20/20 Leadership: MIrrors and Windows (Part 2)

Leaders who have 20/20 vision must see both near-sighted and far-sighted clearly. Part one of this 20/20 Leadership blog focused on a leader standing by a mirror ... reflecting on themselves or on their organization and taking a closer look.

The second image of a 20/20 vision is a leader standing at the window, exercising his/her "far-sighted" vision. Leaders who are "far-sighted" are able to look beyond the details of the day, focus on what is best for the future of the organization, and can see the threats and opportunities by scanning the horizon. However, standing by the window can also imply taking a break and getting up from one's desk, which is also an important part of being a healthy leader.

So how can educational leaders spend time at the window?

Standing at the Window

Of the two positions, standing by a mirror or standing by a window, educational leaders that I know (myself included) need to be reminded more to "stand at the window." Principals, teacher-leaders, and even superintendents in education tend to dig in and work hard on the details of the day: scheduling, meeting with students/parents, completing classroom observations, walking the building picking up trash, planning the next event, reviewing test scores ... and reflecting on ways to make those details better.

It is vital for the health of the individual and the organization for leaders to spend time standing at the window. Here are a few of the benefits of standing by the window:

1. Take a Break
When I literally stand by a window, it is often to feel the warm Colorado sunshine on my face, enjoy the beauty of a sunset, or to take a deep breath of fresh air. For the health of the educational leader, taking time to stand by a window, both literally and figuratively, is vital as a break from the craziness of the day.

Burnout is high among educational leaders ... average superintendent tenure is 6 years, average principal tenure is 4 years. While the reasons for burnout are multi-faceted and context specific, a couple universal reasons are the break-neck pace of schooling and the lack of breaks for leaders during the school day. This doesn't have to be ... leaders can take 5 minute breaks to feel the warmth of co-workers, enjoy the beauty of the teaching/learning in classrooms, and take a deep breath of fresh air before jumping into another project. These can also be extended times. I am blessed to have a superintendent who requires his principals to take an extended break, of at least an hour, off-campus every other week.

The first reason for leaders to "stand by a window" is to take a break.

2. Check the Weather

Another reason that I stand by a window is to check the weather for the day. Checking the climate of the school is also an important action that every educational leader needs to accomplish on a regular basis.

Stand by the window and evaluate the climate of the school. Is this a spring weather time to start a new initiative or a winter weather time to hunker down? What is needed as you leave the house on the next journey? Do we need umbrellas or sunglasses, ponchos or winter coats? Are teachers and staff in need of an encouraging ray of sunshine or a supportive wind beneath their sails? Is there a celebration that needs to happen because of a positive educational "harvest"?

Checking the weather before heading out and embarking on a new project is vital for educational leaders ... and this can only be done by standing at the window.

3. Guard against Threats

While the image of a sentry keeping watch over the castle is not a common occurrence today, standing at a window can allow someone to see attacks coming. A leader must scan the horizon to see threats against the organization ... in this case a school.

External threats can come in many forms, and every organization needs a sentry. Educational leaders need to be aware of external factors that may impact the school in enrollment, operations, and finance: market changes and economic factors, current laws and pending legislation, competition from other schools, technological changes, and a variety of other current or future factors.

The best educational leaders are ones who can see external threats and prepare the school well to address them. The picture of a leader standing alone at a window is not accurate, especially in the case of being aware of external threats ... this needs to be a collaborative effort. An effective leader will get assistance "at the window" from an advisory council or school board to give input on external threats. In fact, non-educators often see these factors with more insight than educational leaders; rely on these friends to help guard against threats.

4. Day Dream

The final reason that I stand at the window is to day dream. It is easy to get lost in a beautiful sunset on the horizon, imagining all that the world can be. Although some view day dreaming as negative (especially in schools), this can be one of most positive things that a leader can do. In fact, often day dreaming incorporates the other "standing at the window" elements listed above. In the context of leadership, a day dreamer imagines a future world and sets a vision for how to get there.

Setting a vision for the future requires an educational leader to stand at the window and day dream. Unfortunately, many leaders are forced to focus on immediate sustainability (i.e. paying the bills at the end of the month), and they are not able to look at the horizon. Visioning requires a leader to look out for the future of the school. Bold, visionary leaders take risks to position the school to thrive in the future, and that can only happen if leaders spend time at the window.

Educational leaders standing at the window often encourages dreaming of what a school could be (or ought to be). This day dreaming leads to conversations about "what do we want to look like as a school in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?" This is the beginning of the visioning process and will lead to a powerful vision statement.

