Today’s educational context has school and system leaders facing rising accountability demands, teacher shortages, polarized communities, and exceptional learner needs. In these environments, many leaders understandably may fall into making quick decisions within tightly managed processes that limit input from other organization members and stakeholders. While this approach may feel efficient, it often creates an environment of compliance rather than commitment, suppressing innovation and eroding trust among staff.
Schwarz (2013) identifies this leadership approach as a “unilateral control mindset,” where a single individual, typically the titled leader, is seen as the sole decision-maker and the person responsible for holding team members accountable. Instead, Schwarz offers an alternative leadership approach, the “mutual learning mindset.” This mindset emphasizes collaboration and accountability among team members, which is crucial to overcoming challenges in today’s education environment.
The Promise of Mutual Learning
Mutual learning redefines leadership as a collective process. Rather than focusing on control, leaders and staff share information openly, explore multiple perspectives, and hold each other accountable for results.
The five values of mutual learning – transparency, curiosity, informed choice, accountability, and compassion – align powerfully with what today’s educators need: open communication, shared decision-making, and supportive relationships.
These values also connect to current research:
- Distributed leadership: Distributed leadership has been shown to be an effective approach in addressing teachers’ needs for autonomy, self-efficacy, and work-life balance while managing school resources (O’Shea, 2021).
- Teacher well-being: Liu, Qiang, and Kang (2023) demonstrated that distributed leadership empowers teachers through communal decision-making and effects positive change in schools.
- Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): Yang and Chang (2024) showed that distributed leadership strengthens PLCs, which in turn leads to improvements in teacher professional development and resulting teacher practices.
Together, studies like these reinforce the idea that leadership grounded in mutual learning improves school culture and drives innovation, professional growth, and teacher job satisfaction.
Leadership grounded in mutual learning improves school culture and drives innovation, professional growth, and teacher job satisfaction.
Why Unilateral Control Persists in Education
In schools and districts, the unilateral control mindset often shows up when there are high levels of stress, perceived lack of time, or communication challenges. Many leaders fall back into patterns of leading that were modeled for us, such as “doing it myself because it is faster” or making the decision because “it is the leader’s job to do so.” This mindset can show up in actions like:
- A superintendent mandating a curriculum change without input from principals or teachers
- A principal drafting the school improvement plan in isolation and presenting it to staff for “buy-in”
- District leaders restricting access to data, believing that only central administrators can interpret it accurately
Similarly, staff may be conditioned to see the leader as the sole decision maker, which can lead to them being hesitant to give input because they assume the leader already has the right answer, or withholding ideas or concerns out of fear of being seen as challenging authority or making the leader’s job harder. In the unilateral control mindset, teams tend to defer to the leader’s authority, waiting for direction rather than engaging in meaningful dialogue. This ends up reinforcing the expectation among everyone that the leader is the decision maker.
These patterns are reinforced by system pressures: state or country mandates, board expectations, and community demands for quick fixes. Leaders default to unilateral control to demonstrate decisiveness. Yet, as Schwarz (2013) notes, this approach undermines effectiveness because it:
- Limits ownership and initiative among staff
- Stifles honest dialogue, as dissent is viewed as disloyalty
- Creates short-term compliance at the cost of long-term trust
From Control to Learning
Shifting from unilateral control to mutual learning is more than a change in style. It is a fundamental shift in how leaders and teams think about their roles and their work together. In the table below, the left column reflects patterns leaders may default to under pressure, while the right column illustrates how mutual learning can be used in the same situation to create more trust and engagement.
| Unilateral Control Mindset | Mutual Learning Mindset |
| “I must have the answer.” The leader makes decisions alone to move quickly. | Transparency: The leader explains reasoning, intentions, and data openly so others understand the “why” behind decisions. |
| The leader avoids conflict by controlling the agenda. | Curiosity: The leader invites questions and differing perspectives, using conflict as a constructive way to learn. |
| Information is shared only on a “need to know” basis. | Informed Choice: Staff and stakeholders have access to shared information to make better, more sustainable decisions together. |
| Staff are held accountable, but the leader exempts themselves. | Accountability: Both leaders and team members explain their decisions, commitments, and actions, modeling responsibility at every level. |
| The leader sees disagreement as resistance or lack of loyalty. | Compassion: The leader recognizes the struggles staff face, responds with humanity, and still maintains accountability. |
| Short-term “efficiency” often undermines trust and culture. | Trust: Long-term effectiveness grows through trust, shared ownership, and a culture where people feel respected and heard. |
Why This Matters for Today’s Schools
The stakes for shifting leadership mindsets are high. Teacher burnout is at record levels (Gallup, 2022), with stressors like student behavior, administrative responsibilities, and politicized pressures driving teacher attrition. Leaders who embrace mutual learning not only create healthier work environments but also strengthen teacher retention and learner outcomes.
In addition, mutual learning models exactly what we hope learners will practice: collaboration, critical thinking, and compassion. When leaders and teams embrace these values, schools become learning organizations in the truest sense – where adults and learners grow together.
When leaders and teams embrace these values, schools become learning organizations in the truest sense – where adults and learners grow together.
Making the Shift to Mutual Learning
Moving from unilateral control to mutual learning doesn’t happen overnight. But school and system leaders can start with small, intentional shifts.
- Model transparency. Share the reasoning behind your decisions, even when incomplete. Invite others to test your assumptions.
- Ask before telling. Replace directives with inquiry. In meetings, ask questions like “What is your perspective on this?” and “What concerns do you see?”
- Normalize dissent. Encourage differing views as a way to deepen thinking and develop better solutions, rather than viewing dissent as resistance.
- Build shared accountability. Hold yourself to the same standards you set for others and acknowledge when your own actions may contribute to a problem.
- Integrate compassion. Recognize stress and constraints openly. For example, when introducing a new initiative, ask staff what support they need to make it manageable or what can be taken off their plates.
- Start small. Choose one process, such as shaping professional learning, drafting improvement goals, or reworking school schedules, to practice mutual learning principles.
A Call to Action
Shifting toward mutual learning as a leadership approach requires courage. It asks leaders to give up the illusion of certainty, embrace vulnerability, and trust their teams. But the payoff is worth it—higher trust, stronger collaboration, and more sustainable outcomes. Adopting this mindset is essential to navigating today’s challenges and building the schools our teachers and learners deserve.
Take a first step this month: identify one decision-making process you lead. Name the values you want to embody – transparency, curiosity, informed choice, accountability, compassion – and try leading differently. Notice the impact on your team’s trust, energy, and ownership.
In the end, leading schools and systems is not about control. It is about creating the conditions for learning, for learners, for teachers, and for ourselves.
References
Gallup. (2022, June 13). K-12 workers have highest burnout rate in U.S. https://news.gallup.com/poll/393500/workers-highest-burnout-rate.aspx
Liu, J., Qiang, F. & Kang, H. (2023). Distributed leadership, self-efficacy and wellbeing in schools: A study of relations among teachers in Shanghai. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(2023), 1-9. doi:10.1057/s41599-023-01696-w
O’Shea, C. (2021). Distributed leadership and innovative teaching practices. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 2(2021), 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedro.2021.100088
Schwarz, R. M. (2013). Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams: How You and Your Team Get Unstuck to Get Results. Jossey-Bass.
Yang, X., & Chang, Y.-C. (2024). The effects of perceived distributed leadership on teacher professional development among primary school teachers: The mediating role of teacher professional learning community. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 8(4), 163-177. doi: 10.33902/JPR.202429304
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