Crisis: An Emergent Occasion for Transformation and Hope Professor Pat Maslin-Ostrowski Florida Atlantic University USA Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University Victorian Association Catholic Primary School Principals Conference 2015 Bendigo, Australia 7 May 2015 1
GOOD MORNING! 2
Promise of Our Work …a direct link between supporting adult learning and student achievement. …effective practices for supporting your own and others’ professional growth in schools. My passion: cultivating professional development & learning opportunities that ignite and sustain leaders’ excitement in learning, growing and improving practice. 3
Roadmap Today’s school leadership context Learnings from wounded leader research Creating conditions for leaders to flourish Looking ahead 4
st Century BEING LEADER IN THE 21 st Mission expansion Accountability Pressures Technology profusion Did you know? Need to build capacity ( informational & transformational) 5
Today’s Challenges (Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky) Adaptive Technical Challenges Challenges Leader’s Role Defined problem & Identify challenges & solutions key questions/issues Problem Problem definable Difficult to define Definition Clarity of Clear solution No clear solution Solution Change in Roles stable Roles change Roles Change in Norms do not Norms may change Norms change 6
Today’s Challenges: Technical & Adaptive #Budget Woes — “If they #Silver Bullet — “We want it faster, we want the silver [my staff] want bullet, we want the magical technology, I'm going to fix. We want to get a school do my best to get that to move four letter grades technology. If they need within a year.” resources, I'm going to work very hard to get the resources for them.” “It’s figuring out how to do (Angelo) something that rarely or is never done.” ( Raigan) Adaptive Technical 7
Contemporary Internal Challenges Work-Life Balance Emotional & Spiritual challenges “exposure to risk and emotional fall out…increased” -Peter Gronn, 2010 8
Where are the open spaces in your life? What makes a fire burn Is space between the logs, A breathing space. Too much of a good thing, Too many logs Packed in too tight Can douse the flames Almost as surely As a pail of water can. From Fire, by Judy Brown 9
What lights your fire? What called you to…? What inside you was called? What is now called? 10
Hopes Understanding importance for Leaders to: be author of your own stories, have a growth mindset, ensure there is a support system to turn to for honest feedback, and reserve time for reflection to help sustain balance and perspective on being leader. 11
Into the fire How can I be all these things to all these people? How can I know and do all I should? Am I really all I profess to be? 12
Leader Voices There are weeks when I am so busy and tired I just keep plowing forward, and don’t even stop to think about what I’m doing and if it’s the best way to do things . Voices from the Coalface: An investigation into restoring the wounded leader , Judi Gurvich (Australia)
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Good news HEADLINE: Telling & Listening to a leader’s story …is a pathway to the inner work for self-awareness and professional growth. 15
Questions we live with 1. How does a reasonable, well-intentioned person, who happens to be a school leader, preserve a healthy and real sense of self in the face of a host of factors challenging that self in the best scenario, and leading to a wounding crisis in the worst? 2. What perspective toward the work of leadership might fortify the impact of these challenges, and produce a mindset that leaves the person open to learn and grow from such experience? ◦ Ackerman & Maslin-Ostrowski 16
RESEARCH DESIGN Ackerman & Maslin-Ostrowski Phenomenological Interpretive Listen our way into a leader’s world 17
What is a leadership wound? ? …the distance a person in leadership has traveled from his or her own true story. ◦ Fear ◦ Vulnerability ◦ Power ◦ Isolation 18
Christopher’s story Things appeared to be unraveling. I was always dancing on the skillet. 19
Christopher’s story I did not agree with the policy, but …figured I had to go along with the board. I thought I could change things later, but that turned out not to be the case…After awhile I was saying things to teachers and parents and acted like I supported the program…I guess that I made it my story too but looking back, it was false, not really me .
Fear of … public failure, change, not changing, being judged, falling short of expectations, not being accepted … 21
Vulnerability Paradox A constant question is …am I cutting it? Voice 52, Gurvich 22
“You can’t control the story.” -College President Maslin-Ostrowski & Floyd (2010) 23
“a lonely position , and I don’t think that everyone realizes that. Alone in the sense that there are massive amounts of responsibility , work that has to be done, work that we want everyone to be passionate about and not everybody always shares that passion, but everybody wants 100 percent of you; there are a zillion stake holders that pull in all different directions .” - Principal 24
Inevitability …Sooner or later a true leader is going to stir the pot and, if great things happen as a result, is going to get splattered and slopped on. Spillage is inevitable . – Barney Hollowell 25
Possibility of growth and renewal For the first time in a long, long time I think I’m pretty comfortable with who I am as an educator , with who I am as a leader. And I don’t always feel like I’ve got to try to be on. I just do it. And it’s much more natural . - Christopher’s Story 26
So what does this all mean? Despite a bias that leadership resides in the outward, visible world, the inward and invisible powers of the human spirit can have at least equal impact on our individual and collective lives. 27
What helps, what heals? So building fires Requires attention To the space in between, As much as to the wood. – from Fire , by Judy Brown 28
What helps, what heals? Learn to trust the unattended areas of your leadership – especially your feelings . Find folks to talk to whom you can really trust .
Essentials for leaders support system relationships 30
A Story: An old woman, two boys and a bird Holding a space for self and others 31
What can leaders do? Create a holding environment- support and challenge Create safe spaces to tell our own stories and to listen to others, as we are doing at the conference. Practices e.g., Clearness Committee, Center for Courage & Renewal (Parker Palmer) It’s more about relationship than technique 32
Boundary Markers-ways to keep a space safe By invitation Be in the moment Respect other truths No fixers Turn to wonder Trust & Confidentiality (Palmer & Others) Goal: Deep listening 33
What helps, what heals? Listen honestly and deeply for the questions that are feared or left out of your work life altogether.
CREATE a Culture of collegial inquiry, one where people are able to practice the Art & Science of asking open, honest questions. 35
Summing Up Space for inner work must be created, it is not given. Inner work is a job requirement of being leader . 36
We must go slowly. There is not much time. “ tiempo guisto ” life movement What does it mean to take our human side of leadership seriously? How can we slow down long enough to examine our work? 37
Listen for stories - Eudora Welty Story is one of the most natural ways that we connect to each other. 38
Growth Mindset The journey of the chameleon principal …The chameleon in me knows I will continue to change and evolve as that is the nature and character of the chameleon and the leader. The journey has brought me to a place of looking differently at educational leadership. Kelly (2008) ACU 39
New Media Relations 40
Challenge : So what do I do Monday morning? ◦ Identify something you would like to work on related to the themes of this conference. ◦ What steps could you take to meet this commitment? How might you experiment with new actions? New feelings? ◦ Exchange email or text with colleague(s) & set date to check-in with each other. 41
Meaning No man hath affliction enough that is not matured, and ripened by it. -John Donne I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens. -Woody Allen The leadership wound represents an extraordinary source of learning and a critical opening to what may be most at stake in the practical exercise of leadership; namely, one's self. -Ackerman & Maslin-Ostrowski 42
The Threads We Follow The Way It Is by William Stafford Ask yourself: What are the threads I’m following in my life? What helps me to hold on and “not let go of the thread”? 43
Thank you! PMaslin@fau.edu 44
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