The Santa Fe Leadership Center has a new website — same URL, new look. Check it out at www.santafelead.org. The new site includes our blog and we will no longer be posting here at Tumblr. Thanks, Tumblr!
Now you can read the SFLC blog and stay on top of all of the SFLC seminars and activities even easier.
- The Santa Fe Leadership Team
By Carla Silver
Whether you are starting a new leadership position at a school this fall or returning to one you have held for years, the first weeks of the year provide an opportunity to explore the dynamics of the teams and groups with which you work and the role you play in these groups. The word “role” in this case, is not synonymous with “job title” or “position.” Role refers not to the specific tasks you are charged with accomplishing or the details of your job description as outlined in the faculty handbook, but rather how you approach your work as perceived by your colleagues and team members as well as how you manage authority and set boundaries. What is the role you currently play and what is the role you want to play? If there is a disparity, how can you move closer to your ideal?
Take a moment to picture the team with which you work most closely and how that team works together. Now think for a minute about what you represent to that team and how you, and the authority you have as a team leader or member, impacts the work you do together. What strengths do you bring to that group? Are there times when you might actually detract from the work you do together, despite your best intentions?
Consider the following two cases.
1. Emily is the Assistant Head of School of a medium sized K-8. She is enthusiastic and passionate. Her faculty and staff appreciate how Emily provides them with an abundance of support. When they have an idea, she goes out of her way to be sure they can implement it, even if it means going to the arts and crafts store after school to pick up supplies or staying late into the evening to work on parts of the projects that teachers don’t have time to do. Her favorite expression is, “No problem!” Her attention to detail and her follow-through is immaculate. Recently she has been asked by her Head of School to implement an evaluation process of the faculty which includes classroom observations and meeting individually with each teacher to set goals. She hasn’t had the time to be as supportive of her teachers and they are showing their frustrations. One teacher actually said to her, “I just don’t know if I can do this project without your help. You don’t seem to have any time these days.”
2. John is the Dean of Students of a 6-12 school. He is affable, charismatic and liked by his colleagues and students. At faculty meetings and committee meetings he is known to show up 5-10 minutes late, but always with a completely reasonable excuse — meeting with a student, parent or teacher. Once in the meeting, however, he is actively engaged and offers suggestions and ideas, many of which are implemented. Lately he has noticed that several of his colleagues seem to be acting a bit distant towards him. At the last faculty meeting he even overheard someone mumble, “It was a terrific idea, but I said exactly the same thing five minutes before and nobody seemed to care until John said it.”
Both Emily and John are generous, well-meaning school leaders who have all of the best intentions to serve their school and colleagues, but both have blind spots that keep them from seeing the way their actions might detract from the success of their teams and how their roles impact their colleagues. Neither Emily or John do anything that overtly puts their jobs at risk or that would be called “bad leadership,” but they are simply not tuned into their teams’ needs nor do they sense what would make the groups function at the optimal level.
Emily, in her role as caretaker, lacks boundaries with her teachers and in turn has left them feeling incapacitated to implement their projects. As a superstar administrator, she has high expectations for her teachers and has gone well beyond her job description to help them reach those expectations. Unfortunately, she has been so over-involved that her teachers feel that they can’t be successful without her help. They have come to depend on her in a way that is impractical and unsustainable.
John’s case is more subtle and perhaps more complex. He has enjoyed the privilege of his authority, both formal and informal, and his charisma and personable nature. Like Emily, he is a hard worker, but he also lacks boundaries with students, teachers and parents, allowing them to encroach on time that belongs to his colleagues. When he shows up late for meetings, he sends an implicit message that his peers are not as important as his other constituents. Whether John knows it or not, the authority he carries in making all-school decisions may leave other colleagues feeling like they don’t have a voice. They might see him as hijacking the meetings rather than contributing positively to them. To use a sports analogy, he is a bit of a ball hog, always wanting to score the goal rather than setting up others with a great assist. Is he listening to his colleagues as they offer suggestions? Can he find ways to help other voices be heard?
These two cases are among countless examples of well-meaning and talented school leaders struggling to tune into the needs of their teams and reflect on the way their actions, behaviors, and boundaries can impact these groups. Fortunately, there is always the opportunity to be reflective and to ask the right questions about how your role in groups plays out in both positive and potentially damaging ways. Here are a few suggested questions you might ask yourself to start the reflection process.
