Authentic and Aligned: Leading Contemporary

School Strategy

or …

A true story about your past, present and future  

Dr Phil Cummins

Teaching and working in and with schools since 1988

Presenter, Thought Leader, Consultant, Author, Textbook Writer, Syllabus Writer, PhD in Australian History

phil@circle.org.au www.circle.org.au

Authentic and Aligned: Leading Contemporary School Strategy

Guiding Question: What strategic imperatives should sustain and drive our schools

into the future?

Setting some big picture context

“To make human civilization work well [with 21C] technologies and exist at peace with Gaia, we need another revolution, putting into place the desirable management, laws, controls, protocols, methodologies and means of governance. This is a complex and absolutely necessary transition – the 21st Century Revolution...

Whether the revolution happens smoothly depends on the education that is put in place and how widely it is acted upon.”

- Martin J (2003) The meaning of the 21st century

Authentic Leadership

Building authentic leadership in teams through values and relationships:

transformation, sustainability and servanthood

In your school …

Who is the leader? Who is the strategic thinker?

The Principal and executive teachers?

The Board?

You?

If not you, then who else?

A model for contemporary school leadership

Leadership that motivates, influences and directs others to achieve the team’s goals willingly: •  Authenticity:

acknowledging truth –  “For real”

•  Transformation: enabling change –  “For change”

•  Sustainability: nurturing the team and protecting resources –  “For life”

•  Service: serving others first –  “For others”

Excellence  in  values,  

rela/onships,  learning  and  

leadership  at  all  levels  in  your  

school  

Authen/city  

Transforma/on  

Sustainability  

Service  

Contemporary Leadership 101

Leadership begins with identifying and understanding our values.

We construct our identities as individuals and as members of our community by negotiating the relevance of our values in our daily lives.

We should try to answer some penetrating questions: •  Who am I? •  Where do I fit in? •  How might I serve others?

Strategic thinking •  ‘Seeing ahead’ •  ‘Seeing behind’ •  ‘Seeing above’ •  ‘Seeing below’ •  ‘Seeing beside’ •  ‘Seeing beyond’ •  ‘Seeing it through’

- Mintzberg H (1995) ‘Strategic Thinking as Seeing’, in B Garratt (ed) Developing Strategic Thought, pp 67–70

Your role? Seeing where others do not

Strategic competency

“The ability to articulate guiding values, develop and communicate a shared vision, develop a strategy, and motivate others to move forward in a common direction”

-  Hallinger P and Snidvongs K (2008) ‘Educating Leaders: Is There Anything to Learn from Business Management?’ p 19

Your role? Strategic agency

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

Getting lost in the detail?

Getting lost in the detail?

Strategic architecture is “not a detailed plan. It identifies the major capabilities to be built, but doesn’t specify exactly how they are to be built. It shows the relative position of the major load-bearing structures, but not the placement of every electrical outlet and doorknob.”

- Hamel G and Prahalad CK (1994) Competing for the Future, pp118-9

Strategic focus

Why? 90%

How? 10%

Strategic foundation

“How groups and organizations engage in strategic conversations and the quality of those conversations is the foundation of strategic thinking”

-  Davies B (2003) `Rethinking Strategy and Strategic Leadership in Schools', Educational Management Administration & Leadership 31 (3) p 297

Your role? Promoting conversations

Today’s Conversation

1.  Thinking about strategy 2.  Strategic imperatives for schools: 

1.  Being strategically envisioned and structured 2.  Being mission-aligned 3.  Being contextually driven and future-oriented

3.  Questions from here

Thinking about strategy

1.  An essential part of your story that connects your past, present and future

2.  Your plan to go in the right direction to ensure your story continues in the way that you want

3.  Comprises critical directional ideas supported by detailed planning

4.  Structures, resources and finances are means to achieving strategy, not strategy in themselves 

5.  Work best when they are simply expressed and few in number – the “business card test”

Strategic imperatives for our schools

1.  Being strategically envisioned and structured

2.  Being mission-aligned 3.  Being contextually driven and future-

oriented

Being strategically envisioned and structured

Strategically envisioned

and structured

Acting strategically

Building culture

Defining aspirations

Extending boundaries

1.  What works? What might be retained and nurtured?

2.  What doesn’t work? What might be done differently?

Being mission-aligned

Heart Head Shoulders Hands

Heart

•  Culture •  People •  Commitment •  Networks •  Communications •  Growth •  Professional development

Head

•  Rationale •  Mission alignment •  Vision •  Values •  Brand •  Philosophy

Shoulders

•  Expectations •  Systems •  Structure •  Plans •  Policies •  Processes •  Protocols

Hands

•  Research and development •  Programs and initiatives •  Accountability and review

Being mission-aligned

1.  What works? What might be retained and nurtured?

2.  What doesn’t work? What might be done differently?

Heart Head Shoulders Hands

Being contextually-driven and future-oriented

Guiding philosophy

The past

The present

The future

Guiding philosophy

•  Explicit •  Embedded •  Our map to help us move through change

The past

•  History •  Tradition •  Legacy •  Honour

The present

•  Expectations of culture •  Realised through context – People – Place

The future

An approach to building new culture: •  Future-oriented •  Learning-focused •  “Evolve and capture”

Being contextually-driven and future-oriented

1.  What works? What might be retained and nurtured?

2.  What doesn’t work? What might be done differently?

Guiding philosophy

The past

The present

The future

Questions for our future

•  How do students in our school learn, think and feel?

•  How should students in our school learn, think and feel?

Questions for our future

•  What aspirations could our students have for their futures?

•  What aspirations should our students have for their futures?

Questions for our future

•  How might we do things in our school to allow our students to become the adults they should become? –  Curriculum and co-curriculum –  Learning and teaching –  Pastoral care and social-emotional development –  Spiritual development

Questions for our future

•  What enduring values and honourable traditions do we have that will help us to achieve our mission?

Questions for our future

•  How can our systems sustain and nurture the culture, educational programs, reputation and business viability of our school? – Brand development and maintenance – School development

Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received…only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage.

Francis of Assisi

About Us

Dr Philip SA Cummins

Managing Director

CIRCLE – The Centre for Innovation, Research, Creativity and Leadership in Education

–  Consult + Solve –  Research + Publish –  Train + Develop –  Track + Perform –  Catalyst –  Communities

phil@circle.org.au www.circle.org.au