Written by: Brandi P. Sheffield, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
You are not going to like what I am going to say.
It won’t feel good.
It goes against everything we typically talk about in equity, inclusion, implicit-explicit bias, etc.
Here it goes…
We can not change people. The type of relationship required to change a person’s heart and mind, MOST people are not willing to develop. We can not force people to see things from our eyes. The inequities still experienced in the present day are deep-rooted and trained at home, and reinforced in society.
BUT, we can change the systems that allow inequity to fester and foster, to significantly reduce those inequities that are targeted and hurdled at disenfranchised and underrepresented groups of people. It requires a leader to have 3 skills to execute systemic change: (1) change management process, (2) systems thinking & design, and an (3) executive presence that transforms anyone to followers of your leadership.
Let me help you understand it through a short real-life story.
At the height of my executive leadership, I was 35 years old. In every space I went into, I was the “only” in at least 2 categories: the only person under 50, the only female, and the only person of color. So when I was hired to lead the central math and science department, I was volun-told to create a 2-year Algebra 1 program for every high school.
I vehemently disagreed with this approach. The background to the demand was that in this predominantly white community, children of color were “invading” the schools, pulling down their scores, and “they” needed a slower pace to understand, and in their “own” classrooms.
That has to sound familiar.
It’s a bunch of (fill-in the blank)!
This was all driven by the school principals, who didn’t have any tools to push back on the teachers who were complaining. The complaints were driven up to the principals supervisors who also were clueless on what to do. Central office management became bombarded with complaints from schools and parents, because the teachers were friends with the parents in the community and used them to help drive their cause of “something has to be done about these kids.”
Then I understood. I was being used as a pawn. She’s black. She’s been a principal and turned around a dysfunctional middle school with “those” types of kids. She’s a math content expert…EUREKA!
I had a choice. Many choices in fact, but the first was to decide, was I going to be a pawn? If I choose not to be a pawn in this system, then what will I be?
My answer was clear and deeply convicted. I would be the change agent I have always been.
Earlier in this article I shared that there are 3 skills a leader must possess to change deeply rooted systems. In part 1 of this article, we will focus on systems thinking.
Back to the story…
In understanding why I was hired, I needed to understand more about the system. Here are 6 of the systems thinking processes I used to help set the course for change.
1. Recognize that a system’s structure generates its behavior: Quickly understanding the hand-off in blame within the system, and outside of the system, I could quickly determine that the systems for improving Algebra 1 passage rates was going to have to be rectified internally, at the classroom level, in order to remove the blame from the students.
2. Consider short-term, long-term, and unintended consequences of actions: By designing a “slower” program, there was no action in improving instruction which also meant that if the curriculum is taught the same, then there would be the same results, and could result in deeper consequences (targeted inequities) for these students. Designing a new Algebra curriculum, also meant that shifts in instruction also had to be a part of the change.
3. Seeks to understand the “big picture”: Looking thoroughly at data, I could see the concentration of scores. The low Algebra 1 passage rates were not only and just the students of color entering the system. It was district wide at every school! The blame was being placed on students of color because of racial bias, but the truth was that white students made up an equal composition of not passing Algebra 1. This told me that, of course, there was concern for the total number of students not passing. The community and schools had not had a solution for improvement for any child in their system. The big picture was that the community was crying out for help for their own kids, but hid behind race, class and economics to assign blame.
4. (Successive Approximation) Check results and change action if needed: In order to earn the trust of the community about the process, I knew that the benchmarks had to show that white students were benefiting from the process. Progress had to demonstrate whole and disaggregated progress for students. This would then shift the parents from taking up the cause of teachers, and instead, holding teachers accountable to the new teaching practices that were making the impact.
5. Consider how mental models affect current reality and the future: The attitudes and beliefs of the community (parents and staff) was evident in how it influenced their perspectives on the problem. Now I needed to use that to understand how to build a system to change actions. I studied past training in the district and the feedback results for the 3 years prior to my hire. I could see that trend. New learning was hurled at teachers by external trainers, no one followed up, supported or systemized those expectations at the schools, and teachers were over-done with central pd. I knew there had to be a completely different experience in order to change how teachers valued new learning, since I was about to change everything they did in the classroom, from teaching, grading practices, how their rooms were set up, mindset work for themselves and students, a new pacing curriculum, the introduction of technology in the classroom, routine and common assessments, deep collegial data analysis, the structure of school site teacher meetings...everything!
6. Use understanding of systems structure to identify possible leverage actions: One trend that was highlighted from the feedback of prior professional development, was a snarky comment of “they need to start paying me to waste my time” sentiment. That was an easy leverage point. Spearheaded with the math department chairs, they were required to implement the first round of new teaching practices in order to lead the department meetings and introduce the instructional practices. For the department heads, there were 2 choices for completing their part in the learning: university credit which can be transferred if they leave the district or time added to their years of experience which impacted their placement on the payscale. There were different choices but the requirements to get those real pay-out benefits required 95% attendance at every training, submission of follow up work on a timely basis, completion of an online training camp I designed, and submission of every math department agenda and action plan notes.
The result of utilizing systems thinking with the 2 other skills I will discuss in the next article, was that in less than 2 years, district-wide, we accomplished:
Increased Algebra 1 passage rates from 37% to 89%
99% removal of remedial classes from every site
New pathways of access to advanced classes that required Algebra 1 completion
Restructure of the middle school instructional systems to:
increase the number of students allowed to enter Algebra 1 in 8th grade
A process to pre-identify gap areas with a process to fill-in student gaps without holding them back or remediation.
That is the power of skilled and trained leadership. I call them an Outlier Leader.
WHAT IS AN OUTLIER LEADER?
An OUTLIER LEADER is someone who has developed their knowledge and execution of change management, systems thinking & design, and executive presence.
Leadership is not about a title. It is persons’ charisma, swagger, magnetism, confidence, composure and ability.
As a person develops their leadership, they must develop their understanding and use of change management for self-reflection and systems change, systems thinking for designing a system, and executive presence to lead opposition into change.
The great news!
Anyone can learn it!
It is not something you are born with. The myth of “some people are just born with it” is a lie.
Every person who has demonstrated impact through leadership, learned it or it was directly taught to them.
Follow me on LinkedIn for weekly leadership strategies and tips. Visit my YouTube channel for weekly leadership training videos. Interested in exploring how Learning Associates can support your organizational needs, contact us here.
Brandi P. Sheffield, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Brandi P. Sheffield, CEO, has served as a senior level district administrator, principal supervisor, co-principal, university professor and teacher. In her 20+ years in education, she has led teams of 100+ people, built the capacity of leaders, design organizational systems and produced significant student gains for disenfranchised youth, low-income students, English learners, migrant students, and foster youth.
As a Sr. Executive Director, Brandi has built a legacy of leaders by coaching executive colleagues and lower management to transform their leadership using executive presence, systems thinking development, and change management to orient a strategic approach to leadership. By designing coherent processes and structures for adult learning, leadership development and efficacy to ownership, Brandi has consistently impacted the lives of the adults and students she has served. An avid implementer of systems thinking models & processes, Mrs. Sheffield has realized her legacy of impact gains for communities and instituted systems for the districts she served, in which those systems are still in operation to date.
Mrs. Sheffield is also a certified master facilitator.
