We have found the following strategies to be beneficial for leaders to immerse themselves in leading toward digital equity:
Although it may not be the first strategy that comes to mind, leaders must prioritize their own well-being and resilience. This goes beyond self-care. When leaders are at their best, they can serve those they lead with fullness. As a profession, we serve people and often inadvertently take on their feelings, leading to compassion fatigue.
It is important that leaders “understand that compassion fatigue has a continuum—the cost of caring,” said Dr. Mary Hemphill, a veteran educator and founder of The Limitless Leader. Adopting a human-centered leadership approach that includes active modeling of a leader’s own vulnerability in growth toward digital competency means leaders need to have a deep awareness of self in order to lead and care for others. For example, what are the ways in which you know you are tired? How will you tend to your needs to be the best you for those you serve? Does your calendar reflect you as a priority? Who gets your attention? How can you be intentional with the content you consume to edify your best self? Prioritizing your own self-awareness and development increases your leadership capacity to attend to the growth of those you have been called to lead.
Once leaders learn to prioritize and care for themselves, it is equally important that they extend that same focus on humanity toward those they lead. The adage, “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” describes someone so focused on the details that they miss the bigger picture. Dr. Hemphill believes this applies to how leaders support their teams. In the digital age, modern educational leaders must navigate both the “forest”—the challenge of digital transformation—and the “trees”—the individual needs and challenges of students and teachers.
So how can leaders prioritize the humanity of others while leading digital transformation? By understanding their teams’ needs. This can be done by creating space and opportunities for connection and support. Dr. Hemphill encourages leaders to engage in intentional conversations with administration and staff. Using the Leadership for Digital Transformation domain from Digital Promise’s Digital Equity Framework as a guide, leaders can ask questions like, “Do you feel like your voice is heard?” and “Do you have what you need to be successful?” to better understand their team’s feelings and needs. Leaders can establish open channels for communication and feedback through regular team meetings, informal “coffee chats,” and surveys and feedback forms.
Once needs are understood, leaders should “put feet to [their] words,” as Dr. Hemphill likes to say, by doing their part. Take time to consider and execute on the tangible actions that demonstrate to others that their concerns and needs were addressed.
Lastly, human-centered leaders model what they want to cultivate. This begins with embracing discomfort by sharing your personal challenges with technology integration and demonstrating the practice of failing forward by experimenting and trying new things.
In the pursuit of digital transformation, we must understand that the effectiveness of our efforts depends on the well-being of the humans at the center of the work. “If the relationship is severed, the best tech won’t enhance the experience,” Dr. Hemphill said.
By prioritizing the human side of technology, educational leaders can begin the deep work of digital transformation, aligning their efforts with frameworks like Digital Promise’s Digital Equity Framework. Using the Leadership for Digital Transformation domain as a roadmap, leaders can develop a clear vision for technology integration with a focus on creating systemic change that centers the learner and aims to close the digital teaching and learning gap.
Watch the recording of Dr. Mary Hemphill’s Elevating Innovation presentation, Navigating Disruptive Tech for 21st Century Schools, along with all Elevating Innovation sessions on Verizon Innovative Learning HQ.
