The Octopus Mindset During a Season of Change - The Learning Accelerator
As I am about to report to my 17th superintendent of my almost 35 year career, I devoured Dr. Aderhold’s new book, looking for guidance and tips for a positive transition. I know that changes in leadership can sometimes reveal weak systems, but I also know that new superintendents bring new energy, ideas, and sometimes a hunger for a fresh start.
Dr. Aderhold’s book, The Octopus Mindset, is a helpful framework to consider during times of change. It doesn’t mean reacting quicker. It means building systems that are sturdy, responsive, and synchronized.
Through the lens of curriculum leadership, here are my big takeaways and great hopes for our district under the leadership of our new superintendent.
#1: Establish Distributed Leadership
An octopus doesn’t have one center of control. It operates using eight fluid arms. Schools should function similarly.
When leaders change, systems built around one voice tend to grind to a halt or pivot too rapidly. Distributed systems remain stable. Teams of teachers and leaders at the building and grade levels drive consistency. This consistency doesn’t come from one person. It comes from many.
How do we do this in practice?
Make our district leadership teams, grade level teams & departmentalized PLCs tighter by developing clear roles and protocols for decision-making.
Identify non-negotiables around our instructional practices and ensure they don’t waiver.
Support & develop teacher leaders who have capacity to own the work forward.
#2: Anchor Your Core Systems
Octopi adjust to their surroundings. They don’t forget how to be an octopus.
Our new superintendent will bring new initiatives, and new priorities. If we chase them all, we’ll lose sight of the things that shouldn’t change, however fighting everything doesn’t work either. Work together to decide the non-negotiables and collaborate to meet those goals.
In my world, evidence-based literacy and math instruction are constants. These aren’t trends we adopt and reject when leadership changes. Our job in C&I is to refine our constants year-over-year and articulate them in ways that connect to our new leader’s vision.
How do you do this in practice?
Figure out what high-impact literacy and math practices are and protect them (e.g. structured literacy routines, data cycles, etc. ).
Align initiatives to our system rather than trying to retrofit what we’re doing.
Articulate our current district work into our new superintendent’s vision. Don’t abandon it.
#3: Align Before Accelerating
The nature of new leadership is urgency. There is pressure to go fast and show results. Without alignment, urgency sounds like noise. The octopus is nothing without all eight arms working together.
To move faster, instruction, assessment, and professional learning should be synchronized. Curriculum leadership is about tapping the breaks long enough to ensure everyone is moving in the same direction.
How do you do this in practice?
Revisit our instructional framework with the new superintendent before diving into implementation.
Don’t use a million different professional development opportunities, materials, and metrics. Align what we use to teach, monitor, and talk about instruction.
Use data to reinforce what we know about our instructional strengths and weaknesses. Don’t just use it to react.
Final Thoughts
A change in leadership doesn’t mean our district has to reinvent the wheel. In well-oiled systems, it should mean that we sharpen the wheel. Weak systems need reinvention.
When teachers and leaders own the work, key practices are protected, and your systems are aligned, “fresh starts” can improve what’s already working. That’s the power of operating like an octopus.
