Schools Need Leaders, Not AccountantsBy Rosabeth Moss Kanter,
rkanter@hbs.edu.Numbers, numbers, numbers. Is that what preoccupies public schools systems today - test scores, promotion percentages, dropout rates, and other performance statistics?
Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of measures, metrics, and feedback. I consider them among the essential tools for guiding organizations to ever higher levels of achievement. But as school systems work to comply with standards-based reforms, they are in danger of being taken over by accountants, not leaders.
That would miss an important part of what drives high performance: the people. Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics, became famous for his reliance on software programs and statistical analysis to manage performance on the baseball field. But he told me that he also devotes time to learning about his players' personal lives - talking to one about music, another about his college - and then mentions these interests to restore motivation when they struggle with the game. "Their self-esteem is part of the equation," he said.
Leaders give their people the confidence to work hard, to improve, to struggle through difficulties, knowing that they have the support to produce high achievements. Teachers must build the confidence of their students, school principals the confidence of their teachers, higher administrators the confidence of their principals. Leaders deliver confidence by espousing high standards in their messages, exemplifying these standards in the conduct they model, and establishing formal mechanisms to provide a structure for acting on those standards. Consider these examples from my research.
Espouse: the power of message.
Leaders articulate standards, values, and visions. They give pep talks. Their messages can incite to action when that is appropriate, or they can calm and soothe people to prevent them from panicking. Pep talks are empty without evidence, so let's call this "grounded optimism" - positive expectations based on specific facts that justify the optimism. In the strong cultures that develop in winning streaks, leaders' messages are internalized and echo throughout the system. One new school principal jumped in during the middle of the school year and introduced himself by crafting a new mission statement reflecting a set of values for how the school would run, which was then debated and reshaped by teacher groups who made it their own. It became a reminder of aspirations and a reference point for decisions.
Exemplify: the power of models. Leaders serve as role models, leading through the power of personal example. "I don't believe as a leader you can ever expect anybody to do things you are not willing to do yourself," said a successful coach of a professional sports team. The leaders I see in winning streaks and turnarounds try to embody the kinds of accountable, collaborative behavior they seek in others. Certainly the personal example of truth and reconciliation, inclusion, and empowerment set by Nelson Mandela, the first democratically-elected president of South Africa, reflects one of the most remarkable and admirable personal journeys of the twentieth century. In a different country and different way, Akin Ongor, CEO of Garanti Bank in Turkey, was an inspiring business role model with courage, and compassion - offering to resign when he discovered that the bank had lost $14 million due to a junior manager's mistake that control systems had not caught because he said he "shared the mistake," or mobilizing the bank's employees to help in the aftermath of an earthquake in Turkey.
Establish: the power of formal mechanisms. Leaders create processes, routines, and structures. They lead not just through person-to-person conversations, but also through formal structures and programs, the mechanics of organizations. A high school principal turned around the performance of a failing inner city school by setting up a variety of new structures and decision-making vehicles, including teacher teams that became planning groups for various areas - technology, after-school, college admissions, parent involvement. High-performing teams are not a force of nature; they are a product of professionalism embedded in organizational routines.
Coaches of successful college sports teams have many systematic ways to forge their players into victory machines that just keep winning -routines for practices, assessment tools and review sessions, leadership seminars, meeting schedules, a yearly calendar of activities including off-season events. Teams change composition each year, but structures and processes remain.
Call this the ME side of leadership - how to use yourself to support high performance in others, through the messages you espouse, the models you exemplify, and the mechanisms you establish.
For example:
Talk about mission and values, engage others in dialogue about high aspirations, and show your confidence that they can live up to them.
Use your own behavior to demonstrate values and standards in action. Model what you want others to do.
Develop new structures, schedules, ongoing processes, or roles for people, that will make success more likely, by removing barriers and opening opportunities. Leaders deliver confidence to make high performance possible. Accountants just keep score.
--Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds a chaired professorship at Harvard Business School. She is the author of 16 books, including her newest bestseller, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End, published by Crown. Find her frameworks for leadership in public education at
www.reinventingeducation.org. © Copyright 2005 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. All rights reserved.
Leadership for School Partnerships
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
© Copyright 2004 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, rkanter@hbs.edu.
Regardless of the preferred brand of curriculum or school improvement model, school leaders everywhere increasingly depend on partners outside the walls of the building and beyond the ranks of professional educators for resources vital to the performance of their schools.
