Good to great is ultimately about leadership



A CRITIQUE ON DAVID WYNNE’S THOUGHTS ON GOOD TO GREAT

Introduction

A wise old man regularly tells me: “There is no substitute for experience”. While I don’t necessarily agree fully with him given the context is often on the golf course and I am losing money to him, my sense is that in this booklet of David Wynne, the axiom does hold water. David Wynne’s wealth of experience as an educator and a school Head combined with the wisdom of Jim Collins’ Good to Great makes for an interesting and enlightening read. There is much to be gained from spending some time with Wynne’s booklet.

Given the constraints of this brief, it would be naïve to believe I could cover all the pertinent facts covered by Wynne in the booklet. What I will attempt is to highlight what I believe to be key issues and ask some questions around them that will get us to think about how we do certain things in our schools

Leadership – the key issue

For me, Wynne’s thoughts on Good to Great are ultimately about leadership – values-driven leadership founded in universally accepted values intrinsically woven into all philosophies, religions and faiths. These are adequately summed up for me as a Christian in Jesus commands of “love your neighbor as you love yourself” and “to love one another as He has commanded us”.

Two questions come to mind with regards to leadership in schools. Firstly, what ‘style’ of leadership best suits the school environment? Secondly, in whom are we expecting to see that leadership.

The first question is answered by Wynne using Collins’ 5 levels of leadership, culminating in the Executive Level 5 leader, one who exhibits a “paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will”. I personally see tremendous synergy with the opinions of John C Maxwell and Steven R Covey on leadership.

John Maxwell highlights in his book The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader character traits great leaders should exhibit. I believe all fit in to the Level 5 leadership model of Collins, but the following are particularly relevant: Character, Generosity, Passion, Relationships and most significantly, Servanthood. (The full 21 qualities are attached as an addendum).

Steven Covey refers to greatness. He views greatness in people as an intimidating term to some and makes a distinction between primary and secondary greatness. Secondary greatness is about positions and possessions – what we are. Primary greatness is about who we are – attributes such as integrity, humility, treatment of others, initiative and motives. This is congruent with Level 5 servant leaders.

Why is this leadership so important? Covey encapsulates it in:

The reason primary greatness keeps coming to my mind is that I sincerely believe it is what business leaders, parents and educators are begging for in their employees, in their children and in their students. (page 10 – The leader in me)

Is this then not our hedgehog concept Wynne believes is so crucial to our schools?

Leadership – the hedgehog concept

Wynne argues (page 28) that schools find it difficult to apply the hedgehog concept because they feel they should be “all things to all men”. I disagree slightly in that in my experience, most schools are able to articulate a hedgehog concept. Furthermore, the schools that I know share a similar concept but express it in differing, but not contradictory ways. Guy Pearson, Rector of Michaelhouse, says that the hedgehog concept in his school is that each boy can find his niche or his intrinsic value in life and that it is celebrated. Implicit in that statement and in the ethos of the school is that each individual will do so to the benefit of those around them. Grace College in Hilton has as their Mission Statement “Direction for Life and Eternity” and adds on their website:

Our challenge at the school is to balance the needs of society with the development of a faith that will direct the path of each child as they mature into the world in which they live. We will continue to strive to send, into the world, Christian leaders who are Kingdom servants, willing to give of themselves for the joy and benefit of others as they journey on the path God has destined for them.

The St Albans mission statement:

It takes a school with vision to prepare a young man for life 

expresses a similar sentiment. If we read between the lines, does the mission statement mean to the people involved in the school:

“It takes a school with values-driven vision to inspire young men to aspire to primary greatness in life”?

The hedgehog concept in all of the above three examples is similar and identifiable as the need or desire to prepare or inspire young leaders to make a meaningful contribution to society.

Can then a school only have one level 5 leader? I think not – in the academic realm, even the new teacher can aspire to it in their classroom and, more significantly, in their example. What is each individual’s vision that drives their philosophy of education? I think the vision and philosophy of each department should centre around the school’s hedgehog concept and that their own concept should be a derivative of it. Very difficult I know when we as teachers, as Wynne highlights (page 11) tend to be unwilling to get out of our comfort zones and tend to jealously guard our territory in the school. External pressures and expectations from parents and alumni to keep things as they were add to these roadblocks.

Leadership must not only be taught and/or inferred in the classic leadership training scenarios for leadership roles within school. Yes, the training is imparting time-honoured principles the learners can carry through after school but we must ask the question if leadership training is in line with the vision of training people for life or to rather simply be a good prefect for example.

Leadership is the essence of Good to Great and is according to Wynne, the key. Can we make it part of our curriculum? Yes! It is easy in subjects such as History, English, Geography and Economics. In my matric Geography class I analyse the different styles of leadership in Pietermaritzburg in an urban studies section. We were able to compare the leadership styles of recently dismissed Exco members guilty of the misappropriation of resources to the leadership style needed in their replacements to bring the city back on to an even keel.

Wynne does make reference to The Council, a “watchdog” organization that can review and update the hedgehog concept. It has merit in the school environment but can only be successful in a wholly transparent and trusting environment that has overcome the roadblocks highlighted above.

