“The study council,
with about 25
participating
superintendents,
quickly embraced
the notion of
complexity because
IT SO ACCURATELY
INCORPORATED
WHAT THEY WERE
LIVING DAILY.
As
the year progressed,
the group discussed
everything from choice
and out-of-school
learning to declining
resources and
dealing with board
member e-mails,
texts and tweets
24 hours a day.”
use technology as a force in instruction and
learning.
From dealing with swinging pendulums to
strategically leading/managing talent (staff
and
school board).
Starting Assumptions
In response, the two of us developed a nine-
month progTam.
What emerged was a com
bination of organized sessions dealing with
the increasing complexity of district leader
ship, including the possibility of creating self-
improving school systems.
The study council,
with about
25
partici
pating superintendents, quickly embraced the
notion of complexity because it so accurately
incorporated what they were living daily.
As the year progressed, the group discussed
everything from choice and out-of-school
learning to declining resources and dealing
with board member c-mails, texts and tweets
24
hours a day.
As instructors, we started with an assump
tion
—
that superintendents could address
many of the challenges facing schools and
districts if they became self-improving systems
organized in learning networks, an approach
advocated by British educational sociologist
David Hargreaves.
But that assumption was
tested by the ensuing conversations as we col
lectively recognized the pressures and complex
ities the superintendents were confronting.
The five sessions dealt with:
I The pressures and anxieties students, their
parents, teachers, principals, superintendents
and school boards are feeling.
The multiple ways instructional and commu
nications technology are reshaping the school
ing experience, and teaching and learning.
How districts are coping with increasing
competition and market pressures.
The commoditization of schooling.
Reflecting on one’s leadership role, accom
plishments and challenges, both past and
future, in the face of increasing complexity.
Recurrent Themes
Lurking behind these topics were such shared
challenges as responding to state accountabffity
systems, adopting and adapting new teacher
and principal evaluation systems mandated by
state departments of education, implementing
core curriculum content standards, anticipat
ing national assessments and increasing college
access.
As the sessions progressed, several telling
and recurrent issues emerged:
Awareness of widespread anxiety and uncer
tainty among stakeholder groups, employees,
students, parents and communities.
Coping with increased expectations for
24-hour comimmication (especially from the
school board), district website design and social
media management.
-
Dealing with school and district “brand man
agement:’ privatization, choice,
market models,
competition, charters, vouchers and virtual
schools.
Managing resource contraction while trying
to improve student achievement.
Fending off (perceived) attacks on public
education.
Keeping up with shifting state and federal
mandates.
A recurrent theme was that there have
been dramatic changes in the education sector
and the superintendency over the past three
decades, and these changes are not sufficiently
understood by policymakers, boards of educa
tion or academics.
As the concerns of the group became more
focused,
we moved from learning networks as
the central theme to that of “embracing com
plexity;” a construct developed in the September
2011 issue
ofHarvard Business Review.
But we also recognized the discussions we
were having were a version of networked learn
ing because we were dependent on each other
to generate a more comprehensive understand
ing of the complexities of leading than any of
us could have done individually.
Degree of Complexity
What do we know about the relationship
between leadership and complexity?
In the lead article from the “embracing
complexity” issue of
Harvard Business Review,
authors Gökçe Sargut and Rita Gunther
McGrath stipulate that “complex organizations
are far more difficult to manage than merely
22
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR SEPTEMBER 2013
