Compassionate Leadership

09/26/20130 Comments I tend to pounce with delight at these articles promoting the use of compassion. In my view, it is a skill that has long been overlooked in the world in which we live, especially in terms of leadership and our current definition of success, so it is good to find an increasing number of article in the HBR promoting these values. Having recently left a job I loved, overseeing learning and teaching at a small international school serving Cambodian children, because my values were at odds with those of the administrative head of the school, I have been thinking a lot about this issue. Just among the teaching staff, there was a turnover of 75% (only 4 stayed on). While reasons for this were complicated and varied, there was a large sense of demoralisation and lack of inspired loyalty, despite the school overall making huge progress in terms of student learning outcomes. For a long time, I struggled with the decision over whether to leave or not. I believed entirely in the value of my work there and knew I had and was still able to make a difference to the learning experience of children at the school. However, I'd also reached a point where to be working in an environment where my personal and professional values differed entirely from those of the person making the administrative decisions was becoming a deeply uncomfortable experience. As the article states 'a Notre Dame study found that nice guys really do finish last, with more agreeable people earning less than those who are willing to be disagreeable. And all too often, compassionate people lack boundaries, thus allowing themselves to be used and abused; they become toxic handlers who absorb the organizational pain without much personal gain'. For a while, I felt I was to blame. That I had let myself be walked over and therefore it was my own fault. That if I was tougher and better at putting my own needs first, if I was less concerned with the well being of the whole and more competent at looking out for myself and my own interests, then I would not be feeling so frustrated and would be able to carry on. But I'm finally beginning to realise that, actually, I was simply working in the wrong place. It was right in that I could do a lot there and I value the experience I had and believe I contributed a lot; but it was wrong in that it was being led with a mindset in which compassion and its sister altruism was seen as unprofessional, overly personal and weak - a model inspired and informed by attitudes moulded by a survival-of-the-fittest, individualist mindset. That doesn't make me wrong, it just makes my decision to move on right. I am sad to have left the school and the children, but I am banking the amazing experience I had with the kids, the school and the process of developing a whole system of learning, and looking forward to moving on to other environments, where hopefully I can match a wonderful job with an environment in which compassion, along with empathy and guidance and care, are values that are prioritised. It doesn't mean compromising quality - in fact, the crux of this article is that it is being proven that compassionate leadership improves company performance through the care of the individuals

that make up that organisation. Just like the Whole-Child movement in education, why would that not apply to I believe it is the way towards the world I believe in.

Confident or competent?
08/26/20130 Comments Can you tell the difference? While couched within the debate over why women are so under-represented in management positions, this article (Why do do many incompetent men become leaders) is actually highlighting the characteristics of good leaders (humility, emotional intelligence, sensitivity, consideration) and why those are so often at odds with the characteristics (self-centredness, arrogance, manipulation) that often get people into leadership positions. In other words, 'what it takes to get the job is not just different from, but also the reverse of, what it takes to do the job well. As a result, too many incompetent people are promoted to management jobs, and promoted over more competent people.' So (gender generalities aside, because I have met plenty of men and women for whom these stereotypes don't ring true) what really matters in terms of getting more competent leaders at the top of organisations (including more women) is that organisations learn to discern between confidence and competence and appoint leaders who 'elicit respect and pride from their followers, communicate their vision effectively, empower and mentor subordinates, and approach problem-solving in a more flexible and creative way (all characteristics of "transformational leadership"), as well as fairly reward direct reports' as opposed to teaching individuals to simply place more value in confidence. In my mind, confidence is over-rated in itself. Yes, it is an important part of leadership, but only when balanced with other skills such as self-awareness, awareness of others, humility and creativity among others.

Emotional Courage
08/25/20130 Comments As I learn more about leadership, I am increasingly interested in the personal as well as professional elements of being a leader. I recently read an article on Harvard Business Review, by Peter Briegman, discussion why so many leadership programmes fail. This section in particular caught my attention: What makes leadership hard isn't the theoretical, it's the practical. It's not about knowing what to say or do. It's about whether you're willing to experience the discomfort, risk, and uncertainty of saying or doing it. In other words, the critical challenge of leadership is, mostly, the challenge of emotional courage.

Emotional courage means standing apart from others without separating yourself from them. It means speaking up when others are silent. And remaining steadfast, grounded, and measured in the face of uncertainty. It means responding productively to political opposition maybe even bad-faith backstabbing without getting sidetracked, distracted, or losing your focus. And staying in the discomfort of a colleague's anger without shutting off or becoming defensive. His four foundations for leadership are: Leadership is context specific Leadership is about making choices and taking risky actions Leadership is personal Leadership is about relationships Successful leadership is not primarily about what you know its about who you are and how you show up. Its about courage, empathy and influence. Its about risk taking, focus and confidence.

Good Leaders Get Emotional

08/24/20130 Comments Having just worked for 2 years with someone (the school principal) who, in our first week working together, told me she didn't do emotions and that if people bring their emotions to work she didn't want to know anything about it, I have seen first hand the damage that can be caused in an organisation if emotions, and personal relationships, are ignored or considered a waste of time. You cannot work with human beings and keep emotions out of it. You can remain professional and learn how to manage emotions (your own and others') in a constructive way that benefits all involved, but you cannot pretend people and people's actions are not influenced by a web of emotions (an often complex web) and that good leadership involves learning how to engage with those not avoid them.