This is more than just doing your job well, this is about creating the conditions so that everyone can reach his or her fullest potential.
by Mark Silver, PhD
Head of School, Hillbrook School, Los Gatos, CA
As I enter my second year of headship, I find myself once again re-reading and re-visiting two short articles that have served as bedrocks for my personal leadership philosophy and approach - “Entry: The Door to Effective Headship” by Al Adams and “School Burial Grounds” by Al Adams and Debbie Freed.(Click here to access these articles). I first read these articles more than a decade ago when I was entering a new role as a Middle School Head, and have revisited them again and again as I’ve moved first to a second position as Middle School Head and then, most recently, as I transitioned into my first headship.
While focused primarily on a person’s first year experience, both articles contain a wisdom that I believe remains relevant long into one’s tenure in a leadership role. Since first reading them, I have also read the texts which formed the basis for each article - Barry Jentz and Joan Wofford’s Entry and Edgar Schein’s Organizational Culture and Leadership - but find that these two, short articles resonate for me more powerfully in part because of their direct connection to the independent school experience. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that they also take significantly less time to read as I prepare to launch a new school year.
For me, both articles have provided a gentle road map that I could borrow as I sought to take up my leadership role at several different schools. They clearly identified at least two key themes that I needed to keep present in my mind as I joined a new community.
First and foremost, both articles stressed the importance of entering a community respectfully and without preconceptions. The key insight - listen authentically and deeply and fight the urge to make bold pronouncements or changes. I have been fortunate that I have not entered situations in which a school was in crisis or perceived crisis, affording me the opportunity to spend a significant part of my first six months simply meeting with people and listening to their feedback.
In each situation, I have received early “tips” about things that I should be sure to fix or change. In each case, I have discovered that my commitment to moving slowly and to listening to as many people as possible as kept me from making what could have been significant strategic blunders. While I had feared that some people would be frustrated by my lack of “leadership,” I quickly discovered that my methodical pace and commitment to understanding earned me significant support and respect. When I did eventually start to make some changes, I also found that people were quite responsive to the initiatives, as they trusted that I was not moving capriciously and that they also felt comfortable engaging me in conversation about the changes because they knew I would listen.
This does not mean that I won’t eventually face conflict - no meaningful change occurs without some degree of dislocation and resistance - but it did build me a level of political capital that should helped me to weather some of that resistance and, symbolically, sent a strong message about how I intend to lead change.
Closely related to the first insight is the importance of honoring, understanding, and unpacking a school’s history. Adams and Freed caution school leaders that ignoring - whether consciously or unconsciously - a school’s culture and history is done at their own peril. They stress that leadership is transitory and that while leaders certainly have an ability to impact a school’s culture, there are historical and cultural strands that, while not always immediately evident, significantly impact any change efforts.
They describe a historical time line activity that can help to surface salient trends and themes in the life of the school. With our school preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary this year, I took advantage of the opportunity to conduct a similar type of exercise last year with a group of current and former teachers, alumni, and alumni parents. The resulting graphic history hangs in a public space and has been the source of numerous conversations among different constituent groups.
More importantly, it surfaced several key themes I remain cognizant of as we implement a new strategic plan, including a longstanding tendency to ignore generational equity and a history marked by varying levels of trust. Historical throughlines do not readily disappear and typically reflect underlying values or issues in a culture that may not always be readily apparent on the surface. Schools are not, I should be quick to add, doomed to repeat the past or incapable of making changes, yet as leaders, we need to understand as much as we can about our history so it does not surprise us as we seek to create a new future.
Only one week into my second year, my entry is far from complete. Moreover, I have much to learn about my school’s history, something I am eagerly anticipating as we embark on a year’s worth of 75th anniversary activities.
In the end, perhaps the most important lesson I take from both of these articles is the need to be humble. Honoring the past reminds me that many generations of wise, committed, and talented people have come before me and have loved the school deeply and tried to make it the best school for children they could envision. Even as I discover things that need to be changed and improved, I recognize that our current situation was not created capriciously and that changes need to be made thoughtfully and respectfully. While I hope to be in this position for many years to come, my tenure is ultimately a transitory moment in the life of the school. I’ll consider myself a success if future generations look back and declare that I left the school at least as strong as I found it.
By Gary Gruber
Simon Sinek’s big idea of “Start With Why” appealed to me from the very first time I 
listened to it and saw him speak on one of the TED talks (Click here to watch and listen). So, starting off this new school year, I decided to use his notion of starting with why, and the two groups I tried it out on were, first of all, my leadership team before school began and then the entire faculty at the opening day of preparation for the year.
The first group, seven of us, gathered, and I combined Jim Loehr’s “Power of Story” with Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” as I believed one would indeed compliment the other. The three questions that informed our conversations were: 1) Why do you do what you do? 2) Why do you do this here in this place and not some other? 3) Why do you care so much about what you do (assuming you care!)?
