The Elephants in the Room

As a leader, do you name the elephants in the room and ensure they are dealt with?

Every school/organization has its own 'elephants in the room'.  There are always issues that hover beneath the surface that impede improvement efforts.  In a school, these may be issues related to why certain groups of students are not being successful, whether we truly believe that all students can learn given sufficient time and the right supports, whether consequences are punishments or are designed to restore relationships, why certain staff members appear to be privileged, and....the list goes on. 

The job of the leader is to summon up the courage to name these 'elephants' and then to provide a forum for these to be worked through.  Sound easy?  It may be if it's done superficially or if it's done from the stance of 'the boss'.  It's not so easy if you - as leader - truly want to address the issue at hand.  It's tough because it demands courage.  It demands comfort with uncertainty about how discussions will unfold.  And in particular, it demands skills in being able to facilitate a discussion so that all voices are heard and differing perspectives can be surfaced in a respectful manner.  This is the toughest part of all.  In fact, it is often seen as so difficult, leaders will sometimes let the 'elephants' remain in the room and not address them at all because the challenge of dealing with them is just too great.  However, as a leader, can you ethically let this happen?  You have been entrusted with the leading of a school/organization with confidence in your knowledge and skills to lead.  Dealing with challenging issues like the 'elephants' demands a lot of you but avoidance of issues sustains the status quo when improvement is possible if the challenges are faced. 

What can you - as a leader - do about this?  Dealing with difficult and complex issues requires confidence on your part as well as the skills of facilitation.  The confidence needs to be summoned up from inner strength.  The facilitation skills can be learned. 

If you don't face these 'elephants', true and important change can't happen.  The critical conversations won't take place.  Most significantly, those who rely on you - students, parents, staff - are being let down because they aren't being provided with the leadership that's needed.  It won't be easy the first time.  You might even fail.  However, choosing not to act should not be an option because it's a guarantee that nothing will change.

Encourage Pushback

As a leader, do you encourage ‘pushback’ from your staff?  Deference to authority is deeply engrained in most of us. As a leader you need to resist this tendency in your staff. If people automatically defer to your judgment, you may miss out on valuable thinking and critical feedback. Try to make it easy for people to speak up, and remember to actively ask for their opinions. When talking about current or future work, give some initial thoughts, but then ask for help fleshing out ideas. Recognize people who speak up and thank those who challenge your thinking. Most importantly, try not to react immediately if you start to feel threatened, or you risk shutting down the discussion.  This takes courage and confidence but if you want great results and you want to build capacity in your staff, this becomes an essential part of your leadership toolkit. Adapted from "The Dangers of Deference" by Ron Ashkenas.

Courageous Conversations about Race - Part 3 ...and Equity

As a leader, how do you engage your staff in Courageous Conversations and conversations about Equity?

All students can benefit from a focus on equity because an equitable school system is one that works to address the needs of each individual child.

We have developed the following definition for equity:

Educational equity is raising the achievement of all students while:

• narrowing the gaps between the highest- and lowest-performing students; and
• eliminating the racial predictability and disproportionality of which student groups occupy the highest and lowest achievement categories

Equity is far more than a state of being or an abstract ideal.  Rather, it is an operational principle that enables educators to provide whatever level of support is needed to whichever students require it.  In the classroom, this means providing each and every student with what each individually needs to learn and succeed. 

Equity is not a guarantee that all students will succeed.  Rather, it assures that all students will have the opportunity and support to succeed.


From:  Courageous Conversations about Race by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton
Published by: Corwin Press

Courageous Conversations about Race - Part 2

As a leader, how do you engage in conversations about race?

Many educators struggle to take personal and professional responsibility when it comes to meeting the needs of students of color who are not succeeding.  Instead, they tend to focus on factors external to the school for explaining why students' low achievement rather than examining their own instructional practices.

Addressing the impact of race in education is not a "feel good" experience.  Nor is it an attempt to make White educators feel guilty, promote pity for people of color, or extract revenge on their behalf.  The use of Courageous Conversation provides the foundation for a systemic strategy to build responsibility through more thorough and authentic personal inquiry and engagement by educators, students, families, and the broader community.  Educators participate in this difficult work for the sake of their students.  Schools need to become places where effective education is guaranteed to every child. 


From:  Courageous Conversations about Race by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton
Published by: Corwin Press

Courageous Conversations about Race - Part 1

As a leader, how comfortable are you with conversations about race?

We believe that the racial achievement gap exists and persists because fundamentally, schools are not designed to educate students of colour, and educators continue to lack the will, skill, knowledge, and capacity to affirm racial diversity. 

We have labelled the formal structure that exists for this type of dialogue Courageous Conversations, defined as utilizing the agreements, conditions, and compass to engage, sustain, and deepen interracial dialogue about race in order to examine schooling and improve student achievement.

Specifically, a Courageous Conversation

• engages those who won't talk
• sustains the conversation when it gets uncomfortable or diverted
• deepens the conversation to the point where authentic understanding and meaningful actions occur

If we understand the need for dialogue about the racial achievement gap, the question becomes how we open ourselves up to have a Courageous Conversation about these questions:

• Why do racial gaps exist?
• What is the origin of the racial gaps?
• What factors have allowed these gaps to persist for so many years?

From:  Courageous Conversations about Race by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton
Published by: Corwin Press