School Leader

COVID-19 and the contemplative dimension

Note: this post originally appeared on the website for Contemplative Learning Solutions.

The last two months have presented extraordinarily unexpected challenges for people all over the world as we have dealt with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief among these challenges, we have found ourselves at home, unable to go to our workplaces, our places of worship, or even to visit friends.

Such a scenario is stress inducing, and the risks of loneliness, depression, substance abuse, and other social ills have probably never been higher as a result. But happily, many people have found a silver lining in this COVID cloud. The time at home has also presented an opportunity for more quiet, rest, prayer, and meaningful family activities. Relationships have been renewed, if facilitated by digital media, as we have rediscovered the importance of our social connectedness.

The quarantine can, if we choose to allow it, reconnect us to the "contemplative" dimension of life. Thomas Merton (1915-1968), the Trappist (Cistercian) monk who serves as the unofficial patron saint for this venture, Contemplative Learning Solutions, defined contemplation this way:

Contemplation is the highest expression of our intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant source.

Contemplative Learning Solutions is a consulting team, but we've always aspired to be more than that, to be the medium by which a larger community of contemplative spirits might come together and share the journey toward more authentic workplaces, faith communities, and personal relationships. We are inspired by the Trappist tradition of which Thomas Merton was a member and the "conversion of manners" to which its monks and nuns are called, and which we think defines the elements of a contemplative life: silence, solitude, simplicity, stability, and service.

The COVID-19 crisis offers a chance to rediscover each of these elements in an immediate sort of way. Writing for America magazine, Gregory Hillis declares that, "We're all monks now." That may be a bit overstated, but the article offers some rich wisdom from some of the brother monks at Merton's Abbey of Gethsemani monastery near Bardstown, Kentucky. Likewise, Fr. Joseph Kerrigan, Cistercian of Mepkin Abbey, provides guidance on how life in quarantine can renew our commitment to all the contemplative dimensions, including and especially the element of service.

Can we look at our reduced social circle as nevertheless being that center of Christian charity that we have been called to now serve, whether in direct human needs or in encouraging wellness? And through the far-flung effects of intercessory prayer or the internet, can we continue to lift up or materially support those beyond our immediate reach? We might find that in the very midst of caring for others in this way, a mindfulness and poise may sprout within us that we previously associated only with times of solitude.

Mindful magazine has offered a helpful set of articles for navigating these times, including five ways to reimagine life in quaratine, how to be gentle with ourselves during lockdown, and, especially as we navigate extra time with immediate family, how the power of forgiveness can be so valuable during shelter in place.

Of course, at CLS we believe the Enneagram personality typing system is one of the most powerful tools for personal growth and development we've encountered. Everyone is likely responding to the challenges of this time with type-specific strengths and weaknesses. We have found a new Twitter account, Just My EnneaType, run by a couple named Josh and Liz, and recommend the posts they've offered over the last several months as they've curated a lot of helpful insights about how different personalities can effectively manage the current crisis.

Speaking of, we recently offered our first virtual Enneagram workshop, a follow up for faculty and staff of Richardsville Elementary School in Warren County on how to use the system to improve our personal and professional communication and feedback. Of course the discussions often turned toward how we manage our emotions and reactions to the pandemic  more effectively using the self-awareness the Enneagram provides. Besides the value we hope the workshop brought its participants, it has opened up a new avenue for CLS to offer our services, and so we're happy to announce that our full array of coaching, consulting, and workshop opportunities can now be adapted into fully online formats. 

Read more about us and what we offer and reach out if you'd like to know more. You can email Gary at [email protected]. We offer fully customizable workshops on all topics related to education, reflective practice, and contemplative leadership.

Regardless, we pray that you are happy and well during lockdown, and especially that as we begin to grope toward our new "normal," that we might all do so with authenticity, boldness, and compassion.

"Debunking" the Myers-Briggs: Enneagram Implications

Note: This post originally appeared on the Contemplative Learning website.

Joseph Stromberg, writing for Vox earlier this week, argues that the Myers-Briggs Personality "test" is "totally meaningless."  Since we do a considerable amount of work with the Enneagram personality system, which is sometimes compared to Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Stromberg's article was of interest.  Stromberg raises some legitimate points that help illustrate key differences between the MBTI and the Enneagram, but ultimately his article fails even as an effective critique of the Myers-Briggs itself.

In a nutshell, Stromberg argues that MBTI isn't well-founded in psychological research.  The binary constructs that make up the Myers-Briggs (introversion-extroversion, perceiving-judging, etc.) are far too simple to accurately characterize a single individual's personality.  Context matters immensely in how we behave, and no one ever represents a perfect archetype of extroversion or introversion, for example.

