Leadership Lessons from High Performing Organisations Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders, Birmingham 2017
The Presentation When I looked at the leader behaviours and practices from five high performing organisations and ten successful schools I found some common characteristics. Both the organisations and schools had behaviours and practices which had distinct similarities and were ‘constructively aligned.‘ In addition, there were significant levels of trust throughout. It was expressed and experienced in many different ways but was essential for success.
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
My role is, and has been, to help design, develop and deliver training programmes Learning method is constructivist Challenge is to develop a generation of coaches and managers who are reflective problem solvers Competency-Based Assessment Personal Development Plans Independent Research Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
Mentoring
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
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Purpose Performance People Plumbing Pizazz
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
“ In a VUCA world everything starts with purpose. Keep to your principles, continue to create a winning culture and give others an opportunity to play at their best.�
“Having a sense of higher purpose stimulates oxytocin production as does trust. Trust and purpose then mutually reinforce each other, providing a mechanism for extended oxytocin release. Joy on the job comes from doing purposedriven work with a trusted team. “ The Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies, 2017
“ Your personal core purpose should be indivisible from the schools and it’s about the difference you make to their life chances. This is the priority. I’ve always been described as ballsy but that’s only cos I know what’s right for us. When schools are going all wrong it’s all about leadership. Too much talk is about nonsense and irrelevant policies. Nonsense is anything that will not impact positively on pupils.'
“I’m always asking myself and the staff the same question, are we doing the best for our children, even our most violent and disruptive? If we don’t help them, who else will? We get unreasonable loyalty. Staff stay and children behave. I think its because we constantly ask these questions.”
“ The job of leadership is to describe a challenging vision and equip an organisation to achieve it. “
Four things to do to build purpose: 1. Develop your school by defining core purpose together. 2. Use core purpose to direct behaviours. 3. Test what you do against what you say you will do. 4. Survey parents, staff and pupils to help nudge alignment. Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
“Only by knowing errors and frustrations do we understand how to leave them behind. We are all human. Under pressure our cognitive bandwidth limits each and every one of us. Design the system so it works for humans. “
“ We give to receive. We share everything across our partner schools. It reduces stress and it reduces workload. We want to make what we do in learning highly transparent. Visibility is an important concept for us. You can see it in all our frameworks, where we not only describe our agreed methods but provide pictures of what they actually look like in classrooms. “
“ We don’t sweat the small stuff. You listen to all the initiatives but you have to chart your own way. My job is to free teachers up to teach and resource them and the school to allow it to happen. We plan our lessons a year in advance.“
Four things to do to enhance performance: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Insist on Role Clarity. Provide the essential tools for the task. Own the outcome, whatever. Reflect as a team regularly and deliberately.
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
“ Every year we get 2000 applications and audition 400 people for 33 places. Recruitment is like the story itself, we favour the underdog. We look for talent who can not only sing, and sing well, but act and bring individuality, dedication, spark and stamina without disrupting the core values of the team. “
The Production Values • • • • • • • • • •
Creativity Passion Commitment Dedication Inspiration Excellence Education, Development and Learning Pride Honesty History
'You have to be constantly renewing your radicalism' It can’t be business as usual. If we want young people to succeed then education needs a revolution. We've got to change how we teach as well as what we teach. For that reason we recruit opinionated, interested mavericks who bring something from beyond."
Four things to do to find and develop people: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Recruit beyond the Role. Measure Fitness and Hunger. Recycle and Refresh. Develop your Developers.
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
"My passion is how do you get excellence in Performance? I'm intrigued by this. How do I get the best out of others? I spend all my time thinking about this."
“The key is Progression not Perfection. How can you get the best practice in everything you do and sustain excellence? �
She’s a systems leader, or describes herself as such, concerned with organisational change. She likes to take on a challenging school, deconstruct its systems and structures, then reinvigorate, reorganise or replace the teachers and put it all back together again. She then tries to ensure it can sustain over time. Amanda tells me her model works in the schools with which her Trust chooses to engage. She’s convinced it is scaleable.
Four things to do to maintain your plumbing: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Back and Build the Brilliant Basics. Planning is development, so do it together. Flush out your Systems. Own your own Data.
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
“ We started innocent in 1999 after selling our smoothies at a music festival. We put up a big sign asking people if they thought we should give up our jobs to make smoothies, and put a bin saying 'Yes' and a bin saying 'No" in front of the stall. Then we got people to vote with their empties. At the end of the weekend, the 'Yes' bin was full, so we resigned from our jobs the next day and got cracking. “
“The best time to be alive is now and the only better time will be tomorrow. I’d love Innocent to be stuffed full of people with a growth mind-set. We will always back the person who takes the initiative even if that initiative completely flunks. “ Richard Read, co-founder innocent drinks, 2016
“No matter what's happened they know I will look after them. They know I'll never hang them out to dry. I'll get stuck in with them. There are always a few who are not quite there. People genuinely appreciate black and white honesty so when you tell them it’s rubbish they know its rubbish.“
Four things to do to have presence with pizazz: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Be Bold. Be Visible. Construct the Culture. Source more Networks.
Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust Trust
Purpose Performance People Plumbing Pizazz
Leadership Lessons Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders Birmingham 2017
Research into Oxytocin levels amongst staff showed a difference between high-trust and low-trust organisations. Compared with people at low-trust organisations, people at high-trust organisations report: 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement, Harvard Business Review, 2016
Things which leaders do to build and sustain trust: 1. Hang around. Do the day job, do it well and be visible in doing so. 2. Focus relentlessly on what's important and help others do the same. 3. Care but care with Candour 4. Stay consistent – if you say you'll do something, do it. 5. Build the Capacity for trust in the school.
Behaviour in high-trust organisations • Recognising positive contributions and doing so in front of the peer group • Building-in ‘Challenge Stress’ to activities and highlighting the progress being made • Inviting others to generate solutions to shared problems • Working in smaller units, with choice of method but accountability for results • Openness in Communication. • Interest in others • Positive personal goals • Willingness to admit and learn from mistakes Harvard Business Review, 2016
Leadership Lessons from High Performing Organisations Alistair Smith Inspiring Leaders, Birmingham 2017
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