The Lessons of Leadership

7/31/2019 The Lessons of Leadership

1/29


2/29

The Lessons ofLeadership

A comparison of headteachers in UK schools

and senior executives in private enterprise

The financial rewards are worlds apart, yet the socialresponsibilities of both roles are immense. So, how doesleadership in our schools compare to that found in privatebusinesses?

Learning is replacing command and control as the glue whichbinds successful organisations together. Our study suggests thatheadteachers could teach chief executives a lesson or two increating the right climate for growth.

Ricky FordeRussell HobbyAnna Lees

December 2000Hay McBer

2000 Hay Management Consultants Ltd


3/29

Executive Summary

This report compares a group of 200 headteachers against a group of 200

senior executives. The aim is to discover the strengths and weaknesses of theleadership in schools in the UK.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

The inputs of leadership are the characteristics and styles the individualbrings to the role their drive, problem solving and influencing skills. Theoutputs of leadership the measures of success are the motivation,engagement and effort inspired in those who are led.

The report reveals that, as a group, headteachers exert strong and versatileleadership, adapted to the needs of their people. Their strengths lie in raisingcapability and promoting individual clarity.

The report has also confirmed that the role of headteacher is stretching bycomparison to business. Even highly successful executives would struggle toexert outstanding leadership in schools.

We have also found a number of areas for improvement. Headteachers relytoo heavily telling people what to do. They need think more about how theinfluence of leadership can raise standards and they need to explore ways tolink reward to performance more strongly.

Headteachers think of leadership in terms of developing people. Business

leaders tend to think of leadership in terms of strategy. Headteachers see theirstaff as individuals, show them where they fit into the scheme of things andsupport their long term growth. Business leaders, by comparison, create asense of mission, drive standards and communicate their vision well.

Schools need strategic leadership to raise standards. But, equally, businessesneed to adopt more of the headteachers style if they are to increase theirpeoples long term capability to implement strategy.

It is possible for individuals to improve the leadership they provide. The firststep is accurate and specific feedback on the impact they make upon their

organisations. See www.transforminglearning.co.uk for more information.

Lessons of Leadership - 2


4/29

Contents

Introduction 4Summing Up: A Model of Excellence 5

Findings:

- Characteristics 6

- Leadership Styles 11

- Climate 14

What Education could learn from Business 19

What Business could learn from Education 20

Conclusions:

- Personal Implications 21

- Policy Implications 21

Appendix 1: Glossary of Terms 22

Appendix 2: Methodology and Sample 25

Appendix 3: Hay Management Consultants 27



5/29

Introduction

Weve always known that the quality of leadership has a major impact onpupils attainment in our schools. We were curious to see just how theleadership provided by headteachers measures up against that of their

counterparts in other walks of life.

We also wanted to see how much of the nature of leadership wasdetermined by the working environment. Education seemed, initially, tobe a very different endeavour to private enterprise. Did this bring out anoticeable difference in the styles used? The results surprised us andsignalled important changes to come, in both education andbusiness.

To answer these questions, we took two groups of leaders and askedtheir staff to rate their style and the climate they created for their teams.We also interviewed a smaller group of the highest performing leadersdirectly, to find out what made them tick.

Our measure of successful leadership is the motivation,engagement and effort inspired in the people who are led.

Our sample comprised 200 headteachers and 200 senior linemanagersand directors in multinational companies. For each, weasked five members of staff to describe and rate their leadershipaccording to a set of common criteria (see page 24 for a definition).

The results leave us in no doubt that headteachers have much to offertheir counterparts in business. While business leaders are more adept atstrategy and vision, headteachers strengths lie in raising capability.Technology can render a strategy irrelevant in a matter of months capable, motivated employees will never go out of fashion.

Of course there is room for improvement. There are useful lessons forheadteachers, not only in the way the contrast explains their habitualapproaches to leadership, but also in the strengths of business leaders.Communicating a vision of excellence and linking reward to performanceare two examples. As schools grapple with raising standards andperformance management, these issues are increasingly important.

The two working environments are coming closer together the pursuit ofexcellence and a hard look at performance are increasingly important toschools; fostering capability and long term development are becomingvital to effective business.

There is an important point to bear in mind before we begin. Thedescriptions are composites of four hundred people. They point usefullyto trends and tendencies. Within that sample, particular individuals mayvary considerably. We hope this report will be a starting point forindividuals to reflect upon their own needs as leaders and a frameworkfor planning professional development.



6/29

Summing Up: A Model of Excellence

The demands of the role of headteacher are captured by a Model ofExcellence

that defines the varied combinations of characteristics,

behaviours and motivations that lead, in different ways, to outstandingperformance in the job.

We took onlythe highest performers from our population of businessleaders (approximately thirty) and measured them against this model.48% passed. This gives some indication of the challenge of leading aschool successfully.

A Stretching Role:

Half of the top management of some of the most successful companies in theworld could not do a similarly outstanding job of leading a school.

As well as emphasising the stretching nature of leading a school, thisstatistic also hints at just how different the two roles are.

Comparing headteachers and business leaders in a little more detail alsothrows up some interesting contrasts. For this we returned to the fullpopulation of four hundred leaders.

As a group, business leaders have a more strategic focus. They thinkconceptually, they take carefully calculated risks in pursuit of ambitiousgoals. They even exert influence in a strategic manner painting broadvisions, building coalitions and working through others.

