Barry Smith - Learning about Learning

While reading Michael Fullan’s excellent book Leading in a culture of change I have come across some very sound, practical advice and information, as well as some great quotations.

Here are two of my favourites:

Attributed to a superintendent from a 1996 study of Leadership, 

“Ten years ago if I had a vision they’d have locked me up, now I can’t get a job without one.”

And from Pascale et al 2000, an insight into how we might think about, organisations, leadership and social change (Fullan’s words)

“Living systems cannot be directed along a linear path. Unforseen consequences are inevitable.  The challenge is to disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcomes.”

The second quote in particular struck a chord.  The idea of control in leadership (and living for that matter) is in many ways an illusion because we are at the mercy of so many variables in our ”living system”.  Therefore what matters, according to this train of thought, it seems to me, is the values that are driving the “desired outcomes”.  If the values are sound then any “disturbing” of the system towards those outcomes should beneficial in the long run,even if not immediately so because of fluctuations in the system.

So if we are driven by a core set of values, the chances of us approximating our “desired outcomes” are increased.  This may not be true for all systems, but I’m thinking in relation to my own circumstances as a school teacher and my life as a whole.