systems capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation. • Embedding high expectations and performance permanently in the workings of public service organizations means changing “whole systems”, often radically, and equipping them to adapt more effectively to ongoing change. • Changing whole systems means changing the entire context – the structure and cultures - within which one works.

13. Lateral Capacity BuildingThrough Networks • Capacity building through collaboration with peers is a powerful element to the system. • Collaboration rather than competition promotes motivation that will transform learning experiences for students, teachers and school leaders. It also promotes turning good ideas into focused implementation. • By increasing the amount of purposeful interaction and infusing it with the checks and balances of quality knowledge, self-organizing patterns (desireable outcomes) will accrue.

14. Intelligent Accountability and Vertical Relationships • Sustainable societies must solve the change problem of how to get both local ownership and external accountability and get this into the entire system. • As communities interact around given problems, they generate better practices, shared commitment and accountability to peers. • Vertical relationships (state/district, district/school) must also be strengthened. • The entire system must be involved in a codependent partnership, being open to addressing problems as they arise and to eliminate the negative effects of overload, multiple innovations, and fragmentation or lack of coherence.

15. Deep Learning • Sustainability requires continuous improvement, adaptation, and collective problem solving in the face of complex challenges that keep arising. • Adaptive work demands learning, experimentation and difficult conversations. Species evolve where cultures learn. • Deep learning requires extinguishing fears, setting up a system of transparent data-gathering coupled with mechanisms for acting on the data, and making sure all levels of the system are expected to learn from their experiences.

16. Dual Commitment To Short-TermAnd Long-Term Results • In today’s knowledge base, there is no excuse for failing to design and implement strategies that get short-term results which are necessary to build morale and trust for longer-term investments. • It is necessary to set attainable goals, take action to obtain early results, and intervene in situations of terrible performance while investing in the eight sustainability capacity-building elements. • Over time, the system gets stronger and fewer severe problems occur as they are preempted by corrective action sooner rather than later.

17. Cyclical Energizing • Sustainability is cyclical for two fundamental reasons: energy and periodic plateaus. • Energy is the fundamental currency of high performance and finds its sources in physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. In essence, these sources must be fostered in order to maintain desired levels. • Periodic plateaus or “leveling off” are inherent in any innovative measures where a lot of energy is used to maintain the same higher-level performance. Additional time and ingenuity are required for the next adaptive breakthrough.

18. The Long Lever Of Leadership • Leadership at all levels must be the primary engine if a system is to be mobilized in the direction of sustainability. • Leaders must help put into place the eight elements of sustainability, all working together simultaneously.

19. Chapter 3 Leadership To The Fore • What kind of leadership is needed for sustainability? Leaders who are explicitly cognizant of and committed to pursuing in practice the implementation of the eight elements of sustainability. • Leaders must be system thinkers in order to change systems on an ongoing basis.

20. Leadership – Where Are We Now? • Leadership is the key to reform. • Our society tends to seek a “savior” in leaders; one who can miraculously “right the ship”. • Fullan argues that there are very few leaders in any sector who actually work on developing leaders beyond themselves. • The main mark of an effective principal is not just his or her impact on the bottom line of student achievement, but also on how many leaders he or she leaves behind who can go even further.

21. Continuity Of Direction • Sustainability is linked to continuity of deepening direction over time. • Leaders must have a dual focus on performance and development of leadership in others. • There are too few leaders who are working to develop leadership in others and in education where there is a high turnover of teachers. This situation is disastrous as it creates a discontinuity of direction. • Sustainable leadership maintains improvement from one leader to the next and spreads across many leaders and schools in a district. • Evidence suggests that principal succession today is not an episodic crisis but a chronic process. Its suddenness and frequency cripple most improvement efforts, and its predictable regularity creates longer-term staff cynicism about any and all attempts at change.

22. What Leaders Can Do • Individual sustainability concerns the ability to keep on going without burning out. • The key to this problem is cyclical energizing where leaders seek sources and situations that push the limits of their energy and engagement, coupled with rituals or periodic breaks that are energy recovering. • Not only does energy affect the individual leader, it also has far-reaching consequences for those with whom they work. • “Leaders are the stewards of organizational energy…. They inspire or demoralize others first by how effectively they manage their own energy and next by how well they mobilize, focus, invest and renew the collective energy of those they lead. (Fullan, p. 35).

23. Energy Creators • Are enthusiastic and always positive • Use critical thinking, creativity, and imagination • Stimulate and spark others • Practice leadership at all levels • Are able and willing to scrutinize their practice and willing to make their practice accessible to others • Wish to improve on their previous best

24. Energy Neutrals • Competent, sound practitioners • Willing to address the task • Good at maintenance • Sometimes uncomfortable accepting examination of their practice by others • Capable of improving on their previous best

25. Energy Consumers Tend To • Have a negative view of the world • Resent change and practice blocking strategies • Use other people’s time excessively • Not feel good about themselves • Be unable and unwilling to critically examine their teaching practice • Appear not to want to improve on their personal best

26. Energy Creators • The goal of all would-be leaders is to become more like “energy creators” and to be aware of how they can cultivate energy creation in other leaders they are in a position to mentor. • Sources of energy creation: moral purpose, emotional intelligence, quality relationships, quality knowledge, physical well-being – all mobilized to engage the mind and heart in attempting to solve complex adaptive challenges.