I know that many leaders in financially-strapped schools salivate at the idea of business partners, because they envision a windfall of money, supplies, or warm bodies. But a donation is not a partnership, nor does a check by itself produce change that can raise students' achievement. So it's important to think about partnerships in creative ways and use them as catalysts to improve outcomes. Consider two of my favorite partnership opportunities.
Parents occupy spot #1 on any list of partners.
It's common wisdom that parent involvement makes a major difference in their children's achievement. Yet, for too long parents were kept at arms length, confined to occasional conferences or PTA meetings, as Harvard's Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot wrote in her book about the tensions between teachers and parents as they "competed" for "control" of the child. Luckily, that's changing, but connecting families to education and bringing the school home is still an area ripe for innovation.
Technology can now offer parents virtual access to their children's work, to teachers' notes, or to school assignments, through online innovations such as Learning Village. Numerous Parent Universities have been developed at schools to teach parents the same skills their kids are learning. Parents can also be resources; an elementary school principal in Memphis built a security force of Dads for drop-off and pickup times, which not only helped school safety but also ensured paternal involvement.
Community partners put the "public" back into public education.
A wide range of local organizations, including businesses, can offer opportunities for children's skill development through their own daily activities and often on their own premises, which in itself enlarges students' horizons. For example, Citizen Schools offers after-school apprenticeships for middle school students in a range of schools in about a dozen cities; these are led by a wide variety of adult experts and professionals law firms, architects, newspapers and more, while Citizen Schools' staff works with teachers to coordinate students' learning.
Museums and symphonies are increasingly extensions of the schools in their areas, opening their doors for visits or research and developing innovative curricula for use in the schools. The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, enjoys a close working relationship with the public schools; when teenagers vandalized the aquarium and killed several sharks in a petting tank, the partnership was invoked to turn the tragedy into a teachable moment through an essay contest widely publicized by the local newspaper and reverberating throughout numerous classrooms.
Tapping "collaborative advantage" takes leadership.
As exciting as partnerships can seem, they are not easy to manage - whether creative new alliances or traditional business partnerships that produce cash, athletic uniforms, or tutors. Learning to lead partnerships is essential for their success. Here's a starting point:
Remember that effective partnerships involve give and take - which doesn't mean "they give, we take." True mutuality means that each group's goals are met. It's important to thank as much about what one can give a partner as what they can do for you.
Reach out to learn about each other's organizations and cultures, to go beyond stereotypes and to avoid misunderstandings. This also ensures that relationships develop beyond superficial exchanges to reach their full potential - which makes them more satisfying to both partners and more likely to last.
" Take partners seriously and devote management time to communication, planning, and reporting. For example, the Shaw Middle School in Philadelphia dedicates a staff member to managing its many partnerships - including one with NASA, whose presence in the school makes inner city kids contemplate careers as engineers and astronauts.
Thinking about partnerships and discussing them with your team is valuable in and of itself.
Inviting current and potential partners to the school provides an occasion for sprucing up, like when the relatives come to visit. It can focus school and district leaders on an honest assessment of their strengths and weaknesses, in order to determine just what it is that they need from and can offer a partner. And it opens everyone's minds to new ideas and new possibilities. This exercise alone can trigger innovations with the potential to improve school performance.
-- Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ph.D., is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor at Harvard Business School and author of the new bestseller Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End, published by Crown (Random House) in September 2004. She has written 16 books in total, many of them award-winning bestsellers, and has received numerous national honors, including 21 honorary doctoral degrees and the Academy of Management's Distinguished Career Award, its highest honor. Her frameworks for leadership, innovation, and change, co-developed with Barry Stein, Ph.D., President of Goodmeasure Inc., are the basis for the RMK/IBM Reinventing Education Change Toolkit.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Change LeaderBy Rosabeth Moss Kanter,
rkanter@hbs.edu.We all prefer win-win situations. But when making big improvements in systems that are broken, leaders face tough, sometimes painful decisions. In the politicized world of public schools, they can find themselves pitted against entrenched interests.
Principals might have to tell long-time teachers that they're not doing the job against today's standards. They might have to remove their friends. If you're one of those leaders guiding sweeping reforms, you know that you have to do a great deal of this alone. You can - and should - surround yourself with supportive colleagues (at home, if not at work).
You can - and should - get the backing of bosses above you (top administrators, or if you are at the top, then the board or the public or the media). But ultimately, you are the one who has to face tough issues.
Turnarounds - raising performance of a declining school or system - are among those lonely situations. Those hailed as heroes when they arrive can become villains when they make unpopular (though necessary) decisions. So steel yourself. It doesn't make it easier if the situation isn't dire..
