This entire section of the reading made me think of something a fellow administrator in Anderson District One said to me. He said, "We need buy-in from our teachers not compliance." This entire section supports what he was telling me. You want teachers to be a part of the decision making process and trust what we as administrators as them to do, but we don't want them to do something simply because we told them to. No matter what a leader is trying to accomplish, if the followers only comply with what they are told, they will never be as effective as a group of people who support and trust the decisions of their leader.
As far as the Trustworthy Leadership Matrix goes, I think it's missing a constituency group. Where are the policymakers? If teachers and administrators do not trust the policy/standards/accountability systems, then are the schools the best they can be? Vice versa, if the policymakers do not trust the educators to do their job and do it well, will the policies provide the academic freedom to allow the local school to make decisions that benefit their particular population?
I do think this model is useful though. It's particularly helpful when considering the relationships at the school level. "These five consderations (benevolence, honesty, openness, reliability, and competence) domonstrate the importance o ftrust to building successful schools" (Jossey-Bass, 2007, 99). Then, when looking at the jobs of a principal at the school level, the model addresses most of the ISLLC Standards--vision, instructional leader, managing, collaborating, ethical leader, and political leader. The functions of a school leader include the five mentioned in the model, and I would say that being an instructional leader is part of modeling and coaching. Ethical leadership and collaboration are included mediating. Ultimately, the entire matrix leads to ethical leadership.
I attended a conference yesterday in Columbia, and Jim Rex addressed changing the culture in our public schools. As I think about what he said as a look closely at this model, he addressed all five of these facets of trust. I think if we are going to improve our public schools and initiate the necessary changes to provide the best education possible, this model is an excellent starting point. Alot of the issues within any oraganization will point back and the leader, and any moral failure will ultimately end up undermining the success of the organization. Back to what Jim Rex's speech, if we are going to provide the quality school system the state needs, he says we must be able to trust those in the decision-making positions to make decisions that benefit our schools and our students.
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Hi Seth,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you!!! I think the administrators that have teachers complying and not buying in are lacking the trust piece of the pie. These administrators who have to tell all of their faculty and staff what to do, are not being effective. The culture of the school will not be what it should be. A constituencies need to feel that they are a part of the decisions made. I know the administrator has the last say, but if there is honesty and trust among everyone, I doubt there would be many decisions that the leader would have to veto because they would all be working toward the vision they created together. TRUST is the key!
Seth -
ReplyDeleteAmada saw the lack of external inputs into this matrix also. As I mentioned in my coment to her, an article I read today indicated the President is considering lengthening the school year. A perfect, timely example of your thoughts. You are also right about buy-in. My sense is if you have the teacher's buy-in they also trust you as an administrator. If you have their buy-in life is considerably easier.
I agree with you guys about trust. As I reflected over the matrix, I liked the quote used from George MacDonald: To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.
ReplyDeleteTo me that speaks the power of trust.
Seth,
ReplyDeleteThat is great insight. I think your friend is right in saying that we need more buy-in and what we do not need is compliance. I think this will lead all of us to enjoy what we do as opposed to doing something for money. The matrix points this out in the facets of trust.
Great point about policy makers. I do believe though sometimes the policy makers can be the administrators, I guess I see this on a college campus level, even though there are still boards of Trustees.
Great post!
I'll try again to post...don't know what happened to my last post. I don't think I was logged in so it vanished.
ReplyDeleteLike the others, I liked your comments about external forces and buy-in.
With regard to buy in...I think along with trusting leadership, subordinates need to understand the policy, change, etc. Without understanding, they might comply because they are told to, but with understanding the background of an issue and the outcomes desired, buy-in is more likely to occur.