Fair enough.  But most of Stromberg's article focuses not on the MBTI as a conceptual framework, but rather the "test" that is administered in businesses large and small throughout the world to introduce the Myers-Briggs as a tool for helping people identify their type and for promoting teamwork and professional effectiveness.  Stromberg notes (correctly as far as I can tell) that no research has ever demonstrated an empirical correlation with one's MBTI type and his/her job effectiveness or happiness.

OK, but so what?  I'm not aware of anyone who asserts that people of a certain type are more "effective" in a particular role than others, or that an ESTJ is a happier person than an INFP.  If these personality tendencies are largely fixed, what good would that information do you anyway?  Rather, my experiences with the MBTI is as a tool for increasing self-awareness and helping us understanding others, which are good and noble purposes, and I believe that's primarily how it is intended to be used in the workplace (not as some mechanism for hiring people or judging their performance; if that's happening, I believe it must be a total misuse of the MBTI and its intentions).

Stromberg may be correct about inadequacies in the conceptual underpinning of the Myers-Briggs.  In our work at CLS, we greatly prefer the Enneagram personality typing system to MBTI for several reasons.

First, the Enneagram seems to greatly exceed the accuracy of MBTI and other frameworks.  Once you have accurately typed yourself, there is usually little doubt as to whether you've done so correctly.  But correct typing occurs best when a person engages in serious self-study of the Enneagram system with an open heart and a lot of self-honesty, enhanced with the support of an experienced Enneagram teacher.

There are several online Enneagram self assessments out there that we have found helpful starting points, but they are just that: starting points.  No one asserts that they are "tests" that can scientifically discern the differences between various personality types.  The human personality is simply too dynamic to lend itself to being validly measured with some sort of quantitative instrument like a survey.

We do not assert that the Enneagram is research based.  Its construct validity comes from the experience of people who study the system and discover that it does, indeed, accurately describe their behavior tendencies over the course of their lifetime.

But the Enneagram does more, and this illustrates yet another way it is superior to MBTI.  The Enneagram does not simply describe the behaviors of different types, it helps illuminate the underlying psychological motivations that drive each type.  And it does so with brutal, unflattering accuracy.  If the MBTI makes people feel good, as Stromberg suggests, the Enneagram - at least initially - does quite the opposite.  It exposes our greatest weaknesses, our regrettable habits of mind that seem to perpetually weigh us down and interfere with our well-being and personal effectiveness.

And this finally illustrates the Enneagram's greatest strength: by describing the behavioral tendencies of different personality types at varying levels of psychological health, it points us toward greater wholeness and happiness.  There is no risk of the Enneagram being misunderstood (as I think Stromberg misunderstands the MBTI) as suggesting some types are more effective or happier than others.  Rather, the Enneagram's beauty lies in its capacity to show how every type has its own patterns of ineffectiveness, as well as its patterns of strength that point us toward the possibility of greater happiness in our personal and professional lives.

So yes, conceptually I prefer the Enneagram to the MBTI.  But Stromberg seems to mistakenly equate the Myers-Briggs test with the system itself, suggesting that it is flawed because it doesn't do things Myers and Briggs Myers (or Carl Jung, the 20th century psychologist who first articulated the archetypes upon which the MBTI is based) likely never intended.

In doing so, Stromberg may be revealing a host of his own biases and areas of ignorance, especially the materialist view that only things that can be measured really exist or matter.

Stromberg dismisses Jung (he refers to him as a "psychologist named Carl Jung," making one wonder what audience he is writing for if he so naturally assumes his readers have never heard of Carl Jung) as "outdated," noting Jung's interest in "ESP" and "collective unconscious.  Certainly Jung's theories are subject to debate, but few serious students of psychology would argue that Jung has nothing to offer contemporary discussions of the human personality.

Yes, more empirical research is needed in the field of personality and how various typologies can best be understood and utilized.  But serious students of systems like the Enneagram know that there is a limit to how much value can be derived from this kind of inquiry.  What matters is how you use such systems.  Ultimately, they are tools.  And the effectiveness of a tool lies in the skills, practice, and dedication of the person who uses it.

Let It Go: "Frozen" and the Enneagram Type One

Note: This post originally appeared on the Contemplative Learning Solutions website, where I sometimes blog about leadership, professional development, and the Enneagram personality typing system.  While this post does not address the topic of educational administration directly, regular readers know I often use the Enneagram as a leadership and personal development tool with my students, colleagues, and clients.  Click here for a profile of the Enneagram Type One as a school leader.

Semi-spoiler alert: While I won’t give away the conclusion of the movie, I will discuss key plot details, so if you haven’t seen the film and don’t want to know, stop reading now.

Disney’s latest animated blockbuster, Frozen, occupies a major role in my house right now.  I took my four-year-old daughter to see this film just before Christmas, and it has become a bit of an obsession for her.  We have near-nightly reenactments of the movie, and since purchasing the soundtrack, she regularly engages in passionate, heart-felt performances of Frozen’s Oscar-winning signature song, “Let it Go.”

