Understanding Context in a Complex System: A rationale behind the ARSA Pre-Con in Flagstaff
By Sean Rickert, Superintendent, Pima Schools and ARSA President
The word ‘priority’ meant ‘the one thing’ for centuries. Gradually it has come to mean something less exacting. As attention becomes fragmented, words like priority and unique cease to carry the same peculiarity they once did. Uni means one, and que is a thing. How can we speak of things being very unique or somewhat unique? Likewise, prior means the first. Some will rattle off a list of more than a dozen priorities without a shred of irony. On one hand the matter can be attributed to linguistic evolution, but it may be evidence of a more troublesome shift in how we interact with our world. Maybe, uncertain of where to focus our attention, we try lots of things hoping something will work instead focusing on one thing we know will make the difference we are seeking.
In his seminal work on corporate success, Good to Great, James Collins points out that enduring greatness is strongly correlated with having a clear sense of purpose. Collins names this ‘the hedgehog concept’ referencing a centuries old fable, but the more modern allegory of the coyote and the roadrunner works as well. The coyote tries a myriad of techniques to achieve his goal -- devouring the roadrunner, while the roadrunner relies on one technique to defeat the coyote -- he runs fast. We all know who wins, every time. Collins points out that for an organization to be successful it, like the roadrunner, must identify the one technique enabling the achievement of success. To identify it he suggests we answer three questions. First, “What are you deeply passionate about?” Or, identify the ‘Why?’. Passion is important, and apathy will be fatal. Second, “What drives your economic engine?” This is an output related question focused on what an organization produces. We may tend to see ‘economy’ as related to dollar signs. But, the product of a school is not related to the budget because dollars are only inputs. The ‘economic engine’ of a school focuses on the outputs it seeks to generate. Here think of a ‘Portrait of a Graduate’ or ‘A through F letter grades’. Stakeholders determine the outputs they value. Lastly, ask, “What can we be the best in the world at?” Traditionally social service providers like schools didn’t worry about being competitive. Many in the field of education still struggle with the notion. We need to be better than others to secure our place in the world, so the question has become increasingly important. We ignore it at our peril because it is impossible to be the best at everything. Where the answers to these three questions converge is the heart. That is where the school can outperform not just the market, but what it would achieve without knowing the answers to these questions.
For a leader to guide their organization to clear answers to all three questions requires a strong sense of their context. Have you ever been approached by a stakeholder sure they had a solution to a problem, but they hadn’t taken into account critical information outside their area of expertise? Of course you have. Everybody who is steward of a big picture experiences it. Some become frustrated by these stakeholders with their narrow view. Others accept an opportunity to learn from a narrower but more specialized perspective. Consider that a bigger picture outside the boundaries of your sphere of influence exists. Within this bigger picture, we occupy unique positions and develop our own perspectives. Just as we need to foster relationships with those within our organizations who’s clear understanding of their narrower context helps them advocate, it is essential that we are open to relationships with the stewards of even bigger picture perspectives.
Just like the school leader explaining to the classroom leader the myriad of external factors bearing down on the decisions they are trying to understand, we need to strive to understand the factors affecting decision making. Unfortunately, there are few who are willing or able to explain the blindspots. We must become experts at questioning our position. Like a nineteenth century sea captain, we have to check where we are, where we are heading, and how we are progressing. We can measure our progress by looking at key performance indicators across time. Maybe that means student test scores, budget balances or teacher turnover rates. Trying to understand why we are or are not making the progress hoped for can lead us to look at our absolute and relative position. The state of Arizona provides countless reference points to consider. How much do we spend relative to the other districts across the state? Annual school spending reports from the Arizona Auditor General’s office break spending down by area and provide comparisons across peer groups. There are also reports on student performance, school indebtedness, teacher experience and financial stress which provide context clues. If we want to delve deeper, financial reports and static files for individual schools and districts exist. Comparative analysis of districts in your region or peer group can help define our context; are we performing above or below the trendline? Then there are websites like the Reason Foundation and the Albert Shanker Institute providing dashboards and datasets that show various trends. Keep in mind that your context is not defined by the state average. Understanding that context will help you to set a course for your targets, and work to adjust factors which are obstacles to success.
Obtaining a clear understanding of context enables you to sharpen your focus. Flip Flippen points out that many golf pros will tell you all the things wrong with your swing leaving you with no clear path to improvement, but an excellent pro will show you the one adjustment you need to make to improve your ability to put the ball on target. Understanding the district’s context helps you to identify achievable targets, develop and articulate goals, and get support from up and down the chain of command necessary for improvement. The Arizona Rural Schools Association wants to help rural education leaders achieve success. Developing their understanding of their context is a key part of this effort. The pre-conference at this year’s ARSA conference in Flagstaff will bring leaders together with custodians of bigger picture perspectives from across Arizona’s education policy landscape. We hope the conversation will help you to be better prepared to lead our rural schools towards the success they desire. This is an opportunity to gather around the table with other education leaders like yourself, and participate in a discourse with individuals who work to frame education policy in Arizona. The invitees include professionals who work with the executive and legislative branches as well as the department of education and state board. We will share information about how we gather information, and how we share information; how we listen to decision makers, and how we tell them about our context in a meaningful way. Hopefully we can hone some skills, gain some knowledge and build some relationships ahead of an awesome three day conference in Flagstaff.