Headteachers, on the other hand, are strong operational leaders. They

think and plan analytically. They take a much more individualisticapproach to their members of staff focusing on their personaldevelopment, tailoring their influencing styles and setting clearexpectations. Headteachers are also protective they shelter their stafffrom bureaucracy and encourage co-operation and harmony.

What impact does this have on their organisations?

Headteachers are significantly more versatile leaders than is typicallyfound in industry. They employ a wider repertoire of leadership styles,which helps foster a stronger climate.

Headteachers also focus on styles that are more positive over the long

term creating space for the growth of their employees. Businessleaders are more likely to sacrifice this in pursuit of immediate goals.

This means that, overall, headteachers are creating a more motivationalclimate than business leaders. They excel in minimising bureaucracy,encouraging new thinking and providing clarity.

This is not to say that headteachers have nothing to learn from business.By comparison with business, headteachers:

Use more of a coercive approach to leadership;tend not to foster as strong an expectation ofexcellence; andare reluctant to differentiate rewards according to performance.

We will explore these findings in greater depth in the next three sections.



7/29

Findings: Characteristics

From among our group of four hundred leaders, we selected the thirtymost successful headteachers and the thirty most successful executives.

We compared the headteachers and business leaders against sixteencommonly found leadership characteristics.

We assessed them against a model of excellence for headteachers scoring the percentage of each group that passed through the model foreach major cluster of characteristics (i.e. an individual passed if we foundthat their personal characteristics matched the combinations demandedby the role). We also compared them directly against each other usingthe chi squaredtest (measuring the difference between the two groups).

The following groups of characteristics stood out through both tests.

1. Modern Leadership: Teamwork & Developing Others

The headteachers in our sample were better than the business leaders at building teamsand developing the capabilities of their staff, although both fare least well in this clusteragainst the models of excellence.

Highly effective headteachers build teams and care about the long termdevelopment of their staff. They solicit and value the input of others andcreate opportunities for people to experiment and improve.

Our research in business also indicates that these abilities are crucial tohighly effective executives.

100% of the headteachers in our sample passed the model forTeamwork, compared to only 67% of senior managers (rememberingalso that we are only looking at the very best leaders in each sphere).

Teamwork also distinguishes the two groups, with a 75% bias*towards

headteachers.

Teamwork

These graphs show thepercentage of each groupto pass the Model; andthe degree to which thecharacteristicdifferentiates the twogroups.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

0%100% 100%

Teamwork

Head75%

Exec

0

20

40

60

80

100

Teamwork

* Bias: Used here to summarise the degree to which a characteristic reliably distinguishes one group from the other; builtusing the chi squared test. The higher the percentage, the more likely one group is to have it and the other not. For

example: 8 out of 9 heads possess the characteristic at the required level, and 9 out 12 executives dont: 8/9 + 9/12 =17/21 or 81% bias to headteachers.



8/29

59% of headteachers passed the model forDeveloping Otherscompared to 54% of senior managers. Clearly a difficult area for both, butheadteachers fare slightly better.

Headteachers may be stronger in these areas because they work incloser contact with their colleagues, and spend more time on internalissues. It also seems that headteachers continue to value learning for

adults as well as for their pupils.

IN ACTION Developing Others

I could see he was brilliant great with the children, got wonderful results, all themakings of a first class head of department. I set out to help knock the rough edges offhim. He was a big man and I had to chip away at some arrogance no-one had evertackled him before.

2. Action Orientation: Drive & Confidence

Both groups show similarly high levels of drive, though they come from different sources:business leaders measure and use risk, headteachers love a challenge.

Effective leadership in any sphere requires a bias for action. This drivecan come from many sources and sustains the leader in overcomingobstacles and providing inspiration to others.

Success here can come from eitheran Achievement Drive settingstretching goals and taking calculated risks to achieve them orPersonal Conviction a willingness to challenge others or beatobstacles. One seeks goals, the other overcomes barriers.

This cluster is a strength for both groups. 100% of both groups passedthe model in this cluster.

Business leaders tend to find their motivation from an Achievement Drive;headteachers work more from Personal Conviction.

At the higher levels of Achievement Drive weighing pros and cons anddriving action through cost/benefit analysis there is a 70% bias towardsbusiness leaders.

0%100% 100%

Achievement Drive

Head70%

Exec

IN ACTION Achievement Drive

I said We will double the levels of attainment. And I made that public. I looked at theperformance data department by department and worked out where we hadto makeimprovements and where we could make the biggestimprovements.



9/29

3. Vision and Accountability

Effective direction can come from an inspiring vision or a firm hand in holding peopleaccountable. A leader who can do both is generally most effective. Business leaders weremore likely to use both vision and accountability, but both groups found holding peopleaccountable difficult.

96% of headteachers pass the model eitherforTransformationalLeadershiporHolding People Accountable, but only 41% typicallyexercised both skills.

90% of CEOs passed the model foreitherTransformational LeadershiporHolding People Accountable, 58% typically did both.

One Route or Two?

These graphs show thepercentage of each groupwhich consistently uses

one or other means ofexercising direction andthe percentage whotypically use both.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

0

20

40

60

80

100

Either / Or0

20

40

60

80

100

Both

Headteachers are slightly stronger overall in this field there is a largergroup of executives that possess neither characteristic. Business leaders,however, are more versatile on this cluster.