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But my daughter isn’t the only one who loves this movie.  When she is acting it out, and especially when we are listening to “Let it Go,” I often have a strong emotional reaction.  At first I thought it was just the sweet memory of sharing the experience of watching it together, our first father-daughter big screen movie, or the preciousness of her exuberant, uninhibited joy in the story and its music.  But the truth is, I find myself choking up over the song itself, whether my girl is singing along or not.  And now I think I know why.

I have determined that Elsa, one of Frozen’s two main protagonists, is a Type One on the Enneagram personality system – the same as me, and “Let it Go” is an explosive look into the tortured heart of the Ennea-type One.  Elsa’s character, and especially the place of this song in her story, provides great into insight into common themes for the One, and signals how Ones can experience greater integration and healing of their deepest fears.

Elsa, princess of Arandelle, has a terrible secret.  Since childhood she has had the power to unleash ice and snow from her very fingertips.  Frightened that she might hurt the people she loves, and on the command of her worried parents the king and queen, Elsa hides herself away in the castle, cutting herself off from all human contact for their protection.  This requires an especially painful separation from her younger sister Anna, who does not know Elsa’s secret or understand her self-imposed isolation.

But Elsa’s secret is revealed when her parents are lost at sea and she must be crowned queen.  In a disagreement with Anna following the coronation, Elsa loses her carefully-maintained composure and her powers are unleashed, terrifying the castle guests and plunging the kingdom into perpetual winter.  Elsa flees to the mountains, where she intends to abdicate the throne and live in complete solitude – but also where she can throw off her lifelong fear of making a mistake.

It is in this scene that Elsa sings “Let it Go,” revealing first the burden of her life lived in fear, and then the relief she feels now that she doesn’t have to control herself anymore:

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight

Not a footprint to be seen

A kingdom of isolation,

And it looks like I’m the Queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside

Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see

Be the good girl you always have to be

Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know

Well, now they know

Let it go, let it go

Can’t hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go

Turn away and slam the door

I don’t care

What they’re going to say

Let the storm rage on,

The cold never bothered me anyway

These are themes that resonate for an Enneagram Type One, a personality most characterized by a powerful drive toward perfection, and its corresponding fear of making a mistake.  Ones operate with an innate sense that if they don’t personally do the right thing – however they define it –the world will somehow suffer, that other people will be hurt, and that above all they will be revealed as the flawed, broken, imperfect people they secretly know themselves to be.

Ones know the burden of being “the good girl [or boy] you always have to be.”  As part of the “instinctive” or “gut” triad, Ones struggle with their instincts.  They fear and distrust their own intuition and their powerful emotions, and create detailed, complex structures of rules they must follow in order tame and control their unruly inner world.  Thus, Ones abide with a secret fear that if they really let themselves go, terrible things would happen.

Elsa experiences the immense liberation of casting off her self-control and letting her inner world rush forth, manifest in both her physical transformation (her hair comes down and her carefully-tailored royal garments become a shimmering gown) and in her creation of a magnificent ice castle, a beautiful, creative expression of her deep, artistic heart:

It’s funny how some distance

Makes everything seem small

And the fears that once controlled me

Can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do

To test the limits and break through

No right, no wrong, no rules for me I’m free

Let it go, let it go

I am one with the wind and sky

Let it go, let it go

You’ll never see me cry…

My power flurries through the air into the ground

My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around

And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast

I’m never going back,

The past is in the past

Let it go, let it go

And I'll rise like the break of dawn

Let it go, let it go

That perfect girl is gone

Here I stand In the light of day

Let the storm rage on,

The cold never bothered me anyway

And yet, there is a terrible irony here.  Elsa’s liberation is, in fact, another form of self-imprisonment.  In her ice castle she is utterly alone, having abandoned both her duty to her kingdom and her deep longing for connection with her sister, the only family she has left.  She has exchanged one form of self-control for another.

Elsa must eventually leave her ice castle to save both her kingdom and her sister, and while she doesn’t initially go willingly, it is actually the One’s deep sense of duty and her longing to love and – above all – to receive love in return, that brings her to a place of genuine healing.  (I also suspect that Elsa may be a One-to-One instinctual variant, though I may just be projecting since that is also my sub-type).

“Let it Go” is, in fact, a kind of pseudo-healing, not the real thing.  It is perhaps a necessary catharsis for the Type One to allow herself to let go and unleash her messy, inner world.  But in the end, like an integrated One, Elsa learns that real healing comes from neither perfectionism nor unrestrained expressions of self that abandon a sense of relationship and responsibility to others.

Rather, Ones are healed when they accept that they are loved, whole, and good exactly as they are, with all their flaws and fears and scary feelings.  From this place of loving trust they are able to view their powers as gifts rather than be enslaved by them.