In the first group,members of the leadership team had the time to reflect upon their own personal stories of how they became who they are and what kinds of influences have shaped them into the persons of today. This was a little different method of getting at why we are and who we are, but it was an effective way of starting with why and it proved to be a fairly powerful experience. It was indeed quite personal, and the mutual respect and regard that ensued has continued to help frame our continuing conversations each week as we meet together. I try to remember to include something of value for each person to contribute about “why” as we begin our weekly meetings rather than just launching into a laundry list of what’s happening and what needs to get done.
The second group, some 60+ teachers gathered around tables in groups of 6-8, and their conversations reflected upon the three questions above. Again, what followed seemed to be a shift in attitude and openness as people shared their closely held beliefs about what is important in their professional and sometimes personal commitments. As I walked around the room and listened in on the conversations and watched those involved in both talking and listening, it became apparent that this exercise had some meaning and value that might in fact have a lasting impact on the community in ways yet to be discovered.
Now into the third week of school, reports are that this was one of the best beginnings of school in recent memory. Why? I keep asking that question to those who tell me and of myself as well and one conclusion is that we began differently, with some focus and purpose intended to connect people with each other in ways that would encourage some additional dimensions of understanding and support. Numerous people reported that enthusiasm and energy seemed at a higher level and there was an atmosphere of positive attitudes, greater confidence and more cooperation. The challenge now is to sustain what we have begun and we will look for ways to do exactly that.
Patrick J. Roberts, Head of School
St. James Episcopal School, Corpus Christi, TX
During our recent time together in April my cohorts at the Santa Fe Leadership Center and I wrestled to define and to articulate the challenging concept of “leadership.” In our collaborative working sessions, I was incredibly impressed, a bit intimidated, and truly inspired by my talented colleagues and their astute observations. While I do not claim to offer a complete definition of leadership, I share with you a few thoughts, stolen from the great British author, Mr. Ro
bert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson offers lasting and practical wisdom for each of us, especially as we embark upon yet another exciting and always eventful new school year.
Accordingly, as I have asked my Middle School students over the years to add this “working” list of nine simple suggestions to their “Leadership Portfolio,” I hope that you will find these words to be helpful in your own approach to the incredibly meaningful work in which we are engaged. As educators, we have the unique opportunity and the important responsibility each day to impact our students in so many lasting ways. Oftentimes, in working so diligently to serve others, we often forget or choose not to take the steps so critical for our own health. Stevenson’s advice is so seemingly simple, yet so critical for us to heed, as we model the behavior expected within our own learning communities and set the all important tone at our own institutions.
Enjoy.
Advice from Robert Louis Stevenson:
During the coming year, I encourage each of you to find the humorous moments in each day that may be celebrated. I am constantly amazed by some of the truly hilarious things that happen in the course of the school day and I have yet to go through an entire day in my brief seventeen year career in which I have not had a good chuckle over something that occurred at school. Finding the time to engage in reckless physical activity is also so critical to our mental health and such moments often sustain us when the work load seems too great and with seemingly no end in sight. Whether it be a brisk jog in the park at dawn, a simple stroll in the neighborhood after dinner, or a pick up basketball game with fellow students and staff after school, the value of such activity will provide huge rewards.
Finally, I plan time each day for prayer, meditation and for reading. While it can be quite difficult sometimes to juggle the always challenging daily schedule, I always am grateful for the “quiet” moments of the day, and, for me, the early morning hours before school opens provide for such solitude. For each one of us, the power of reflection and the planned moment for creative thinking cannot be underestimated or overlooked.
Thank you, once again, to all of the good folks who participated in our April session of the Santa Fe Leadership Center, for offering me the opportunity to be with you in the “leadership classroom” and for broadening my own horizons in our work together. I wish each of you a most prosperous, enjoyable and exciting school year.
by Gary Gruber
I have just accepted my 4th interim assignment and upon receiving this news, one of my esteemed colleagues wrote: “I am glad you’re going to do it, but why would you want to work that hard?” I wrote back and said, “When you love what you’re doing, it’s not hard, it’s a joy.” My first interim headship was back in 1993 at The Hun School in Princeton, the second at The Harrisburg Academy in Pennsylvania and the third at The American School in London for two years, rather recently. I will tell you about the 4th in a few moments.
For the past eleven years I have also served as a senior consultant with Carney Sandoe & Associates doing mostly searches for heads of schools across the United States and so I have had the privilege and benefit of seeing many schools in operation. I have also enjoyed a great group of colleagues, many of whom are former heads of schools, some from the corporate world of search and consulting and it is very rewarding work. The hourly rate isn’t great but few of us do this work for the paycheck.