Both groups found holding people accountable most difficult (e.g.confronting poor performance). In this sample of outstanding individuals,only 55% of headteachers and 63% of business leaders werecharacterised by this ability.

IN ACTION Holding People Accountable

We went round and I got them to report progress on what wed agreed. Of course, whenwe got to him, he had to confess hed done less than nothing. I said We need you to dowhat you said and we need it by next Wednesday. It was so clear hed let everyonedown, that he pulled his finger out and finally did an excellent job.

IN ACTION Transformational Leadership

We took a day. The main thing was, I got them to acknowledge there were improvementsneeded. I turned it round from them coming into the room dispirited and low, to peoplegoing out euphoric. We didnt have the detailed strategy then, we just had established wewere going to change things and why.



10/29

4. Influencing Tactics and Playing Politics

Business leaders stand out for the sophistication of their influencing skills. Whileheadteachers excel at creating a persuasive message and adapting it to their audience,business leaders are more likely to assemble coalitions and alliances, to influenceindirectly through other people.

Personal impact is critical to leadership in education and business.Impact comes both through creating a compelling picture of where youwant the organisation to go and bringing people with you. Influencingskills come in many degrees of sophistication.

Both groups are strong at creating a tailored message, adapting theirstyle and focus to a particular group.

Business leaders are more strategic in their influencing. They are morelikely to build coalitions or alliances in support of an initiative, to workthrough others and behind the scenes to build support. There was a 61%bias towards business leaders at this level.

0

20

40

60

80

100

Influencing

Tailored vStrategic

These graphs show thepercentage of each groupto pass the model forImpact and Influence andthe degree to which thischaracteristic, at higherlevels, differentiates thetwo groups.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

0%100% 100%

Strategic Influencing

Head61%

Exec

87% of business leaders passed the model, compared to 68% ofheadteachers.

Business leaders also relied on a different sort of political awareness.Headteachers performed well at assessing culture and climate, businessleaders were more apt at manipulating the forces and playing politics shown by a 75% bias towards business leaders.

IN ACTION Impact & Influence

I knew that even to discuss drugs was out of the question in some of our communities.But we needed to try. We set up a drugs information campaign. I went to the local papersand we used our existing networks with police, community groups and our primaryschools. But the key thing was getting to the parents. When I finally got to thegrandparents in our community it was a breakthrough.



11/29

5. Thinking Styles

Headteachers tend to think analytically breaking problems apart. Business leaders tendto think conceptually seeing the big picture.

The thinking styles people use habitually in their work can be verydifferent from the ones they apply to academic tests. The real measure is

not IQ but the approach people take on their own initiative to problems inthe workplace. Headteachers and business leaders are both strong butcome from different directions.

Headteachers are more analytical than business leaders. They arestronger at constructing and using multiple levels of cause and effect demonstrated by an 80% bias towards headteachers.

Conceptual v Analytical

These contrast the differentthinking styles typicallyadopted by the two groups,

showing the degree towhich conceptual oranalytical thinkingdifferentiates them.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

0%100% 100%

Conceptual

Head76%

0%100% 100%

Analytical

Head80%

ExecExec

Business leaders are more conceptual than headteachers, with a 76%bias towards business. They find it easier to clarify complex issues andsituations by using unifying concepts and models. They are moreinventive in creating new models and ideas.

IN ACTION Conceptual Thinking

I took all the examples I could gather of effective assessment frameworks. I went througha modification process which took account of the particular needs, and range of needs,that there are within the school. I related the frameworks directly to the curriculum. Iconstructed a curriculum model because I think if people see things its easier to take inand understand how a system works.

IN ACTION Analytical Thinking

Year on year wed been pushing up percentage achievements. Wed had some verygood year groups and I just couldnt see how we were going to push it further. I looked ateverything to see where we could wring out further improvements. Finally, I came to theconclusion that for certain subjects I would stream the children.



12/29

Findings: Leadership Styles

Leadership stylesare the techniques people use to influence, motivate

and direct others to meet the organisations goals. The characteristics we

described earlier feed into and shape leadership styles.

Note: For a listand definition of

leadershipstyles, see theGlossary ofTerms, page 24.

There is no single correct style to use. The most successful leaders inany environment are those who can employ a range of styles. Differentsituations or groups of people call for different styles. Some styles shouldonly be used rarely, others tend to support good leadership on almost adaily basis, but when a particular style is used exclusivelyit can sour theclimate of an organisation.

The difficulty is that leadership is frequently founded on habit: the styleswe employ are usually unconscious. When under pressure, It is easy toslip into a style as an habitual response, even when inappropriate.

To take one example, an Affiliative style of leadership is concerned withcreating and sustaining positive, friendly relationships with and betweencolleagues. There are times, however, when a leader must communicatea vision that stretches and disturbs those relationships, or when theymust hold someone accountable for poor performance. In thesesituations an Affiliative style will not be effective.

Because leadership styles are frequently unconscious, feedback fromcolleagues can be crucial in revealing the true picture. For effectiveleadership we look for evidence of a broad range of dominant andsupporting leadership styles.

We measure leadership style by comparison to the total population of

leaders we have surveyed (tens of thousands, world-wide). The score isa percentage, showing how much of the population the individualexceeds. An individual with a score of, say, 75% would display that stylemore frequently than three quarters of the other leaders in the database.

