Leaders are the Weather

“Life is a shit storm, in which art is our only umbrella.” 

From a character in the work of Mario Vargas Llosa, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010. Perhaps we can replace 'art' with 'emotional intelligence' or 'calm leadership'?

The back-to-school busyness of enrolling new classes, handling hectic hallways and confronting crammed calendars can be unnerving under normal circumstances. Add in the range of emotions triggered by societal unrest and polarization, personal restrictions, vaccination rates, face masks and rising case numbers and life can seem overwhelming. Students, parents, teachers, support staff, and school and district leaders are dealing with myriad challenges caused by COVID-19 while trying to balance the safety of their school communities with their personal wellness and the health of their families and loved ones. After 20 months, we are coming to terms with the reality that some aspects of the pandemic may never really end, and we'll just get better at living with this disease. Alas, prolonged uncertainty and feeling out of control are not easy. 

Leadership is especially crucial in times of great change or crisis. In this extraordinary context, what is it that we need from our leaders, and is this entirely someone else’s responsibility? While acknowledging the realities and disquietude of the times, the importance of modeling emotional self-regulation is critical. Certainly leaders need to be thoughtful and competent, but more importantly, they need to be self-aware and calm. They are the weather. How they respond and react does influence others - it has a contagion effect. Are we offering hope to those around us? 

Hope has often been misunderstood and underestimated as a potentially powerful human capacity. Traditionally, hope has too often been dismissed as a whimsical and abstract concept that could not be well defined, let alone measured, developed, and applied to the workplace. However, the recent emergence of positive psychology and positive organizational behavior has now clearly shown that hope is a strength that has many important implications for today's embattled organizations- both in terms of effective leadership and employee retention and performance. The purpose is to… define hope as an important strength in positive organizational behavior and authentic leadership, but to also propose that hopeful leaders can have a contagion effect on the resiliency of employees and organizations undergoing traumatic change.

In a healthy organization, everyone is a leader and this is especially true of schools. The pandemic has illuminated the fact that academic growth and mental wellness are interdependent and that educators must be mindful of the social and emotional aspects of each student’s reality. Students too are wrestling with the anxiety of an uncertain future, and the ethos or 'culture' of a school is highly influenced by how students and staff interact with each other. Teachers are the weather in their classrooms. Students need teachers and adults who find the strength to model calmness and lead with patience, empathy and compassion.

Caring relationships are the heart of every great teacher’s classroom; they are the foundation of every healthy school; and they are the glue of strong families. Perhaps this starts with the relationship we have with ourselves - our self-awareness and our capacity to self-regulate, because regardless of our role, we are the weather. Am I a lightning rod for negativity and angst or an umbrella and a ray of light?

Image from Wallpaper Flare

Quote taken from "The Proposed Contagion Effect of Hopeful Leaders on the Resiliency of Employees and Organizations." by Steve Norman, Brett Luthans, Kyle Luthans (2005). Note - there is research that shows the 'contagion effect' can also flow from employees/followers to leaders. Emotions are contagious.

p.s. My daughter is a nurse and she reminded me that no one can continue to pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself and know what fills you up. You can be realistic, and calm. Offer gratitude and hope to others. Oh, and get vaccinated.