“in the pursuit of knowledge:
everyday something is added.
in the pursuit of enlightenment:
everyday something is dropped.”

– Lao Tzu

 

I think about this quote all the time when approaching my work as a Division Head.

I spent far too many years working for Administrators who focused too heavily on the first part of this quote. To them, the act of acquiring knowledge meant that they needed to continue to add; add expectations, add events, add requirements, add professional development, add programming, add meetings, add to the frequency/length of comments, etc., etc. It felt like a continuous onslaught of additions, the efficacy of which had no basis in research or strategic planning, but instead seemed to rely on the administration instinct or gut reaction. Eventually, the additions wore me down and burned me out. It became obvious that those who ran the school did not truly care about the only reason the school existed in the first place; to teach students.

In approaching education as an administrator, I believe that there needs to be a healthy balance between adding in the pursuit of knowledge, and dropping in the pursuit of enlightenment. Too much addition and school gets hectic, stressed and toxic… too much taking away and you lose out on valuable learning opportunities and school can feel bland.  One way to ensure you are on the right path is to perform energy audits with students and faculty. These energy audits should be done periodically, and the results can help illuminate any potential imbalances between “knowledge” and “enlightenment”.  If student feedback indicates that they aren’t feeling challenged at the moment, perhaps it is time to create some more structured advisory programming, or ask the teachers to think about increasing the expectations on upcoming assignments. If the feedback indicates that students feeling stressed, perhaps it is time to add in sometime for mindfulness/meditation work, or maybe schedule a field trip to change up the routine and venue.

Take Away

Avoid the impulse to add inherent in the pursuit of knowledge, while being careful not to take away so much that important learning opportunities are missed. The solution in the end it is much like the Tao, you will know when you have found it.

_/\_

When people see some things as beautiful
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come,
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn’t possess,
acts but doesn’t expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

See your students for who they are, not who you want them to be. See them for their individuality, see them for the uniquely jagged strengths, weaknesses and quirks. In this way no student is bad, and no student is good… they are just who they are. Their needs will be equally as jagged and quirky. Appreciate that which is beautiful within all students, but also appreciate that which is ugly. Observe their actions, but also be sure to understand those actions in context.

Avoid defining students so as to avoid the risk of confining them at the same time. If a student is defined and labeled as X, then the adults will begin to act in accordance with this definition and the student will begin to believe this of themselves.

TAKEAWAYS

A good leader sees exactly what is in each of their students without judgement. For judgement brings with it bias, which blocks objectivity, and this will undermine leadership.

A good leader sees the actions of the students in context with their occurrence. What may be going on at home that would influence this behavior? Is the student feeling disempowered somehow? Was their action a result of factors out of their control? Ask questions.

A good leader knows that there is no objective truth, and so does not act as if there is one.

A good leader does not place emphasis on control and compliance, but rather on respecting the jagged uniqueness of each student. When this happens, students will recognize that they are being cared for and empowered. The community will begin to self-control and comply with its own Tao. This is the true essence of a ‘Community of Learners’.

_/\_

 

 

He who stands on tiptoe
doesn’t stand firm.
He who rushes ahead
doesn’t go far.
He who tries to shine
dims his own light.
He who defines himself
can’t know who he really is.
He who has power over others
can’t empower himself.
He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures. 

If you want to accord with the Tao,
just do your job, then let go. 

This passage is such fertile ground for reflection that it may take me a few days to finish this post! For this reflection, I want to go line by line and tease out the insights therein.

“He who stands on tiptoe
doesn’t stand firm”

Attaining a leadership can entice one into a dangerous game. The feeling of validation one gets from being elevated to a higher position based on the excellence of their past work, can become addicting. A new leader can fall into the trap of imaging their next position, and reaching for that next position before they have really started their new one. We stand on our tiptoes in order to get at something that is out of reach. But this makes us unbalanced, and easier to push over. By reaching for the next position before one has built a foundation for the current one, a leader can find that they are not in fact doing the job that they are currently being asked to do. They become ‘ladder climbers’ and lose the trust and faith of the team that they are leading.

“He who rushes ahead
doesn’t go far.”

When I showed up for my first day of work in my new leadership position my head was buzzing with all the actions I wanted to take and programs I wanted to put into place. I had big dreams of sweeping change. I soon realized, however, that I had no sense of this community yet. And what if the changes I wanted to make created friction within the community? I needed to reset myself. I kept my ideas on a running doc, but I laid them away, revisiting them only occasionally. I need to listen first to my “Community of Learner”. What were they saying? What were they really saying? I needed to observe. What are the natural patterns of movement? What is the body language in our space… and why? The moment for action will present itself in time.