"Let it Go" and the movie Frozen resonate for me as a Type One because, of course, I see myself in Elsa.  While I don't have power over snow and ice, I have another set of gifts that are mysterious, powerful, and sometimes feel like a curse.  I struggle with the burden of perfectionism and the secret fear that I am flawed and broken.  I frequently don't know what to do with my inner world, my desires and fears, and I struggle to trust my instincts, all the while longing for the freedom to "Let it Go."

And like Elsa, I find that the storm subsides when I rest in the awareness that all of this is thoroughly unnecessary.  That in fact, I am loved and adored, just as I am, with no need to protect others from myself or to perfect or accomplish a thing.  Then I am truly free to be me, and to practice and receive genuine compassion and love.

Because as we learn from Elsa and Anna, “Only love can melt a frozen heart.”

 

What energizes you? Distinguishing the Enneagram personality types

Note: This post originally appeared on the Contemplative Learning Solutions website, www.contemplativelearning.org.

In our work with the Enneagram personality typing system, we emphasize that what makes the real difference between various types is not behavior, but motivation.  Many types may engage in the same behavior, sometimes quite intensely, but for different reasons.

Take "hard work," for example.  Many of the types may be observed as being hard working and task oriented.  But the Enneatype One works hard because it's the right thing to do, and he's trying to bring order and improvement to the world through his work.  The Enneatype Three, on the other hand, tends to engage in hard work because of her competitiveness and drive to succeed.  These differences are subtle, but help distinguish each type.

We have found, though, that some clients and students resist this approach to typing themselves.  We think this happens for various reasons.  Sometimes the individual is unwilling to acknowledge his own personal motivational patterns, perhaps for embarassment or fear of vulnerability.  In other cases, the person can't distinguish which of their many different motivations is actually strongest.

Both of these are fairly normal and understandable responses.  The truth is, we are all at least somewhat motivated by the core desires of every type.  We all want to do the right thing (Type One), for example, and we also all want to be successful (Three), we all want to give and receive love (Two), etc.

At a recent training event, one of the participants suggested that we think of the core desire that motivates each type as motivating energy.  Asking people, "What energizes you?" is perhaps a bit less threatening, and easier to identify, than asking them to ponder the question, "What motivates you?"

This seems like an excellent idea.  We all get our “energy” from different sources.  Our motivating energies help can shape how we understand our life’s purpose, and can provide both a source of strength – and a hindrance – to the work we do “on the job.”  When we tap into our motivating energies, we feel more relaxed, experience a little bit (or a lot) of euphoria, and work activites tend to feel like they require less effort.  When we feel deprived of our motivating energies, we feel more frustration and stress, and less fulfillment in our activities.

In response to the question, "What gives you energy?," here are some examples that might correspond to each of the nine Enneagram types

• Being organized?  Perfecting and improving things? (Type One)
• Helping others?  Giving love and feeling loved? (Type Two)
• Getting things done?  Feeling successful?  Being recognized as an achiever? (Type Three)
• Feeling different and unique?  Making a deep and lasting contribution? (Type Four)
• Having the answers? Looking for and finding the answers? (Type Five)
• Looking out for others?  Being proactive and prepared? (Type Six)
• Having fun?  Engaging in lots of different activities? (Type Seven)
• Feeling strong and free?  Being in charge? (Type Eight)
• Relaxing and being at peace?  Having harmony with others and in your environment? (Type Nine)

We welcome input from readers on other questions, or revisions to these questions, that might help bring further clarity to the motivating energy for each Enneagram type.

Note: See our series of type profiles specific to the role of school leader here.

The Enneatype Nine School Leader: The Peace Seeker

Note: This post original appeared on the Contemplative Learning website.

Our series of profiles exploring how each Enneagram personality type typically functions in the role of school leader comes to an end with a look at the Type Nine.  We think of this affable, easy-going, and generally positive personality as the Peace Seeker.  Driven by a deep need for harmony and inner and outer peace, the healthy Type Nine school leader has the capacity to build powerful, united coalitions of parents, teachers, and students around meaningful, long-term improvement goals.

Like some other personality types, the Peace Seeker is a relative rarity among school administrators.  Perhaps because the Type Nine prefers to stay out of the spotlight, often defers to others, and is generally avoidant of conflict, the Peace Seeker may desire other, lower-profile educator roles such as classroom teacher, media specialist, or guidance counselor.  The healthy Nine’s skill at bringing people together and mediating conflict, however, makes the Peace Seeker a potentially strong candidate for leadership roles.

