The Tyranny of the Urgent

“Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important”

Charles E. Hummel, the author of “Tyranny of the Urgent”

A visiting academic from the US who is staying with me at the moment had a message from his wife yesterday to let him know that the hospital where she works in San Francisco has been the victim of a malicious cyber-attack that has shut down all of their online systems, forcing staff to resort to using pen and paper for all of their work until it can get sorted. This brought back memories for me of the cyber-attack on the Waikato District Health Board here in New Zealand back in 2021.

At the time of the incident at Waikato I was in the process of preparing an Education Environment Scan for the Ministry of Education, in which I included the diagram below to represent the range of issues facing educators:

The central part of the image provides a summary of the ‘pain points that were the focus of attention for government, bureaucracies and educators at the time – most of which still apply. There were two things that stood out as being particularly significant – referred to in the image as ‘burning platforms’ – a metaphor used to describe a situation in which drastic change is necessary because continuing to operate as usual is no longer an option. While many of the other things in the central list are without doubt significant problems for our education system to solve, schools and schooling can, for the most part, continue to operate – albeit in ways that may be exacerbating the issues and concerns represented here. But when faced with the prospect of another pandemic or extreme weather event which closes schools completely, the ability to continue ‘as normal’ isn’t an option. Similarly, a cyber-attack that closes down all online access, posing risks to the security of student (and staff) data etc. will also have an immediate and profound impact on the ability of schools and our system to operate ‘as normal’. These are ‘burning platform’ situations.

My reflection here is that, since 2021, we’ve seen a lot of work continue to go into many of the things in the central core of the diagram – some are even represented in the current government’s second quarter action plan. While there will inevitably be differences of opinion about the particular solutions being pursued, it cannot be argued that these things deserve our attention and are problems we need to be working together to solve as it’s the future of our tamariki, and our nation, that is at stake. Things such as the high rates of truancy, declining rates of literacy and numeracy, declining student engagement and teacher workload for example cannot be left to chance – they must be addressed. The challenge here, of course, is that in our VUCA world, identifying and implementing solutions that work for everyone is a challenging and complex task – there is no ‘simple solution’ (much as some of our political and bureaucratic leaders may claim there is!)

But even as we wait for some of these solutions to be revealed, designed, funded, and implemented, schools continue to operate. Students (most) and teachers turn up each day and learning continues in some form or other. But this would not be the case with a ‘burning platform’ event. These things potentially wreak havoc, bringing our system to its knees and putting a halt on being able to operate ‘as normal’ for a period of time at least.

Take, for example, the vulnerability of NZ schools to cyber-threats. Currently, the Network for Learning (N4L) intercepts up to 5 million malicious threats via its system each day that are inbound to schools in its network. And with email, between 55%-75% of all inbound traffic on the N4L network is recognised as spam and is blocked – the majority of these are from automated systems that are persistently targeting schools. Yet, according to feedback provided in N4L’s latest ‘Touch Point” communications, 80% of schools feel they are adequately protected against both email spam and potential cyber threats. Of course, this may be the confidence they have through being on the N4L network – but may also highlight a complacency we have when it comes to such problems.

In the case of the things that could potentially force schools to close (as physical spaces for learning) the argument is the same. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, heatwaves, droughts, and floods, have been on the rise globally over the past few decades. While there hasn’t been a significant increase in the frequency or intensity of earthquakes in recent decades, the impact of earthquakes can be exacerbated by factors such as urbanisation and inadequate infrastructure. And while pandemics are not new phenomena, factors such as globalisation, urbanisation, and increased interaction between humans and wildlife have heightened the risk of these novel infectious diseases emerging and spreading rapidly. So while the risk of these things occurring may be assessed as low to moderate on any risk-profile analysis, they all rate in the extreme end when it comes to potential impact.

So what responses are we seeing in our schooling ecosystem? Well, in terms of the threat from earthquakes we’ve seen a lot of updating of earthquake codes for buildings, with strengthening work going on in existing buildings and new buildings designed with higher levels of resilience. In terms of weather events, we see stop-banks being strengthened and drainage improved etc. to protect school buildings from flooding and damage. Each of these measures provide some level of assurance about the ability of schools to remain viable and to function in the case of such events.

But should they be forced to close for longer periods of time, such as happened with the COVID pandemic, how might we fare? In a number of strategic conversations I have been a part of in recent months I’ve heard the same refrain; “if we were impacted by another pandemic today, we’d be no better off than we were back in 2020 when COVID-19 forced us to close up shop!”. In other words, we appear to have learned nothing from that experience that is being carried over into how we operate. I wrote a post a couple of years ago titled “caught by surprise” that addressed these same issues, and in it I listed a number of specific actions that could be taken by teachers, by school leaders and by system leaders. Sadly, that advice appears to have been set aside as we all fell back into the ‘comfort’ of what was familiar and ‘normal’.

I recall how, in the immediate wake of the pandemic lockdown, there was a high level of interest in the concept of hybrid learning, and how, by taking a different approach to the design of learning, schools could create a system that would enable learners to access and participate in their learning regardless of location – with a seamless transition between the learning they do at school and at home or elsewhere. Such an approach provides a solution not only for how a school might operate during a period of shut-down such as during the pandemic, but also creates opportunities for addressing issues of access and participation for a wider population of learners – including the school phobics, the seriously ill and home-bound, those who are unable to access the particular subjects or expertise they want etc. This is fundamental to the concept of building resilient schools that I have written about elsewhere.

