Leading with Agency

Free resources from the ECIS Middle Leader Café · May 2026

In May 2026, over 100 educators from around the world joined two live sessions exploring what it actually looks like to lead in ways that build genuine ownership—not just compliance—in the people around us.

The recording is now on YouTube, open to everyone. And the two resources participants used during the session are here for you — free to use, adapt, and share with your own team.

Watch the recording on YouTube!

What the Session Covered

Middle leaders occupy one of the most complex positions in any school: expected to lead with influence rather than authority, to grow ownership in others while navigating decisions they didn't shape, and to hold teams together across competing priorities and pressures.

The session explored three shifts that matter most for that role—each one small enough to try on Monday, and specific enough to actually change something:

  • From the ladder to the web

  • From designing for to designing with

  • From control to trust

Your Free Resources

Personal Reflection Tool

A guided reflection that maps where agency is currently thriving or constrained in your leadership context. This guide includes prompts for each of the three shifts and space to name one concrete next step. Use it yourself or bring it to your team.

One-Page Reference Guide

The key ideas, language, and research from the session in one place, including a practical "try this" move for each shift that you can use immediately.

Download the Reflection Tool
Download the Reference Guide

  • "Today’s Brilliant Middle Leader Café with Tonya Gilchrist was one of those conversations that stay with you long after the session ends ... Our tiny shifts matter. The way we listen, invite voice, build ownership, and respond when things go wrong all shape the culture around us.

    —Krystle Perez

  • "Thank you, Tonya Gilchrist , for reminding us that leadership is not about position or control, it is about influence, relationships, trust, and the courage to make tiny shifts that create meaningful impact."

    —Farah Darazi

  • "The session was practical, reflective, and deeply relevant, especially the idea of moving teams from compliance to genuine ownership through small, doable actions. I walked away with meaningful tools, a stronger language for agency, and reflections I can immediately apply in my own leadership context."

    —Dipikaa Mistry

  • "Tonya reminded us that small moves matter. They shape the way meetings feel, how teams engage, and how people begin to see themselves as contributors rather than simply implementers."

    —Nancy Lhoest-Squicciarini

  • "One idea that stayed with me was this distinction between leading like a rung on a ladder versus leading like a node in a web ... The tiny shift Tonya invites is deceptively simple ... [It] changed something in how I thought about my own leadership this week."

    —Priya Kapoor

Want to go deeper?

The ideas in this session are drawn from The Little Book of Agency: Tiny Shifts That Transform How We Learn, Lead, and Grow—a practical, research-informed guide for educators and leaders who want real change without more noise.

Get the book!

Interested in bringing this work to your community or organization?

Let's talk!

Also free:

The Evidence-to-Action Framework—a simple, research-informed tool for turning what you see in student learning into what you do next.