27. What Systems Can Do • The key to changing systems is to produce greater numbers of “system thinkers”. • As more and more leaders become system thinkers, they will gravitate toward strategies that alter people’s mental awareness of the system as a whole, thereby contributing to altering the system itself. • Fullan does not believe that we have made any progress at all in actually promoting systems thinking since Peter Senge (1990) first raised the issue. • The discipline of systems thinking provides a different way of looking at problems and goals – not as isolated events but as components of larger structures.

28. Systems Thinking In Practice • The key to sustainability. • But how do we go about promoting it?

29. Chapter 4 The New Work Of Leaders • This work entails leaders immersing themselves in the eight elements of sustainability as mentioned earlier. • Technical and adaptive solutions: • Technical solutions involve solving problems that can be addressed through current knowledge or know-how. Example: moving literacy scores up as demonstrated in England in the NLNS. • Adaptive challenges concern problems whose solutions are not known. Example: moving beyond the plateau as also demonstrated in England in the NLNS.

30. Heifetz’s (2004) Properties OfAn Adaptive Challenge • The challenge consists of a gap between aspiration and reality, demanding a response outside our current repertoire. • Adaptive work to narrow the gap requires difficult learning. • The people with the problem are the problem, and they are the solution. • Adaptive work generates disequilibrium and avoidance.

31. Addressing Adaptive Challenges • Requires complex learning in politically contentious situations where there are many inertial forces pulling us back to the status quo or keeping us from persisting in addressing the challenge. • Entails progressive interactions that move the organization forward and regressive interactions that slow things down or make them worse. • Conditions and human nature in complex times favor regressive actions – a regression toward simpler earlier-learned behaviors in times of stress.

32. Progressive Interactions • Find value in certain kinds of conflict and deal with it productively • Provide feedback that is conducive to learning • Access good knowledge on an ongoing basis • Make people feel committed • Generate patterns of cumulative coherence • Help people focus collectively • Are reflective-action oriented (strong on doing) • Give people experiences outside themselves that foster system thinkers in action

33. Chapter 5 Leadership At The School Level • Involves how the principal relates to the teachers, students, parents and the community and to other schools within and beyond the district. • Leaders’ work is a mixture of technical and adaptive issues: raising and enhancing student achievement and changing the system into a professional learning community.

34. Chapter 6 Leadership At The District Level • Each level above the leader helps or hinders when it comes to sustainability. • As the teacher is affected by the culture of the school, the school is affected by the culture of the district or the region. • The district role can foster continuous improvement of schools or it can harm continuity through neglect or misguided policy actions.

35. Site-based Management AndDistrict Structures • Benefits of site-based management: • greater empowerment at the school level • more control over the budget • acceptance of accountability • Essentials of district structures: • agency is responsible for helping develop capacity for continuous improvement and for intervening when performance is low • agency is responsible for encouraging lateral sharing and capacity building which are fundamental for sustainability

36. Chapter 7 Leadership At The System Level • If the key to the future success is the increase of system thinking in action, system leaders have a dual role: • To make system coherence more and more evident and accessible • To foster interactions – horizontally and vertically – that promote system thinking in others

37. The Problem OfSystem Leadership • Two competing strategies: • Networking • Strengths in lateral capacity and increments in system thinking • Weaknesses in converting good ideas into sustained actions • Intelligent Accountability • Educational ideas are complex • Quality knowledge is a key element of successful reform

38. EpilogueIt’s Going To Be Hard • The way for paving the road for sustainability is going to be hard. • There has to be a balanced practice of the eight elements of sustainability through leadership. • The number of “progressive interactions” must be increased and the number of “regressive interactions” decreased. • Progressive interactions maximize quality knowledge and social cohesion and contain two aspects: “process smart” – good exchange of ideas, good decisions and solutions, farseeing plans – and “people smart” – interactions that foster cohesiveness and energize people to work together.

39. EpilogueContinued • System or organizational intelligence is hard to obtain for at least six reasons: • The five brain backlash – too many voices making things unproductively complicated • Cognitive oversimplification – the human tendency to oversimplify cognitive processing • Emotional oversimplification – the equally human tendency to oversimplify emotions • Regression in the face of stress • The domino effect in which one person’s regressive behavior tips others in the same direction • Power advantage – the fact that power figures sometimes take advantage of regressive interactions

40. The Call For Today’s Leadership • Developmental leaders (system thinkers in action) who do not stand back and conduct passive analysis, but learn to size up situations quickly and intuitively. • These leaders adopt progressive practices and function as role models, facilitators and mentors within a group, helping to move it toward a progressive culture. • The long lever of leadership serves to create a culture of many leaders who inspire each other in the new direction and fight against regressive practices. • The new leadership entails seeking lateral and horizontal capacity building and cyclical energizing to fuel the needs of sustainability. • Sustainability is not a short-term event but a long-term process.

41. New Leadership • Taking on the difficulties of incorporating and supporting the eight elements of sustainability as determined by Fullan • Motivating people to take on the complexities and anxieties of difficult change

42. Michele’s Epilogue • As the infamous French philosopher Descartes once said, “Je pense, donc je suis.” I think, therefore I am. • As “system thinkers” we think, therefore we are. But what do we think in the call for massive school reform and do we all think the same? What is it that we really are and what is it that we are supposed to be? How do we do the things we are supposed to do? And how do we continue to foster growth and improvement on an ongoing basis? Is it truly possible for national school reform to actually happen? • Will we ever be truly satisfied with the current state of affairs of public education at any given time? I believe we will forever be looking to improve education as our society changes. The keys to leadership are dealing with changing situations in ever-changing societies.