The core motivation behind the Enneatype Nine personality is a desire to achieve a large measure of inner harmony.  The Nine tries hard to create an internal equilibrium that feels safe and comfortable, and will arrange her external world to facilitate this peaceful state of mind.  On the other hand, the average Nine will tend to flee from situations that threaten this sense of inner peace.  This drive for harmony and fear of conflict or disequilibrium can be a powerful dynamic for the Enneatype Nine school administrator, leading to highly-effective behaviors of personal self-management and organizational improvement, or to damaging tendencies like avoiding conflict or disappearing from view.

When Peace Seeking Leads to “Checking Out”

This dynamic is one reason leadership roles like school principal can pose challenges for the Enneatype Nine.  Schools are rife with difficult-to-solve curricular and instructional problems and managing those issues often sparks deep interpersonal conflicts.  Without good strategies of personal management, the average Nine can find such problems overwhelming , and will often sidestep addressing the conflicts altogether.  Like unhealthy Sixes, the Nine will experience such challenges as dangerous threats to his well-being and safety, and will often react in self-protective ways.

Every Nine has a unique strategy for “checking out.”  A checked out Nine school leader might immerse himself in busy work, attending to low-risk tasks that consume inordinate amounts of time (such tasks abound in the life of school administration) rather than confront the real challenges facing the school.  Or she may hide out in her office, avoiding work tasks altogether and surfing the internet or playing computer games, convincing herself that she deserves a break.  The effect is the same, regardless of the Nine’s coping strategy: the average or unhealthy Peace-Seeker school leader avoids the root problems and is often out of sight, leaving the school adrift and teachers and staff members alone to deal with pressing issues.

Calm Within the Storm

But healthy Nines find ways to create inner balance and harmony in the midst of challenging external situations.  These Peace Seekers utilize their gifts to discern the sources of conflicts and school-wide problems.  Their easy-going nature frequently makes them a supportive, unthreatening source of feedback, guidance, and direction, even when they are in overt positions of authority.  For example, healthy Nine school principals have a gift for helping teachers identify weaknesses in their instructional practices in ways that make the teacher feel safe and confident, rather than criticized and threatened. 

Enneatype Nines tend to eschew the attention of others, and healthy Nine school leaders use this to their advantage, using sincere humility to allow others a chance to shine and lead, and to unite differing, sometimes conflicting perspectives around a common mission and purpose.  From their place of inner harmony, healthy Nines can exercise great patience in establishing long-term goals for school improvement, steadfastly “hanging tough” through difficult times and inspiring others to maintain their focus, keeping the end result in mind.  In this way, Nines appear like healthy Threes, becoming simultaneously more action oriented and group focused.

Practices for Wholeness

The most important duty of personal wholeness for a Nine is to be aware when she is feeling a need to check out.  Reflective practices like journaling and mindfulness meditation can build one’s capacity for awareness.  From this place of mindfulness, the Nine can recognize conflict brewing and proactively respond in ways that are personally and organizationally positive.

Sometimes this means actually taking a break, but Nines must learn healthy ways to do this and maintain a positive purpose for doing so.  Rather than to avoid the problem, Nines should seek strategies that help them cultivate real inner calm and prepare them to move outward toward engaging the world.  Prayer, mindfulness meditation, and body-based practices like yoga, running, or even taking a brisk walk can give Nines a chance to temporarily retreat from perceived danger, but to do so in a way that builds their capacity to lead and take action.

The conflict-ridden world of leadership poses significant challenges for the Type Nine, but with self-compassion and discipline, the Peace Seeker can become a powerful personality for leading and improving schools and districts.

For a complete list of Enneagram resources, check the Enneagram links on the left-hand side of this page, and visit our Services page to learn about the wide range of CLS workshops available for leadership and professional development.  For previous type profiles, click here and scroll to the bottom of the post.

The Self-Aware School - New CLS Training Session

Note: This post originally appeared on the website of Contemplative Learning Solutions, my school leadership consulting and professional development venture with Dr. Tom Stewart, professor of education at Austin Peay State University.  Visit the CLS webpage, www.contemplativelearning.org and "Like" us on Facebook more about our work at helping schools, districts, businesses, and non-profit ventures deep their work through reflective practice.

Please join us on Wednesday, November 6 as we present our training session The Self-Aware School: Using the Enneagram System to Enhance Instructional Leadership to the attendees of the Mid-South Educational Research Association’s (MSERA) Annual Meeting.  (MSERA is a regional division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), which hosts what is arguably the pre-eminent annual educational research conference that attracts national and international presenters and advances important research in our field.)  We are eager to present a synthesis of our past and most recent Enneagram work at MSERA, combining elements of our general introductory training sessions with school leader-specific connections using our original school leader Ennea-type profiles. 

While researching, designing, and facilitating a new ongoing workshop series, we were recently reminded of the strong connection between the kind of self-awareness that an Enneagram study can provide and deep, transformational reflective practice.  We sincerely believe that school leaders can use this training to become even more effective reflective practitioners, and highly-effective instructional leaders.

