This column is part of a continuing conversation with Ron Heifetz about the challenges of and strategies for being an effective leader in education. Heifetz, the founding director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University, is well known for his work on leadership issues.

Q: How can administrators keep their staff and themselves grounded in the midst of so many mandates and policy changes in education?
Ron Heifetz: Remaining "grounded" is a tall order. In truth, most people have moments when they're drowning, and other moments when their heads bob up above the waves. You go back and forth. The challenge is: How do you keep raising yourself above the water so you can breathe and rest for awhile? I think people need to give themselves permission to feel overwhelmed, and even to feel exasperated. They need to have a variety of mechanisms to maintain their buoyancy.

Q: What kind of mechanisms do you think people need?
Heifetz: The idea that you can lead alone is like being a lone warrior: it's heroic suicide. You need allies within the organization so that you're not by yourself, swimming against the currents; you need these other people who are representing the tough issues along with you. The value of the ally is that he or she can inform you about what teachers and other staff think about certain situationsdepending on the ally's position. Sometimes an ally can speak for staff, or even speak to them, and help bring them along in the process you're trying to promote. You also need confidants outside of your school or district who have no competing stakes. The confidant's primary interest is caring for you, rather than caring about your job. You need people like this, with whom you can spill out what's on your mind without having to manage informationor worry that you're going to pass across some information that might be inappropriate. Plus, to stay centered I think we all need sanctuariesplaces where we can hear ourselves think again.

Q: What are some types of sanctuaries that you believe work best for busy leaders?
Heifetz: Everybody's got to design his or her own sanctuarybe it a friend's kitchen table, a walk through the woods, a house of worship, or a meditation room. We need structures that we return to regularly and maintain. We can't treat these structures as if they were luxuries, expendable on a busy day. Because on those busy days, that's when that 20 minutes of prayer or meditation, or that half-hour coffee break with a friend is most essential. It's also important to know our own vulnerabilities, so we can create structures in our lives to save ourselves from our own self-destructive impulses. So we need structures, various types of partners, and sanctuaries to anchor usso that we're not swept away by our own sometimes panicky inclinations.