Fire Smart
Fire Smart
“Only You Can Navigate Fires”
Adapted from Smokey the Bear
Fire can be used for good and it can be destructive. Fire can provide heat for warmth and cooking, or it can burn down buildings, injuring and killing humans and animals. I was inspired by an article Larry Cuban; emeritus professor at Stanford, wrote in 1985 about superintendents in schools.
Many times, humans are in the middle of firestorms and conflicts that don’t seem to have an end in sight. Left to burn, these events can ignite other fires, spreading to multiple areas of our life. There are organizations that are on fire with toxic work environments, including abusive leaders, expanding demands, shrinking resources, or political adversaries.
Chemistry identifies two kinds of change: physical and chemical. An example of physical change is water freezes and turns into ice. Ice melts and turns into water. Physical change can be reversed, and the makeup of H2O doesn’t change. It is reversible.
Chemical change, on the other hand, is not reversible. If fire burns something, the chemicals might not change but the structure is changed forever. Change can be positive when the results involve making things easier, cheaper, or quicker. When making organizational change, the results can be destructive or constructive.
I will use the metaphor of fire as a model for positive change from a negative environment. My experience has resulted in leading schools to a positive culture and unleashing the potential that currently exists. No matter the test scores, reputation, or community, there are star performers in the schools. Good staff members, behind closed classroom doors, may be doing great things for students without being noticed. This has been called isolated pockets of excellence existing in difficult places.
Fires can divert energy, cost money, waste time, and cause emotional stress, all leading to reduced productivity.
Three Phases of Fire – from Fire Fighting to Reignite Positive Cultures
Phase 1: Fire Fighting
When coming into an existing organization where there are fires, the first job of the leader is to find others who will help put out the fires. The fires could be fighting among students; emotional drama among staff, students, and parents; and even school disagreements with district leaders. The first order of business is to create physical safety for those inhabiting the school.
The second priority is make sure there is emotional safety. Amy Edmondson (2019) in her book The Fearless Organization provides extensive research on creating safety for knowledge workers, reducing the fear of honest conversations, and providing the basis for innovative practices. She includes a survey that can be used to assess teams and organizations relative to emotional safety. It is difficult, if not impossible, to put out fires that a leader doesn’t know about or other covert issues.
Phase 2: Fire Prevention
When ignorance ends, responsibility begins. Once physical and emotional safety exists, issues are overt. When problems become known, leaders and staff can start addressing these issues, developing systems to be put into effect to reduce the number and intensity of fires. A reminder, not knowing about fires doesn’t make them go away. They go into hiding, making it even more difficult to ferret out the real dysfunction. Transparency is key to identifying what changes need to occur so fires don’t smolder or start.
This step requires identifying an extensive degree of possibilities, an understanding of systems thinking, and scenario planning to move toward a preferred future, rather than letting the system stagnate. Left alone, the system remains the same or may continue in the wrong direction.
Phase 3: Starting Fires
Once safety has been established and systems are in place to ensure more consistency and accountability, where do you start fires? Fires of ongoing learning for all…fires of collaboration and community…fires of shared leadership including colleagues and students. Organizational development does not happen without individual development. Growing and attracting talents is an ongoing imperative in schools.
Attracting, retaining, and sustaining the best, requires a culture that honors knowledgeable workers and their contributions. It is not about only a best practice. It is about acquiring multiple best practices for an ever-diverse and changing population. It is about professional growth that can generate many creative processes for learning together. I encourage a process called the ‘Reverse Las Vegas Effect.’ Whatever works, tell everybody. Whatever doesn’t work, tell everybody. People should not have to learn everything alone. Collaborative environment accelerates everyone’s learning. Share it.
In closing I quote Angeles Arrien who said,
“If your job is waking up the dead
GET UP, TODAY IS A WORKDAY”
References:
Cuban, Larry. “Conflict and Leadership in the Superintendency.” Phi Delta Kappan, v. 67, no. 1, Sept. 1985. pp. 28-30
Edmondson, Amy. (2019). The Fearless Organization. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons