Traditional Leaders Vs Collaborative Leaders

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Showing empathy in your leadership

By Dan McCarthy

Empathy among corporate managers is in short supply, according to a survey of more than 600 employees by talent mobility consulting firm Lee Hecht Harrison. The survey found that 58% of managers fail to show the right level of understanding toward their employees.

“Empathy isn’t a weakness, but fundamental to good management,” said Kristen Leverone, senior vice president for Lee Hecht Harrison’s Global Talent Development Practice. “It means being able to understand and relate to others’ feelings. After all, if a supervisor or manager can’t tune into the feelings of employees, it’s going to be very difficult to motivate or engage them. The survey seems to have struck a chord, and the findings should raise concerns for management.”

What is empathy? It’s an understanding of someone else’s world, and showing the person that you understand.

Empathy is not agreement — and it’s not sympathy (“oh, you poor thing”) — it’s simply understanding something from the other person’s perspective.

So how can you be a more empathetic leader? Here are five ways:

1. Get to know your employees.

How well do you really know your employees? Try this test: take out a piece of paper, and for each employee, see if you can name their spouse or significant other, names of their kids, where they live, where they went to college and where their parents live.

If you came up with a lot of blanks, I’d recommend spending a little more time in your one-on-ones asking and sharing before you jump right into status reports. It’s how relationships and trust are built, and demonstrates that you are interested and care.

2. One-on-ones?

You are having regular one-one-ones with each of your employees, aren’t you? If you’re not, its kind and hard to be empathetic if you don’t have a clue what your employees are doing.

3. Show interest in your employee’s day-to-day work.

A lot of managers like to think of themselves as big-picture managers, with little interest in knowing the gory details of every aspect of their employee’s jobs. While no employee wants to be micro-managed, employees do appreciate it when their managers show an interest and appreciation for what they do. Who knows, you might even learn something.

4. Listen — and respond with empathy.

Responding with empathy means letting your employee know you heard and understood both what they said, as well as how they feel. It’s harder than it sounds, and will take some practice, but people will appreciate even the clumsiest of efforts.

Example: “So Jane, let me see if I understand — you’ve been frustrated at the lack of support that you are getting from IT? Is that is?”

Listening not only shows people you care, and that you “get it”, it also often allows people to solve their own problems, just from being able to talk it out with someone.

5. Lend a hand.

Lending a hand, removing roadblocks, providing support and/or resources — that’s what managers are supposed to do, right? When someone is having a problem, they are stuck, or just can’t figure it out on their own; “Figure it out, that’s what you’re paid to do” isn’t very empathetic. You may not come right and say that, but you may be coming across that way.

I had the opportunity to listen to a CEO talk about his company culture at a presentation lately. He took a lot of pride in making sure he knew every employee’s name (about 300 employees), and liked to wander around chatting with each of them, asking about their jobs, their families, etc.

During one of these chats, one of his plant managers let him know that his son had been recently arrested — he made a stupid mistake. Needless to say, this was weighing heavily on the manager’s mind. The CEO asked him if he had an attorney — and he didn’t. That day, the CEO found an attorney for him and paid for it. Turns out the CEO had a similar experience with his own son.

While this may be an extreme example of empathy and lending a hand, can you imagine the impact that gesture had on that plant manager’s commitment to his company and his motivation? Priceless.

About the author: Dan McCarthy is the director of Executive Development Programs at the University of New Hampshire. He writes the award-winning leadership development blog Great Leadership and is consistently ranked as one of the top digital influencers in leadership and talent management. He’s a regular contributor to SmartBrief and a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce Advisory Board. E-mail McCarthy.

Source Courtesy: http://smartblogs.com/

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Ten silly management games

By Dan McCarthy 

Most managers are rationale, logical, practical problem solvers when they first get promoted. Then, through organizational conditioning, they learn to play silly games. They are like the frog in a pan of boiling water. The change is so gradual; these silly games eventually begin to feel like “real world management.”

How many of these silly management games do you play? More importantly, do you have the courage to speak up and stop the insanity?

We’ll start with some silly budgeting games:

1.      “Use it or lose it budgeting.” This is when you are getting close to the end of the year and your budget is running under your forecast. In previous years, when you under spent, your next year’s budget was set based on that year’s actual. So, in order not to have your budget cut again, you go on a shopping spree — buying stuff you really don’t need or stocking up just in case you might need it.

2.     “Lowballing your forecast.” This one is kind of the opposite of No. 1. In this game, the idea if to “sandbag,” or undercommit to what you think you can actually do. That way, then the powers above ask you to increase your goal, you know you can do it. Then, you look even better for exceeding your target.

3.     “The shell game.” This is when orders are given to cut expenses in one category, i.e., travel, so you increase spending in another catalog, i.e., conferences, and bury the costs. Or, management says to reduce money spent on postage, so you spend more money on bike couriers. There is a net gain of zero, perhaps even an increase in spending.

