Compassionate Systems Leadership

As children and teachers return to the classroom, we have searched for an accurate description of the impact of the pandemic on the education system and all the people within it. COVID-19 has exacerbated existing stressors and challenges as administrators, educators, and support staff return to school: it has been tough, really tough. Compassionate Systems Leadership (CSL) is a framework that can facilitate such a transformation. CSL is an approach to educational leadership that explicitly builds skills and practices in three interconnected domains that are required in this new reality: self (building a practice of personal reflection. mindfulness, and compassion), each other (building authentic relationships that can support generative conversations), and the system (developing skills and capabilities to use tools that honor the complexity of the work that needs to be done). CSL draws on practices that are similar to those that have proven effective in building teacher well-being and supporting the social and emotional capacity of learners.