It would seem a lot easier to fix something that is just starting to crack, than to repair a system or a school so weak that it is on life support, on the verge of closing. But the opposite is often the case. Though it seems that problems can be easier to solve when the losing streak is not so long and the cycle of decline not too advanced, there also can be more resistance to the idea of significant change. The truly sick are desperate for any solution and too helpless to resist.
It is more permissible and a great deal easier at extremes of distress (though less humane) to slash, burn, destroy, cut, lay off and start over again. Under extreme distress, extreme measures can be taken; the truly obese get their jaws wired shut to prevent uncontrolled food intake, while the merely overweight must struggle through diets. But when there is no consensus that the underlying system needs to change, or that losses are anything other than bad breaks or a bad economy or poor communities and uninvolved parents, then turnaround leaders have a more difficult task.
"David Lee" knew that a case for change is hard when disaster is not imminent.. Perhaps that is why he felt so alone for the first year of his ultimately successful turnaround. He took over an organization with numerous unexamined problems that undermined performance.
But, like school principals and administrative division heads, he was in charge of only his piece and was not the supreme authority. And no one else seemed to think the place needed major change. Not his boss, who had brought him in without a mandate for change, and not the big boss several levels up. Certainly not the people in the organization, who were accustomed to being patted on the back and living a good life.
There were so many bad habits that he felt he needed to replace more than half of the administrators. His boss, sensitive to the difficulty and bad press of layoffs, told him he could replace only 10% of the people. Lee felt he had good reasons to get tough and clean house, so he went ahead and did what he could.
He closed an unnecessary program. He cut budgets for under-performing areas and eliminated some of the positions that were just fluff. He bargained hard with the union to get flexibility in scheduling. Now Lee felt he was unpopular with just about everyone.
Those moves were bold strokes, each commanded by a single decision of the boss. Each bold stroke cut expenses, certainly, but also ran the risk of further alienating employees or the public.
And getting good habits in place takes a lot longer than eliminating bad practices; it takes the long march of culture change in which many individuals change their behavior in order to head in the same direction. Once Lee cleaned out a top-heavy organization, he could empower talented people in lower ranks who had been stifled by the bureaucracy but who could now take on bigger tasks with greater self-confidence. Still, they had to develop confidence in each other, in order to work as a team.
Replacing workers' self-indulgent games with productivity targets and rewards for achievements would not be believed or show results immediately. Confidence could not be willed into existence fast. The noise from layoffs was so loud that, at first, it drowned out the message of empowerment he was also sending - that if people played to win, they would enjoy the rewards of success.
Lee was miserable for a year. He thought everyone hated him. They probably did. Gradually, allies surfaced who shared his strategic vision, often from the ranks of the newly promoted. Gradually his staff gained confidence in the system, because the methods they were learning through new training programs produced successes when applied on the job.
Finally, about 18 months after Lee arrived, morale jumped when results started to improve. In less than three years, performance was soaring at higher rates than for comparable organizations, and results were dramatic. Lee was successful in his turnaround, and later people who had been his worst critics became his admirers. So here's the happy ending for Lonely Leaders.
Success is a good way to attract friends. Once you gain a reputation as a courageous change leader, you will find yourself surrounded by people eager to work for you, admirers ready to copy your models, and supportive bosses who give you more opportunities for influence. You don't always have to be lonely to win the race. But you must be prepared to run parts of it alone.
--Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds a chaired professorship at Harvard Business School and is author or co-author of 16 books, including her latest bestseller, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End, recently published by Crown. Find her frameworks for leadership in public education, developed with Dr. Barry Stein of Goodmeasure Inc., at
www.reinventingeducation.org. © Copyright 2005 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. All rights reserved.
Successful Leaders Value Diverse Views
Valerie Woodruff, Secretary of Education, Delaware Department of Education
Education leaders occupy a unique position and must exercise the responsibility and authority that comes with the position wisely. There is no greater responsibility than leading a community toward a vision for teaching and learning that will ensure the success of all children. The challenge is in building strong consensus not just on the goal of raising student achievement but also on the methodology of meeting the goal and of measuring progress toward it. Bringing varying points of view together, listening carefully to those points of view, and weighing what actions to take are important steps.
Education is a people centered enterprise, and the people who are invested in education must be valued; however, the leader cannot satisfy all parties, nor should he or she try to do that. By trying to satisfy all, the leader satisfies no one and appears weak and indecisive. By taking action without consideration of the views of others, the leader is seen as autocratic and insensitive. A thoughtful leader will engage diverse views in a well-structured process that will allow all to be heard and will incorporate the best of all views before crafting a path forward. Once the path has been decided, the leader must remain focused on the goals to be achieved and not be distracted by unreasonable criticism or second-guessing.