Human resources’ silly games (a category with infinite possibilities!):

4.     “Pass the trash.” This is when you “encourage” an underperforming employee to apply for other jobs within the company. When you are asked for a reference, you give glowing reviews, or use code word phrases like “Oh, Wally is a great guy! He just needs an opportunity to leverage his skills in a new environment more suited to his strengths.”

5.     “A warm body is better than no body.” Hiring freezes bring out a lot of silly management gamesmanship. This one is when you have an underperforming employee, but you won’t take action because you’re afraid you won’t be able to replace the headcount. So the rest of your employees get to suffer the consequences.

6.     “Gladiators.” This is when you ask two employees to work on the same problem. Let ‘em duke it out and let the best solution emerge!

Organizational silly games:

7.      “Risk” (empire building). “Risk” is the game of conquest, where one army invades another country and captures the land in order to build up an empire. I’ve heard managers also call this game “a land grab.” The idea is to lobby to your boss and anyone that will listen that your department can do the other department’s job better than they can, so you should take it over.

8.     “Shaking the bird cage.” Some employees call frequent, questionable reorganizations “shaking up the bird cage.” You get a lot of noisy chaos and ruffled feathers flying, and at the end of the day, the same bunch are sitting on different perches, albeit a little dizzy from all of the cage-rattling. Nothing else seems to change.

Strategy silly games:

9.     “Trivial Pursuit.” This is when the company has no strategy, so the manager keeps everyone busy fighting day-today fires, jumping from one hot priority to the next.

10. “Clue.” This is when the company does have a strategy, but it’s such a secret or so high level and vague that the manager has to guess what it is or make up their own.

How about you? Any to add to the list?

Source Courtesy: http://smartblogs.com/

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David Kelley: How to build your creative confidence

Is your school or workplace divided into "creatives" versus practical people? Yet surely, David Kelley suggests, creativity is not the domain of only a chosen few. Telling stories from his legendary design career and his own life, he offers ways to build the confidence to create... (From The Design Studio session at TED2012, guest-curated by Chee Pearlman and David Rockwell.)

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Request to Participate in an Educational Leadership Survey to School Principals

Survey Instrument: Building Collaborative Culture in School Survey

Title of the Research:

A Study of Principals Awareness for Teacher Leadership in Building Collaborative Culture in Schools

Purpose of the Research:

The purpose of this project is to identify what Principals’ “aware” about building a collaborative workplace environment for teachers. Collaboration is identified as teachers working together in the shared pursuit of improving professional practices that improve student learning. So the project aims to identify what awareness school principals have in building a culture of collaboration.

Teachers who engage in continuous learning become better teachers. Hence, improving student achievement is conditional upon teacher learning. And given the nature of the global economy that we live in, it is imperative for our education system to continually improve. Collaboration is one effective strategy for improving professional practice. Therefore, a collaborative culture becomes foundational to improving student learning and best preparing the next generation for a global economy.

This study will help clarify areas on which professional organisations, institutions of learning, education boards and departments across the country can focus to be more effective and efficient at building administrator’s capacity to create collaborative workplace environments for teachers.

Procedure:

Many school principals in the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra are invited to participate in a brief, 10 to 15 minutes on-line survey using Gmail facility.

                                                                                                                  

Risks:

There are no known risks of discomforts associated with this research.

Benefits:

Participants in this study do not receive direct individual benefit. However, participants do indirectly get professional benefit from participation in this research study will help professional organisations, institutions of learning, education boards and departments to develop principal capacity to create collaborative workplace environments for teachers. Results of this study will help these individuals and organisations provide current and future principals with better quality professional development and focussed learning based on identified needs that will ultimately improve teacher practice and student learning.

Confidentiality:

Your participation and responses to my questions are confidential. Data used in reports will be presented in a manner that prevents identification of individuals and schools.

Opportunity to Ask Questions:

You are encouraged to ask questions concerning this research before on after agreeing to participate in this research study. Please contact me at 09552061187 or my wife, Mrs. Ancy Radhakrishnan, 09552913784 or chettour@gmail.com or readnflourish@gmail.com with any questions you have regarding my study.

Freedom to Withdraw:

Your participation in this study is voluntary. You are free to decide not to participate in this study or to withdraw from this study at any time without adversely impacting your relationship with the researcher. Your decision will not result in any loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.

How to Participate:

Copy and paste the ‘survey attachment file’ given below into a new MS Word document and follow the instructions given with it or you can request me in the below given email id for survey questionnaire and follow the instructions in the questionnaire. After answering the questionnaire save the document onto your computer and attach and mail the same file in the given email id. Any problems, kindly contact the researcher. Forwarding this page link to interested fellow principals and encouraging them to participate in this exercise would be appreciated.

Consent, Right to Receive a Copy:

You are voluntarily making a decision whether or not to participate in this research study. Your acceptance certifies that you have decided to participate having read and understood the information presented. Please print a copy of this informed consent for your records. I would appreciate if you could mail me a certificate of your participation in this survey in your letter head with your sign and stamp.