Interim work is by its very nature, short term and, as the word suggests, it’s the time between one period or process and another. I was always grateful when I was doing a search and there was an interim head in place either whom I knew or who had a successful track record as either a head of school or even a previous interim. Those folks brought a sense of stability and calm to the school and I would certainly hope that I have been able to do the same in my work. For many people, significant change is difficult and hard to embrace but an interim can facilitate that change of leadership by paying attention to what was in place previously and what needs there are that will greet the new head of school.
What I said to my leadership team most recently is that I wanted to focus on the three C’s of effective leadership - collaboration, coordination and communication. Not exactly rocket science for those of us who have been at it for over 40 years. However, getting almost everyone on the proverbial same page with a common understanding of mission, vision and values, a commitment to make decisions based on those characteristics of a school, and to lay aside personal agendas, that is the hard part. But worthwhile, in my estimation.
I tend to ask lots of questions: Why are you doing it this way? Are you getting the results that you want? How was your last evaluation and assessment and what did you learn from it? What do you see as the most pressing needs of the school? What are you celebrating in the way of teacher and student achievements? What kinds of professional development experiences have been the most meaningful and productive?
In 1994 I was recruited to Albuquerque, New Mexico to start a new school along with a few parents who had a vision and a lot of enthusiasm. That vision became a mission which became a reality and the Bosque School opened it doors in 1995 and is now a thriving learning community of some 545 students and 100 adults nestled in the bosque close to the Rio Grande.
(http://www.bosqueschool.org) I left the school in good hands in 1998 as plans were unfolding to move to a new campus. For the past twelve years I have worked as a consultant with all kinds of schools, mostly in the arena of executive search and recruiting. When the invitation came to consider serving as the Interim Head at Bosque, it was easy to respond with deep and genuine affection for the school and all it has become. As I begin yet another academic year, it is with the same excitement and enthusiasm as the first time around although I hope with a little more wisdom and experience than when I first became a head of school in 1985.
This is not simply another interim appointment but an opportunity to continue learning and growing, to help others in the same pursuit and to be part of a school family that holds a special place in my life and career. I am honored, privileged, grateful and humbled by it all.
At the annual meeting of the California Association of Independent Schools in
June, I found myself with a lively dinner companion and conversationalist, Rick Ackerly. In my years working in Bay Area schools, I had heard about Rick and followed his career as a school head of St. Paul’s in Oakland and The Children’s Day School in San Francisco. It was a fortuitous meeting; I made a new friend and colleague, recruited a first-rate keynote speaker for the November Leadership Seminar and discovered that Rick is the author of a new book, The Genius in Children: Bringing out the best in your child. What follows is a review of this important book.
Don’t let the word “genius” in the title mislead you. Ackerly’s book is not about children with “extraordinary intellectual power” - the definition you might find in the dictionary. He does not suggest that all children are geniuses. Instead, Rick returns to a lesser used definition of genius: “the tutelary spirit of a person, place or institution.” He makes the case that each child has a genius, a spirit, spark, or as Rick call it, “a unique me that is becoming.” By nurturing that genius, we can help children to “maximize their potential academically, socially, physically, and personally.”
Reading Ackerly’s book resembles a conversation with the author himself. The Genius in Children is full of engaging personal stories from Ackerly’s forty-plus years as a teacher, principal, and parent of young children and young adults. Each of these stories illuminates the underlying values of the book which include personal responsibility and accountability, self-discipline, perseverance, and resilience. His primary message is that parents and teachers who display these characteristics and provide children with an environment that offers space for self-discovery will end up with adult children who are also responsible, disciplined, resilient, self-reliant, and who know their own genius.
RIck Ackerly is in the same camp as Wendy Mogul, author of Blessings of a Skinned Knee, and “Free Range Kids” blogger Lenore Skenazy in his belief that children need to be allowed to take risks, make mistakes, chart their own paths, and self-advocate without the constant intervention of well-meaning but meddlesome adults. In addition, he provides clarity on how parents and teachers can divide and conquer rather than duplicate the roles they play in kids lives. Parents should be parents. Teacher should be teachers. Children should be children with their own authority. Rick adamantly tells the adults to “play position.”
The Genius in Children deserves to be on schools’ recommended reading lists for parents and teachers not because Ackerly shares groundbreaking new insights on children, but because his book is filled with common sense, experience and a deep understanding of the relationships between adults and children. In a world of increasingly anxious, hovering parents, this book reminds readers to back off, give children some space and authority to make their own decisions, to fail, make mistakes, to succeed on their own, and discover their genius.
