Awareness-based Systems Leadership: Unleashing Collective Creativity for Innovation and Improvement in Schools

1. Awareness-based Systems Leadership: Unleashing Collective Creativity for Innovation and Improvement in Schools 19th UNESCO-APEID International Conference, Thailand Effective School Leadership for the 21st Century: Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals Dr Richard Owens and Mignon Weckert

2. Awareness-based Systems Leadership About us Dr Richard Owens • Director - Woodleigh Institute • Head of Teaching and Learning - Woodleigh School • Specialises in professional and organisational learning, leadership development, school and system innovation and improvement, and teacher collaboration • Mignon Weckert • Educational Leadership Director Lutheran Education South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia • Focus on building leadership capacity and networks to support excellence in learning, improvement and innovation, Lutheran identity, community building and effective management and organisation 

3. Reimagining and renewing schools for 21 C New forms of leadership • Leadership promoting self-awareness, creativity, collective action, and systems thinking • Building personal and collective leadership capacity for sustainable innovation and improvement

4. Introduction Case study • Study of a multi-year research and development project focused on the renewal of a subsystem of 140 schools and early childhood centres in Australia. • Responding to the challenge of school improvement through an explicit focus on building individual and collaborative capacity for leading change at a school, network, and regional level. • It seeks to help develop an understanding of the role that such capacity building can play as a key design element for approaching sustainable innovation and reform.

5. Literature review School effectiveness and improvement David Hopkins et al. 2014

6. School effectiveness and improvement A key question • How we can build the capacity of educational leaders to practically apply this body of knowledge for sustainable reform in their own contexts?

7. Influence on instructional practices and student achievement across a region • e.g Leithwood et al. 2004 • The role they play in the collective development of teacher practice. • e.g. Stoll 2015 • Leading reform and improvement within and across the boundaries of their schools • e.g. Matthews et al. 2008 Literature review System Leadership District leadership Principal Leadership Mid-level school leaders

8. System Leadership A key question How can we better understand these leader’s learning experiences, how they apply their learning in practice, and their impact on school improvement?

9. Awareness-based Systems Leadership as the capacity to foster effective collaboration for innovation and improvement, within and across multiple layers of a defined system. Awareness-based Systems Leadership Definition

10. Awareness-based Systems Leadership Consciousness-Based Leadership & Systems Change Scharmer 2008

11. Awareness-based Systems Leadership Systems Thinking and Learning Organisations Senge 1990

13. Lutheran Education Australia Project overview • National Strategic Projects • Prototypes of system development • Evaluation and development system for principals • Career continuum PL for leaders • Communication strategy 2016 2017 2018 • Learning Hubs • Centralised system for localised innovation and disruption • Principal Learning Hubs • School innovation and improvement National Leadership Team Executive Learning Lab - strategic planning, leadership development, and school effectiveness and improvement

14. Awareness-based Systems Leadership Practices Circle Work Journalling Case Clinics Dialogue Walk Prototyping Scharmer 2018

15. Awareness-based Systems Leadership Alignment - LEA Growing Deep

16. NLT Leadership Matrix What does an effective system leader look like?

17. National Leadership Team Lab Findings Leadership learning • Develop their ability to critically reflect upon their mental models, as a way of exploring and extending their professional practice • Shifted participants’ focus from reactive problem-solving in their immediate area of responsibility toward the investigation or systemic approaches for long-term improvement • Lab was seen as providing an important forum to surface and articulate concerns, access the views and expertise of others, and consider alternate solutions to the challenges being presented

18. National Leadership Team Lab Findings Team learning • Deepened leader’s appreciation of team learning and the importance of adopting a more collaborative approach to the leadership of large-scale change • Shift in collaborative practice from initial emphasis on exchanging briefings about regional initiatives and collegial support towards the development of shared national projects and collective work products • Sustained attentions to team learning was seen as not only important for the group’s efficacy, but also for improving the quality of their engagement with system stakeholders and the overall impact of their leadership practice.