“He who tries to shine,
dims his own light”

As a leader, it’s not about you. Shine the light on your team, always. As Simon Sinek says “leaders eat last”.

“He who defines himself
Can’t know who he really is.”

I recently read a leadership book called Touch Points. It was an interesting read and provided excellent food for thought in terms of being mindful of the way I interact with my faculty. However, it did promote the idea that in order to gain mastery over the ‘Touch Point” process a leader needed to clearly define their leadership model. Upon completing the book I dove right in to this task. I soon found, however, that it was an impossible task. There was no way I could codify my preferred leadership model, because different contexts call for different approaches. And with myriad problems surfacing on a daily basis, there was no way to prepare enough “if/then” models to make this an effective strategy. I was relieved when I opened the Tao Te Ching this morning to read this passage. I don’t need to define my style, and if I did then I would be acting in bad faith towards myself. By remaining ‘undefined’ and can more honestly attune myself and my leadership to the Tao.

“He who has power over others
can’t empower himself.”

 

Take Aways

Keep your feet (and your mind) firmly grounded on the work that is ‘right now’. By remaining present and aligning with the Tao a leader will eventually build themselves up, so that the

Remain ‘undefined’ and you can more honestly attune yourself and your leadership to the Tao.

Men are born soft and supple
dead, they are stiff and hard
Plants are born tender and pliant,
dead, they are brittle and dry

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken
The soft and supple will prevail

In education the hard and stiff seem to have prevailed for a long time. It is a vocation in which those who choose to work often do so because they prefer predictability of working on a school.  From The rhythm of the seasons to the familiar lesson plans and tests, teachers are in a unique situation in that they know and can control what is to come unlike any other profession. This can lead to ‘stiff and inflexible’ school climates, which put an emphasis on compliance rather on the education of the whole child (heart-mind-soul). Many of us have experienced this compliance heavy school, and not many of us would go back.

But, Lao-Tzu warns us that the ‘stiff and inflexible, is a discipline of death’. Indeed, those school climates that are stiff and inflexible, that focus on compliance, do kill… they kill creativity (Ken Robinson), they kill passion, they kill a sense of joy about the world, and they kill the sense of wonder in our learning that is so fundamentally important. If you find yourself at a school, where entire faculty meetings are taken up by the discussion of school rules… you are at a school that kills.

On the other hand, the ‘soft and yielding’ schools are ‘disciplines of life’. A life giving school is one…..

 

The Master has no mind of his own
He works with the mind of the people

He is good to people who are good.
He is also good to people who aren’t good.
This is true goodness. 

She trusts people who are trustworthy.
He also trusts people who aren’t trustworthy.
This is true trust.

The Master’s mind is like space. 
People don’t understand him.
They look to him and wait.
He treats them like their own children.

Chapter 49 is a great compliment to the previous post on Chapter 27. If you recall, 27 talked about the importance of not having ‘fixed plans’, therefore having no intention upon arriving and in thus adhering to Wu Wei (non doing). The idea here is that when fixed plans are present in the mind, then the path to those fixed plans becomes similarly fixed, and this selfish mindset ignores the ‘mind of the people’. The collective mind of the people is the Tao of the school, and it needs to be felt and listened to before any action is taken. Collaboration is the DH best tool.

A Division Head must trust all constituencies as well. Delegate to your team, listen to their ideas, allow them to lead along side you. Don’t be hungry for power, don’t be protective of your leadership. Flatten the structure, elevate teacher leaders and allow them to flourish. Their wins will be yours as well, and ultimately (and most importantly) will benefit the students in your care.

Finally, be good to all. With your team, be kind in the face of inevitable criticism. Meet stubbornness with kindness and meet kindness with public gratefulness. With students, play no favorites, make it a point to connect with every child in your care, and finally get to know them and listen to their stories.

If faculty and students trust you, if they are empowered by you, then they will believe in you and they will look to you, and wait.

_/\_

A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.

Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn’t reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn’t waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.

What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man’s job?
If you don’t understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.

When I first took the job as Division Head in the spring of 2017 I immediately began to craft the 5 Year Plan documentation that everyone says you need. I drafted a pie-in-the-sky vision for the Middle School I was soon to be in charge of, and then created year long steps towards this goal. Year One I would do this, and then year two I’d add this, etc., and by Year Five I would have molded this Middle School into some perfect version I saw in my head.