What about the members of the administrative team? Yes, this is a read for them as well. This book is as much about leadership as anything else. Knowing when to act, when to speak, or when to do nothing at all - these are essential skills for all leaders. Having the self-discipline and insight to know when to take action or when to not engage - these are challenges for parents, teachers or leaders of any sort. But skilled leaders balance this tension.
This week at a birthday party, all of the messages of Ackerly’s book played out before my very eyes. I watched as my son’s school classmate clocked my child, hard, in the head. I didn’t see what had transpired before the punch, but my son is no angel, so I assumed there had been some provocation. My son came charging towards me crying. The parent of the other child rushed towards us, dragging his son behind him. “Apologize!” he demanded. There was a part of me that wanted to hear the child apologize, but another part of me that wanted to see what would happen if I “played position” and let the kids work it out - gave them the authority to decide what happened next. I poured them each a cup of lemonade and said, “It seems like you two have been making some bad choices with your bodies. Can you work it out?” They each whimpered, took the lemonade and nodded reluctantly. By the time the lemonade had reached their lips, they were back to playing as if nothing had happened. It might not have been the resolution that most parents would have liked to see, one that included “talking it out” or exchanging apologies or “learning lessons,” but it was the resolution that made sense to them. They were over the argument without needing to exchange messages, hug, accept blame or follow the decorum that adults might impose on them. It was one of many “Rick Ackerly” moments I hope to have as a parent and educator.
Click here to read Rick Ackerly’s blog. We are thrilled that Rick will be joining the SFLC at the November Seminar as our keynote speaker and guest faculty.
By Gary Gruber
Several times a year, I get a phone call from someone that goes like this:
C: “Hi, Gary, this is (_name_) and we talked some time ago about a search you were doing for a school in (name a place). At the time I wasn’t interested, partly because I had just started a new job but lately I’ve been thinking about what might be next.”
G: “That’s how it usually starts, the thought comes up either because it’s that time in your life or you may want to move to a bigger challenge or some other reason. What brought it up for you?”
C:“Well, for me, I’ve been here for 9 years and I could keep on going and doing what I’m doing. They are going to offer me a five year contract but I’m not sure that I want to sign on for another five years.”
G:“And what makes you not sure?”
C:“I think I am ready for something bigger but I don’t want to upset people here by telling them I am looking around. So what do I do next?”
G:“Have you seen something that piqued your interest?”
C:“Actually, yes and when I came home the other day and asked the kids where Mom was, they said they didn’t know and hadn’t seen her all day. I thought that was rather strange and found her in the bedroom with her laptop where she had been all day researching a school and the place where it is and she said, ‘I am ready to move.”
G:“That’s rather funny but I understand. You must have mentioned the school to her and she picked up the ball and ran with it.
C: “Well, it made me think I ought to do something that would also benefit my family as well as myself and maybe we’ve been here long enough, that I did what needs to be done and it’s time to move on.”
G: “Regardless of the reasons, most of which are usually valid, we can talk about how you might want to proceed and timing is important because it often takes awhile to find the right, best fit. Let’s go back to your not wanting to upset people. It’s obvious they like you and vice-versa but most people will understand why you might like to take a step forward in your career, nothing untoward in that. How and when you tell them is what is important. How’s your relationship with your Board chair?”
C:”We have a great relationship, good friends as well as colleagues and my vice-chair is similar, no problems with either of them, and we get along just fine”
G:”Then I would suggest you take the Board chair into your confidence and let him know your thoughts, that you would like to explore some possibilities for the future but that you’re not intending to leave immediately. One step at a time. That conversation will be very important.”
C: “I think he’ll be cool about it and maybe not even surprised and I did think that I should probably tell him so that we’re on solid ground as we go forward. If you have any other suggestions or advice, I would be most grateful.”
G: “We can explore the possibilities, take a look at those things that are important to you and to your family too, and see how we might be of help as you start down this road.
C: “Thanks. It’s good to have someone like you who has a lot of experience with this stuff and I appreciate your willingness to help get me started down the right road.”
G: “Or get started down the road in the right, best way!”
C: “Yes, that may be even more important. I look forward to talking again soon.”
G: “No problem. Give me a call whenever you’re ready and we can explore the options, the possibilities and how best to proceed.”
C: “OK, will do, thanks again, talk to you soon.”
Greg Papay, FAIA, Lake/Flato Architects
(Greg Papay was our keynote speaker at the April Santa Fe Seminar. 
His contribution below is based on his remarks. Greg is a partner with Lake/Flato Architects in San Antonio, TX and has been the lead architect on a number of building projects at schools including Francis Parker School in San Diego, CA and Cranbrook School in MI).