So why do we appear to be unable to achieve the level of change that would seem to be necessary? I see a couple of key things that education leaders need to be grappling with:

• Stable State Thinking – for many, the anticipation of returning to ‘normal’ after any disruptive event is the ‘go to’ way of thinking. It’s a perfectly understandable part of the human condition – something of a ‘safety net’ that helps us through the present difficulty. It’s what Donald Schön has called Stable State thinking. Schön sees ‘the stable state’ as a deep individual and collective need for comprehensibility and control in life. “Stable state thinking” refers to a mindset where individuals approach problems using established methods, routines, or mental models without questioning their validity or considering alternative perspectives. It is characterised by a reliance on familiar patterns and solutions, often leading to repetitive actions or limited innovation.
• The Tyrrany of the Urgent – similarly, simply coping with the immediate challenges of surviving in a lockdown situation absorbs most of our energy and thought, leaving little opportunity to think about ‘what next’ – so we become absorbed in addressing the immediate needs while ignoring some of the things that may provide more robust, sustainable and equitable solutions. The phrase ‘tyrrany of the urgent’ refers to the tendency of people to focus on urgent tasks or immediate concerns at the expense of important, but non-urgent, ones. In essence, it highlights how the pressure of dealing with urgent matters can dominate one’s time and attention, leaving little room for longer-term, more strategic thinking and planning.

Herein lies the prompt I felt to write yet another post that explores this dilemma. Those burning platform threats are still very real problems for us to solve – as are the other things at the centre of my diagram (truancy, workload, inequity, literacy and numeracy etc.) Teachers are addressing many of these concerns every day in their classrooms. Many leaders are tackling these things at a school level, implementing school-wide strategies. And at a system level, we have teams of bureaucrats and political leaders seeking to find solutions that will work and be sustainable – and to provide the support and resourcing to ensure this happens back in schools.

And yet we still don’t seem to be making the progress we know we need to.

And worse, amid the ‘overwhelm’ being experienced by educators at every level of the system, the immediate and most pressing concerns are occupying the majority (if not all?) of their capacity to work effectively in their particular contexts. In the process, many of the bigger, more complex and often more significant problems (in the longer term) are simply ignored or shelved until a later date which is always being delayed. Add to that the dual salvos that are being fired constantly from our politicians around financial constraint and the need for ‘quick wins’ to demonstrate their effectiveness in power, and we have a recipe for unmitigated disaster – not just for those of us involved currently – but for the future lives and experience of the tamariki who we are charged with educating in preparation for their future.

So how might we change this? Certainly not by looking simply for the ‘quick wins’, nor by embracing the panacea of ‘one-size-fits-all’ and ‘back to basics’ approaches. These are the simplistic ideals of those captured by ‘short-termism’, motivated by either a mis-placed ideaology or selfish ambition (or even a mix of both). A scan of the significant problems we face in our world today (food insecurity, declining bio-diversity, extremes of poverty and wealth, global warming…. the list goes on!) are the result of generations of this sort of thinking – the idea that we need simply to live for today for tomorrow looks after itself.

We must determine to live by a different set of ideals than those that we have deferred to in the past. The call is for leaders (at every level of the system) to rise above the tyrrany of the urgent, and embrace a future-focused view of the work they/we do, acting with a ‘system leadership’ mindset, rather than merely focusing on the immediate area of leadership they are responsible for. That matters, but so does the bigger picture, the broader concept of the education ecosystem, and the planet.

Call to action

Here are some things I believe we need to be discussing and using to shape our personal beliefs and collective approach as we design the future…

1. Re-conceptualise ‘normal’: It’s time we acknowledge that the illusion of the ‘stable state’ and the notion of a return to a pre-disruption “normal” is not a viable option in an ever-evolving world. Instead of yearning for stability, we must embrace change and adaptability as the new norm. Our educational institutions must evolve to thrive in uncertainty, preparing students not just for exams but for the unpredictable challenges of tomorrow.
2. Embrace Discomfort: We must break free from the shackles of stable state thinking. Comfort zones are breeding grounds for stagnation. It’s discomfort that sparks innovation and drives progress. We must challenge ourselves to confront the discomfort of change head-on, pushing boundaries and reimagining what education can and should be.
3. Prioritise the Future: The urgency of the present often blinds us to the importance of the future, and to the consequences of the decisions we are making about the present. Our failure to address long-term threats today will only magnify the crises of tomorrow. We owe it to our children and the generations to come to shift our focus from the urgent to the essential, from the immediate to the impactful.
4. Be Courageous in Leadership: True leadership is not about firefighting the crises of today but about fortifying against the storms of tomorrow. It requires the courage to confront uncomfortable truths, the wisdom to prioritise the greater good over short-term gains, and the resilience to weather the inevitable storms of change.
5. Commit to Collective Responsibility: The burden of transforming education cannot rest on the shoulders of a few. It requires a collective effort from educators, policymakers, parents, and communities alike. Together, we must imagine ourselves as ‘system leaders’. Each of us must play our part, not just in addressing the symptoms but in tackling the root causes of systemic issues.
6. Act with Urgency, Not Just Words: Enough with the rhetoric; it’s time for action. We cannot afford to wait for the perfect solution or the ideal moment. And we cannot satisfy ourselves with focusing purely on the short-term, immediate-impact actions that win votes or popularity, while placing every increasing burdens on our future generations to repair the damage we’re causing. The time for change is now, and it starts with each one of us committing to do our part, however small it may seem.
7. Invest in Resilience: Just as we invest in earthquake-proof buildings and flood defences, we must invest in building resilient educational systems. Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back from adversity; it’s about thriving in the face of it. Let’s invest in the resilience of our schools, our educators, and most importantly, our students.

Here are some links to other posts and thought pieces I’ve written that relate to the ideas in this post….

• Caught by Surprise
• Lessons for Lockdown
• Closing the Digital Divide
• Rethinking Distance
• Of Trees and Forests
• Building Resilient Schools
• Hybrid Learning
• Roadblocks and Drivers
• Empty Seats