With the pandemic continuing into a third school year, principals are in the unenviable position of facing both parental anger and staff fatigue. The issue of masks seems to be an especially divisive one—at this point a symbol of more than just public health—as principals are, in some cases, physically attacked or threatened with citizens' arrest by angry parents with zip ties. My colleague Lance Fusarelli noted, “I am sure that there were some principals that probably got some flak from parents about the common core and stuff like that. But they weren’t showing up with zip ties.”
Lately, I've been thinking about how school leaders can navigate these highly polarized and divisive times, irrespective of their own personal feelings or opinions on an issue (e.g., masks, critical race theory, etc.). That is, what can school leaders do when they meet that angry parent, or burned-out teacher, or belligerent teenager?
An important first step is to check your mindset by asking yourself how you view the other person. In the book Leadership and Self Deception, the authors ask: do we see others as people: someone with cares, dreams, hopes, and views as legitimate as our own? Or, do we see people as objects: something that gets in our way, or takes our time, or ruins our routine, or makes us angry, etc.. They teach:
"One way, I experience myself as a person among people. The other way, I experience myself as the person among objects" (p.37)
Though all of us are susceptible to converting individuals into objects, I think principals are especially at risk for falling into this trap. For one, principals are overworked and
at risk of experiencing burnout, especially during the pandemic. It seems like the more we learn about what it takes to equitably and effectively educate all students, the more we ask principals to do. The latest
national standards, for instance, include 10 domains with over 80 elements. That's quite the job description! And with all that we expect principals to do, it's no wonder that they may be prone to start seeing individuals as objects.
Additionally, principals are in a position of authority, power, and prestige — the top of the food chain within a school building. That comes with its own temptation to become proud and start viewing others as objects. As Anglican theologian
John Stott succinctly argued: "The chief occupational hazard of leadership is pride." I would add that an important antidote to pride is remembering to view people as individuals and not objects.
Finally, principals work in an environment of high stakes accountability, which has created massive changes to principals work. As my colleagues Jason Grissom, Anna Egalite, and Constance Lindsay recently wrote in their stellar review
How Principals Affect Students and Schools:
"Accountability changes have also dramatically altered school leaders’ roles by increasing leadership time that must be devoted to the management of testing, focusing leaders’ attention on managing school personnel toward specific metrics, imposing accountability sanctions for previously overlooked subgroups, and encouraging stakeholders to focus on school performance judged by external benchmarks without necessarily increasing school resources and capabilities."
These changes put pressure on principals to perform and create an environment where principals may be tempted to view students, teachers, and staff as cogs in a wheel—mere widgets in the performance machine.
Ultimately, when individuals are converted into objects, our ability to navigate conflict becomes compromised.
Alas! This post is already a little long. In a future post, I will continue to build upon this idea and outline additional ways that school leaders can navigate conflict.
