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In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
Accept Your Vulnerability and Suit Up
Not since the middle of the last century with the outbreak of Polio has there been such a time as this. Not even the AIDS epidemic, nor the more recent pandemics have caused such universal distress. This COVID enemy is uncontrollable and ruthless. We can use everything we know to try to fight it, yet our experience tells us there are people who will rebuff our attempts. There are those who refuse to wear masks or keep their distance. Young people congregate in masses and we are at a loss to stop them. Yet, these actions put others at risk. It can seem as though the forces against a safe and successful path forward are unstoppable.
On top of our professional responsibilities, we have our students, parents, and colleagues, as well as ourselves and our family members to take care of. And that too can feel like an endless and overwhelming task.
So, what’s the answer? In truth, there isn’t one single proven answer at this time. But we can adopt a helpful frame of mind: Suit up and be vulnerable.
These two actions, on their face, may seem like opposing things. They’re not. In fact, they are two powerful elements of successful leadership, especially in times like these.
Some days we need to suit up with a formal suit that says “leader,” other days with the team uniform. But every day we need to be ready to do what’s in the best interest of our organizations and the people we are charged to keep learning and stay safe.
When we “suit up” we actually start to prepare ourselves to win—mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually—and not merely endure our circumstances. Suiting up mentally also helps us reach inside and activate and draw upon core principles, knowledge, skills, and other strengths we possess. In our case, the battle is about preparing this generation of students for their future. It’s about keeping students and their teachers and support staff safe—so that they have a future. It’s about feeding those students who wouldn’t have two meals a day without our efforts. It’s about making sure every student and every staff member feels seen and heard—and so much more. It’s a tall order. But it’s what we got into this profession to do. If we don’t suit up with the positive intent and passion for nurturing and protecting young people every day —we won’t win the battle.
In the absence of easy answers, our real strength, perhaps even our super-power, is to lean into our vulnerability—another keen aspect of our human reality. We do not have to behave as though we have all the answers. We can give others space and encouragement to reflect, imagine, and propose answers to the challenges we face without abandoning our leadership or devaluing our strengths. When we access our vulnerability, the barriers that divide us and arouse our fears begin to crumble and we open ourselves up to the ideas of many others who come to our aide and can help us solve the problems that confront us. Ironically, when we do, it motivates both us and them. We also put ourselves in a position to learn. And it is this mindset of learning that will propel us and our mission forward in new and more productive ways. In truth, all of us are feeling incredibly vulnerable now—because we are. It isn’t a weakness. It’s simply a condition—and one that we can use to unite us rather than divide us.
The path before us will not be easy. But know that in actuality, we may experience our biggest victories now. There certainly has never been a time when our leadership was needed more. We won’t get the answers we seek every day, but if we stay alert, suit up, and stay vulnerable, solutions will appear.
In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
Brand New Research: A Potential Game-Changer for Learning to Pass Along to Teachers
School opened this fall with students learning in a variety of settings and under multiple conditions. Some settings are long familiar to educators and students. Others have emerged in recent months in response to the need to maintain safe and sustainable distances and reduce exposure to the virus. Yet, regardless of the location and setting in which education occurs, we want to be certain that students learn and succeed.
Of course, educators will rely mostly on the strategies and techniques they have known to be effective in the past. Some will continue to produce expected results. Others will fall short when applied in a virtual/hybrid setting or another novel context.
Yet, there is new research published this past June by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that holds the potential to lift the performance of students across physical settings and disciplines without regard to past performance. The construct, known as strategic mindset, draws on what we already know about metacognition—thinking about and being aware of our thinking—and applies these skills in strategic ways.
The team of researchers, including Carol Dweck of Growth Mindset fame, demonstrated that learners who employed a strategic mindset were significantly better able to solve problems, reach goals, and improve performance over those who might rely on intelligence, persistence, or experience alone. Equally important, a strategic mindset appears to be effective across a variety of applications and life functions.
The construct involves people asking themselves questions about their work, learning, problem solving and other challenges to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Questions such as “Is there another way to do this better?” “How else can I do this?” and “What can I do to help myself?” can build consciousness about the challenge or goal and open new paths and strategies to achieve success.
The research demonstrated the effectiveness of employing a strategic mindset across diverse endeavors such as professional, education, health, and fitness goals. In fact, the researchers documented significant differences in performance even when results were controlled for intelligence.
Even more important, researchers demonstrated that a strategic mindset can be taught. In fact, positive effects were demonstrated with as little “priming” as having participants read about the construct and how it can be applied to learning and goal attainment.
If you are curious about the application of a strategic mindset and whether you have one, the team of researchers developed a questionnaire you can take to find out. Rate yourself on the following statements using a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (all the time):
When you are stuck on something, how often do you ask yourself: “What are things I can do to help myself?”
1 2 3 4
5
Whenever you feel like you are not making progress, how often do you ask yourself: “Is there a better way of doing this?”
1 2 3 4
5
Whenever you feel frustrated with something, how often do you ask yourself: “How can I do this better?”
1 2 3 4
5
In moments when you feel challenged, how often do you ask yourself: “What are things I can do to make myself better at this?”
1 2 3 4
5
When you are struggling with something, how often do you ask yourself: “What can I do to help myself?”
1 2 3 4
5
Whenever something feels difficult, how often do you ask yourself: “What can I do to get better at this?”
1 2 3 4
5
The higher you score, the more likely you are to have a strategic mindset. If you want to improve, make it a habit to ask yourself these questions whenever you face a challenge, engage in a difficult task, or want to achieve a goal.
The biggest benefit: Regardless of the learning context within which your students find themselves, using these questions to focus their attention can make a difference. With practice, students will soon develop additional learning and progress strategies that lead to improved learning and better goal attainment.
Source:
Chen, P., Powers, J. T., Katragadda, K. R., Cohen, G. L., and Dweck, C. S. (2020) A strategic mindset: An orientation toward strategic behavior during goal pursuit. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(25), 14066-14072. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2002529117
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
Behavior, In Your Corner
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
Behavior, In Your Corner
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Over the course of a lifetime, curious people are more likely to achieve success than those who fail to question, imagine, and explore.
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