We hope you can join us on Pensacola Beach next week for further information.  If not, though, contact Tom or Gary to see how your school/district/organization might benefit from similar work.

(Photo:  Tom and Gary presenting at the 2012 Canadian Institute for Enneagram Studies conference.)

Less is More

Time management is an age-old challenge for leaders of all kinds of organizations, but the problem seems particularly acute for school administrators.  While educators have a strong sense of their core mission, constantly-changing policies, mandates, and curricular goals leave many teachers and principals grasping for a unified sense of purpose in their work.  The structure of schools and the school day contribute to a rushed, fragmented, and unsustainable pace of activity.

The result is not just stress and burnout, but also a loss of efficiency and effectiveness both for individual educators and for schools as a whole.  There is a surprising dearth of good resources on how to address this issue.  John C. Leonard's Finding the Time for Instructional Leadership is a notable exception, but most authors, including Leonard, focus primarily on better ways to delegate responsibility or manage one's calendar.

There's nothing really wrong with such a technical approach, but it overlooks a more fundamental aspect to the problem of our break-neck, harried, frenetic approach to work and life.  Working and living this way separates us from our deepest selves, cuts us off from our feelings, limits our relationships, and deprives us of opportunities for more fulfilling lives of purpose and joy. 

Marc Lesser's excellent little book, Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less, addresses the issue of time management from this kind of contemplative perspective.  Lesser, a former business executive who now consults world-wide, draws heavily from his ten years as a full-time student of Zen in offering a rich, thoughtful perspective on our unsustainable work habits and provides a wealth of practical, down-to-earth strategies for slowing down so that we can actually be more productive at the things that really matter.

Lesser (who acknowledges the irony of his name) starts by noting that as societies and individuals we have become addicted to our unrealistic agendas and ubiquitous digital distractions at least in part because we are convinced that our self-worth is tied up in the accumulation of our accomplishments.  In this era of Perpetual Recession we may not rely as much anymore on our wealth as a sign of our worth, but we have perhaps doubled down on the assumption that if our lives are to be useful and meaningful, we must be busy. 

The fallacy of this kind of thinking is nearly self-evident.  Our busyness does not result in a greater happiness or even a sense of accomplishment, but rather frustration and a feeling that, whatever we may have done today, there is twice as much to do tomorrow.

Less offers a way out of this cycle of frustration and fear by first emphasizing the power of sitting still to figure out what we really are seeing, hearing, feeling, fearing, and hoping for in this present moment.  The act of just sitting with ourselves is in itself a radical break with the busyness addiction, and open us up to a vast universe of self-awareness and new possibilities.  The author offers instruction on a variety of simple mindfulness techniques through which we can begin this journey of self-discovery.

The "Less Manifesto" is Marc Lesser's framework for what to do with this self-awareness when we begin to slow down and listen to our own hearts.  The author explores, through a series of straightforward exercises, how we can get in touch with the inner fears that motivate our incessant busyness (a direct link to the Enneagram of personality), and from a new place of openness begin to identify, test, and challenge our own (often unrecognized) assumptions (a strategy that perfectly echoes Argyris and Schon on the concept of theories of practice).

Such self awareness work does not come easily, of course, and Lesser also offers great wisdom on how we can come to recognize our patterns of resistance - the ways in which we flee from our own fears and aspirations, usually through some intentional distraction or through the busyness of work itself. 

By breaking through these layers of resistance and distraction, we can reflect on our work in light of three fundamental questions: 1) What is my purpose for being here on this planet? 2) How am I doing in relation to this purpose? 3) What steps do I need to take to align my purpose and my actions?  In slowing down to ask these questions, we build capacity to change our work habits so that we are investing our time in the things that really give us life and joy.  Lesser emphasizes that in the end we may appear just as active (and certainly more productive) before we began the less-is-more journey, but our activities will be farmore closely aligned with our values and life purpose.

Less is a book that is both philosophical and practical.  The perspectives and strategies offered could enrich the work of teachers and school leaders, especially since schools as workplaces seem to be so resistant to reflection and contemplation.  It isn't a silver bullet, however, even if a reader were to faithfully implement all of Lesser's recommendations (not that any silver bullet really exists).  One key source of our busyness is the relentless demand that others place on us to complete tasks associated with their key priorities.  The author doesn't address this challenge specifically, but it seems the key to meeting this problem is in first being perfectly aware of our own priorities and patterns, so that we might then more effectively work with the (often misplaced) priorities and frustrating patterns of others.

Self aware (contemplative) living is a journey and a lifestyle rather than a technique, and the recommendations of Less are a starting point for the reflective practitioner.  Consider this book for your personal and professional library.

You can get a sense of Marc Lesser's teaching and approach in this 50-minute video that summarizes key points from his book:

 

Note: This post originally appeared on the Contemplative Learning Solutions website.

