Developing Connective Leadership (Successes with Thinking Maps®‪)‬

There have been over 20,000 books published about leadership. One has to appreciate the degree to which this topic of leadership has been researched, documented, and theorized. Such close attention and study perhaps pay tribute to the complexity and critical role of leadership in the growth of and change in organizations. A common finding or conclusion in all of these studies is that leadership makes a difference, and effective leadership has the potential to transform lives. Naturally, then, we want to know and understand how and why the practices of leadership have such a profound impact on people and organizations. With great respect for this vast field of research, we dared to further populate it with an investigation of how Thinking Maps® deepens the multi-dimensional aspects of leadership in schools. We have been inspired to do so by the compelling nature of the stories from people who had used Thinking Maps in their leadership practice, even, in some cases, before their use in this area had been formally articulated. As we heard and gathered these stories, it became evident that common five themes were emerging across different settings and diverse applications of this work. The five themes that are investigated and unveiled in unique ways in this book are each focused on significantly improved thinking with: Clarity, Efficiency, Collaboration, Empowerment, and Sustainability. After a summary of the Thinking Maps® model and professional development design, these overlapping areas are systematically analyzed in chapters focused on thinking across personal, interpersonal, collaborative/teams, school-wide, and systems growth. It became apparent, too, that while the emergent themes were not totally unfamiliar, new dimensions to these themes were being revealed through the use of Thinking Maps as visual, dynamic, transformative ways of communicating beyond conversations and written notes. For these reasons and more, we felt it was important to bring this work forward and invite others to consider the contributions this work might make to the field of educational change and school-improvement efforts.