The diagram below summarises the styles demonstrated by eachgroup, according to their employees:

Styles

This diagramcompares theleadership styles

of heads andbusiness leaders.

The bars showwhich percentile ofthe wholepopulationeachgroup falls into.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

Dominant Style ifabove this level 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Coercive Authoritative Affiliative Democratic Pacesetting Coaching



13/29

Range of Styles:

Headteachers tend to use a broader range of leadership styles *than business leaders.Using a range of styles creates a more effective and motivational climate.

Headteachers have four styles in the dominant category (defined asfalling above the 66

thpercentile of the population as a whole) Coercive,

Authoritative, Affiliative and Coaching.

Business leaders, as a group, have only one dominant style Pacesetting. They also have one supporting style Authoritative, whichfalls in the 56

thpercentile of the population.

IN ACTION Authoritative Leadership

I set out what I thought the department should look like in a years time and explainedthat, without the changes to both curriculum and personnel, it would continue to lag interms of attainment. I talked about how making it would feel in terms of their self-esteemthen asked for their ideas on how we could make it happen.

Strengths:

Headteachers tend to rely on the more positive ways of influencing people. Over the longterm reliance on these styles will build a positive climate.

Headteachers are strong on Authoritative and Coaching styles bothfalling above the 70

thpercentile. They tend to set clear expectations and

focus on raising the capability of their people creating opportunities fortheir development even at the expense of current performance.

Weaknesses:

The two groups have very different weak spots. Two leadership styles can have negativeimpacts when overused Coercive and Pacesetting. Headteachers are strongly coercivebut very low in pacesetting. Business leaders are strong on pacesetting but not coercive.

Headteachers fall into the 85th

percentile of the population for use of aCoercive style. They are prone, as a group, to issuing orders andexpecting obedience. While this can help create clarity and raisestandards in the short term, over the long term it diminishes responsibilityand team commitment (see data on Climate below).

By comparison, business leaders rarely employ a coercive style fallinginto only the 32

ndpercentile of the population.

Business leaders fall into the 72nd

percentile for use of a Pacesettingstyle. They are prone, as a group, to expectinghigh standards rather thanproviding instruction, taking over tasks if they are worried about quality.They are not keen on letting people make mistakes as developmentopportunities. While this keep standards high, over the long term itdiminishes a sense of responsibility, recognition and team commitment.

By comparison, headteachers do not often paceset fitting the 23rd

percentile of the population. This reinforces their strength in coaching anddevelopment.



14/29

IN ACTION Coercive Leadership

When I joined, the school had serious weaknesses, there was little will to do anything people had their heads down. After I while I simply told them what to do and had to watchclosely to make sure they did. Things didchange for the better, especially on attendanceand behaviour. But, Ive found now that staff are passive and wait for instruction theydont come to me with ideas.

As well as asking colleagues to provide feedback on their bossesleadership styles, through questionnaires, we also ask participants tocomplete a questionnaire about how they see themselves.

Self Awareness:

Both groups have accurate self-perception. But, while headteachers tend tounderestimate their styles, business leaders tend to overestimate them.

The strong message from this study is that, individual blind spots aside,

as a group both headteachers and business leaders are broadly in tunewith their employees about the styles they employ.

Self and employees ratings fall largely within 15% of each other for bothgroups.

Business leaders self-ratings tend to be slightly higherthan theiremployees. In particular they think they are more democratic than theyactually are.

Headteachers self-ratings tend to be slightly lowerthan theiremployees. In particular, they underplaytheir use of coaching styles ofleadership.

The findings indicate that headteachers could be more confident that theyare doing a good job in the eyes of their employees. They perhaps alsoprovide clues why the coercive style is not used in business so much.Business executives take a pride in not being seen as old fashioned,coercive bosses and would rather think of themselves as democratic.

IN ACTION Blind Spots

An NQT said to me, one day, that during his first year hed learnt the most when hed

been able to try a new way of looking at poems for his English class. The lesson hadfailed, but he understood why. Id let him do this and supported him. Id not seen myselfdoing that, or realised it was important to him. So hearing it from him fascinating. I startedthinking about whether I did that for other people, whether I should do more.

*

More information on Hays work on leadership styles can be found in Daniel Golemans article in the Harvard BusinessReview: Leadership That Gets Results.



15/29

Findings: Climate

Climate is the sense, in the minds of the people who work there, of what

it feels like to be part of an organisation. Climate affects how hard theywork, how inspired they feel and how well their efforts are aligned to theneeds of the organisation. In short, climate determines results in anyorganisation that relies on the contribution of people.

Note: For a list

and definitionof climatedimensions, seethe Glossary ofTerms, page 24.

Weve also shown how strongly the role of the leader influences climate:of all the factors involved, leadership has the greatest impact. This makesclimate a vital measure of the effectiveness of a leader.

In particular, Leadership Styles influence the climate very closely. Forexample, the Authoritative style is closely linked with the sense of Clarity,while the Affiliative style, if overused, can diminish it. The Democraticstyle has a positive impact on the sense of Flexibility, Responsibility and

Team Commitment.

We gather information on climate through questionnaires that ask peopleto rate the climate now and as they would like it to be in an ideal situation.

Climate is split into six dimensions and the diagram below displays theresults for leaders in business and education against each dimension.

