How can we practice critical hope in education?

Yesterday, my brilliant Principal friend completed her 216 restraint protocol for the year at her specialized behavioral school. Another fabulous EdLeader begged for help finding teachers for his urban high school. The day before I got a text from a third colleague who had eight more parent calls to make. It was almost 7pm. They’re telling me it is a lot right now.

Everywhere, school leaders are inundated with the needs of students and teachers. Our systems are cracking under the weight.

How can we serve and confidently practice critical hope in this season?

Dr. Kari Grain writes that ‘hope’ alone is not enough. With refreshing clarity, she calls for ‘critical hope.’

She defines critical hope as:

• weaving together emotional, political, and experiential aspects of an issue.
• both personal and systemic in its perspective.
• inquiring rather than offering simple solutions.
• active rather than passive.

This resonates deeply with me because, without ‘hope’ everything is futile, and without ‘wise action’ everything is also futile.

I might try to simplify Dr Grain’s definition:

hope + reflection + action = critical hope

While this simplification doesn’t do her book justice (Critical Hope – How to Grapple with Complexity, Lead with Purpose, and Cultivate Transformative Social Change), possibly this simplicity can help us take the next step forward.

In my experience as a school leader and coach of school leaders, here are a number of practical suggestions for today.

Cultivate a Landscape of Hope

I’ve seen educational leaders lose hope. Too many.

It is usually because they try and try again. Bravely, they say they need more help and don’t find relief. Strategically, they look for solutions and are dismissed. They beat their heads against systems that don’t seem to hear or dignify their valuable work. Or, the attack that comes is too vicious or offensive.

They simply lose hope. The costs to their health and their families are too high. Their sustainability in the work they love is no longer worth it.

Do you believe it’s possible to thrive amidst our work?

Assuredly, the obstacle is the way. It’s pointing us to the problem and giving us clues as to what our students, families, and communities need. It’s also pointing us to what we need.

Critical hope.

Indeed, we can’t hold it alone. We must work together.

Hope is in the collective.

Share and discuss these ideas with your teams and families. We must stay together to thrive.

When I lose hope, I remember…

I’ve gone to the corners of the earth, touched into some of the most desperate places, and come away with hope. Hope is always there.

I assure you.

Check out this story from my charitable work for a dose of bright and hopeful inspiration.

Reflection

School leaders, you can’t solve the problems you currently face with the same ways of working. You aren’t going to discover the Learn Forward™ ‘next, right step’ without thoughtfully strategizing. We can’t overcome education’s enemies of exhaustion, isolation, exclusion, and stuckness, without time to regroup.

Here are ways I practice reflection as a leader:

• Morning Pages (15min)
• Daily Synopsis (2min)
• Weekly Review/Preview (20min)
• Quarterly Planning (2hrs)
• Time away – vacations, visioning weekends, and annual planning

I could not lead without time to reflect on what matters most.

To support myself, I use the Full Focus Planner system to direct these processes. I can’t be left to my own devices. If you’re like me and don’t want to reinvent the wheel, you can order your planner here. Honestly, I use it more than my toothbrush.

Start small. No, tinier. Just do one reflection activity. Try to install it as a habit. If you need support, schedule a FREE discovery call. I’d be honored to help.

If you don’t have time, advocate, schedule, or steal from somewhere else. Make this time.

Action

Nothing will change without strategic advocacy, action, and ingenuity. We won’t thrive.

In order to change, we must take action.

It will require action to overcome exhaustion, isolation, exclusion, and our own stuckness.

We will act individually and privately. We will act as a team. We will act in community.

It is a practice. Iterate. Don’t expect a revolution; plan for a nudge. You’ll gain momentum over time.

Dr Gain says it this way, “critical hope is not something you have; it is something you practice.”

She quotes,

“A lasting and robust hope, then,

must be learned and cultivated,

anchored in the daily practice

of working toward a transformed, hoped-for reality.”

~Tim Shenk

As a beginning, ‘what’s been working for you?’ That’s a great place to start.

For the sake of the children,

Karine