Involving parents
08/23/20130 Comments The year before last, when I was teaching Grade 4, I got enormous pleasure from posting images and captions about what wed been doing in class each week. I started the project in an attempt to reach out to parents and help them understand what their children are learning at school. As many of our parents do not speak English and/ or are working long hours, it can be hard to communicate what their children are learning. One of the biggest challenges I have faced at my school is knowing the changes and improvements we have made to the childrens learning experiences in the last 18 months, and yet having no way of communicating this to parents. Sometimes it is a language barrier, sometimes a lack of interest and nearly always a complete lack of being able to relate to an understanding of learning I have come

to take for granted (active, student-centred, purposeful, scaffolded, progressive, cohesive, learning-outcomes driven). While many of our parents are far more educated than most of their generation in Cambodia, there still exists a massive gulf between what they experienced as education and what we are trying to achieve. Lack of parental involvement is not unique to Cambodia, but what is one of the greatest challenges here is that when parents see an international school on every street corner, how do you help parents understand the difference between good schooling and just schooling? When often parents are putting the majority of their monthly salaries into sending their children to private schools, how do you help them distinguish between schools that will focus on the development and well-being of their child and schools that will focus on the numbers on their registration forms? It is a complex issue, which I am searching for a better understanding of. Despite emailing the link to my class webpage to parents regularly and encouraging pupils to guide their parents there, there was little interest from parents. However, even if the only audience was my parents, I loved doing it. It documented what we were doing in class and helped me focus on the skills each activity was developing.

Prioritising what matters

08/23/20130 Comments All too often, I bemoan the fact that I don't have time to get into the classrooms and see what is actually going on. But I read an article recently that said that if something is really important to you then you make time for it. This pulled me up short, as what the children are learning is really important to me. So why wasn't I going into classrooms looking for that? I keep telling myself that I will as soon as I get the next section of the accreditation report written; or when I've had a chance to analyse the latest set of assessment data; or when I've written the next module unit; or when I've redesigned the timetables to give us more time to focus on reading, which we've identified as a priority; or when I've finished preparing the next training morning for the teachers of the TAs etc. But today, as I finished a half hour mentoring meeting with one of our TAs, instead of sitting back down to prepare the month's learning summaries that we sent out to our parents in an attempt to keep them informed/ get them more involved, I walked out of the office and into the classrooms.

Being tough is tough

06/23/20130 Comments I consider good people skills and emotional intelligence to be two of my strengths. However, as this article about Lincoln highlights, it can also be a weakness. An acute sensitivity to people's feelings can serve me well but can also make it difficult when I worry too much about hurting

them. Everybody is different and sometimes people need to be given a tough message for the greater good of the group or organisation. And the truth is that those sort of people usually bounce back up far better than I ever would, so I should not always put my own fears of being knocked back on other people.

Positive Framing
06/06/20130 Comments As the end of the year draws near (faster than I would wish, as it still feels like there is lots to be done), there is an inevitable sense of reflection on the past year. How it started with so much potential and how by this stage of the year it feels so full of unrealised potential. However, as research shows (Day, 2009) teacher effectiveness over time depends on developing hopefulness and resilience. I believe the most effective way of encouraging what you want to see in others is to let them see it in you first. So my target in the next few days is to write the narrative of our school journey this year, positively framed. And that starts with first identifying what went well, what worked, what successes we've experienced as a school. I'll start with this email from my co-leader: First of all, you are awesome at what you do. You have a deep passion for learning and you are a gifted educator (whether that is educating students, teachers, the Board or me). I have learned so much from you and know others have as well. I know you are a high achiever and tend to look at the big picture, but sometimes I think you miss the impact you make on this school on a daily basis. I think of Sadia, who is a brand new teacher you have spent a lot of time coaching. The effect you have made on her with training, curriculum development and mentoring will effect children for the next 25 years. The same goes for Jesse, Rex, Kara and many others. Each time we go in and see these teachers improve it is because of what you do. They in turn effect their students on a daily basis and will effect thousands of students in the future. When you add in the impact you have had on our students, the TAs and the parents you have educated the impact is massive. It is easy to get bogged down and discouraged (especially after meetings like yesterday) but I really hope you realize what you do is massive and influential and will have a lasting impact. I don't honestly know what will happen at Footprints in the future but I think their is a lot of potential and we have 350 reasons to believe we are making a difference every single day.

Problem Solving
06/04/20130 Comments At school, we are looking for ways in which we can help our students learn to be better problemsolvers. One of the ways in which we do this is through our Math curriculum and the way we teach it. While the national Cambodian curriculum seems to develop the students' calculation

skills, it tends to teach single method approaches to solving mathematical problems. To balance this, in the international curriculum, we try to provide children with problems that can be solved in a number of ways. That way, not only are they developing their calculation skills but they are developing skills as problem solvers, decision makers, and independent and creative learners. As an international school, serving an almost entirely Cambodian community, the decisions about what skills we want our students to develop are so much a part of what we are doing and why. These are not always easy decisions but they are important. While wanting to honour our students' cultural heritage and national culture, we also want to provide an education we feel we best serve them in their future as global citizens as well as Cambodian citizens.

Doing a little bit each day

05/03/2013 0 Comments

It's easy to feel overwhelmed by how much there is to do when you are teaching or leading in a school. I'm notoriously impatient and often want huge visions to materialise immediately. But I am always comforted and driven on by knowing that by persevering one (small) step at a time, you do keep moving forward. And sometimes you're even glad you didn't race to the finish line, as along the way, the goalposts may move anyway.

Complexifier or simplifier?
05/02/2013 0 Comments

I have just read an interesting article which highlights how some people have a habit of making things more complex than they need to be. I recognise this trait in me exactly, and while my big-picture thinking has its benefits, there are times I need to follow the advice offered in this article: 1. Settle for enough data...know when you have enough data and when too much information is inhibitive 2. Set the key priorities...focus on a few key things and let the rest drop 3. Develop a simple plan of action and evaluation, changing direction when necessary 4. Be clear about the situation, the goals and the plan As a natural complexifier, I need to be honest about whether I am 'slicing through complexity or creating it'.