19. National Leadership Team Lab Findings Identifying and removing barriers to effective leadership • Existing organisational structure, based on regional divisions, was a limiting factor for organisational learning • The structure worked to inhibit the shared development of adaptive learning frameworks, processes and initiatives for improvement • Siloed mindset reinforced traditional power structures and past patterns of behaviour, such as the prioritisation of individually sponsored projects at the cost of more systemic, collaborative approaches

20. National Leadership Team Lab Findings NLT Lab helped leaders… • Develop their ability to recognise common challenges, deal with complexity and consider new possibilities for strategic collaboration • Develop a functional focus for their work, that transcended traditional structures - e.g. student learning, leadership development, etc.

21. Strategic Projects Prototypes for system development Prototyping • Each strategic project addressed an important area for national or regional improvement, while applying and testing the NLT’s new practices with ASL • Action learning, as a way of extending learning about ASL, in collaboration with school leaders, while working with stakeholders to change the system

22. Strategic Projects Growing Principals Project Overview • Cross-regional working group of regional administrators, principals and school leaders • Focused on design of a nationally consistent approach to the evaluation and development of principals Findings • Principals saw the design as highly relevant to their personal and professional needs, addressing own priorities for professional growth (such as instructional leadership), while incorporating the broader aspirations of the system (such as renewing a focus on spiritual leadership) • Practices used to develop the project were powerful in leveraging the strengths and possibilities of existing networks and relationships • Meaningful exchange of regional and school-based knowledge • Deepen professional connections with colleagues

23. Learning Hub LESNW Hub Project Overview • Formed by a group of regional leaders and principals with a common interest in nurturing differentiated, localised approaches to school innovation and improvement Findings • Hub acted as an accelerator for the development of school-based projects, while nurturing collaboration for leadership development • Focus on co-creating and testing new ways of operating as a region Next steps • Deepening individual and collective understanding of ASL • Regional projects: Reaching out to support development of new hubs for principals, mid-level leaders and teachers • School-based projects: include the development of a student-driven co-curricular program to promote wellbeing, and the creation of a combined leadership conference for students, teachers and school administrators

24. Conclusion

25. A model for the development of ASL Capacity Building

26. A model for the development of ASL Self-awareness and self-development Build a capacity to… • Question assumptions about the reality of their professional practice for growth in personal mastery • Reflect upon habitual ways of seeing and acting, in order to engage with diverse perspectives about their practice and how to approach its improvement Through… • The use of dialogue to surface, articulate and test their personal ‘theories of action’ (Argyris and Schon 1978) • Building trust between colleagues to enable experimentation with professional practice and fostering the development of support and knowledge networks.

27. A model for the development of ASL Collective awareness and team learning Build a capacity to… • Develop collective awareness • Find alignment among beliefs • Collaborate on common goals Through… • Dialogue, empathic listening and deep questioning • Expand collective capacity to explore complex problems and pursue systemic solutions • Building a sense of collective wellbeing and belonging to a team

28. A model for the development of ASL Collective action and systems change Build a capacity to… • See the complexity and dynamics of the larger system • Appreciate the ways that different parts of the system influence each other and impact on their own area of responsibility • Work with others on projects that target significant systemic change, with the understanding that their own domain will benefit over time Interesting to note… • Where there was the strongest commitment to collective action, there was the most disruption, with leadership collaboration establishing new spaces for innovation and fresh structures to support systems change

29. Collective Creativity Developing ecosystems of innovation and improvement Final thoughts • Promoted transformation at a personal, collaborative and organisational level • Most effective where leaders from different levels of the subsystem were able to work together to develop a shared understanding of the interdependent nature of their roles and create amutually supportive relationship in pursuit of common goals • Ecosystems were seen to promote creativity, personal wellbeing and a sense of belonging that supported their members to grow by taking risks, publicly reflecting upon their successes and failures, adopt an innovation mindset, and forge new alliances for the future

30. Conclusion Recommendations • More research be undertaken to examine approaches that can help inform the professional learning and practical repertoire of system leaders and those who are interested in supporting their work. • Explore of the nature and impact of collective forms of leadership, alongside of the traditional focus on the individual. • Examine the development of disciplines and practices that build a capacity for adaptive learning at the leadership, school and system level.

31. Thank-you Contact Dr Richard Owens, Woodleigh Institute/Woodleigh School rowens@woodleigh.vic.edu.au @rjowe1 Mignon Weckert, LESNW mignon.weckert@lesnw.edu.au @MignonWeckert