Preparing for your principal interview, Part III

In the first two parts of this series, I discussed key aspects of leadership that aspiring school principals should consider when preparing for an interview, and the critical role of vision in integrating these aspects of leadership into a coherent picture of yourself as a leader.  I suggested that while vision is sometimes context specific, meaningful visions of school improvement have broad universal dimensions.

When it comes to an entry plan, however (the key priorities you'll pursue in your first months on the job), context matters a lot more.  Interview committees often want to hear about your entry plan, and here you have the opportunity to seamlessly unite your vision for school improvement with the specific needs of the school.

An excellent point of reference for entry plans is Marazano's classic book on the characteristics of effective principals, School Leadership That Works.  Marzano distinguishes First- and Second-Order change situations.  In First Order contexts, the school is already fairly high functioning and just needs some adjustments to continue on its path of improvement.  In Second Order contexts, the culture is weak and performance is poor.  These situations call for more sweeping changes.

I would argue that, given the near-obsolete structure of traditional schooling, most schools actually need transformative overhauls to make them far more student-centered.  But as a principal interviewee you may not have the luxury of presenting your most sweeping ideas for school renewal.  This may seem to contradict my previous post on vision, but this is where vision meets the reality of where your school is right now.  Vision only works when you can contrast it with a very clear picture of present reality, and then build realistic, meaningful steps toward closing the gap between what is and what might be.

Before your interview you'll want to study as much about the school as possible: its achievement history, its culture, and its place in the district's own renewal processes.   Then, once you are on the job, consider the following questions as guidelines for development of an entry plan:

1.  How is the school culture?  How does this culture support or hinder student achievement?

2.  What is the quality of instruction on a daily basis?

3.  What do teachers perceive as their number one need in helping them improve their practice?  What do they perceive as the number one obstacle?  (If they tell you student discipline or lack of parent involvement, take that and work with it, but push them to identify something else they have more direct control over; they do have control over discipline, of course, and so they need to be working on schoolwide Positive Behavior Instructional Supports or similiar initiatives if they aren't already).

4.  What do parents and students perceive as the greatest needs and obstacles for school improvement?

You get at all this through lots of conversations, both formal and informal, with teaachers, parents, and students.  It might be worth having a scheduled inteview with every staff member to explore the questions.  Use Danielson's framework for effective teaching (which is also embedded in Kentucky's new Professional Growth and Evaluation System), or Marzano's (which I like a little better), to establish the quality of teaching via lots of formal and informal classroom walkthroughs.  Instructional rounds are also an excellent tool.

Once you've answered these guiding questions (and you'll have to cut through a lot of contradictory information and useless static), you can establish your own understanding of where the school is, and then respond accordingly, always with an eye toward your long-range vision.

The last point I want to make on this topic regards how to prepare yourself psychologically for the interview process.  In truth, this is essential to your work as a person and a professional, and it is an ongoing process that begins long before you are ever called for an interview. 

In the hectic, frenetic pace of our work days, few of us take time to stop, breath, and reconnected our minds with our bodies, or our activities with our larger hopes, dreams, fears, and aspirations.  I am an advocate that every person regularly employ reflective practices to re-energize themselves and stay connected to what they are feeling and needing in each moment as well as uncover our underlying, unconscious assumptions and motivations that may be contributing to our success or failure.  A wide variety of mindfulness techniques are useful in this regard.  In coming weeks I'll be reviewing two books I've found very helpful on this topic, Michael Carroll's The Mindful Leader and Marc Lesser's Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less.  These are both excellent resources.

Mindfulness practices can help you become more calm, centered, and focused which is of course extremely useful in a potentially nerve-wracking situation like a job interview.  But ultimately these techniques are most helpful for developing a deeper self awareness.  And self-awareness is the best gift you can give yourself personally and professionally.  When you can compassionately recognize and embrace your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, then you are in much better position to develop a meaningful plan to improve your effectiveness. 

One of the best tools I've found for enhancing self awareness is the Enneagram personality typing system.  You can read more about the Enneagram on this blog, including a series of profiles exploring how each of the nine personality types described by the Enneagram tends to function in the role of school administrator.

As your self awarness grows, your capacity to lead also grows.  Get to know yourself starting today, and you'll be in a much better position when you present yourself as the potential leader of a school.

Previous posts in this series:

Part I: Consider your capacities as an instructional, managerial, and collaborative leader

Part II: Articulating a meaningful vision for school improvement

"That's Me!" Enneagram profiles for school leaders

The Enneagram personality typing system figures prominently in my work with aspiring and practicing school leaders.  Unlike most other personality systems, which primarily just describe a typology of behaviors, the Enneagram goes deeper, exploring the deep system of inner motivations that explain and drive each type.  Understanding why we do the things we do can provide enormous leverage for personal and professional growth.

