Description
Book SynopsisIn Navigating Uncertainty: Sensemaking for Educational Leaders, the authors introduce a 5-step sensemaking approach for managing the kinds of challenging problems, dilemmas and crises that occur daily in educational systems. Drawing on complexity theory, social capital, and sensemaking, they make the case that educational leaders can no longer rely on traditional scientific principles or their own instincts to manage complex problems but need a new way to think about their certainties and their relationships. The authors illustrate their approach with scenarios, based on the real-life experiences of principals, superintendents and deans and provide several innovative tools to help educational leaders better understand and navigate the uncertainties they face every day in their jobs.
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Introduction 1 Exploring Uncertainty 1 Complex Adaptive Systems 2 Equilibrium, Disequilibrium, and the Edge of Chaos 3 Certainty Matrix 4 Pulling the Plug 2 Understanding Uncertainty 1 Complexity Leadership Theory 2 Social Capital 3 Norms 4 Networks 5 Bonding 6 Bridging 7 Trust 8 Puppet on a String 3 Making Sense of Uncertainty 1 Sensemaking 2 Properties of Sensemaking 3 Triggers for Sensemaking 4 Tools for Sensemaking 5 The Revolving Door 6 Travis’s 5-Step Sensemaking Approach 4 Grappling with Uncertainty 1 Modeling the 5-Step Sensemaking Approach 2 Benefijit of the Doubt 3 No Easy Answers 4 Dropping Enrolments 5 Responding to Cases of Uncertainty 1 Walking into a Minefijield 2 Under the Bus 3 No Winners 4 Who’s at Risk? 5 All Fired Up 6 Who Stands to Benefijit? 7 Jumping the Gun 8 Going Rogue 9 The Great Professor Index
