Out of Tune
I learned to play the guitar in school. I had completed all of my coursework to graduate by January of my senior year. They could not just let me roam my suburban town, so my high school compelled me to take at least two classes, and one of them was beginning guitar. I had a school-issued nylon string classical guitar, and in our first class, I witnessed one of the greatest teaching moments of my life (it was so great, even my 17-year-old-self thought I had witnessed teaching mastery). I watched our teacher teach 30 novice guitar players to tune up at the same time in a small acoustically bouncy room.
I didn’t realize it, but at that moment, I had never really thought about how anything could either be in or out of tune. The rest is history, I have played guitar ever since that moment, and I can now tune my guitar by ear which means I can also hear when instruments are out of tune.
It can be painful to listen to musicians playing well on instruments that are out of tune, and I think we may have some tuning issues to address in our schools. We are more focused on establishing certainty, and so we miss some of the possibilities that a more curious stance might open up.
I am curious whether my ears are hearing what your ears are hearing?
Tuning Issue #1: We seem to over-index on comfort…of everyone. If teachers are uncomfortable, we have a problem. If students are uncomfortable, we have a problem. If those two problems are in tension with each other, we have a (third) problem. If parents are upset, we are uncomfortable, and we have a problem. If we are uncomfortable, we tend to be defensive and difficult and this makes others uncomfortable, and we have a problem. Basically, our inability to contextualize and use discomfort to our advantage and to learn from it, makes our current strategy a hotbed for growing unsolvable problems. An unsolvable problem is one we are committed to having forever based on our mindset. There is no practical solution, our only option is to tune our instrument differently. With a differently tuned instrument, we can play the same notes, but they sound different.
Curiosity over certainty in the face of discomfort: Most people are certain that discomfort is bad and that a good process is designed to minimize it. I am not so sure that is always the case, in particular the type of problems we tend to experience discomfort with as school leaders. Of course, I am not suggesting that all problems are desirable, but some are, and we are over-indexed to try and solve for comfort. The next time you are uncomfortable, a great question to ask yourself is “Why am I uncomfortable?” Getting curious and learning more about yourself in these moments can unlock new opportunities and new pathways of learning.
Tuning Issue #2: We seem to over-index for efficiency and control. The higher the stress, the higher the stakes, the more our collaborative work tends to lean in this direction. The tell-tale signs that this is true is when a group is cranking out work and it becomes clear that the primary goal is to finish regardless of quality. Additionally, a group organized by control and efficiency only tends to suck the joy from the work, and one of the reasons group members are so committed to getting it over with is because they are not enjoying a process that is over-indexed in this way. Peter Drucker once said, “There is a difference between doing things right (efficiency), and doing the right things” (wisdom). Russell Ackoff went further to say, “It is better to do the right things wrong, than do the wrong things right, and that the problem with doing things right (efficiency, order and control) is that the righter you do the wrong things, the wronger you become.”
Look around in your school. How many working groups are fitting collaborative work into their busy schedules, but their experience is organized in this way and they end up working hard to ensure that the same wrong premise gets wronger and wronger each working day? Here is an example we see each year:
In school schedule work, this over indexing leads to the implicit idea that no minute can be left unscheduled, and this is an efficient way to think about time, but it is also wrong. Having worked with students, teachers, and school leaders, none thrive in a schedule that is efficient in this way. We need free time, but we are committed to eliminating it, one efficient decision at a time. In getting righter at maximizing efficiency, we are getting wronger at designing schools for human well-being.
Curiosity over certainty in the face of efficiency, order and control: Rick Rubin spoke extensively about the nature of creativity in his recent book, The Creative Act. Our friend and former board member, Natalie Nixon also published, The Creativity Leap. Both of these amazing resources speak to the need to open up space for wonder, exploration, and to separate the act of creation from the experience of how people receive the work. Our most creative thinking does not come from efficiently trying to control the outcome. This simple truth extends well beyond the act of creation. Rick Rubin’s book is aptly subtitled: A Way of Being, not a way of doing. The harder we try to control love, the less likely we are to find it. The harder we try to control kids, the more it produces rebellion or hoop jumping. The more we try to control teachers, the more they take their dissent below ground. In the spirit of curiosity and exploration, how bored and demoralized do we need to be to see the students and teachers before we decide it might be a good time to tune up? I am not saying every teacher and every student is bored and demoralized, but in the spirit of being data informed, the data isn’t trending in the right direction. Being a teacher in 2024 is even less desirable than it was when I was being made fun of by my friends in 1998. Student achievement data is falling off of a cliff post Covid according to the National Assessment of Student Progress, and mental health statistics in teenagers is alarming. As of 2024, according to the World Health Organization, 1 in 7 teenagers between 10-19 has a mental health disorder. We are out of tune.
Tuning issue #3: The last and most critical area I think we may be out of tune is that we are over-indexed to look out instead of looking in. We think that we will be happier if we are richer, if we have more time, if we are able to get a bigger house or a better job. We think that the issues with our school are in our reading list or the programs or that we need to update facilities or add a maker space. We wonder what life would be like if teachers were less busy or paid more or if administrators were less out of touch with the experience of teaching in the classroom, and we also dream about well behaved students who love to learn, and parents who are respectful and non-anxious or grading practices that reflect our beliefs about learning. I could go on and on with external levers we would love to pull, but the single most important lever to pull is internal.
In the book, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, the authors outline in commitment number 13, the following:
I commit to seeing all people and circumstances as allies that are perfectly suited to help me learn the most important things for my growth.
School leaders must attend to and tune up their internal world. An in tune school leader will meet every challenge differently, and it is my belief that we are not capable of seeing others, listening to others or even understanding our work if we are in a never-ending external search for relief of undesirable circumstances, people or issues.
Curiosity in the face of a never-ending list of unfavorable circumstances, people or issues: What is more interesting than one’s own internal world? Why do I struggle? Why do I thrive? Why do I prefer to work with one colleague over another? Why do I sometimes receive challenges with an open heart and open mind and at other times with a defensive and deprivation mindset? Why do I fear being wrong? Why do I fear being amazing? Why do I wish certain teachers would never speak to me? Why do I overlook amazing people’s flaws and with others I obsess over every misstep critiquing their work like an eagle spotting prey? Why do I at times have no patience and other times have unlimited patience? Why do I think the secret to education is getting rid of grades or conversely using grades to beat students over the head with their lack of knowledge? Why do I avoid certain jobs, people, or play small when I have a big opinion? Our work is and has always been internal. We are out of tune with ourselves. The joy and freedom of grounding one’s self in the present moment with nowhere to be, with nothing to accomplish, with an open mind and unbounded curiosity is transformative.
Leadership + Design holds the core value of transformation. To move from one state of being to another. When we get in tune with ourselves, and we collaborate, we can do anything. If you have ever been to a Leadership + Design event or program, we have these moments where the joy is palpable, and I invite each reader to get in tune, and to see how the same work might sound a bit more resonant as you tune up differently. Better yet, let’s harmonize.
