Change & Leadership

Change & Leadership

One staff development day in 1983, I was in our little theater learning basic DOS (dram operating system) language. As the lecture began, my mind was awhirl with all the unfamiliar language. I stopped taking notes, folded my arms and slumped in my seat.Next, we were ushered to our school computer lab to practice a few simple steps on the early Apple machines. I sat next to my colleague, Patsy. We both sat staring at the machine, shaking our heads and grumbling. I leaned over and whispered, “I hate being forced to learn this stuff. I’d rather do my grades by hand than trust a stupid machine.” She nodded her head.Fast forward. Three years later, I was now at Oregon State University working in a youth highway safety program with an emphasis on youth leadership. I was meeting with Patsy and her leadership group to provide some training. We were actively engaged in using computers and having fun with them. I laughed, “Remember when we grumbled about this technology? Look at us now.”

The day I grumbled about the computer had nothing to do with the technology. I grumble when I feel forced to do something I don’t understand. I grumble when I feel forced to do something that doesn’t come naturally. Like most, that leads to a high level of anxiety. It threatens my intelligence, which in turn threatens my ego. So what changed?My role had changed, which helped expand my thinking. I was excited about all the things I was learning and now saw the computer as a valuable aid to help me become more efficient.Over time I learned that change is not my enemy, nor are computers or technology. The only enemy was my fear of change. Change is part of our human evolution, but there are some things that don’t change. For humans, it is the fundamental need to learn and grow from the ground up and inside out, just like a plant in a garden.In a garden, the leader is the primary – or terminal – shoot of a plant from which everything blossoms. Like plants, we each have a leader inside waiting to bloom. Depending upon the culture and climate, schools are either the fertile ground or rocky soil for growth.Its natural for humans to resist change, grumble and complain. We want certain.

When we resist change, we actually stunt the growth of the leader inside ourselves and our students. Likewise, when we stem the leader of a plant, it will either produce weaker offshoots or wither and die. When this occurs, we fail to cultivate the best in ourselves and our students.Change provides us the opportunity to learn and grow together. The changes we face today are an opportunity to create a new kind of leadership that engages the “whole person” and allows us to thrive, versus merely survive, with our technology and within our world.Schools are the natural place to cultivate and practice thriving leadership behavior. If we do not stem their leaders, today’s students already know the way to a thriving future. Our job is to empower them. All we need to do is pay attention and listen.

by Debra J. Slover
www.leadershipgardenlegacy.com