Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Gandhi
My former superintendent, once told me that technology only gives the illusion of saving time because we quickly fill the time we save with new tasks resulting in our professional lives being even busier than before. In many ways I think his perception is true. It as if we have this empty void we are all trying to fill. We are all looking for that sense of purpose in knowing what we are doing will matter in the end. It is the struggle of balancing the tension of change- wanting change, realizing that something different is needed and yet being terrified of losing something valuable in the long run. As school leaders in this digital world we must help students and staff learn to keep a balance in what we do with our time. Our ultimate goal is to focus on student learning and engaging students in appropriate projects to help them develop careers for their future. In order to do this, we must come to know our own place and role in this digital environment. As teachers we are leaders, as administrators we are leaders, but we are also teachers, and we have the responsibility to teach our community to take responsibility for the needs of the students?.even if we have to go beyond our comfort zone.
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As education leaders grow, they become systems thinkers and more strategic. We are reminded by Linksy in his book "Leadership on the Line" that sometimes doing what you think needs to be done at a strategic level may threaten the simpler world view that others have and is therefore a dangerous venture.
ReplyDeleteGrowth beyond the systems and strategic involves seeing the "invisible", as Charan et al. refer to it in the "Leadership Pipeline". As leaders we need to be seeking what Donella Meadows called "Leverage Points"--those things that with a small change can have a big effect. Often the leaverage point is not easy to discern.
I think this is what, through the ages, has set the trully great leaders apart from others. So it is at this time. Much of what is happening with the next generation is invisible to us. We who have lived in a different paradigm. The first step is to do as you suggest and to try to step into the perspective of the digital generation and then help our colleagues to do the same.