Switching Cognitive Gears: School Leaders’ Cognitive Complexity

The role of school leaders is particularly complex in today’s “era of accountability,” which involves high standards for student achievement alongside frequently changing educational systems. Research in the business field has found leader’s cognitive complexity to be a predictor of leader and organizational effectiveness whereas the notion of school leader’s cognitive complexity remains undeveloped in the educational leadership and management field. Hence, the purpose of this article is to suggest a framework for school leaders’ cognitive complexity, as well as to suggest possible avenues for future conceptualization of, and research into this issue. Two empirical illustrations, based on the suggested framework for school leaders’ cognitive complexity, are described. This novel cognitive complexity framework may help school leaders develop processes, strategies, and structures that will enable them to react effectively in uncertain and dynamic environments.