Leading Educational Change from Within and Between
An introduction to myself and Theory U
I grew up on the outskirts of society, literally, as one of the 1–2% of children homeschooled during the 90’s. This always feels relevant to mention on the forefront of describing who I am now, as an educator, because the “outsider researcher” perspective is an intricate part of my lens on education and society in general. In middle school, I started a long foray into academic speech and debate through a homeschoolers league, and it became a passion because it supported me to harness the power of my voice. I began traveling around the nation, leading workshops with homeschoolers to help share what I learned. Whenever I find something I love, I try to pass it on.
I have worked in K-12+ education for the past 11 years as a teacher, coach, consultant, and professor. In every role, I recognize the need for teachers to find practical and psychological support to innovate. All too often, teacher education and professional development neglect the personal and emotional side of change. I have witnessed this struggle in the United States, South Africa, England, Rwanda, and Denmark as I worked alongside educators who sought to adapt their schools to better support 21st century learning. While the sociopolitical contexts were unique, I was confronted with familiar frustrations, competing obligations, and a sense of enthusiasm for change met with confusion for how to enact it. I became curious: How might we best support teachers to be joyously empowered in political contexts that are often disabling and discouraging?
I have pondered this question throughout my pursuit a doctorate degree in Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego. This series of essays comes at the end of three years thinking about educational change, and is my first attempt to communicate what I have learned to other educators that might feel that same frustration that I did. That question of, how do I become a change maker in a space where it feels like I’m the only one? Or how do I maintain conviction when it feels like I’m up against all of these social forces that are pressuring me to just stay quiet about structures that I can feel are not supporting students?
All of the educators I’ve ever met are trying to do their damnedest to get it right for the kids, to the extent that the educators that I’ve met are over-working, underpaid, and under-appreciated. In society, teachers consistently are blamed for whatever social ill is trending that day. So these are not essays to imply that you’re doing anything wrong. But I want to offer some thoughts that might reframe the conversation around what educational change could look like. Throughout my studies at USD, I have begun to learn a few things about some change management processes that come from different organizational contexts, not just education.
Exploring organizational theories of change
There’s utility in looking outside of education to understand different ways of approaching change. Corporate organizations have become some of the largest institutions in the world and are confronting many of the same issues that we are in education: increasing connectedness globally through changes in technology have shifted the way we see ourselves, the way we talk to one another, and the way we think and communicate. For-profit organizations have more time and resources to spend considering how to keep up with these changes, and so it behooves us as educators to look outside of ourselves to understand what other organizations are learning as we think about what might help education evolve in an ever-changing world.
One of the most interesting organizational learning theories I have encountered rethinks change from quick fixes that are reactive to problems to developing deeper levels of awareness. This theory is called Theory U, or the U-Process, and it was developed by Otto Scharmer, a lecturer at MIT and the founder of the Presencing Institute. The basic idea behind the U-process is that we need to develop ways of thinking, and ways of being, that are more connected to the rapidly changing world that we live in. This process is described in three “movements”: observe, retreat and reflect, and then act in an instant.
The left side of the U is all about deepening an awareness of the world around you, as opposed to acting from prior assumptions. When we can open our eyes to sense the world around us, not just from a thinking place, but from a feeling place, we become more equipped to understand the issues we confront, and bring about connected, sustainable change. The right side of the U has to do when bringing those new recognitions into a practical setting, where we can deeply sense our role in the world, trust that who we are in each situation is exactly enough for what needs to happen, and then begin to act in the world from a grounded space— both with ourselves, and with the situation as it is.
In reality, each of these processes don’t happen linearly. This is an integrated process, but it also can be helpful to break them down and consider them in stages. Thinking through each of those processes can help you build capacities and skills, so that moving through the U becomes a sort of dance, and you observe, reflect and act in a more synchronous, spiraling process. The first essay really talks about how to start to do this interior work, to build your own awareness of who you are and what your biases and assumptions are that are disconnecting you from seeing the world as it is. The second essay thinks about how you might do this in your classroom and how to foster these awareness capacities in service of your students. Finally, the third essay talks about what this process might look like for your organization, and thinking about your school as just one part of a larger ecosystem, and as a larger part of something much broader that’s happening on in our world.
Further Explorations:
Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges by C. Otto Scharmer
