Leaders don’t operate in a vacuum

Making schools count

In the quest for positive change, school turnaround leaders do not operate in vacuum. There is little or no room for guesswork. Here are the building blocks towards a successful school turnaround. Step 1 begins with collection and analysis of data. The work of a turn around leader is essentially a data driven undertaking. On assuming the reins of power in a new setting, turnaround leaders as a matter of priority dig into all forms of data ranging from minutes of meetings, student data, staff data, assessment and classroom instructional practices. They do so to have a good grasp of the terrain in order to formulate relevant and appropriate interventions.

Data provides information on effective practices requiring reinforcement and less effective ones that ought to be discouraged or discontinued. For example, a close scrutiny of the minutes of previous meetings (agenda and duration) could shed light on the character of the school.

The fundamental issue is to determine how well are the meetings contributing to the big agenda of raising academic achievement levels and the well being of students and staff. Meetings whose preoccupation is office politics/ power struggles, are more often than not long and combative in nature. And this renders such meetings unworthy exercises - irrelevant to the cause of improving learning outcomes. The turnaround leader has the audacity to influence a paradigm shift by reordering priorities to ensure harmony between meeting objectives and teaching and learning.

Step 2 is motivated by the understanding that change is fundamentally people-driven. It cannot be a one man’s show. A vision that exists in the head of the leader alone is as good as dead. It must be shared and embraced by others in the school. People are powerful agents and can make or break a system. Turn around leaders are conscious of the fact that change is a worrisome and unsettling development. It is a threat to the status quo. Naturally, when people see a threat, their defence instincts would spring up. Change attracts resistance. Turn around leaders master the art of effective communicating a clear vision of success and the advantages accruing from charting a new course. This can break resistance. Effective communication allays fears and eases the worries of doubters. It is vitally important to identify and win the support of key influential people (both within and outside the organisation) who have the potential to stall progress. Change requires collective ownership of the vision and as well as challenges and this can set the stage for voluntary support.

Stage 3: Turn around leaders do not contemplate a staff reshuffle right at the beginning. They begin with faith in the fundamental goodness of every member of staff on board. That is to say, turnaround leaders give everyone on board the opportunity to prove his or her mettle. Staff reorganisation/replacements could be explored at a later stage once it is clear that the agenda of change is going off the rails on account of either deliberate sabotage or poor work ethics. Those clearly not committed to change must exit the stage.

Stage 4 entails adopting piecemeal approach in the quest for change. Turn around leaders never attempt to boil the whole ocean overnight. They value the wisdom behind beginning with a narrow scope, concentrating energies on limited critical areas to achieve quick victories. Early successes inspire confidence and attract more converts. Any progress, however small, must be celebrated to motivate more changes. And those who contributed the most to the visible early gains are acknowledged publicly.

Courageous and fearless spirit (Stage 5) is required to manage the process of change. Turn around leaders are risky takers. They are not afraid to risk their popularity by eliminating popular practices, which do not support progress.

For instance, some schools have a culture of allocating classes to teachers using a system of rotation. That is to say one single teacher cannot be allocated a pure science class repeatedly (one year after the other). It’s a taboo, the culture of the school many not allow. Other teachers deserve a chance to have a taste of the so-called high flyers. Even when data shows that rotation is not producing intended results, schools would choose to religiously follow the rotation system. A turn around leader has the nerve to intervene and discard what is not working. At all times data is the deciding factor.