Who is on the bus?

Another key issue Wynne highlights in his booklet is the question of staffing. Again, schools are different to businesses in this area but similarities are worth noting. Great company leaders surrounded themselves with great people. Similarly, as Wynne notes, staff selection is of massive significance. The analogy is simple - first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats–and then figure out where to drive it. The old adage “People are your most important asset” turns out to be wrong. People are not the most important asset. The right people are.

Staff must be introspective and ask themselves the hard question: am I in the right seat on the right bus? Am I happy where I am or am I merely hanging on? It is difficult to move teachers within the bus, let alone off the bus. In other words can a teacher on the bus answer a resounding YES to the question: Am I CALLED to teach? Guy Pearson looks for that in his staff. First and foremost he wants staff who see teaching as their vocation.

The hard questions need to be asked. Am I called to lead in my classroom? All teachers are leaders – we all should have vision to grow people. Or am I merely hanging on the bus? (that “calling” does not necessarily imply the Christian faith as most people aspire to some “higher authority”, moral conscience that drives their existence. It is then emotion or feeling) Are we on the bus, hanging on, wanting to be on or simply following the bus for the wrong reasons?

Wynne lists three practical disciplines for being pro-active with staff that bears repeating:

➢ When in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking

➢ When you know you need to make a people change, act

➢ Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.

What then about the wrong people on the bus? It is not easy in education in South Africa to move people off the bus. To a certain extent, teaching can still offer sheltered employment and not everyone in our schools or departments are self-motivated and self-disciplined. The style of leadership espoused here and expected in all teachers is not always evident. A major roadblock is the insularity teachers can display.

Its really about people – ‘For teaching is essentially about people and the ability to love them” (page 18) Do you have the right people in your school or department that are called to teach. Are you the right person for your department in the right season? This leads to the third key issue I believe Wynne addresses – confront the brutal facts.

Confront the Brutal Facts (yet never lose faith)

It is not easy to “confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be”. It is crucial that we create a climate within our schools that allows for rigorous debate. The stakeholders must be empowered to face the brutal facts and keep an unwavering faith that the hedgehog concept can be attained. Too often perhaps we focus on comparisons with other schools (or internally with other departments) rather than the hedgehog concept. As Wynne indicates, it is important to identify more what we need to stop doing rather than what we need to do. Stopping outdated and irrelevant practices will give the bus direction.

Again, given the insularity and perhaps insecurity, teachers can display, and the inertia schools possess, the executive leaders in schools will find this a major challenge. A hard question Departmental Heads at schools must ask themselves and their departments is whether or not the philosophy that drives them is in keeping with the hedgehog concept or in the interests of making their department the best. Is it results-driven vision or values-driven vision?

Concluding remarks

The right people matter. People who have the desire and passion to inspire young people to achieve primary greatness to the benefit of others are the people we need. To make good schools great, we need to consider other factors too, including the ability to add value. It is not only about the school-leaving certificate, but about the values added as well. “Exceptional schools prepare young people not only for this year's tests, but for all of life's tests”.

It begs the question: Are we preparing young people to meet the challenges of modern society beyond giving them a foot in the door of a tertiary institution? Are we truly trying to inspire leaders of integrity, humility, strong work ethic? Leaders of professional will and personal humility? Servant leaders? Leaders who aspire to primary greatness. This is education beyond the curriculum and more.

Finally, Wynne reminds us that it all takes time. He notes that there are many pressures that can cause the flywheel (the analogy of inertia and momentum) to slow down. Perhaps none more so than the expectation of parents for X number of distinctions in matric. Those are important but not the most important thing we do in our schools. We need to keep the focus on what matters and not on what clutters.

Michael Bownes May 2010 (Revised October 2010)

ADDENDUM

THE 21 INDISPENSIBLE QUALITIES OF A LEADER

John C Maxwell

1. CHARACTER: Be a piece of rock

2. CHARISMA: The first impression can seal the deal

3. COMMITMENT: It separates doers from dreamers

4. COMMUNICATION: Without it you travel alone

5. COMPETENCE: If you build it, they will come

6. COURAGE: One person with courage is a majority

7. DISCERNMENT: Put an end to unsolved mysteries

8. FOCUS: The sharper it is, the sharper you are

9. GENEROSITY: Your candle loses nothing when it lights another

10. INITIATIVE: You wont leave home without it

11. LISTENING: To connect with their hearts, use your ears

12. PASSION: Take this life and love it

13. POSITIVE ATTITUDE: If you believe you can, you can

14. PROBLEM SOLVING: You cant let your problems be a problem

15. RELATIONSHIPS: If you get along, they’ll go along

16. RESPONSIBILITY: If you won’t carry the ball, you cant lead the team

17. SECURITY: Competence never compensates for insecurity

18. SELF-DISCIPLINE: The first person you lead is you

19. SERVANTHOOD: To get ahead, put others first

20. TEACHABILITY: To keep leading, keep learning

21. VISION: You can only seize what you can see

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