School Leaders, Crisis Management and Putting Out Fires - what can be done?

In a recent DfE (2018) report senior leaders described their role as ‘akin to ‘crisis’ management much of the time:’ (p21).  My intention is this post is to help senior leaders develop and implement a set of principles which can help prevent most crises and reduce the time senior leaders spend ‘fire-fighting’.  To help do this I am going to draw up work of Bohn (2000) who identifies a set of circumstances when ‘fire-fighting’ has become chronic within an organisation.  Bohn then goes on to provide a model of fire-fighting  and suggests three methods for reducing the amount of firefighting within an organisation.

Are you working in an organisation where ‘fire-fighting’ has become the norm?

Bohn suggests that you are working in an organisation where ‘fire-fighting’ has become the norm if you are the victim of three of the following elements
  • There is not enough time to solve problems
  • Solutions are incomplete
  • Problems recur and cascade
  • Urgency supersedes importance
  • Many problems become crises
  • Performance drops 

Before looking at how to prevent ‘fires’ I’m going to look at a simple model which shows the effects of fire-fighting syndrome.

The effects of fire-fighting syndrome - amended form Bohn 




The consequence of this model is that firms/schools are trying to solve more problems than they have resources to deal with.  Sometimes this leads to minor problems being put to one side or it can consume an organisation’s (school) resources and lead to some of the organisation’s (school’s) best problem leaving through say frustration and burn out. 
  
How to  prevent fires?

Bohn argues that instead of putting a place ‘quick fixes’ leaders and managers should focus on three specific and systematic methods.

Method
Sub-method
Description
Tactical
Add temporary problem solvers
If possible draft in resources (people) to try and address the issue

Shut down operations
Can an activity be shut down to give time to fix the problem
           
Perform triage
Admit that some problems won’t be solved for a while and commit resources to those that are important and can be solved
Strategic
Change design strategies
Try and come up with generic approaches to new development can be used in multiple circumstances and types of issues 

Solve classes of problems
Look for groups that can be solved together – rather than individual diverse problems

Use learning lines
When running ‘pilot’ projects don’t set up special groups with additional resources, try and implement within a normal situation

Develop more problem solvers
Get more people involved in solving problems
Cultural
Don’t tolerate patching
Leaders must focus and support real permanent solutions rather than look for the quick fix

Don’t push to meet deadlines at all costs
Can you be flexible on deadlines -measure projects by looking at outstanding issues and problems

Don’t reward fire-fighting
Identify and support those colleagues who are good at preventing fires and engage in long-term problem solving.  Don’t give prominence to those colleagues who are constantly putting out fires

And finally

Although it's never easy to move from a fire-fighting mode to an approach which is more proactive - it's only ever going to get done if leaders begin to prioritise resources to address underlying issues - rather than constantly responding with a quick-fix.  Although school leaders may not be able to choose the external or internal pressures that create crises, school leaders can choose how they are going to respond and whether these problems are resolved or just swept under the carpet.

References

Bohn, R. (2000). Stop Fighting Fires. Harvard Business Review. 78. 4. 82-91.

DfE. (2018). Exploring Teacher Workload: Qualitative Research Report: March 2018. London. Department for Education

Expert leadership, headteachers and multi-academy trusts

In this week’s post I will examine whether the chief executive officers of multi-academy trusts should previously been the headteacher of a school.   To help do this I’m going to use the work Goodall (2016) and Goodall and Bäker (2015) on how expert leadership and technical competence has been shown in many settings to be connected with better organisational performance.  I’ll then go onto amend Goodall and Baker’s model of expert leadership for use in schools and multi-academy trusts.   Finally, I’ll consider the implications of the model for the appointment of chief executives of multi-academy trusts.

Expert leadership and organisational performance - evidence from hospitals and universities

Goodall (2016) identifies a number of settings – hospitals and universities – where studies have shown that there is a correlation between the ‘expert knowledge’ of the leader and organisational performance.  For example, in hospitals the presence of a physician chief executive as opposed to a professional manager was associated with 25% higher quality scores.  Although interestingly nurse leaders as chief executives were statistically indistinguishable from professional managers.  In universities research also suggests that the most respected scholars lead the best universities with the quality of the research quality of those universities improving in subsequent years.

As such, these and other studies indicate there is a strong relationship between a leader’s knowledge and expertise in its’ core business activity.  In this next section, I will explore Goodall and Baker’s theory of expert leadership which seeks to explain why expert leadership may be linked with improved organisational performance

A theory of expert leadership

Figure 1 illustrates Good and Baker’s theory of expert leadership and how expert leaders transfer their influence. In particular how ‘experts’ compared to 'generalists' influence organisational performance by decision-making and the signalling of their expertise to internal and external stakeholders.
  