Any leader who believes he or she can realize success without the support of others is foolish; therefore, communication that reaches not only policy makers but also opinion leaders, including parents and families must be a part of any plan. Clearly the seriousness of the work in which educators are engaged today and the importance of its ultimate success require a strong, well thought-out plan for presenting, explaining and gaining support within the education community and within the larger community as well. Communication cannot be one way; rather it must be an ongoing process of gathering facts and opinions, of assessing progress and making course adjustments. All of this must be accomplished without digressing from the ultimate goal and being led off course. The leader must clearly articulate that he or she is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the enterprise or any action taken by the organization, and that while the views of others are valued, those views will be considered within the context of the plan and degrees of freedom that can be exercised within the plan and still meet its goals.
Building consensus, setting a path forward, listening and adjusting as facts present themselves are just part of the scenario. A wise leader will also ensure that a strong team comprised of additional leaders is in place to take ownership of the plan and to move it forward. Team members must be capable of taking responsibility for various components and of acting in a self-directed, well-informed manner to bring all facets together. Exercising guidance and providing feedback without "over managing" are critical not only to realizing the desired outcomes but also to strengthen the organization and the individuals within the organization.
Choosing the team cannot be left to chance but must be a strategic part of understanding how an organization must work and what skills are needed to bring ultimate success. Bringing complementary and versatile individuals together to build a strong team whose members bring their own set of talents, knowledge and opinions to the organization is critical. The wise leader will choose those who will challenge respectfully, work collaboratively, and act professionally. Such a team brings diversity of thought and opinion that lends itself to building a stronger, more purposeful organization.
An organization so designed can withstand difficulties and challenges and be agile in making necessary adjustments. Continuing to build consensus both within the organization and between the organization and interested groups brings immeasurable strength and credibility to the decisions that are made and the actions that are taken. Additionally, it sends the message that leadership of the organization rests not only with the "head" of the organization but is also distributed among the other members of the team who are committed to the vision and goals of excellence that are integral to the realization of success. For educational organizations that success is defined as the improved achievement of all children.
Strategic Plan for Quality SchoolGoal 1: Ensure Success for Every Student
Board of Education Priorities:
Organize and optimize resources for improved academic results
Align rigorous curriculum, delivery of instruction, and assessment for continuous improvement of student achievement
Use student, staff, school, and system performance data to monitor and improve student achievement
The mission is to provide a high-quality, world-class education that ensures success for every student through excellence in teaching and learning. This mission requires that each student, and group of students be provided with access to rigorous curriculum and supported toward successful educational outcomes.
Ensuring success for every student sets the standard of expectation for the school system. The goal is, through systemic reform, to have each and every student achieve the standards of performance set for all students in our school system.
Milestones:
1. All students will achieve or exceed proficiency standards in mathematics, reading, and writing on local and state assessments.
2. All students will successfully complete algebra by the end of Grade 9 and geometry by the end of Grade 10.
3. All schools will increase participation and performance of all students taking the SAT.
4.All schools will eliminate the disproportionate suspension rate of African American and
Hispanic students.
5. All students will be educated in learning environments that are safe, drug free, and conducive
to learning.
6. All schools will meet or exceed the state’s graduation requirements.
7. All students will graduate prepared for post-secondary education or employment.
Goal 2: Provide an Effective Instructional Program
Board of Education Priorities
Align rigorous curriculum, delivery of instruction, and assessment for continuous improvement of student achievementDevelop, expand, and deliver a literacy-based pre-kindergarten to Grade 2 initiativeUse student, staff, school, and system performance data to monitor and improve student achievement
Providing a world-class education is dependent upon the creation and implementation of a
rigorous curriculum, an effective instructional delivery system, and a quality assessment program. A consistent, congruent continuum of curriculum, instruction and assessment is essential to student achievement. Through systemic programmatic reform in the school system the school has designed and developed an infrastructure for supporting student achievement.
Milestone:
1. All students acquire the essential skills in pre-kindergarten and knowledge to meet or exceed standards in reading and math by the end of Grade 2.
2. All schools will increase enrollment and performance of all students in gifted, Honors,
Advanced Placement, and other advanced programs.
3. MCPS will eliminate the disproportionate representation of African American students in
special education.
4. All schools will provide students with disabilities access to general education to the maximum
extent appropriate.