The measure that is most useful for comparison between different groupsis the perceived gap between actual and ideal climate. This measuresthe demand for improvement or the felt need within the organisation.Measuring gaps ensures that we are comparing like for like rather thanobserving difference in rating styles.

The contrasts between headteacher and business leaders are clear.When looking at the chart below, the smaller the bar, the better itrepresents a smaller gap.

Climate

This diagramcompares the gapbetween actual andideal climate forheads and

business leaders.

The bars show therelative scale of thegap.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

5

10

15

20

25

30

Flexibility Standards Clarity



16/29

Strengths:

Headteachers foster a sense of Flexibility and Clarity. Business leaders create a sense ofResponsibility and Standards.

The climate created by headteachers falls into the 90th

percentile of thepopulation forFlexibility, which is actually a big weakness for business

leaders.

Digging deeper into the responses, it appears this positive rating is drivenby headteachers efforts to minimise bureaucracy and to respondinnovatively to changes and challenges.

Headteachers are also strong on creating Clarity falling into the 86th

percentile of the population. They are stronger here, though, on settingexpectations and communicating where people fit in, than on conveying asense of mission and direction (which supports the findings from thestudy of characteristics).

Business leaders reach the 85th

percentile forResponsibility, which isnot a strength for headteachers. Business leaders build Responsibilityprimarily by supporting their employees in taking calculated risks toachieve goals. In contrast, the responses showed that this was notsomething headteachers tended to do.

Business leaders reach the 81st

percentile for the sense ofStandardsthey create. This sense can be driven by two factors a continuous drivefor improvement and an expectation of excellence. It is the latter at whichbusiness leaders excel. Headteachers do not excel at creating thisfeeling.

IN ACTION Clarity

So, first of all, I said to the group that it was Joannes responsibility they were to take upthe exact arrangements with her. However, I also took the opportunity at the staff meetingto ensure that everyone knew that our policy was that allteam leaders would plan andconduct reviews as part of their job. My senior management team would co-ordinateresponses to common issues only.



17/29

Weaknesses:

Headteachers could improve on Standards, Rewards and Team Commitment. For businessleaders, the weak spots are Flexibility, Rewards, Clarity and Team Commitment.

As a group, headteachers could most improve on two areas. The first isStandards, where they reach the 76

thpercentile of the population.

Digging into the responses, the difficulty with Standards is fostering aspirit of excellence, with headteachers reaching only the 61

stpercentile.

Headteachers, as a group, do care about improvement.

The second area for development is Reward, where headteachers fallinto the 75

thpercentile. This makes sense, as headteachers also report

feeling most constrained here by policy and what they perceive to be theexpectations of their staff.

A sense of reward is built on two factors the feeling of recognition foreffort and achievement, on which headteachers do well, but also thesense that reward is linked to performance. In the private perceptions of

teachers, there is not a strong enough link in schools between theamount of reward received and the amount of individual effort put in.

It is vital to note, though, that Rewards are not just about salary, but thewhole emotional return available from work.

Business leaders share headteachers difficulties in creating a sense ofReward so the issue is not confined to the public sector. Except that,here, the causes are reversed with business leaders the issue isrecognition, not the link to performance.

Business leaders fare least well on Clarity. The drivers are reversedwhen compared to headteachers business leaders are conveying a

sense of mission, but they are not communicating individual expectationseffectively.

Business leaders, according to their employees, are not creating asufficient sense ofFlexibility. The biggest weak spot within thisdimension is the level of bureaucracy and procedure. However, businessleaders are also much weaker than headteachers on innovation.

Finally, the biggest weak spot for both groups is Team Commitment headteachers fall into the 66

thpercentile, business leaders into the 62

nd.

Headteachers can inspire dedication and co-operation but they fall shorton building a congenial working environment. Business leaders are seento have trouble encouraging co-operation.

IN ACTION Rewards

The problem, as I saw it, was that people were used to being treated the same. Praise, ormore usually, blame, was spread without discrimination. Nobody got fired up. So I makethe effort to notice what people do they know that I know what theyve done. Equally, Imake it clear if Im not happy. I cant always use the pay scale as I might wish, but thereare other ways.



18/29

Expectations:

The most important aspects of climate to teachers were Clarity, Rewards and Flexibility.They valued Responsibility the least. In business, people valued Responsibility mosthighly.

As well as measuring actual climate, we asked employees to describe

theiridealclimate on the questionnaire.

Overall, the average level of expectations is broadly similar for bothheadteachers and business leaders in the 98

thpercentile for

headteachers and in the 97th

percentile for business leaders. Theevidence suggests that neither group has a harder job than the other inestablishing an effective climate.

The most striking finding is on Responsibility the sense of autonomyand ability to take risks. Teachers ideals here are rather low in the 83

rd

percentile. It may be that they feel too exposed to public scrutiny andOfsted inspections.

By contrast, the employees of business leaders value Responsibilityextremely highly in the 97

thpercentile.

The most important dimension for teachers was Flexibility, scoring 99%on ideal ratings. This is easy to interpret. Flexibility is the sense thatthere are few or no unnecessary rules.

75

80

85

90

95

100

Flexibility Responsibility Standards Rewards Clarity Team

Commitment

Ideal Climates

This diagram shows

the idealratings forclimate, provided bythe employees ofheadteachers andbusiness leaders.