One of the 20th century’s great architects, Louis Kahn, once remarked about distinguished architectural works, “Architecture begins in the immeasurable, proceeds through the measurable, and then returns to the immeasurable.” He was describing how great architecture begins in the design process with the intuitive and the artful, evolves during the drawing and construction phases with the scientific and demonstrable, and returns to impact its constituents in emotional ways.
If we abstract that concept to leadership we can say that an act of leadership starts as an passion in the soul, achieves some realization through the mind, and returns as a transcendent feeling in the heart. So leaders then must be creators, enablers, and perpetuators if they are to imagine, inspire, and continue in a purposeful way. So let’s establish three postulates and take a quick look at each:
Leadership is a creative act.
Leadership is an enabling act.
Leadership is a perpetuating act.
Leadership is a Creative Act
Leadership requires vision, foresight, and the creative ability to imagine positive future outcomes and design ways to get there. Leaders must envision the final product and also the process by which to achieve it. That creativity requires courage, as leaders are frequently heading in an imagined direction but along an unformed path.
We certainly would all love Apple’s, Mercedes’, Ritz Carlton’s, or even Stanford’s resources to prototype processes or products before implementing them, but the reality is the vast majority of us are not afforded that opportunity. We must use mental prototyping, which is a fancy way for saying we must use creativity to propose steps and solutions. Luckily, if we think of leadership as a creative act, one that requires design, it implies there is no single correct process or outcome but there are many possible paths and desired solutions. As leaders then, as a necessity, we must use our creativity to frame or reframe issues, see strength where others see deficiency, and maximize the impact of the resources we have.
So leadership requires creativity because it asks us to feel, imagine, and envision long before we can substantiate with results.
Leadership is an Enabling Act
William Ward once wrote of teachers, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” We can think of leadership the same way and if we aggregate those thoughts we can say that leaders enable.
To enable someone requires an understanding of purpose, both the purpose of a particular project and the driving purpose of an individual. Daniel Pink has recently addressed purpose as one of the main motivators for individuals, together with mastery and autonomy (I’d like to say autonomy in some situations, interdependence in many more.) With these dual purposes understood a leader can piece together the resources necessary to enable someone to achieve goals and satisfy purposes.
Sometimes enabling requires the approach of inspiring and mentoring, which are abstract concepts that establish broad, philosophical understandings. Others times it takes the shape of demonstrating and explaining and is thus more didactic. But in all situations it requires time and caring for the individual and the cause. So leaders must be natural givers, people who derive joy simply from giving of themselves, from the treasury of their heart, mind, and time.
Leadership is a Perpetuating Act
When Lake|Flato won the American Institute of Architects Firm Award in 2004, we were tasked to address a crowd of over 1,000 at the awards banquet in National Building Museum in Washington DC. Our founding partners spoke eloquently about our clients, our work, and thanked many who had enabled our success. However the part I remember most vividly was when they said that greater than any structure we had built was the firm we had created together, and how they hoped that it would live on beyond their time in our office.
Leaders seek to perpetuate leadership. They see its impact, know its value, and understand that there is greater satisfaction to be part of its continuum than to exist in isolation. This requires a certain relentlessness on the part of leaders as there are typically many forces aligned to pull opposite. And it requires an attitude of stewardship - leaders caretake leadership and pass it to ensuing generations in greater health than how they inherited it.
Conclusion
Carla, Gary, and Tim’s work with the Santa Fe Leadership Center creates wonderful groups of opportunity. Those who have attended - and will attend - the Santa Fe Leadership Center have such ability to exhibit and enable leadership as their gift in return. We can all have ‘The Touch of the Master’s Hand’(1) in our everyday lives if we imagine ourselves as creators, enablers, and perpetuators of leadership.
(1) ‘The Touch of the Master’s Hand’ is a wonderful poem by Myra Brooks Welch.
by Timothy R. McIntire
“Endowment.” Those in schools who have it are taller, stronger, and handsomer than the rest of us; those who don’t are fraught with not-so-secret envy.
But hold on:
By Gary Gruber
I served as the Interim High School Principal of The American School in London for two years, 2007-09. The head of school offered the notion in one of our regular weekly administrative team meetings that it might be beneficial for all 8 of us to gather for a couple of days off campus before school started the following year. Our group was called Senior Admin.
The main purpose of the retreat would be to have the time and opportunity to look at the year ahead and see how we all might work together to accomplish our common goals and individual goals for the year ahead as well as review how we had performed the past year. We also wanted to learn how to support each other in our respective roles as heads of administrative divisions and departments that were responsible for making the school a place that educated 1350 children, Pre-K through Grade 12 and provided them and their families with the myriad of opportunities expected from one of the top international schools made up mostly of American ex-patriates.
