Unravelling the business of educational leaders in times of uncertainty

Abstract

The main thrust of this paper is to explore factors from the business sector, which could inspire school leaders in terms of issue/problem formulation during their decision-making process. This conceptual paper examines diachronically and conceptually the issues of uncertainty, not only in terms of context and decision-making, but also having in mind leaders’ and leadership's main characteristics as well. The question remains whether concepts of uncertainty management practices from the business sector might offer insights for school principals in order to make connections between what is happening inside and outside the organization. The paper is organized around five sections dealing with the conceptual basis of the two main terms, crisis and uncertainty and how leaders in the business sector deal with these. Following, we focus on educational leaders and their ways of navigating through crisis and uncertainty and we conclude with some observations about how leaders make the best possible decisions under the circumstances. We end the paper by stressing that, perhaps, many of the leadership qualities and characteristics needed in times of “normality” are more or less similar to those needed in times of uncertainty. However, school leaders need to learn to act faster with clearer and constant communication.