It shows whichpercentile of thewhole population theclimate of each groupfalls into.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

IN ACTION Responsibility

He said to me I didnt even think to check with you and I said I wouldnt expect you to.

Weve agreed the standards, its your job. Im pleased that you just got on with it.



19/29

Actual Climate:

To reinforce the previous analysis, we also compared the overall climateratings for the two groups. The diagram below shows scores foractualclimate ratings for headteachers and business leaders (rather than thegap between actual and ideal).

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

Flexibility Responsibility Standards Rewards Clarity Team

Commitment

Actual Climate

This diagram showsthe climate ratings forheadteachers andbusiness leaders.

It shows whichpercentile of thewhole population theclimate of each group

falls into.

Headteachers

Business Leaders

Summary:

Overall, headteachers, as a group, tend to create a different climate in the perception oftheir employees than business leaders.

Headteachers are significantly stronger at encouraging Flexibilityand creating Clarity.

Business leaders are significantly stronger on providing a feeling ofResponsibility and moderately stronger at setting Standards.

A shared weakness of both groups lies in fostering TeamCommitment.



20/29

What Education could learn from Business

This study reveals that our schools possess strong andversatile leadership. Headteachers perform well, both in

comparison to their counterparts in private business andagainst the expectations of their staff.

We have seen, though, that school climate is an extremely stronginfluence on the academic and social development of children. We havealso seen that headteachers make a strong impression on climate. Anyopportunities for improvement, therefore, are still welcome.

Obviously, individuals will vary enormously, but as a group, our studyreveals two development priorities for headteachers.

Standards:

A shared feeling that things are done well round here is stronglymotivational. To foster a sense of high standards, headteachers couldlearn from business leaders skill at communicating an expectation ofexcellence.

Our investigation of characteristics found that business leaders werebetter at both painting an attractive vision of the future andholding peopleaccountable for their current performance. This finding may indicate thecause of the difference in standards, in the sense of creating vivid goalsfor improvement and closely monitoring progress towards them.

Rewards:

The message from teachers is that, whilst headteachers are good atrecognising and valuing their employees, they are less good at matchingrecognition to contribution. In many schools rewards are distributed on anegalitarian or blanket basis.

Teachers, on the whole, do not feel motivated by this. It can be extremelydisheartening to deliver an outstanding performance and receive thesame praise as your average colleague.

Taking a more discriminating approach to reward is challenging howwill that average colleague feel when the high performer is treateddifferently? We have seen that headteachers often employ an Affiliative

style of leadership they care about harmonious relationships.Headteachers also report feeling constrained by the grading and salarystructure for teachers that they must work within.

There are two important lessons from business. Business leaders did notrely heavily on Affiliative styles. Equally, modern approaches to rewardextend far beyond salary to encompass benefits, training opportunities,responsibility, working environments and recognition.

Headteachers strengths rest on their concern for developing people andvaluing staff perhaps they could employ these talents to developing asense of fair reward in school as well.



21/29

What Business could learn from Education

The leadership behaviours and styles used by headteachers also offersome useful guidance for business leaders.

Versatility:

As leaders, headteachers tend to employ a more diverse range of styles and approaches.They can be Authoritative, Affiliative, Coercive or Coaching as required.

Versatility creates a better climate for the motivation of employees.Perhaps this versatility derives from the wide range of constituencies andaudiences a headteacher must deal with. One requires very differentstyles when dealing with pupils or parents, teachers or inspectors.

Business leaders mayface a slightly more homogenous set ofstakeholders but it is hard to see that there is no variety at all.

Headteachers seem better able to transfer the styles and approach theyuse with one group to dealing with others.

Coaching and Development:

Headteachers tend to employ what is often thought of as a more modern managerial style.

They are genuinely interested in the development and growth of theirstaff. They create opportunities for people to learn and practice newskills, and they are prepared to let someone make their own mistakesand learn from the experience.

Business leaders are far less prepared to engage in this kind of activity.

Their tendency is to take a task away from someone if they are not swiftlyup to scratch, rather than seek ways to improve them. In the short termthis promotes high standards, in the long term it is harmful to all otheraspects of climate.

Clarity:

Headteachers are more likely to approach their employees as individuals andcommunicate clear, individualised expectations.

In general, the business leaders in our sample were effective in settingand communicating a vision. They saw the big picture and could clarify itfor their employees. What lets them down is their ability to translate the

big picture into what is expected of each individual in their organisation in terms of clarity of roles and acceptable behaviours.

This is something headteachers are good at. Possibly the fact thatschools are smaller organisations helps them focus on individuals.Possibly the fact that the role of a teacher is traditionally well definedmakes the task easier. However, evidence shows that outstandingheadteachers take the trouble to know their pupils as individuals too making for a very broad organisation. Equally, the role of the teacher ischanging particularly that of team leader and senior manager.



22/29

Conclusions

Personal Implications:

The philosophy and findings of this study carry a strong and positive

personal message for all leaders. Leadership does make a difference.Through the characteristics and styles they employ, leaders influence theclimate of their organisation. Because climate inspires and channelsmotivation, a positive climate will lead to success in both business andeducation.

It is also clear that feedback is crucial. The first step in effectiveleadership is to establish exactly what sort of impact you make. Yourintuition will get you so far, but feedback from colleagues and employeeswill paint a more comprehensive picture and show you precisely where totarget change in order to have the greatest effect.

