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After interviewing more than 20 school leaders, we learned that thinking systemically is often easier said than done. School systems are so complex and expansive that it's often difficult for school leaders to be certain they are truly considering all the elements of the system when making changes to the system. It is a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. Becoming too involved in day-to-day activities can cause school leaders to lose sight of important trends or needed changes. As Heifetz and Laurie (1997) point out, leaders must be able to "view patterns in the environment as if they were on a balcony. It does them no good to be swept up in the field of action" and miss important, unfolding patterns of change (p. 125). One of the first requirements of "getting on the balcony" is distancing ego and personal perspective from what is happening in the field of action. A leader must strive to become an objective observer and then an interpreter. Getting on the balcony means seeing what is occurring rather than what one would like to occur. For some, the idea that the balcony rather than the field of action is the appropriate place creates dissonance. There is the expectation, especially of principals, that they belong in the trenches with teachers. But what is needed is a balance between being on the balcony and being on the field. As Heifetz and Laurie (1997) point out, the balcony view is especially important when the organization is facing what the authors call "adaptive challenges" (i.e., systemic problems with no ready answers): Without the capacity to move back and forth between the field of action and the balcony, to reflect day to day, moment to moment, on the many ways in which an organization's habits can sabotage adaptive work, a leader easily and unwittingly becomes a prisoner of the system. The dynamics of adaptive changes are far too complex to keep track of, let alone influence, if leaders stay only on the field of play. (pp. 125-126) Because the balcony offers a different perspective, it is also an ideal location for self-reflection. Heifetz (1994) argues, "to interpret events, a person who leads needs to understand his own way of processing and distorting what he hears. To sustain the stresses of leadership, he needs to know about his own biases to compensate for them" (p. 271). In practice, taking the balcony view may mean, as education writers Robert Garmston and Bruce Wellman (1998) explain, being neither focused exclusively on one's own perceptions nor on someone's else views but, rather, stepping back to consider the bigger picture: The balcony view is macrocentric. (With compassion or detachment, I understand the nature of the situation. Looking down at my interaction with the group, I gain the most knowledge - about me, about the group, and about our interactions - and I can make the most strategic decisions about my participation . . . ). This is the same skill that teachers employ when they "monitor and adjust" in their classrooms. (p. 32) Just as teachers "monitor and adjust" their classroom practices based on how students are performing, leaders must learn to "monitor and adjust" progress toward the vision based on what they see from the balcony.  Next: The View from the Balcony - School System Domains 1Heifetz, R. A., & Laurie, D. L. (1997). The work of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 75(1), 124-134.
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