A pandemic of uncertainty: Leading together when we can’t see the future alone

Vachel Miller has a lifelong interest in international education and issues of pedagogical innovation, organizational change, and leadership. In this research note, Miller reflects on the role of certainty in educational planning, amid the challenges to certainty posed by the COVID pandemic. (DIPF/Orig.)

The pandemic enables us to reflect on our assumptions about certain ways that could enable more responsive, shared leadership for a future that is inherently, and increasingly, unpredictable.

In his essay Miller looks at the challenges posed by the COVID pandemic, focusing on the issue of security in educational planning. His auto-ethnographic considerations are based on scientific findings from organizational research as well as his own teaching observations. Over the past several months the COVID pandemic has undermined and thwarted efforts to plan for the future. The present literature review illustrates the opportunities given by the pandemic. The outcome shows that organizational leadership can become more relational, fluid, and responsive – rather than relying on assumptions of certainty. To additionally enhance this argument, subsequent researches could probe specific examples and case studies in which organizations have realigned their view in consideration of certainty, planning, and leadership.

leadership, educational planning, COVID-19, pandemic, uncertainty, future planning, educational institution.