The title of the third installment in this series, Managing Setbacks, is equal parts self-explanatory and mindset statement about what it means not just to get by, but to create a successful environment for yourself and others. We’re all going to be challenged and struggle along the way. How we stay strong will go a long way towards determining our outcomes. Enjoy!

“Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.” -Abigail Adams

One of the four noble truths of Buddhism has been paraphrased as “Life is suffering.” That sounds like a terribly negative statement, but in full context of its relevance to the power of acceptance, it is quite the opposite. 

That view can be harnessed for great positive effect when we move forward with the premise that life, and the work it demands, is hard. Once we accept that things are going to go wrong, that we are going to struggle, that there will be challenges to our existence, our perspective is shaped by how we respond productively. 

In short, what challenge we will face is hard to predict. That we’ll face some turmoil, however, is a safe bet.

Consider why we as educators place so much emphasis on assessments, and we can better understand the value of being tested. When situations demand your patience and perseverance, they also give you a chance to demonstrate your strength to yourself and others. 

Regardless of our position, there will be those “this is going to be really hard” situations. Instead of responding with fear or stasis, maybe our next thought should be “got it — let’s go.” 

Just as we want our students to recognize how struggle builds strength, we also can embrace that. Think about what weightlifters do when they want to get stronger. They gradually build up the amount they can lift, and don’t shy away from moving towards heavier weights. Great teachers do that with and for their students, and leaders should do that in their practice. When something goes sideways, we can distinguish ourselves by staying calm and focusing on what needs to be done to achieve results.

Leading through adversity requires that we balance urgency and deliberate actions, and demands that we conduct ourselves with an intentionality that embraces focused calm and a steady vision. Check out Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940 for an example of the power of unwavering belief. 

At that point in the war, Britain was taking a beating, and Churchill chose to channel the best of what his people were doing to help build their resolve. His calm emphasis on courage and the steadfast refusal to back down helped to inspire his people. Over 80 years later, his words still resonate.

In a conversation about struggle, it is also important to acknowledge that engaging in competitive suffering is a pointless enterprise. This social phenomenon occurs when people engage in one-upping each other about whose problems are worse. For those practitioners, kudos on your pointlessness. 

As I addressed in Invisible Backpack, the truth is that each of us feel and manage our suffering according to our own realities and experiences. If there is something that doesn’t bother me but adds considerable weight to the invisible backpack of someone else, that doesn’t make me any better or worse. Just different. And that awareness demands of me that I exercise empathy and support, and serve in my role as a leader to help others soldier through their burdens.

Leaders need to accept that they are tasked with making decisions, and that outside of the children’s show “Barney,” decisions are virtually never a clear choice between a good option and a bad one, and the outcomes are rarely unilaterally adored. To wit, when I first had to make calls on weather-related closures or delays, I entered with the assumption that everyone loves a delayed opening. 

Nope. 

Cursed with that awareness now, making those calls has become brutal as it involves incorporating the predictions of people who are not renowned for their accuracy (weather forecasters), and balancing the needs of a wide range of stakeholders (police, DPW, teachers, coaches, morning care providers, working parents, students, student drivers and more). 

On a positive note, I operate with the knowledge of an ironclad guarantee that some people will hate my decision and possibly hate me for making it. In time I’ve learned that in the absence of a right call, the key is to make the best call and run with it. 

Consider that the Chinese character for crisis is the same character used for opportunity.  One word is terribly negative, while the other smacks of optimism, yet they can represent the same overarching concept. 

Leadership in school during the COVID pandemic response certainly involved ongoing crisis management, but provided leaders the opportunity to model their ability to maintain calm in the face of an intense storm. In finding solutions to problems that popped up daily (think high-stakes Whac-a-Mole), we all needed to discover opportunities to make education possible for our students and survivable attainable for our staff. 

Many of those solutions, borne out of desperation and unprecedented events, have some applicability now, thus supporting that our response to the crisis was an opportunity to develop better practice. It does not negate the suffering, but honors the experience if we can channel the setbacks into productive growth.
Vision Statement: Stuff happens. Leaders help people manage it productively.