By: Anna Bryan
This July 28-30, we will welcome teams of teachers and administrators at the Hurd Welcome Center at Baylor University to identify and address a problem of practice related to campus improvement, focusing on feedback, engagement, or well-being. The great hope of this work is to collectively catalyze deep change in our schools that results in students becoming who they are created to be.
Whether or not your school team is attending this collaborative retreat, there is no doubt that you are in the throes of identifying and considering ways to tackle deep change in your schools as you gear up for the start of another school year. As school leaders, you are faced with not just technical problems, but adaptive challenges – those persistent, complex, and wicked problems that resist quick fixes and rather require a shift in the beliefs, values, and behaviors of those involved.
Recognizing the difference between these types of problems is the first step in starting well. The second is determining if this is the right time and the conditions are appropriate for the challenge to be tackled. To these ends, I offer some practical steps and resources to start well and foster the conditions for your school community to rise up and catalyze change effectively.
Discerning Adaptive v. Technical Challenges
With constant pressure to improve outcomes, manage change, and meet stakeholder expectations, it is prudent that school leaders and teams start by accurately discerning the type of challenges being faced by the school. Technical challenges are issues that can typically be solved via a leadership edict, updates to policy, and shifts in schedules. Adaptive challenges, on the other hand, are those that create invisible tensions, resistance, confusion, or a sense of being stuck in the status quo. The belief systems, values, loyalties, and identities of stakeholders are at the heart of these issues.
In The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, the authors state, “The most common failure in leadership is produced by treating adaptive challenges as if they were technical problems” (Heiftz, Grashow, & Linsky, 2009, p. 19). To avoid this common pitfall and accurately discern if a challenge is adaptive in nature, look for patterns of work avoidance and conflicting values within the system.
- Work Avoidance – Heifetz (1994) defines work avoidance as a natural response when people feel threatened by the changes that adaptive work requires. This often manifests as watered-down initiatives, issues that resurface time and again, blame-shifting to external factors, procrastination around difficult conversations, and a “just-tell-me-what-to-do” compliance around change initiatives.
For example, a leader recognizes that the culture of her school needs to be improved and implements appreciation days, reward systems, and recognition efforts (all technical solutions). However, disconnection and resistance continue to be defining patterns of behavior because the underlying issue of trust has not been addressed (adaptive issue).
To quickly discern work avoidance related to adaptive issues, make these questions habitual points of reflection with your school team:
-Are we seeing stakeholders disengage, resist, or redirect when this topic comes up?
-Does this problem seem to persist (even if in different packaging) despite our attempts to fix it?
- Conflicting Values – Heifetz et al. (2009) argue that adaptive work “requires a change in values, beliefs, or behavior” (p.19). Adaptive issues go beyond the need for new strategies and policies, and require people to consider what they believe to be worthy of their time and attention based on their values. When change initiatives rub against the values of those involved in the work to make change occur, the school may find itself at a standstill, or worse, in inner turmoil.
Take, for example, a school aiming to close the achievement gap between diverse student populations. Curriculum revisions and remediation efforts may be technical parts of an overall solution, but will not gain necessary traction for change without a deeper dive into the core values and beliefs of those working with students. The deeper and more pressing challenge will be confronting unspoken assumptions about student potential, and equity and access to high-quality instruction.
To quickly discern if underlying values are at conflict, make these questions habitual points of reflection with your school team:
-What unspoken beliefs are sustaining this problem?
-What might people fear losing if this change succeeds?
Discerning Ripeness and Readiness
Once you know that you are dealing with an adaptive issue, it’s time to determine if the conditions within the school are both ripe and ready for the challenge to be tackled. In his article, The Sweet Spot for Change: Balancing Readiness and Ripeness, Eric Martin differentiates ripeness and readiness this way:
- Ripeness refers to the timing and context in which the challenge plays out. If an issue is ripe for change, then all key stakeholders recognize the problem as an issue to be addressed right now.
- Readiness refers to both the willingness and ability of stakeholders to engage the challenge. If an issue is ready to be tackled, stakeholders have the necessary knowledge to go about testing solutions, and a desire to dive into the personal belief systems driving the work.
Both conditions must be balanced for sustained change to occur. School teams may find it helpful to use a Ripe and Ready Matrix like the one depicted in the article linked above to physically map out the timing and conditions of your challenge. Doing so helps slow down the impulse to act quickly on everything by recognizing that adaptive work takes time and careful attention to the emotional, relational, and cognitive context of the school. Additionally, using a matrix like this helps us prioritize which challenges are worth our investment at this time.
Leading with Discernment
Rightly discerning an adaptive challenge is a mark of leadership maturity and the beginning of wise, Christ-centered leadership that sees people as more than problems to be fixed, and instead as partners in a shared calling. In the Gospel accounts, we see Jesus as the ultimate example of effective adaptive leadership – never settling for superficial solutions and always aiming at the heart. As school leaders, we are called to do the same, loving our communities enough to lead them through discomfort and toward deeper trust, purpose, and lasting change. Asking the right questions to identify the challenge and determine its ripeness and readiness is the starting point for this catalytic work. Take heart, God has called and equipped you with the discernment, courage, and community to step into this complex work and transformatively lead your schools.
For those of you attending Catalyze later in July, I look forward to stepping into this deep and meaningful work with you as we develop networks of partnership with one another to navigate change together. If you are not attending Catalyze and wish to join an Improvement Community with other school teams committed to adaptive leadership, let us know! This work is best done when done together.
References
Heifetz, R. A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Harvard University Press.
Heifetz, R. A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press.
About the Author
Anna H. Bryan is a Catalyst with the Baylor Center for School Leadership and director of lower schools for a private Christian school in Norfolk, Virginia. Prior to her recent positions, Anna served as a middle school math and science teacher in both public and charter schools, as well as a Math Specialist and later Assistant Principal and Coordinator for Professional Learning for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. She has developed a background in Collective Leadership, Design Thinking, and Improvement Science. Using that expertise, Anna supports work with 24 Improvement Community schools while helping us and them design improved change processes. She has also written the following blogs on the adaptive change process: The Worst Possible Idea, Slow Down to Speed Up, Maximizing Commitment in a Season of Change, The Middle Season: Thriving All the Way Through Change, and Productive Resistance: What To Do When Your Good Idea Becomes a Headache for Others.