Mirrors and Windows

The most effective leadership happens when a leader can stand at the mirror and at the window at the same time. Due to the fact that many leaders have personalities that feel more comfortable at the mirror or at the window, it is rare to find someone who has both qualities.

Those leaders who focus on management (even "micro-management") spend more time standing at the mirror. These leaders need to be encouraged to step away from the work-a-day grind and stand by the window, take a deep breath and consider vision. The leaders who are more naturally visionaries spend more time standing at the window. These leaders need to be encouraged to spend more time in the daily work of the organization, get their hands dirty, and take a close look at what is going well, what is not, and how to tweak it in order to optimize the organization.

Those who have participated in a SWOT analysis can probably see the connection with these two images. "Mirror-work" is focused more on the Strengths and Weaknesses, and "window-work" is focused more on the Opportunities and Threats in the SWOT analysis. All four are important areas to consider, especially for those leaders in program evaluation and strategic planning.

Standing at the mirror and at the window at the same time is difficult, but remembering these two images will really help leaders see clearly in 2020 and beyond.

20/20 Leadership: Mirrors and Windows (Part 1)

With the year 2020, many are talking about 20/20 vision. For leaders to be visionary and effective, they must be both near-sighted and far-sighted; they must have 20/20 vision.

Two images come to mind when thinking about 20/20 leadership. Visualize the image of a leader standing at a mirror and then visualize the image of a leader standing at a window. Effective leadership involves both "mirror-work" and "window-work"; effective leaders need to be both near-sighted and far-sighted. A challenge is doing both of these at the same time.

What do each of these images mean?

Standing at the Mirror

Mirrors, of course, imply reflection, and leaders must frequently reflect both personally and organizationally. However, mirrors are also places where individuals take a closer look, and that also needs to happen. Ineffective leaders rarely take a closer look, instead choosing to stay in their office, in strategic meetings, or in the "clouds."

So how can educational leaders spend time at the mirror?

1. Collect data. 
In order to "take a closer look," reflection needs data. While data can be formal test scores or surveys, it can also be informal observations, casual conversations with staff, and student feedback. Most experienced educational leaders have a keen "gut" that tells them what doesn't seem right about teaching, learning, and the overall school climate; data helps confirm or deny those gut feelings. Leaders should always be collecting and evaluating data ... towards one end: to improve the quality of education being received by the students.

• What data are you using to confirm your "gut" feeling about your school?
• When was the last time you asked a staff member or a student, "what is going well for you?" or "what is going poorly for you?"
• Are there institutional assessments that would help you reflect more meaningfully?

2. Focus on the positive first! 
When reflecting, start with the positives. While it is easy to pick out the negatives, a greater impact occurs when you work on enhancing your strengths rather than working on your weaknesses. Celebrate your strengths. Continue to do those things with excellence. Reflecting on the following questions will help you identify both your strengths and ways to take these to the next level.

• What is going well? Why?
• What can you do to celebrate, affirm, and solidify those areas in which you excel?
• How do you build on those strengths?
• How can you optimize these areas to move from "good to great"?

3. Focus on the negatives second! 

After celebrating your strengths, full reflection requires one to consider weaknesses. However, this doesn't have to be negative; identified weaknesses, confirmed by data and presented as "areas of improvement," can also motivate leaders. teachers and students. As long as you (personally and as a school) have a growth mindset, these can be be transformed into powerful action steps toward improvement. Reflecting on the following questions will help identify focus areas.

• What is not going well? Why not?
• Is more effort / staffing needed?
• What can I do to improve the situation?
• Does the issue require more hands-on attention from leadership?
• Do expectations need to be clarified? Do I need to relaunch?

Reflection (mirror-work) is a powerful opportunity to move from good to great personally and as a school or organization, and it is a vital strategy to identify areas of improvement ... but reflection (mirror-work) takes time. You can imagine, effective educators take time to reflect regularly and deeply. They tweak lessons/units to improve every day; they analyze data; they take a close look at what is going on as an educational institution ... in short, they spend time daily in front of the mirror.

The shadow side of mirrors.

Leaders who are more "managers" than "visionaries" enjoy mirror-work. They enjoy collecting data, taking a closer look, critiquing/tweaking details, and jumping in to "help." While this can be a strength, it can quickly devolve into micro-managing staff.

Just like spending too much time at the mirror in the morning personally is not a healthy practice and can prevent you from leaving the house, spending too much time at the professional mirror can frustrate staff and impede further action. Effective leaders do not spend too much time at the mirror. In fact, the most effective leaders move smoothly from the mirror to the window and back again.

The second part of being a 20/20 leader involves being far-sighted and part two of this blog discusses the image of a leader standing by a window ... stay tuned.