Having been through numerous of these administrative retreats in my forty plus years of prior experience and having even led a few of them as either a head of school or as a consultant, I must confess to a slight feeling of, “Oh no, here we go again!” kind of response. I then caught myself and a less than 100% positive attitude, so I reorganized my thoughts and said instead, “What can I do to make a contribution and help make this experience as good as it can be?”
We agreed that one of my offerings would be to administer the DISC personality profile for all of us to see how we compared one to another and what we could learn about each other that would help us to a greater level of understanding and appreciation for our different styles, preferences and behaviors. As we revealed our results and shared this information, similar to the MMPI, Meyers-Briggs and other psychological measures, the reasons for the ways we responded in our regular meetings were much easier to understand. In fact we gained new perspectives on ourselves and our colleagues. We received greater insight into why we respond the way we do and why others, whose preferences may be different, have much to contribute because they do see things differently. Collegial support can be increased dramatically with this kind of understanding.
While this exercise was but one small part of the two day retreat, the other parts were equally valuable, including the establishing of some priorities for the year, both school wide and individually, resolving the ever present issue of schedules and calendars, and setting the course for our weekly meetings and how those might be improved. Even the fun parts of playing a few games led mostly by the head of school, who is a big fan of various forms of charades, gave us the chance to both compete with each other as well as work together as teams. We shared informal times together around meals, had some time outdoors to relax and enjoy the surroundings and so on, but the real value was gaining new dimensions of knowing my colleagues in ways that proved to be more productive the following year. It was easier to communicate with one another and to do so more frequently around issues of common concern. I also felt that I received an increased level of support coming my way as well.
Upon reflection, I believe it was important that we set the agenda ahead of time, that each of us had input into building it and that the head was clearly the leader although she shared those responsibilities with each of us throughout the retreat. Other such gatherings have employed an outside facilitator for at least part of the time and the feedback from that professional added value to the overall experience as well.
By Carla Silver
Summer is finally here. Final grades and progress reports are in the mail (or posted online) so that students can read all about how they did this year, how much they learned, and how hard they worked. They will read comments from their teachers who are evaluating their critical thinking skills, their study habits, their effort, and their passion for the subject. In most cases, they will be assigned a grade that reflects some or all of these criteria. But what about you? How did you do this year? More specifically, how did you lead this year?
If you have just completed a year-end performance assessment with your board or your direct supervisor, you might have already evaluated your work and how you performed the specific roles of your job this year. But here is an opportunity to reflect on your leadership. How did you manage change, conflict, and adaptive challenges? How did you solve problems? How did you serve your constituents? How did you grow personally and professionally?
The following “rubric” is by no means comprehensive nor is it completely objective, but rather it is meant as a reflection tool. You might want to add to it or change it to suit some of your personal goals. But take a few minutes to answer the questions. Give yourself the letter grade you think you deserve in each category. Go find a colleague or partner or friend with whom you can share your report card over a leisurely cup of coffee or lunch and then give that person an opportunity to share his or her grades with you. This kind of professional development can’t be done often enough. It is authentic and it is meaningful.
Personal History, Mission, and Vision
by Gary Gruber
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
The venerable practices of strategic and long range planning have been used for a long time, filled with good intentions and often not-so-good outcomes. There are those who have suggested shifting the focus from planning to visioning and that is certainly a helpful step. The NAIS Strategic Visioning/Planning Process is one such example and Hugh Mallon’s Strategic Issues Facing Independent Schools 2007 and Beyond - The Ultimate Balancing Act or the New Paradigm, is another. The Biblical proverb has it spot on, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” And you can see the SFLC contribution right here on our web site.
I would like to comment on the meaning and function of design strategies in order to have a clearer vision. We cannot simply look ahead without knowing what direction we’re going and why. Let’s break it down. First, the notion of design implies a process of figuring out what something should look like, whether a plan, a blueprint or a building, and just how it might function to serve the needs of the user.
Think about designing a trip or a building. You need a map (or a GPS) or a blueprint that tells you where you start, what the requirements and specifications are, the materials needed, and eventually what the expected outcome is going to be. The strategies involved in this process are what will get you to where you want to be.
Strategy is a word that requires some definitive understanding. Strategy suggests an agreement on goals and objectives that have been or will be established as well as a means for achieving them. Consider strategic warfare and the enormous expenditures of both money and human capital that have been spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many strategies were based on inaccurate, incomplete, or culturally insensitive information. The goals and objectives may have been laudable but the means for achieving them simply did not work. In other words, the design may seem sound but the function of the design must also work and if it doesn’t then it’s obvious that the design itself is flawed in serving its purpose.