I was quick to realize, however, how foolish this attempt had been. How could I ever begin to craft a vision for a community of which I was not yet a part? If I brought with me a vision, it would be influenced and dictated by the school I was coming from, and therefore I would be acting in bad faith towards my future school. Yes, there are lessons to be learned from previous experience, but Division Heads run into trouble when they allow those past lessons and past school ‘currents’ to obscure the needs/wants/norms/currents of their new school. I have seen administrators come in with an agenda they intended to hammer through, and by doing so punched fatal holes in the culture of the school.

I have plans for my new Middle School, but they are not set plans, and I am not intent upon arriving at them. Instead, I will hold my vision loosely, open myself to the Tao of this community and allow my vision to shift and change with the currents. I will make my vision like water in a lazy river; Unassertive, but not directionless, sometimes serene, sometimes turbulent but never stuck. I will not be rigid and the right way forward will disclose itself.

_/\_

Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.

The Master never reaches for the great
thus she achieves greatness
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn’t cling to her own comfort;
Thus problems are no problem for her.

I opened the Tao te Ching to this Chapter on the first day of school, which also happened to be my first day as a Division Head, and it seemed like providence. I was nervous, a little afraid, and arrived at school two hours ahead of time in a full sweat. The role I was stepping into was not one I had held before, and there were many unknowns. I had stayed up all night trying to visualize what they may be.

But, Chapter 63 seems to hold within it all the wisdom needed at the beginning of a Division Head’s career. It begins with the foundational idea of Taoism; effortless action. We have all known Division Heads who believe themselves to be deciders, to be hammers, and who see the rest of the community as nails. These Division Heads inflict blunt force trauma on their communities and damage the energy in the building because they act against the Tao of the school. I spent my morning meditation reflecting on those past Division Heads. I was able to see their motivations now that I had found myself in that role, cloaked with the anxiety that comes with it, but I also made sure I visualized how I would be different. I knew I wanted to change some parts of my new Middle School, but I also knew that it could only be accomplished by feeling the Tao of the school and ensuring that my decisions would flow with its’ current. I had to try and flatten the leadership structure, bring all voices to the table and most importantly listen deeply, intently and earnestly to the faculty. The faculty know the Tao of the school better than anyone else, and their words speak to it constantly. They may not be aware, but the Tao can always be found in their words.

While a chance to mediate on effortless action is always welcome, I believe the power of 63 really lies in its focus on facing difficulty. Anyone who has ever moved from teaching to being a Division Head did so with full recognition that many difficulties lie ahead. Angry parents, classroom conflicts, cliques, bullying, perhaps poor teaching, shirking of duties or a flat out refusal from a teacher to buy into a new initiative. All of these are “difficulties” we will face at some point. There will certainly be moments ranging from discomfort to sheer panic. But 63 has words of wisdom for us:

Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts

A Division Head can mitigate the difficult by chopping away at it while it is still “easy”, thus accomplishing “great acts in small steps”. As my father likes to tell me, “You eat the elephant one bite at a time”. Visualization, preparation and strategy are important tools for the Division Head to tap during while doing this work. I spent a lot of time over the summer trying to visualize the school year; how will it play out? where will my sticking points be? what if I changed this, added this, or subtracted this? how will my faculty react to a new Division Head? how can I address their concerns? how can I successfully make the difficult transition of entering a new community, in a leadership role?

The simple answer is strategy. I picked up an excellent book titled “Good Strategy/Bad Strategy” this summer, and it went a long way in helping me design a consistent and effective approach to all of my questions. The approach follows a few basic steps; 1. Recognition (my addition), 2. Diagnosis, 3. Guiding Policy, and 4. Concrete Action. It sounds simple, but it goes a long way towards stopping ones self from resting on ones laurels, or becoming a victim of over confidence.

The final stanza of 63 is perhaps my favorite, and contains the sage advice that when a Division Head runs into difficulty, they should “give themselves to it”. Don’t run from it, don’t retreat into your comfort zone, rather face the difficulty head on with the confidence that you have taken the small steps necessary to accomplish this great task. Difficulties are what push a Division Head into their “learning zone”. If you are spending your days in the comfort of your office, behind the safety of your computer then you are not growing, and you are not helping your division grow either. (That being said… I won’t go looking for difficulties just for the sake of it!)

I was meant to read this passage on day one. Every line gives me pause and I believe I will return to it often this year.

_/ \_