Feedback can be a painful process for both the giver and receiver. Toooften it focuses on the personal rather than the professional. Without aclear model and language to describe leadership it is only possible to sayyou are a good leader or you are a bad leader. But this cannot promotechange. As this study shows, headteachers as a group are good leaders to improve they need specific feedback on strengths and weaknesses.

This study uses aggregate data. We can draw conclusions about thetrends and averages of our two groups but individuals vary widely.People should use these models as the starting point for reflection and aframework for gathering feedback from their colleagues.

Sustainable behavioural change is difficult. It relies on self-direction,

accurate self perception, concrete goals, the opportunity to practicesafely, and constant feedback and measurement.

Policy Implications:

While many headteachers would say they operate in the face of strong

challenges, this study implies that many have faced up to the challenges

successfully:

Recruitment is difficult in education, yet headteachers have responded by

focusing on development and coaching they are more likely to improve

someone than replace them, with a long term beneficial impact on the

climate of their organisation.

They have to cover a broad range of tasks with widely different groups of

people, yet this has given them a diverse and flexible approach to

leadership problems.

Pay and grading are difficult for headteachers to use as discriminating,

effective tools, yet teachers feel more valued within schoolthan other

employees do within their organisations.

There is much to celebrate in the leadership of our schools. And, given the commitment of

many in education to the concept of lifelong learning, the prospects for further

improvement are good. This study has tried to reveal the strengths and suggestopportunities for development.



23/29

Appendix 1: Glossary of Terms

Introduction to our Approach:

What difference does a leader make? Hay has pursued this question in awide variety of environments, starting from early work by Dr DavidMcLelland with the US Navy, through three decades of consulting tointernational business and, most recently, examining the role ofheadteachers in UK schools.

Hays work breaks down the complicated and amorphous idea ofleadership into concrete actions and characteristics with proven links tothe outcomes needed of the organisation. In essence, we aim to sayThese are the things leaders do to achieve the results you are lookingfor.

While many of the findings are intuitive, even common sense, it is the

rigour of the links to performance and the clarity of the models that is ofreal value. They enable people in the job to reflect on their own behaviourand take immediate steps to improve their impact.

In all environments in which we have worked, we have found a causalmodel of the relationship between leadership behaviour andperformance:

A Causal Model:

1. The Characteristics (motivation, attitudes and behaviours) of theindividual determine the styles of leadership (or methods of influencing)they habitually employ.

2. These Leadership Styles determine the feel of an organisation. Theycreate a perception in the minds of the employees about how they areexpected to behave and how they should perform their role. We call thisperception Climate.

The Climate of an organisation influences and directs the motivation andengagement of the employees. It stimulates the effort they put in at theirown discretion. Climate has a direct impact on results, whether they areshareholder value or the rounded development of pupils.

3.

Professional Characteristics

Leadership Styles

Organisational Climate

Results



24/29

An Example of the Model at Work:

If a leader works on

Characteristic: e.g. Conceptual ThinkingDistilling the key issues from a mass of trendsand information; finding new and creative ways

to explain things clearly.

it will help them deploy a style which is more

Leadership Style: e.g.AuthoritativeSetting a clear vision for the organisation, communicatingwhere we are going, and why, so that people can work

towards the goals.

which will create a sense of

Climate Dimension: e.g.ClarityPeople feel that they understand how their rolecontributes to the aims of the organisation, and

the actions and behaviours that are most appropriate.

Performance: and consequently, people will become moremotivated, morale will be higher and results will improve.

This diagram uses our model to show how a leaders particular characteristics can change the results ofthe organisation. The key question it leaves is, If this person was motivated to change (perhaps throughfeedback that people lacked a sense of clarity), what could they do to permanently and significantlyimprove their conceptual thinking?

Two sets of statistics demonstrate the power of these links:

Multiple studies show that up to 70% of the variation in OrganisationalClimate is determined by the Styles of the leader.

Changes in Climate can increase discretionary effort by as much as 30%.

In schools, in particular, we have discovered a direct and proportionalcorrelation between Climate and Ofsted measures of school attainment.



25/29

Professional Characteristics:

The specific behaviours, traits and attitudes which people use in their work.

Early research into competencies revealed that the deepercharacteristics such as motives and habits, rather than skills andknowledge, are the strongest predictors of success. Skills are necessary

but not sufficient to be outstanding.

Leadership Styles:

The habitual approaches an individual uses to motivate and direct theiremployees.

We have found six main leadership styles:

Authoritative This is where we are going and why.Coercive You must do this now!

Democratic What are your views on the matter?Pacesetting This is the way to do it.Affiliative Its important that we all get on.Coaching How can I support your learning?

Organisational Climate:

The key aspects of the environment of an organisation, as perceived by the peoplewho work there, which affect their motivation and performance.

We have found six key dimensions of climate:

Flexibility There are no unnecessaryrules here.Reward If I do well, it gets noticed and recognised.Clarity I know our goals and how I contribute.Standards We are expected to do well and improve.Responsibility I can get on with my job, make decisions.TeamCommitment People are proud to work here.

Model of Excellence:

The combinations of characteristics which lead to success in a particular role.

We have built a model of excellence for headteachers, which describesthe varied ways they achieve success. We use it here as a benchmark forboth headteachers and business leaders.



