This weekend, I listened to a short podcast with Harvard Graduate School of Education professor Deborah Jewell-Sherman about leading schools in a crisis.  I thought she did a beautiful job summing up the current experience of school leaders: “this is the adaptive challenge of a lifetime.”  Her words and reflection were incredibly supportive of school leaders, both acknowledging the incredible challenge of the moment, and recognizing that decisions and solutions change on a daily basis as state and local health guidance is constantly changing.

I especially liked two things that Dr. Jewell-Sherman emphasized in her podcast.  First, was that despite the very real difficulties, leaders must step up to the challenge.  Yes, the levels of uncertainty are unprecedented.  Yes, the planning and logistics and communications are constant and potentially overwhelming.  Yet these are precisely the moments when leadership is most needed.  The fact that it is hard or tiring is no excuse for the leader.  There is no space to feel sorry for yourself and give in to your own personal feelings of doubt or uncertainty.  Of course it is okay to acknowledge you don’t have all of the answers and that plans are constantly evolving.  In fact, you absolutely should be communicating those things.  But as the leader, you don’t get to throw your hands up in frustration.  You are the leader to reassure, encourage, and remind your team that you will weather the storm together, no matter the challenges.

The other part of Dr. Jewell-Sherman’s interview that felt right on point to me was her use the 4-Frame model of leadership from Bolman and Deal’s book Reframing Organizations to make sense of the current crisis.  Bolman’s & Deal’s work is now several decades old, but my own experience nagivating the COVID crisis as a school leader has reinforced their perspective.  Basically, they argue that the work of school leadership falls within 4 large categories, or “frames” as they refer to them: structural, political, human resources, and symbolic.  The structural frame refers to all of the logistical decisions that define the work – daily class schedules, delivery timelines, food distribution protocols, etc.  The political frame refers to the pressures and decisions that come from the different perspectives, sources of influence and formal authority of stakeholders, including policymakers and elected officials.  The human resource frame addresses all of the systems and decisions related to the people who work in the system; how to build their capacity to carry out the work, coordinate their activities and work assignments, and address problems and conflicts as they arise.  Finally the symbolic frame refers to the work of leaders to provide stability and and a shared sense of purpose, encouraging staff and students to continue to move forward in pursuit of a shared vision.

The essential nature of each of the frames has been evident to me in my own work as a education leader during the time of the pandemic.  Each complex issues has implications across the  different frames.  When we are designing school schedules for August re-opening, for example, all of the frames come into play.  What should the structural schedules, safety protocols, room arrangements, etc.  look like?  What are the prevailing political pressures and expectations for what school should look like coming from our parents, families, and school board?  How will we ensure our staff is trained and has the capacity to provide high quality learning – regardless of the different structural scenarios.  Finally, how do I, as the leader of the organization, ensure that my team feels inspired to provide a meaningful learning experience to students, while also communicating that we are mindful of their welfare and safety as employees?

I think Dr. Jewell-Sherman’s advice was a good reminder that in a crisis, leaders have to step up their game, and make sure that they attend to all of the needs of the organization.  While it certainly won’t be and hasn’t been easy, that is the work we must move forward.  It will be interesting to look back at sometime in the future to determine whether she was right that COVID-19 was the defining leadership challenge of our professional lives.