Decisions and actions

 Goodall notes that there are three aspects of the model which potentially explain the performance difference between 'expert leaders' and professional managers.

 Knowledge-based strategy This can be conceived as being directly influences by expert leadership - as the knowledge gained through the experience of being a headteacher.  As such, strategic choices are likely to be informed by the need to be put the needs of the pupil first.  The priorities of the expert leader/headteacher are in all likelihood going to be different from the professional manager.  In addition, expert leaders are likely to have engaged deeply with colleagues, pupils, and parents, which will inform operational and strategic choices.

 Manage the work environment for employees - Expert leaders/headteachers, will invariably have come up with 'through the ranks' and experienced the day to day working conditions of teachers.  They will all  understand teachers professional cultures and values far more deeply than non-experts and professional managers.  This means that working conditions - such as performance appraisal systems, goal-setting and support of teachers is far more likely to be associated with teacher well-being.  They will also have a greater understanding of performance indicators - be they formal and non-formal - which suggest changes in underlying performance.

 Hiring behaviour - It becomes much easier to hire 'talent' if the expert leader has already met the standard set by the organisations.  All other things being equal outstanding expert leaders may be more likely to recruit other outstanding individuals.

 Expertise as a signal

 Goodall again notes three aspects of how expertise as a signal may directly or indirectly impact on organisational performance.

 Signalling credibility to current employees - expert leaders and are more likely to command respect because of their track record of success as a headteacher and the business of teaching and learning.

 Signals credibility and strategic priorities to potential employees - as the external reputation of the expert leader may be one of the few bits of information that a potential employee may be able to pick-up about the organisation

 Credible to stakeholders - finally the board of a multi-academy trust may wish to appoint a noted expert as way of signalling to stakeholders and others


 Some initial observations about the theory of expert leadership

First, measuring the impact of increases in expert leadership on organisational performance is a complex issue, which illustrated by the work of Simkins, Coldwell, et al. (2009) on the impact of leadership development programmes ( proxy for expert leadership)  on student outcomes  and who state:

  • outcomes are complex, difficult to specify in simple terms and may include unintended or unexpected consequences (both positive and negative) as well as intended ones …
  • the most important effects are indirect, occurring through the leaders’ influence on others who, in turn, can influence desired final school outcomes;
  • these effects do not occur instantaneously – it takes time for learning to become embedded in changed behaviour, for leaders’ influence processes to have effects on others, and for these changes to impact on teaching and learning and hence on pupil outcomes; p36
Second, if one of the main mechanisms expert leaders have on organisational is strategic choices, then this will require professional judgment.  However, as Duke (2018) notices very little attention has been paid to how and if educational leaders can be trained to develop the quality of their professional judgment.  This is an issue that I will turn to in future posts.

Third, it is important to be aware of the difference between the rhetoric and the reality of being credible to stakeholder.  Leaders may come across as being expert, may be able to argue persuasively and passionately for their vision and strategic priorities and convince stakeholders and others of the veracity of their views.  That said, there are plenty of examples to be had of so-called expert leaders wearing the emperor’s new clothes.  Where so called style and charisma has hidden deep and profound flaws in expert leadership.

Four, remember it's not enough be an expert leader it is essential to be a highly effective manager - who is able to do 'nuts and bolts' tasks associated with management.  Indeed, it maybe this 'professional'  competence which creates the conditions for the expert leaders to flourish.  It could be argued that schools themselves provide far too many examples of where headteacher expert leadership - without this basic managerial competence - has led to schools not fulfilling their potential.

Five, it is worth remembering that although leadership - as Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins (2008) is second only to classroom teaching as a school level influence on pupil learning - it accounts for a very small percentage of the difference in performance between schools - once pupil background is taken into account.


·   
Six, whilst it may be appealing to believe that multi-academy trusts should be led by expert leaders – those who have a deep professional background in education such as headteachers – it’s only when long-term research has taken place – comparing the results obtained by expert leaders and professional managers that we will have any kind of substantive evidence-base with which to inform the appointment of chief executives of multi-academy trusts.  Up until then - it's probably best not to cherry-pick the evidence in accordance with our professional preferences.

And finally

In future posts I will continue to look at how leaders can directly influence employee motivation and well-being through the impact of perceptions of procedural and interactional justice.

References

Duke, D. L. (2018). Judgment and the Preparation of Educational Leaders. Journal of Research on Leadership Education. 0. 0. 1942775117752455.
Goodall, A. H. (2016). A Theory of Expert Leadership (Tel) in Psychiatry. Australasian Psychiatry. 24. 3. 231-234.
Goodall, A. H. and Bäker, A. (2015). A Theory Exploring How Expert Leaders Influence Performance in Knowledge-Intensive Organizations. In  Incentives and Performance.  Springer.
Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2008). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. School leadership and management, 28(1), 27-42. 

