My blog from Houston, Texas. Updated most weeks, usually on Sundays.
On the last day of last term, the Admin Team here at Awty had a groundbreaking meeting. For many years, our Admin Team meetings have tended to focus primarily on procedural issues – “nuts and bolts” matters as they are sometimes called. These are important and necessary to keep the school functioning smoothly, but they seldom lead us into new directions or challenge us to delve into new ways of looking at old issues.
With the ongoing development of our new Strategic Vision, we have come to realize collectively that the Admin Team has an important role to play in developing strategic leadership. And if the Admin Team has a part to play in steering the direction of strategic change, its members need to be confident that they understand the pros and cons of possible alternative scenarios so that they can effectively articulate and explain whatever decisions are reached to the wider community.
We have therefore decided that the focus of every alternate Admin Team meeting will be a ‘big picture’ issue of strategic leadership. The first of these meetings looked in depth at the reasons Finland’s education system consistently out-performs every other educational system in the world. By viewing the film “The Finland Phenomenon”, we explored the principles of best practice underpinning Finland’s education system and looked at which parts of that best practice might also be applicable to improve Awty’s educational outcomes. This led to a wide-ranging discussion which provoked a variety of stimulating responses and follow-up questions - just as I had hoped. Our next strategic leadership meeting for the Admin Team later this month will focus on the philosophy and practice of the IB PYP (Primary Years Program).
From my perspective, developing strategic leadership as a deeply embedded factor that permeates the school’s entire culture is an essential factor in building sustainable change. To me, this is a profoundly important challenge that underlines the fundamentally important difference between leadership and management.
It was Ian Percy who commented “Managers count seeds in the apple, while leaders envision how many apples there are in one seed”. Another writer, Abraham Zaleznik, wrote: “Leaders have much more in common with artists, scientists, and other creative thinkers than they do with managers”. In both cases, I can put my hand to my heart and say ‘I wish I had said that!’
Another way of looking at this is to understand that the difference between leadership and management is the difference between shaping and controlling. Leaders yearn to create interdependencies, whereas managers create dependencies. Leaders seek to recreate the ways people frame their thoughts; managers seek to restructure organizations.
An expanded version of this thinking was provided in Warren Bennis’ 2011 book, “Learning to Lead (4th ed.)”. Bennis’ theory of leaders vs managers asserts the following:
•The manager administers; the leader innovates.
•The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
•The manager maintains; the leader develops.
•The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.
•The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
•The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
•The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
•The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
•The manager has his eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.
•The manager imitates; the leader originates.
•The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
•The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is her own person.
•The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Relating this to leadership in education, it is probably fair to say that Heads of schools have leadership positions which are among the most complex anywhere, and none more than those of us in international schools. We are expected, not unreasonably, to provide leadership by being committed contributors and exemplars. As I have articulated in other contexts, we are expected to have integrity, to be willing to speak out as individuals on behalf of others, whilst being a team member par excellence, fully conversant with precedents in the school while simultaneously being expected also to drive the school in new directions for changing times. We are expected – also rightly – to be interventionists, visible around the school, genuinely concerned about students in trouble, or lost, or weaker, or who simply need a listener, and yet we are loaded with mundane and routine tasks like signing hundreds of invoices and cheques each week that take us out of circulation. We are expected to be fearless in giving considered, balanced and thoroughly researched advice to the Board, respecting the confidentiality of deliberations on policy and about individual members of the school community, even though in being loyal to policy we run the risk of losing intimacy with our colleagues, especially when unpopular stands have to be taken. Nonetheless, it is a necessary and inevitable tension - it would surely be a mistake to court popularity and mistake it for respect.
Most authentic leadership, whether in schools or elsewhere, is covert and unassuming. It is to be found in the gentle word of encouragement, in the helping of another, the steering of a conversation, a suggestion, or some small service. These are tasks that every person in a school community can and should fulfill, meaning that everyone should find themselves in positions as leaders from time to time.
During my career in schools in four continents over three and a half decades, I have usually found that the most effective leaders are those in ANY positions whatsoever who guide, steer and direct others without them necessarily being aware of it. As the Chinese sage, Lao Tzu, wrote in the 6th Century BC: “A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim is fulfilled, they will say ‘We did this ourselves’”.
Thank you to Carrpediem Blogspot for the lead graphic of this week’s blog - http://carrpediem.blogspot.com/2012/03/leadership-philosophy-word-cloud.html
Building Strategic Leadership
Sunday, 6 January 2013