Leading Through Risk

By Brian Rhode and Kristen C. Wilcox

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged even the most experienced leaders to adapt and innovate and help others in their schools and districts to do the same. Looking ahead to the fall, re-opening schools sets up a new set of challenges. A return to schooling the way it looked prior to the onset of the pandemic may not be a feasible or desirable option. Finding a path forward will require creative and courageous thinking as well as a fair amount of risk taking. A particular challenge for school leaders will be creating reopening plans that invite their staff to innovate with them.

Research conducted by NYKids provides insight into how school leaders create and sustain environments where new and innovative practices can emerge. One positive outlier school, Alfred-Almond Junior-Senior High School, from NYKids’ Phase 1 College and Career Readiness study offered some lessons about how to lead for adaptation and innovation.

Lessons from Positive Outliers

We found that leaders in positive outlier schools fostered innovation by building trust, in part, by ensuring staff that they have their backs when they try something new. We also found that trust is bolstered by a system of instructionally-focused learning opportunities that help individuals and groups of teachers build their knowledge and expertise together. Finally, our findings suggest that when instructional leaders help organize instructionally-focused learning opportunities and include teacher voices in their design and function they enhance trust. And this in turn increases staff willingness to take advantageous risks.

As an example, at positive outlier Alfred-Almond Junior-Senior High School, we found that teachers and leaders created a system for technology integration that included providing training to staff willing to try applying recommended technology in their own classrooms. In their model, a small group of K-12 teachers, overseen by the district technology coordinator, piloted different technologies in their classrooms, thus creating data about effectiveness in actual practice. Applications and products that this small group thought useful and in line with district goals were then proposed to the administrative team for use by the larger staff. This group of teachers further served as in-house PD providers who could train others interested and willing to integrate recommended technologies themselves. The teacher voice in selecting and testing technology enhanced the willingness of other staff members to risk trying new technologies.

Key Take-aways in Leading for Re-opening in the Fall

As school leaders and staff look ahead to fall 2021 reopening one certainty is that much will be uncertain and risks will be involved. Elements of “traditional” school may return, but new paths for meeting the fundamental charter of educating each and every child will have to be created anew.

Positive outlier schools like Alfred-Almond Junior-Senior High School demonstrate that leaders who build trust with staff and use systems of instructionally-focused professional learning can help school staff members take risks and become more adaptable and innovative in their practice.

For more on this topic see the recently published article “Leading Through Risk” (Brian Rhode & Kristen C. Wilcox) in the Spring 2021 issue of Vanguard magazine.