Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Balanced Approach to Stakeholder Empowerment During Change

by Kristen C. Wilcox & Francesca Durand

In this blog, we (Drs. Kristen C. Wilcox, University at Albany and Francesca Durand, Russell Sage College) share findings from a study of leaders’ stakeholder empowerment strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. More from this paper will be presented at the New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS) Winter Institute on March 7th, 2023.

Why study stakeholder empowerment?

With a culmination of new and complex challenges in schools, and those challenges heightened by the pandemic, how a variety of stakeholders can be engaged in determining priorities, problem solving, and participating in leading change has become a topic of high interest. Researchers have pointed to the power of social media in helping surface previously suppressed or marginalized voices, but caution that voicing concern or interest in what happens in schools does not equal empowerment or necessarily bring about improvements.

In our NYSCOSS Winter Institute presentation, we discuss the expression “to see the forest for the trees” to capture the essence of what we identified as a promising leadership approach to stakeholder empowerment. This expression has been evoked to capture the common problem of not understanding or appreciating a larger situation or problem because one is considering only a few parts of it. In relation to our findings, this expression captures leaders’ practice of “seeing” both the trees (i.e., individual) and the forest (i.e., group/community) needs while engaging in leading a school or district.

In our examination of dozens of educator and leader interviews and focus groups, we noted that leaders in positive outlier schools (those identified for relatively better educator responses to the pandemic in terms of stress and job satisfaction) addressed both individual and group/community needs by dynamically balancing 1) communicating and coordinating, 2) sense-making and knowledge-building, and 3) empathizing and cheerleading.

Three Stakeholder Empowerment Approaches in Balance

• Stakeholder Empowerment Approach 1: The Communicator and Coordinator

This stakeholder empowerment approach is characterized by frequent multi-way communications with stakeholders that during the pandemic included outdoor meetings in person, phone calls, socially-distanced home visits, and Zoom meetings. Leaders using this approach share information frequently through a variety of technologies. They also coordinate efforts to encourage consistency in messaging and practices throughout their schools.

• Stakeholder Empowerment Approach 2: The Sense-Maker and Knowledge Builder

This stakeholder empowerment approach is characterized by thoughtfully designed and high leverage opportunities for individual and organizational learning. Professional learning opportunities for instructional staff during the pandemic included training in technology (oftentimes offered in-house by highly-qualified and prepared peer teachers) and included prioritizing time for teachers to learn promising practices from each other. This approach is also characterized by prioritizing innovation and flexibility by way of ongoing scanning for information about stakeholder needs and encouraging novel problem-solving as new challenges are confronted.

• Stakeholder Empowerment Approach 3: The Empath and Cheerleader

This stakeholder empowerment approach is characterized by empathy and humility and is enacted through encouraging participation particularly among vulnerable youth, families, and other stakeholders who may not typically voice needs or concerns. This approach is also characterized by active work toward encouraging resilience through positive affirmation and recognizing the effort of all stakeholders.

Looking Beyond the Pandemic to Stakeholder Empowerment in the Future

This NYKids study found that leaders in positive outlier schools strived to meet individual and group/community needs using a balanced stakeholder empowerment approach and this was done in a dynamic way. While the pandemic begins to appear in the rear-view mirror, the increasing calls for more democratic and participatory governance of schools is not likely to wane. Current school and district leaders, and those in preparation, will likely confront other challenges and even crises like the pandemic and will need the skills and strategies to address them.

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