How do you turn overload and fragmentation into focus and coherence?
As your experience this post, reflect on the quadrants your leadership has most significantly developed in 2016-2017, and potential quadrants that need attention in the future.
This is the question and subject of Michael Fullan's book Coherence, and one of our resources in developing our SAIL process for continuous school improvement. Coherence consists of a shared depth of understanding about the purpose and nature of the work. So often in the literature, it is easy to point to the wrong drivers: external accountability, "new" stuff be it curriculum, technology or the latest "it" things, strategies so broad that none can be effectively implemented and more...as educators, we know what does not work, yet we are products of systems and experiences that have perpetuated the "wrong driver's" in leadership. Our SAIL process puts us on a path to examine and build capacity around the right drivers, those are the driver's we believe will lead to transformational learning opportunities.
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So what does Capacity building, Collaborative effort, Pedagogy and Systemness look like in ACTION?
Notice at the center of the framework is LEADERSHIP. Leaders must reflect upon and find the right combination of these components for the to build the people, practices and process that lead to systems improvement. Fullan tags the concept of simplexity to refer to narrowing the focused direction, build capacity around that direction, moving deeper into practice and perhaps most timely, securing and ensuring internal loci of accountability. While coherence might be like Danielson's level 4, a place you visit, but rarely live, think of coherence as an ongoing quest to deepen learning, focus direction, build collaborative cultures and secure, rather than ensure, accountability.
The framework provides a support to move from theory to practice, department to system, teaching to learning and the cultures that support the conditions for these to take flight.
As you finish reading this post, reflect on the quadrants your leadership has most significantly developed in 2016-2017. Think about how teams and individuals might reflect on the quadrant. Use the reflection to start or frame conversations about next steps in moving the teaching and learning culture forward at your site, school or on your team.
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