5. All schools will achieve or exceed local and state standards for attendance, promotion, and
dropout.
Goal 3: Strengthen Productive Partnerships for Education
Board of Education PrioritiesStrengthen family-school relationships and continue to expand civic, business, and community partnerships that support improved student achievementFoster and sustain systems that support and improve employee effectiveness, in partnership with the school employee organizations
The school is committed to building and maintaining strong relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, including, civic, business, and community groups in support of student achievement and employee excellence. Through the creation of dynamic relationships that advance the school’s mission to provide a high-quality, world-class education that ensures success for every student through excellence in teaching and learning, the school is the essential catalysis for a countywide commitment to education. By recognizing the critical role external stakeholders play in the school, and the role the school plays in the broader community there is an infrastructure for shared responsibility and accountability.
Milestone
1. The school community demonstrates shared responsibility for student success.
2. The school and members of the broader community demonstrate collaborate in the strategic planning and budget processes to identify and align resources and services in support of high-quality education.
3. The school and higher education institutions collaborate to provide a high-quality work force and to promote student success.
4. The school collaborates with and provides support to all segments of the community to promote student success.
Goal 4: Create a Positive Work Environment in a Self-renewing Organization
Board of Education Priorities
Organize and optimize resources for improved academic resultsUse student, staff, school, and system performance data to monitor and improve student achievementFoster and sustain systems that support and improve employee effectiveness, in partnership with the School employee organizations
For the teachers, principals, support staff, and senior and central office staff, the school is a place of business that must respond to the needs of its employees. A world class school system recruits and retains the best possible educators, administrators, and supporting personnel and equips them with the skills, technology, leadership, supervision, feedback and professional development opportunities they need to consistently perform at the highest level possible. It encourages staff achievements and promotes a positive work environment in partnership with its employee organizations.
Milestone
1. All employees will be provided with high-quality professional development opportunities to
promote individual and organizational effectiveness.
2. Systems are in place to recruit, support, and retain highly qualified and diverse professional
and support personnel.
3. Strategic plans exist and are aligned at all levels of the organization.
4. The work environment promotes employee well-being, satisfaction, and positive morale.
5. The school recognizes staff efforts and achievement in pursuit of system goals and related
priorities.
How does the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence support and correlate with research on effective schools?In their extensive research on characteristics of effective schools and studies of effective business practices,
Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker (1999) found remarkable consistency among principals from a number of nationally recognized schools and the leadership of outstanding companies. DuFour and Eaker offer the following nine observations; correlations with Baldrige practices are noted.
Characteristics of Effective Schools1. Excellent schools have a clear vision of what they are attempting to accomplish, what they trying to becomeBaldrige PracticesA school's vision and mission are examined as part of the culture and as the desired future state of the school.2. The day-to-day operation of an excellent school is guided by a few shared central values that define the behaviors and standards as key to a successful schoolCore Values/Best Practices are described as those embedded beliefs and behaviors found in the culture of a high-performing school.3. Excellent schools have principals who are effective instructional leaders, protectors of the vision and values of the school, and promoters of teacher empowerment.
Senior leaders are expected to set, deploy, and model the vision and values of the school and create an environment for staff empowerment and learning.5. The curriculum of an excellent school reflects the values of the school and provides a focus that helps teachers and students “stick to the knitting.”Teaching and learning are aligned with the school’s vision, mission, Core Values/Best Practices, expectations, and goals/objectives focused on results to demonstrate the school's effectiveness.
6. Excellent schools promote excellence in teachingA cornerstone of Baldrige is its focus on teaching and learning strategies that result in demonstrated “value-added” performance.
7. Excellent schools monitor what is important: curriculum, student achievement, and teaching.The monitoring processes are shared by the leadership system (staff, parents, students) and include monitoring of the school’s vision, mission, core values, results, education and training, staff, student, and other stakeholder levels of satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and process management.
8. Excellent schools celebrate the presence of their core values with ceremonies and rituals
The Baldrige Core Values/Best Practices are the guiding principles of a strong school culture. Although Baldrige does not specify ‘ceremonies and rituals,’ the importance of staff, student, and stakeholder levels of satisfaction/dissatisfaction and positive relationships assumes that schools would plan for celebrations or recognition for attaining results.
9. Excellent schools sustain their commitment to improvement through systematic self-renewal.(pp. 4-6)Continuous improvement is the cornerstone for achieving performance excellence, with a key requirement being the use of results to evaluate the school’s effectiveness and efficiency in meeting results.February 24, 2006 Maintained by
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