26/29

Appendix 2: Methodology and Sample

Methodology:

In separate studies over the last few years, we have investigated thecharacteristics of leaders in both business and education. Weve alsolooked at the styles they use and the climate they create.

When it comes to characteristics, we are mostly interested in what ittakes to become outstanding or excellent in a particular role. So weinvestigate samples of effective and highly effective performers. Thebasis of our findings lies in the difference between the two: whatoutstanding performers do more often or more effectively than the others.These are the differentiatingordistinguishingcharacteristics.

We used the following methods to gain the data:

Behavioural Event Interviews:Three hour interviews, focusing on critical events in the leaders career what do they do, say, feel and think during these events? Theseinterviews are coded against a dictionary of characteristics. Thesecharacteristics can be rated for level and frequency displayed. Whencompiled into a large enough sample, they provide a statistical base for arigorous and detailed description of behaviour.

Self and Peer Review of Leadership Styles:

We ask a leader and five of their closest colleagues to completequestionnaires on the leadership styles they use. These questionnairesask a variety of questions around each of the six major styles, drawing on

concrete examples of behaviour.

Self and Peer Review of Climate:

We ask the leader and five of their closest colleagues to completequestionnaires on the climate in their team or organisation. Eachparticipant rates the climate along six key dimensions. Each dimension isinvestigated through a number of related questions. Participants areasked to rate the climate as they perceive it now, and as they would like itto be in the future. This gap between actual and ideal provides usefulinformation for self development.

A Common Benchmark:

These methods give us a great deal of data from a variety of perspectives from the individuals own thoughts and from the experience of theircolleagues. In practice, with qualitative data of this kind, we also need totake care that we use a common benchmark, and that different raters areusing the same criteria and scales.

The next stage of the study is to correlate the data on characteristics withdata on the performance of the individuals and their organisations. Thisenables us to distinguish with confidence between the attributes ofeffective and highly effective performers.



27/29

Sample:

We brought together a number of separate studies for the currentcomparison. To enable us to compare outstanding performers in eachsphere, we also chose a sample of highly effective leaders from withinthe wider population of each group the best of the best from businessand education. We did not include poor performers in our sample.

We gathered data on styles and climate from the whole population. Wegathered data on characteristics from the outstanding groups.

Business Leaders:

We used a sample built from studies performed in a number ofmultinational blue chip organisations. We selected chief executives,board members and senior line managers at director level. Theseindividuals represent the cream of business leaders; they operate on aglobal level in multi-billion dollar organisations with well known brandnames. Their sectors include manufacturing, consumer products, retail,information technology and finance.

We used a broad group of200 effective business leaders. Of these, wealso chose 33 who were judged to be outstanding performers accordingto their results.

Educational Leaders:

We used a sample from two studies of headteachers in the UK. Theseheadteachers have a range of experience, from newly appointed to longserving. They lead schools with a variety of resources and challenges from large secondary schools (often the biggest employer in their area) tosmall rural primaries; from suburbia to inner city; from prosperous topoorer neighbourhoods. We also included the leaders of special schools

whose pupils have a range of emotional, physical and behaviouraldifficulties.

We used a broad group of200 effective headteachers. We also selecteda group of36 outstanding performers according to their schoolsachievements.

Size of Sample:

For each group we have comparable data on the characteristics andleadership styles of each individual and the climate they create. Thecombined group of 66 outstanding leaders is large enough to give ourfindings on characteristics statistical significance, and is built from over

200 hours of interviews and 70,000 pages of data!

The wider group of effective performers contains four hundred individualsand the data is built from over 2,000 questionnaires.

For headteachers, we also have a researched Model of Excellence.

This model describes the demands of the role what it takes to do a

good job as a headteacher. One of the questions we can ask is how the

business leaders match up to the model of excellence for headteachers.



28/29


Hay Group Education

Hay Group is a leading global consultancy specialising in people issues.We have researched and designed models of effective leadership for a

variety of organisations in the public and private sector.

In education in the UK, our expertise stems from a number of projects:

The Leadership Programme for Serving Headteachers

Europes largest management development programme. 5,000headteachers have been through this development course, based onresearched models of excellence for leadership in schools. Over threequarters of participants rate it as the best training they have everreceived. Follow up work demonstrates marked improvements in schoolclimate as a result.

We are now delivering an FE College Principals Leadership Programmeand FE College Senior Management Team Development Programme.

Teacher Effectiveness Research

The DfES asked us to investigate what makes a highly effectiveclassroom teacher. As well as building models of excellence for teaching,we were also able to test the applicability of organisational climate to theindividual classroom. In a significant breakthrough, we were able tocreate a model ofClassroom Climate that predicts the academicprogress of pupils.

From this background we are now working on professional development

and school improvement programmes around the world.

Headteachers and teachers can obtain personal feedback on the climatethey create and the styles they use through our on-line professionaldevelopment service: Transforming Learning.

This is a commercial service for schools and education authorities, whocan purchase a licence providing unlimited access for the entireorganisation. You can explore how Transforming Learning works throughour website:

www.transforminglearning.co.uk

For more information please contact us on:

Phone: (020) 7856 7000Email: [email protected]

Hay Group Education33 Grosvenor PlaceLondon

SW1X 7HG


29/29

The Lessons of Leadership

Documents

Transcript of The Lessons of Leadership