THE MORAL IMPERATIVE OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIPHow to Get There: The Individual and the System

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE SYSTEM

New Directions and New Contexts

System

Action

Individual

Action

THE INDIVIDUAL

Why should we do this

?

High

Relational Trus

t

School Improvement

SCHO

OL IM

PROVEM

ENT IN

ITIATIVES

Relational trust foments a moral imperative to take on the hard work of school improvement... Reform also requires teachers to take on extra work: for example, engaging with colleagues in planning, implementing, and evaluating school improvement initiatives. Similarly, reform asks teachers to confront conflict, as this commonly occurs in organizational change processes. A context characterized by high relational trust provides an answer. In the end, reform is simply the right thing to do. (p. 123)Bryk and Schneider (2002)

THE INDIVIDUAL: SCHOOL LEADERS

Take Action consistent with the

Moral Journey

Push for and be responsible to

System Opportunities to

Deepen and Extend Moral

Purpose

THE INDIVIDUAL

Types of Trust

Competence(Trust of Capability)

Contractual(Trust of Character)

Communications

(Trust of Disclosure)

THE INDIVIDUAL: COMPETENCE TRUST

•Respect people’s knowledge, skills, and abilities

•Respect people’s judgment

•Involve others and seek their input

•Help people learn skills

THE INDIVIDUAL: CONTRACTUAL TRUST

•Manage expectations

•Establish boundaries

•Delegate appropriately

•Encourage mutually serving intentions

•Honour agreements

•Be competent

THE INDIVIDUAL: COMMUNICATION TRUST

•Share information

•Tell the truth

•Admit mistakes

•Give and receive constructive feedback

•Maintaining confidentiality

•Speak with good purpose

THE INDIVIDUAL: MARTIN’S (2002) RESPONSIBILITY VIRUS

To win and not lose in any interaction

To always maintain control of the situation in hand

To avoid embarrassment of any kind

To stay rational throughout

The Choice Structuring Process

The Frame Experiment

The Responsibility Ladder

The Redefinition of Leadership and Followership

Fear of Failure Tools for Inoculating

THE INDIVIDUAL: THE CHOICE STRUCTURING PROCESS

The Choice Structuring Process provides seven steps for framing a problem, with at least two solutions and brainstorming about their strengths and weaknesses.

THE INDIVIDUAL: THE FRAME EXPERIMENT

The Frame Experiment aids leaders in changing the frame from the governing values (“I know the right answers; others are uninformed or ill-intentioned. How do I get others to see my way?”) to an Altered Frame (“I may not see or understand everything others may see or know what others know. How do we access our collective intelligence?”)

THE INDIVIDUAL: THE RESPONSIBILITY LADDER

The Responsibility Ladder is a seven-step procedure for avoiding the breading of over- or under-responsibility.

THE INDIVIDUAL: REDEFINING LEADERSHIP

Redefining Leadership involves going from splitting responsibility unilaterally to doing so through dialogue, making apportionment discussable and subjecting performance and results to public (not private) testing (transparency of performance).

THE INDIVIDUAL: RESPONSIBILITY VIRUS

Informed choice versus win, don’t lose

Internal commitment versus maintain control

Open testing versus avoid embarrassment

Be authentic versus staying rational

The Responsibility Virus guarantees failure. Fear of failure generates more failure, and so on. Martin (2002)

IND

IVIDUAL: LEAD

ERSHIP VIRTU

ES

“Instead of problem-solution paradigm, (leaders) relay on an act-learn-act-learn approach” and “craft a compromise by avoiding either/or thinking and looking for both/and outcomes” Badaracco (2002)

Restraint, modesty, and tenacity. Badaracco (2002)

A sacred heart – innocence, curiosity, and capacity. Heifetz and Linsky (2002)

Personal humility and intense professional will. Collins (2002)

THE SYSTEM

Factors Preventing the Change

Factionalism

Disillusionment

Cynicism

SYSTEM: DIMENSIONS OF CLIMATE Structure – Clarity and Organization of Roles Standards – The feeling of pressure to

improve performance Responsibility – Feeling encouraged to solve

problems on your own Recognition – Feelings of being appreciated

and rewarded for a job well done Support – Feelings of trust and mutual

support within the organization Commitment – Sense of pride on belonging

to the organization

SYSTEM: DIMENSIONS OF CLIMATEStringer’s Empirical Work

StructureStandardsResponsibilityRecognitionSupportCommitment

SYSTEM: TRAN

SFORM

ATION

System transformation, of the kind we are talking about, will take at least 10 years. Fullan (2003)

SYSTEM: STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS Reconceptualized the role of school

leadership. Recognize and work with the continuum of

development. Get school size right. Invest leaders developing leaders. Improve the teaching profession. Improve the capacity of the infrastructure.

SYSTEM: RECONCEPTUALIZE THE ROLE OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

The role of the principal is closer in conception to that of the chief operating officer. The role is identical to Jim Collins’s (2002) Level 5: Executive (builds enduring greatness)

SYSTEM: HARGREAVES INSTRUCTIONAL CONTINUUM

Transfer knowledge Imposed

requirements Results driven False certainty Standardize scripts Deference to

authority Intensive training Sects of

performance

Transform knowledge Shared inquiry Evidence informed Situated certainty Local solutions Joint responsibility Continuous learning Communities of

practice

Performance Training Sects

Professional Learning Communities

SYSTEM: SCHOOL SIZE Principals can more readily

develop morally driven cultures in these small schools, but they also need to interact across schools. High schools especially have to be downsized to 600 students or so.

SYSTEM: INVEST IN LEADERS DEVELOPING LEADERS

The best leaders have multilevel moral imperative, personal humility, and intense professional will; they avoid the responsibility virus and see their role as systematically developing leadership in others so that sustainability can be achieved.

SYSTEM: IMPROVING THE TEACHING PROFESSION

Two sets of policies:1. One that focuses on the

individual development and performance of teachers and administrator.

2. One that improves the working conditions of teachers (more time to work together, more support from professionals, etc.)

SYSTEM: STRENGTHENING THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Transforming the system involves strengthening the infrastructure for developing school leadership. Policies and programs a the local and state level aimed at developing leadership is crucial. Policy which provides frameworks for what is expected and performance-based requirements for career-long development.