Admit what you don't know

As a leader, are you able to reveal your weaknesses in order to build a stronger workplace?

Leaders who insist on making all the decisions often find themselves with disengaged employees. If people aren't taking charge in your organization, your leadership style might be the problem. If you have an overly directive approach, take a step back. Acknowledge your failings (whether they be your knowledge base or a particular skill set) with your team. Share your personal and organizational goals. Then, admit that you don't have all the answers and you need your team's help in reaching those goals. This will give your people room to actively participate in the organization's success. This act of humility is often seen as courageous and inspires others to follow suit.

You can extend this idea to actually inviting some individuals to take on certain roles.  For example, if you're bad at remembering the social aspects of the workplace, ask for a couple of volunteers to take on this responsibility.  Another example might be asking for a volunteer or two to help identify what's missing from conversations at meetings.  Certain individuals could be asked to help the group identify perspectives that may be missed when your team gets together to work.  By engaging more staff with important workplace roles, you're sharing the responsibility of leading the school/organization.  You're building capacity, and you're ensuring the workplace is a healthy environment in which to work because responsibility is shared.


Adapted from "Fire, Snowball, Mask, Movie: How Leaders Spark and Sustain Change" by Peter Fuda and Richard Badham.

The Elephants in the Room

As a leader, do you name the elephants in the room and ensure they are dealt with?

Every school/organization has its own 'elephants in the room'.  There are always issues that hover beneath the surface that impede improvement efforts.  In a school, these may be issues related to why certain groups of students are not being successful, whether we truly believe that all students can learn given sufficient time and the right supports, whether consequences are punishments or are designed to restore relationships, why certain staff members appear to be privileged, and....the list goes on. 

The job of the leader is to summon up the courage to name these 'elephants' and then to provide a forum for these to be worked through.  Sound easy?  It may be if it's done superficially or if it's done from the stance of 'the boss'.  It's not so easy if you - as leader - truly want to address the issue at hand.  It's tough because it demands courage.  It demands comfort with uncertainty about how discussions will unfold.  And in particular, it demands skills in being able to facilitate a discussion so that all voices are heard and differing perspectives can be surfaced in a respectful manner.  This is the toughest part of all.  In fact, it is often seen as so difficult, leaders will sometimes let the 'elephants' remain in the room and not address them at all because the challenge of dealing with them is just too great.  However, as a leader, can you ethically let this happen?  You have been entrusted with the leading of a school/organization with confidence in your knowledge and skills to lead.  Dealing with challenging issues like the 'elephants' demands a lot of you but avoidance of issues sustains the status quo when improvement is possible if the challenges are faced. 

What can you - as a leader - do about this?  Dealing with difficult and complex issues requires confidence on your part as well as the skills of facilitation.  The confidence needs to be summoned up from inner strength.  The facilitation skills can be learned. 

If you don't face these 'elephants', true and important change can't happen.  The critical conversations won't take place.  Most significantly, those who rely on you - students, parents, staff - are being let down because they aren't being provided with the leadership that's needed.  It won't be easy the first time.  You might even fail.  However, choosing not to act should not be an option because it's a guarantee that nothing will change.

Inspired Leadership

Guest post by Jan Kielven...

Inspired Leadership

Let’s face it, nuggets on paper don’t inspire.  Board plans don’t inspire, neither do schools plans.  They are necessary.  They’re set up to be ‘information’ and they do that extremely well.   They speak to the left side of the brain.  It’s the “What”, not the “Why” of what we do. 

Plans identify the work to be done, often through numeric targets.  Words like ‘a 3% increase’ don’t inspire. In football, this is like the grinding ground game.  No ‘Hail Mary’ passes, no interceptions, no quarterback sacks.  It’s a game of inches and percentages.   In economic terms, it’s like fracking hydrocarbons.  No burst of thick glistening jets from a deep well gurgling excitedly to the surface.  No Ghawar fields.  It’s trying to get a little above breaking even.   ‘Fracking’ may well be the metaphor of our times. 

So, whose work is the inspiration?  We cannot succeed without it, without undue human cost.  One answer comes from Andrew Hargreaves in The Fourth Way.  He actually uses the word, ‘inspire’!  Rare.  Courageous.  He also identifies it as one of the roles of leadership.   He speaks of the need to trust leaders “…to become inspirational developers of their communities instead of mere managers of imposed targets and external initiatives.” (Hargreaves&Shirley, 2008)

Powerful leaders ‘own’ the Board Improvement Plan and the School Improvement Plan.  They have a strong commitment to it, and a passion for achieving its goals – not for the sake of numbers, but because those numbers represent real individuals in their care.  That conversion from data and targets  to individuals’ experiences of education happens when information is transformed into compassion, drive, and yes, inspiration. 

THE FOURTH WAY

 Andrew Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER 2008

Guest author:  Jan Kielven