At the end of last week, I asked a school leader about the rapid shift to virtual learning. Knowing what a challenge it has been for almost everyone, I was surprised by his answer:

“Our teachers have been really well equipped to make that change because we’ve become agile.”

He talked about how the school has invested for years in things like a summer institute for teachers, professional development in student-centered learning, and a “growth + development” system (which replaced an “observation + evaluation” [1] system).

He said that this slow-drip approach had evolved the culture. [2]

• Old Culture: permission-based; prioritized the individual.

• Evolving Culture: growth mindset; prioritizes the team.

A permission-based and individual-focused culture is brittle. When someone has to ask what problems they should solve and how to solve them, bottlenecks appear, pressure builds, and things break. Then the finger pointing starts.

A growth mindset and team-focused culture is agile. While it cannot predict the future [3], it will respond to unforeseen challenges with curiosity and speed. Instead of finger-pointing, there is huddling.

When I asked this school leader about his mental model for how he has prepared his school to navigate abrupt and rapid change, he cited “Leading Like a Gardener” [4], a chapter from Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s must-read book, Team of Teams.

“Your culture is your strategy,” he said. [5]

What has the COVID-19 pandemic revealed about the kind of culture you have been planting?

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[1] The difference in word choice should make it clear which approach builds a stronger culture.

[2] The word “evolved” here is intentional: culture change takes years. Lest that discourage you, remember the proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

[3] The most successful growth mindset cultures also seem to be led by people who have a strong point of view about the future, but who hold that POV loosely (ie, they are willing to update their point of view when presented with compelling new evidence). Carla Silver and the L+D Team exemplify this agile posture.

[4] From “Leading Like a Gardener”:

“[T]he speed and interdependence of our current environment means that what we cannot know has grown even faster that what we can. […]

“If the garden is well organized and adequately maintained, and the vegetables are properly harvested when ripe, the product is pretty impressive. The gardener creates an environment in which the plants can flourish. The work done up front, and vigilant maintenance, allow the plants to grow individually, all at the same time. […]

“Watering, weeding, and protecting plants from rabbits and disease are essential for success. The gardener cannot actually ‘grow’ tomatoes, squash, or beans—she can only foster an environment in which the plants do so.”

[5] He shared another metaphor from nature to illustrate the point: “Corn is interesting: a) It only grows in pairs; and b) when it stops growing it dies. In a team-based culture, the constant support of one another allows everyone to grow, flourish, and evolve. Without a focus on growth and without a focus on teams, things will grow, but they will not produce anything of substance. We call that stuff weeds.”

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