At one time there was a Strategic Air Command populated mostly by large aircraft and missiles capable of certain functions. But that wasn’t sufficient so there was also a Tactical Air Command that had greater mobility and flexibility to do other jobs. Both of these were replaced in 1992 with Air Mobility Command and the Air Combat Command partly because technology had advanced and demanded a different kind of response.
As times and conditions change, different designs and applications are needed for people not only to survive but also to achieve a measure of their best work for both the present and the future. We live in a world looking for solutions in every area of human endeavor, thus effective planning provides a road map or a blueprint that can help design a better tomorrow.
It’s all about how design supports the work to be done: Where there is vision, the people flourish!
by Timothy R. McIntire
“Moral” means to make something better and not debase it. Whether you have a role in hiring or are ultimately responsible for it, the consequences of your managing the processes that deliver the person new to your school are great: the stakes are high; the rewards, immense; the dangers, many.
School leaders worry appropriately about attracting professional staff who can perform at a level of excellence in very stable communities over a long period of time with little formative evaluation. While tools for hiring gathered from workshops, education, experience, or tradition are many, the only effective ones are based in building relationships with candidates. To do so, you need to know who you are as a school community and come to know persons who seem appropriate for the position and build your mutual relationships.
Of course, herein lie many rubs. One is that we know our school and its people too well and we are prone to practice balancing deficiencies elsewhere with new people. Another is that we are blind to the realities of our school - often confusing our ideals with the real — and we march our new colleague into an ambush that often kills and nearly always wounds.
One key is a keen understanding of Mission. In hiring, it has two flavors: School Mission and Personal Mission. When both of these are high, you have a new colleague who is a Leader. When one is low, you have either a Cheerleader or an Agenda Setter. With the former, you won’t have transformational excellence; with the latter you will slap your forehead everyday and cry, “How could I have been so stupid?”
In the process of building your relationships for the purposes of hiring, questions that encourage a candidate to reveal what Deepak Chopra calls a “soul map” are extremely helpful. For example, how would you answer these questions and what would it tell an interviewer about you?
Another guru, Peter Drucker, teaches us to listen and to recognize that managing knowledge workers successfully comes up to us as the chief school leader. Invite your new colleague to write you a management letter that articulates goals, states what is essential to do the work, and keeps unneeded, well-intentioned intrusions to a minimum. Make time to listen. Respond. And make your school better in each person you hire.
Hiring is a moral act.
By Gary Gruber
Schools exercise a variety of calendars but even those that are on two, relatively even 15-week semesters have something akin to Spring Term. Those schools that have quarters or trimesters make it easier to have a legitimate calendar-related Spring Term, but in the minds of most teachers and students, the calendar, other than for exams, grades, and reports, has little to do with what most people think about regarding the last term before a long, Summer Break.
In fact, Spring Term is highlighted by a Spring Break — an almost sacred tradition that must somehow be connected with the rites of Spring herself. I remember all too well the exodus from college to a place, unknown to me at the time, called Ft. Lauderdale. Of course, my college was in the north and going south where it was warmer, sunnier, with the promise of bathing suits on the beach lured many to drive all day and all night just to get there. Where many travel these days during a Spring break range from the exotic - a South African ecology trip - to a community service week with Habitat for Humanity. Whatever the choice, it seems like taking a deep breath before diving in for the last lap is a good idea that has spread far and wide.
Spring Term is often regarded as the final push to get through the year. Think about that phrase, “get through the year.” or even “final push.” Does it mean finish with a measure of grace and style or does it mean simply survive intact? How about finishing with a flourish? Do students and teachers expend so much effort and energy the first six months that the last two or three are bereft of a similar level of energy and enthusiasm with which one began the year? How does one continue and sustain the pace so that there’s plenty left for the home stretch?
I used this image with a group, that of rounding the final turn, heading down the home stretch and making sure that there is enough left to finish well. We have all seen those who could not keep up and fell behind because they did not pace themselves earlier. We have also seen those who kept something in reserve such that with a great burst of speed they passed most of the rest and went on to finish strong. The recent winter Olympics were full of such illustrations.
Whatever the pressures and demands of Spring Term, imposed either externally or internally, there are some cues and clues for making it an optimum experience. Paying attention and being mindful of the energy/work equation is but one simple strategy for understanding what is required. And the well-worn cliché of planning ahead sill resonates with some wisdom and requires both a commitment and the discipline to take advantage of the exercise. Finally, making sure that there is time built in for both pleasure and rest will go a long way toward making your Spring Term, 2010, the best it can be.
Gary Gruber