From Classroom Thinking to Systems Thinking: The Mindset Shift New School Leaders Need

One of the biggest things I see career teachers struggle with when they move into school leadership is learning how to think outside of their classroom.

And honestly, I think this is one of the hardest parts of moving from teacher to school leader.

It’s not because teachers don’t know how to solve problems. They do. In fact, some of the best problem solvers I know are teachers.

But when you are a teacher, your world is your classroom. You are thinking about the 30 students sitting in front of you. You are thinking about their needs, their families, your curriculum, your classroom routines, your grading, your behavior systems, and how to get through everything you need to get through that day.

When you move into leadership, that changes. You’re not just thinking about the 30 students in front of you anymore. You’re thinking about 500 students. You’re thinking about 30 or 40 staff members. You’re thinking about families, district expectations, schedules, budgets, policies, special education, English learners, school culture, instruction, attendance, discipline and a million other things that somehow all connect to each other.

And sometimes the solution that is best for one classroom isn’t necessarily the solution that is best for the entire school. That is a really difficult mindset shift.

I didn’t always think this way either

When I was a teacher, I was very focused on what I could control. If something wasn’t working in my classroom, I could change my routine. I could reteach something. I could call a parent. I could change a lesson. I could talk to a student.

But as a school leader, you start realizing that a lot of the problems you are trying to solve are actually much bigger than one classroom.

• A student is failing. Why?
• A teacher isn’t implementing something consistently. Why?
• Families aren’t showing up to events. Why?
• Students don’t feel like they belong. Why?
• Teachers are overwhelmed. Why?

It can be really tempting to jump straight to the solution because that is what we are used to doing as teachers. We see a problem and we fix it.

But school leadership requires you to slow down and ask a different question:

What is happening in the system that is contributing to this problem?

That is where systems thinking comes in.

What I learned at UCLA

When I was in UCLA’s Principal Leadership Institute, I took a class with Dr. Robert Cooper, and his book Equity-Minded Systems Thinking Leadership was at the center of our work.

I remember constantly being pushed to think beyond the immediate problem.

• Who is impacted by this decision?
• Who needs to be part of the conversation?
• Who do I need to bring along?
• What happens if we make this change?
• What are the unintended consequences?

And probably the question that has stuck with me the most: What happens when I am no longer the person leading this work?

That last one is important. Because if something only works because I am personally checking on it, reminding people about it, fixing it, and pushing it forward, then I haven’t really built a system. I’ve built something that depends on me. And that’s not sustainable.

As school leaders, we have to think about how we create systems that can actually stand without us.

Schools are full of systems

The longer you work in schools, the more you realize how many systems exist around you. There are systems for grades. Systems for attendance. Systems for discipline. Systems for special education. Systems for intervention. Systems for communication. Systems for professional development. Systems for scheduling. Systems for family engagement.

Some of these systems are really helpful. Some aren’t. And some probably made sense at one point but haven’t been revisited in years.

Anyone who has worked in a school for a while has experienced this. You ask, “Why do we do it this way?” And someone says: “Because that’s how we’ve always done it.”

That answer always makes me pause. Not because the system is necessarily wrong, but because I think leaders need to understand why a system exists and whether it is still doing what it was supposed to do.

• Sometimes a system that was created to help students ends up creating a barrier for students.
• Sometimes a process that was created to support teachers creates more work for teachers.
• Sometimes a policy that is supposed to create consistency actually makes it harder for a school to respond to the needs of its community.
• And sometimes we just need to make a system easier.

This is where being a former teacher matters

I think one of the biggest advantages teachers bring into school leadership is that we know what it feels like to be on the other side of the decision.

• We know what it feels like to get another email at 4:30 p.m.
• We know what it feels like to have another initiative added to an already full plate.
• We know what it feels like to sit in a meeting and wonder, “How am I supposed to fit this into my day?”
• We know what it feels like to have 30 students in front of us and five other things we are supposed to be doing at the same time.

I think about this a lot in my own leadership. I will sometimes stop and ask myself:

• Would I have liked this as a teacher?
• Would I have understood why we were doing it?
• Would this have saved me time or created more work?
• Would this have been one more thing that overwhelmed me?
• Would I have felt supported?

And if the answer is no, I ask myself if there is a way to make it better.

That doesn’t mean every decision should be based on what teachers want. Leadership isn’t always about making things easier. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions. Sometimes we have to hold people accountable. Sometimes there are things we have to do because of district policy, legal requirements, or the needs of students.

But I do think we have an obligation to understand what we are asking people to do.

You have to bring people with you

Another thing I learned from studying systems thinking is that you cannot lead a system by yourself.

And honestly, I think this is another place where new administrators can struggle. You get the title, and suddenly everyone is looking to you for the answer. But you don’t have to have every answer. Actually, you shouldn’t.

• Your teachers know things you don’t know.
• Your counselors know things you don’t know.
• Your students know things you don’t know.
• Families know things you don’t know.
• Your classified staff know things you don’t know.

People experience the school differently depending on where they sit within the system. That means you have to talk to people. You have to listen. And sometimes you have to hear something you don’t want to hear.

I think systems thinking requires you to be both collaborative and willing to make decisions. Those things aren’t opposites.

You can listen to people and still make a decision. You can take feedback and still move forward. You can disagree with someone and still value their perspective. And you can be the person responsible for the final decision without pretending that you were the only person who had something valuable to contribute.

The question I keep coming back to

As I continue to grow as a school leader, one question I come back to over and over is:

Is this actually working for our school?

Not, “Is this how we’ve always done it?” Not, “Does this look good on paper?” Not, “Is this what another school does?”

Is it actually working for our students and our staff? And if it isn’t, what can we change?

• Sometimes the answer is that we need to change the system.
• Sometimes the answer is that we need to work within the system because it is a district or legal requirement.
• Sometimes the answer is that we don’t have enough information yet.
• And sometimes the answer is that the system isn’t the problem at all.

That’s why systems thinking takes time. You have to be willing to investigate before you react.

The mindset shift

I don’t think becoming a school leader means that you stop thinking like a teacher. I actually think that’s dangerous. We need leaders who remember what it feels like to be in the classroom.

But we also have to expand our thinking. Instead of only asking, “What is best for my students?” we have to start asking: “What is best for our students?”

• Instead of thinking about one classroom, we think about the whole school.
• Instead of solving the immediate problem, we look at what created the problem.
• Instead of asking how we can make something work today, we ask how we can build something that will continue to work tomorrow.
• And instead of trying to be the person who has all the answers, we figure out who needs to be at the table.

I think that is one of the biggest mindset shifts in moving from teacher to school leader.

You don’t stop being a teacher.

You just have to start thinking about the whole school as your classroom.