Along with my Contemplative Learning Solutions partner, Dr. Tom Stewart of Austin Peay State University, we have been writing a series of profiles examining how each Ennea-type functions in the role of school leader.  Because the context of P-12 schools and the role of school principal in particular are so unique, the Enneagram shines a bright light on the work of education administrators and how they function as leaders.

We are pleased that an excerpt of our profiles is featured in the current issue of Nine Points magazine, an official publication of the International Enneagram Association.   Nine Points has just be redesigned in a fully online format and we're honored to be included in its inaugural edition.  Read our article, "That's Me: Using Ennea-type Profiles to Enhance School Leader Effectiveness."  And read our complete series of profiles here.

The Ennea-Type Seven School Leader: The Fun Seeker

Note: This post originally appeared on the Contemplative Learning website, host of this series exploring each of the Enneagram personality types, focusing on how personality patterns influence the work of school leadership.

This on-going series has featured profiles of each Enneagram type.  In particular, we've focused on how each type tends to function in the role of school leader.   Education administration and leadership takes place in a unique and complex context, and understanding more about how personality interacts with the function of leadership in P-12 schools can enrich our self-awareness and professional effectiveness.

In this latest installment, we turn to the Ennea-Type Seven, a distinctively exuberant, energetic, and enthusiastic personality style that brings many strengths to a leadership role.  Because of the Seven's drive toward maximizing intensity and joy in their lives, and in the lives of others, we call this type the Fun Seeker.

Maximizing joy; minimizing pain

As a school leader, the Type Seven often fosters a warm, vibrant, and joyful environment for working and learning.  The Seven is a cheerleader, with the innate capacity to make people feel good about their efforts and enthusiastic for the mission of the school.  A seemingly tireless multi-tasker, the Seven is perpetually visible in classrooms, hallways, meetings, and school events, and is initiating new projects and promoting new ideas at a pace that only she seems to be able to manage.  Sevens are especially gifted at the social dimensions of leadership, fostering positive and intense relationships with students, parents, teachers, and community members.  While the Seven sometimes struggles to follow through on ideas, initiatives, and commitments, stakeholders tend to be extremely forgiving of these peccadillos, giving the Seven the benefit of the doubt for his unflagging commitment and dedication to others and to the school or district itself.

Ultimately the Seven's drive to synthesize as many ideas and maximize as much energy as possible is rooted in a deep drive for happiness, and an insecurity about the world.  Every Ennea-type has its own particular fear or insecurity, and the Seven responds to her anxiety by trying to fill up her life with a maximum amount of experiences and activities.  In some ways, the Seven is engaged in a pattern of avoidance, trying to skirt around the uncertainties, pain, and loss that is as essential to life as happiness and pleasure by focusing solely on what is fun, bright, and good.

Ennea-type Seven school leaders can exhibit profound denial about their school's weaknesses and growth areas, about conflicts and problems in the culture, and about their own limitations, losses, and needs.  Sometimes the Seven school leader will barrel ahead with a plan even when it is clearly doomed or deeply flawed, because the discomfort of acknowledging the truth is too great.  Or, perhaps more common, the Seven contributes to the sad tendency in education for schools to pursue a raft of new initiatives every year, never really abandoning old practices but heaping new idea upon the old and leading inevitably to the morale-killing "initiative fatigue" so familiar to many teachers.

Prone to boredom and addicted to stimulation, the Seven school leader can experience terrible burn out and yet be the last to recognize it, or sometimes quit a job - or a series of jobs - in quick succession, always looking for the next big thing professionally or personally.

Practices for wholeness: Being still, being real

The Ennea-Type Seven is constantly in motion, mentally as well as physically, and so learning to take regular "breaks" from activity and intense experience can open the Seven school leader to experience her inner world and see her context from new and broader perspectives.  Reflective practices, mindfulness meditation, and other strategies for slowing down and being still are inherently challenging for the Type Seven, but potentially rewarding and renewing.

Above all, coming to recognize his pattern of avoidance will empower the Type Seven leader to be aware of the ways he might be compensating for insecurity or anxiety by engaging in activity for the sake of activity, or glossing over problems and challenges.  Nurturing a few close, authentic relationships with co-workers who can be a "critical friend" can help the Seven keep a check on these patterns and pitfalls.

There is no inherent contradiction between stability and self-awareness and the Seven's inclination toward exuberance and activity.  By practicing self-awareness and honest, open communication, the Ennea-Type Seven leader can bring her greatest gifts to bear and foster an effective, high-performing school environment.

Look for additional profiles of other Enneagram Types as school leaders in coming weeks. For a complete list of Enneagram resources, check the Enneagram links on the left-hand side of this page, and visit our Services page to learn about the wide range of CLS workshops available for leadership and professional development.  For previous type profiles, click here and scroll to the bottom of the post.