This morning, while enjoying my coffee and LinkedIn newsfeed, I stumbled onto an
intersection of thought that needed further pursuit. I have been reading All Systems Go by Michael Fullan (2010), a thought provoking text on how to create whole system reform in education. Although I’m dipping my toes into this debate 8 years past the publication date, Fullan’s message is timely and still sparks deep discussion. I, certainly, have much to mull over as an educator and member of the human system.
Fullan (2010) outlined the framework of his plan for successful educational reform in the second chapter of his book, All Systems Go. To successfully initiate radical, whole system reform, he stipulated that it is crucial to have:
- A small number of ambitious goals.
- A guiding coalition at the top.
- High standards and expectations.
- Collective capacity building with a focus on instruction.
- Individual capacity building linked to instruction.
- Mobilizing the data as a strategy for improvement.
- Intervention in a non-punitive manner.
- Being vigilant about “distractors”.
- Being transparent, relentless, and increasingly challenging.
Wrapping up this list of criteria, Fullan stated that “… the gist of this strategy is to mobilize and engage large numbers of people who are individually and collectively committed and effective at getting results relative to core outcomes that society values. It works because it is focused, relentless (stay the course), operates as a partnership between and across layers, and above all uses the collective energy of the whole group (p. 21).”
Fullan’s argument described emergence in all of its facets since there are elements of bottom up organization as well as top down causality both of which communicate through interconnected feedback systems. In terms of educational reform, system change will come when the voice and actions of the system’s base (children, parents, teachers, education assistants, educational partners, community, etc.) work upon, change, and guide the voice and actions of the top thus creating a new and different system. This is called bottom up organization, sometimes referred to as grass roots. At the same time, Fullan engaged the notion of top down causality, a weird feature of emergence. Top down causality occurs when the vision creates the reality, or emergent feature. In this case, the vision of a reformed education system works to create the events and people who are needed to manifest the vision. Although paradoxical, it makes some sense that an imagined reality can become the driver of change.
A system, according to Fullan, operates successfully when there is a guiding vision, cooperation and collaboration amongst all of the agents, and communication among and between all levels. True system change is whole system: grass roots, top down, and across partnerships. Include the ideas of high expectations, accountability frameworks, and helping interventions rather than punishment when things go wrong and it appears like you have a plan that no one could argue with. Yet, looking at some of Fullan’s language choices, I can see where uneasiness could occur. What is the fear that creates hesitation over the words, “A guiding coalition at the top”; “mobilize”; and “relentless”? Certainly, they are important ideas because Fullan repeated them more than once. Yet, the weight of these words obscures their intended purpose since their collective value in our current society loosely translates as tyranny or dictatorship. When I ask myself why this is so, I find myself looking more closely at the words and realize their military nuance.
While I fully embrace the idea of an educational system that “operates as a partnership between and across layers, and above all uses the collective energy of the whole group (Fullan, 2010, p. 21)”, I am not sure if my inner vision corresponds to the one generated by militaristic metaphor. Still, knowing that emergence is an active, independent, focused process makes me think that Fullan’s choice of wording was accurate and appropriate and that my reaction is driven by cynicism or anxiety. Lingering at the crossroads of thought, I consider that this may be paradoxical nonsense, or maybe it’s a lesson in looking beyond the emotion generated by words to envisage the actual message.
Melinda Gates (2017), LinkedIn contributor, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and my morning coffee newsfeed, echoed the same theme as Michael Fullan (2010). Her article, How to Build a Workplace That Works for Everyone, stated that work people have changed with the times but work places have remained essentially the same. This fact, according to Gates, accounts for a recurring story that takes place across every industry and every generation, that “young people, especially women and people of color, enter the workforce eager to share their talents and ideas – only to bump up against barriers that make them question whether they belong (How to Build a Workplace That Works for Everyone).” Gates called for change, as well, citing the benefits of creating a clear vision of what a diversified work place looks like, then taking the time to hire accordingly rather than falling back upon old habits of thought. To ensure that you keep to your diversity plan, Gates suggested measuring your success by frequently checking your data. The main questions being, “Am I doing what I said I wanted to do? What’s working? What do I need to change to better reach my goal?”
Like Fullan (2010), Gates (2017) was a strong advocate for building capacity and suggested that this could be achieved in two different ways. One, leaders who have made it to the “top” are in a good position to mentor others by sharing success strategies with them. Secondly, Gates urged men to be allies in the movement to create diversity at all levels of business and especially in upper management by taking on mentorship roles. By becoming part of the empowerment movement and expanding their roles, Gates said, men would also gain by being an active party in a diverse system. Gates ended her article with the observation that system diversification is not a moment, rather it is a movement and a call to action.
Both Gates (2017) and Fullan (2010) reminded us, through their use of language and examples, that system reform is ongoing and involves everyone. While a person could simply skip to another article or close a book, it isn’t as easy to halt the process. A more productive way to deal with the emotions that system reform is bound to stir up could be to keep reading, thinking, and talking about what you are bringing to the system so that you, too, are an agent of change.
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Fullan, Michael. (2010). All systems go. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, A SAGE Company & Ontario Principals’ Council.
Gates, Melinda. (2017). How to build a workplace that works for everyone. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-build-workplace-works-everyone-melinda-gates/.
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