Simkins, T., Coldwell, M., Close, P. and Morgan, A. (2009). Outcomes of in-School Leadership Development Work: A Study of Three Ncsl Programmes. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 37. 1. 29-50.

Boss competence and teacher well-being

In this post I will be looking at the work of Artz, Goodall, et al. (2017) and the relationship between ‘boss competence and worker-well being.  The relationship between 'boss competence and teacher well-being' is particularly relevant to schools given concerns about both teacher workload, stress-levels and well being and the number of teachers leaving the teaching profession.    I’ll then go onto explore some of the possible implications of the research for schools and school leaders.  Finally, I'll undertake a structured critique of Artz et al's research.

Boss competence and worker well-being: a brief summary of the research.

Artz, Goodall, et al. (2017 state that:
  • Nearly all workers have a supervisor or “boss.” 
  • Little is known about how bosses influence the quality of employees’ lives.
  • A boss’s technical competence is the single strongest predictor of a worker’s job satisfaction.
  • If a worker stays in the same job and workplace, a rise in the competence of a supervisor is associated with an improvement in the worker’s well-being.
  • In a cross-section of 6000 young U.S. workers, the job satisfaction of employees is positively associated with whether the supervisor worked his or her way up within the company (or started the company).
  • In a cross-section of 1600 British workers, satisfaction levels are higher among individuals whose supervisor could if necessary step in competently to do that job.
  • In pooled cross- sections totalling 27,000 individuals, workers’ job satisfaction is highly correlated with the competence of supervisors.
  • These results support the claim that both competence – linked to expert knowledge – and industry experience improve workers’ job satisfaction.
Some possible headline  implications for schools

There are number of 'first-blush'  implications for the leadership and management of schools which members of a school community may choose to draw from these research findings.  For example
  • If you want to increase the well-being of staff increase the competence of ‘bosses’ and line managers
  • If you want to increase job satisfaction then internal appointments – with individuals working their way up through the school – may lead to increased job satisfaction of those they supervise.
  • Senior staff within a school should keep their ‘hand-in’ as teachers to ensure they can competently cover for absent teaching colleagues.
  • If you want to increase teacher well-being appoint leaders who have a background in education and schools rather than appointing someone who has generic leadership and management experience.
However, before jumping to these conclusion it is necessary to look at Artz et al's research in more detail to see whether it is useful for schools and school leaders.  To help me do this  I’m going to use  Professor Steve Higgins 6 As model for effective research use: accessibility, accuracy, appropriate, acceptable, applicable, and actionable

The 6 A’s

Accessibility – given the very high level  maths involved in the paper,  the research is not easily intellectually accessible to school leaders and others interested in teacher well-bing

Accuracy – again this is extremely difficult for the lay reader to judge.  However, the authors do identify some significant limitations in the report, for example, what is meant by boss competence is not clear; there is no reliable and valid instrument to measure boss competence; many of the measures used for boss competence where highly subjective; insufficient attention was paid to external factors that may be influencing both perceptions of boss competence and ‘well-being.’

Appropriate – although multiple sources of evidence were used, none of the evidence used appeared to be generated from research into schools and other similar environments. 

Acceptable – the findings of the research would appear to be at first sight to be broadly consistent with teachers values and beliefs – i.e. to be a senior leader must still be competent in the classroom.

Applicable – the research is relevant to schools given concerns about both teaching staff retention and well-being.

Actionable – the research does not appear to meet Argyris (2000) criteria for actionable advice in that it does not,  ‘specifies the detailed, concrete behaviours required to achieve the intended consequences; it must be crafted in the form of designs that contain causal statements; people must have, or be able to be taught, the concepts and the skills required to implement those causal statements; and the context in which it is to be implemented does not prevents its implementation’.  p8

So what can we make of the research and the implications for schools

Nevertheless for me, the main value of Artz, et al. (2017) is that it directed my attention to a topic known as ‘expert leadership’ and the work of Goodall and Bäker (2015). Now, one of the key questions  ‘expert leadership’ seeks to explore is whether experts and professionals – such as teachers and headteachers - need to be led by other experts and professionals, those who have a deep understanding of and high ability in the core-business of their organization.   In future posts I will examine the notion ‘expert leadership’ and its implications for schools in more detail.

References

Argyris, C. (2000). Flawed Advice and the Management Trap: How Managers Can Know When They're Getting Good Advice and When They're Not. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Artz, B. M., Goodall, A. H. and Oswald, A. J. (2017). Boss Competence and Worker Well-Being. ILR Review. 70. 2. 419-450.
Goodall, A. H. and Bäker, A. (2015). A Theory Exploring How Expert Leaders Influence Performance in Knowledge-Intensive Organizations. in  Incentives and Performance.  Springer.