The world continues to change rapidly. External forces are reshaping the attributes and actions of leaders around the globe, and innovation has become an irrefutable, essential ingredient to the success of any organization. Call it conceptual, creative, or disruptive; we are living in an age ruled by innovation. So how can education leaders become an active force in creating a culture of innovation to transform whole systems?
First, we have to be clear about what innovation is. According to senior business innovationist David Culton, "It's about creating an environment of possibility." Adds executive coach Jackie Sloan, "Innovation is about learning." As education leaders, we must challenge our comfort zones as strategists and critical thinkers. And we must "learn how to learn" while building the innovation generation. This proposition implores us to discover the ideas at the heart of innovation that, as education reformer Michael Fullan suggests, will shape "the integration of technology, pedagogy, and change knowledge." Leading innovation means cultivating provocative ideas and experiences that flourish and endure—such as decision making by hypothesis and leadership by experimentation. It requires education leaders to make the culture of innovation a deep structural capability within the DNA of our schools, districts, communities, and nations.
Interconnectivity is one of the key drivers of innovation. As advancing technologies integrate information processing into our daily lives, new models emerge that enable us to leverage data and social networks. This connectivity beckons an age of collaboration and participation. How education leaders adapt to this open and disruptive, multidisciplinary and global shift will determine, in large part, their future success.
Moving from understanding to achieving innovation will require leaders with the right skill sets and attributes. Leaders must cultivate agility—the ability to adapt quickly to or even anticipate change while striving for excellence, equity, and the pursuit of new ideas. They must be capable of mobilizing informal structures within their organizations and building new, flexible management systems. Leaders need to tap into the values, behaviors, myths, and cultural norms that are often hidden drivers of organizational life.
At ASCD, we are revolutionizing the way we learn and work. Our work is not evolutionary. That's too slow. We are at the entry point of disruptive innovation that will hopefully gain momentum as time ensues. What makes this revolution real is that our changes are becoming dramatically compelling. It is the embodiment of Walt Disney's credo that "We keep moving forward, opening up new doors, and doing new things … and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
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ASCD Governance News
Interested in running for a position on ASCD's Board of Directors? Visit www.ascd.org/nominations for more information. Also, in November, ASCD members will be asked to vote on a set of proposed changes to ASCD's Constitution; go to www.ascd.org/governance to view the changes.