Please accept my sincere thanks for your help with this important project.

Radhakrishnan. C

chettour@gmail.com

Survey Attachment file

Survey Purpose:

The purpose of this survey is to identify what principals “aware” about building a collaborative culture in schools for teachers. Thank you for your time!

5-point linkert-scale items

Please respond to the following items using this scale(Put a tick (√) against the appropriate option):

Use

DK = Don’t Know or Unsure

1 = Strongly Disagree

2 = Disagree

3 = neither Agree nor Disagree

4 = Agree

5 = Strongly Agree

Principals Must:

Sl. No.	Principals Must:	DK	1		2	3	4	5
1.	Involve staff in making important decisions.
2.	Provide opportunities for staff input on important decisions.
3.	Encourage staff input on important decisions.
4.	Expect staff input on decisions.
5.	Implement decisions based on staff input.
6.	Engage all teachers in leadership roles.
7.	Focus staff meetings on student learning.
8.	Use workshops as the best way to improve teacher practice that impacts student learning.
9.	Have teachers work together in teams as the best way to improve student learning.
10.	Have teachers work by themselves as the best way to improve student learning more than by working in teams.
11.	Engage teachers in daily professional learning as the best way to improve student learning.
12.	Build consensus in order to facilitate change.
13.	Persist in the face of all obstacles in order to implement change.
14.	Recognise whether solution(s) to problems are either simple or complex.
15.	Recognise that meaningful change can be easy.

To build effective teams:

Of the following items, please identify the importance that you place on each element needed for building effective teams.

Sl. No.	To build effective teams, how important is:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
16.	Specific question strategies for teachers.
17.	A focus on improving instruction.
18.	Teachers working together.
19.	Teachers planning together.
20.	Teachers thinking together.
21.	Teachers talking about professional issues together.
22.	Teachers responding and observing to teaching.
23.	Teachers observing and responding to curriculum.
24.	Teachers observing and responding to assessment.
25.	Teachers developing joint lesson plans.
26.	Teachers developing curriculum.
27.	Principal evaluation of teachers based on the work of the team.
28.	The use of protocols (step-by-step procedures for teams).
29.	Training teachers in the skills and knowledge of collaboration.
30.	Using an incentive system for high teacher performance.
31.	Eliminating the isolation of individual classrooms.
32.	Networking with teachers in other buildings.

Resources:

Of the following items, please identify the importance that you place on each resource for building a collaborative environment for teachers.

Sl. No.	How important is it for Principals to find, provide or develop:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
33.	Time
34.	Materials
35.	Equipment
36.	Space
37.	Training in the use of protocols (step-by-step procedures for teams).
38.	Training in specific procedures.
39.	Administrative support.
40.	Trust between teachers.
41.	Access to new ideas.
42.	Access to expertise.

Continuous Improvement:

Of the following items, please identify the level of importance that you, as building principal, place on each element you know is necessary for continuous improvement.

Sl. No.	As principal, how important is:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
43.	Focused resources on a small number of goals.
44.	Data collection and analysis.
45.	The use of multiple information sources to guide and demonstrate improvement.
46.	Research-based decision making.
47.	A simple focus on refining processes in small ways.
48.	Clear, frequent talk about teaching.
49.	Clear, frequent talk about learning.
50.	Recognition and celebration for superior practices and results.
51.	Inventiveness/Innovativeness.
52.	Risk-taking on the part of the teachers.
53.	High expectations for student learning.
54.	The inclusion of continuous improvement work in teacher evaluation procedures.
55.	Using group of teachers as the main way for improving student learning.

Designing of professional learning:

Of the following items, please identify the level of importance that you place on each design of professional learning that you know will improve student learning.

Sl. No.	In improving student learning, how important is:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
56.	Developing, scoring, interpreting and acting on assessment as professional development.
57.	Designing, implementing, reflecting on and revising curriculum as professional development.
58.	Analysing and acting on data as professional development.
59.	Engaging in lesson study as professional development.
60.	Engaging in faculty study groups as professional development.

Correlation to Student Learning:

Of the following items, please identify the level of importance you place on each as it relates to your own work and its correlation to student learning.

Sl. No.	As principal, I must:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
61.	Learn along-side my staff.
62.	Learn from a mentor.
63.	Plan together with other principals about professional issues.
64.	Think together with other principals.
65.	Observe and respond to teaching with other principals.
66.	Observe and respond to assessments with other principals.
67.	Focus on improving instruction with other principals.
68.	Use protocols (step-by-step procedures for teams) with other principals.

Your own level of awareness:

Please rate your own level of awareness by responding to the following items:

Sl. No.	Self-assess your own level of knowledge on each of these areas:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
69.	Staff involvement in important decisions.
70.	Teachers working in teams.
71.	Modelling professional learning with/for staff.
72.	Allocate resources to improve student learning.
73.	Focusing staff meetings on students learning and improvement.
74.	Continuous improvement of student learning.
75.	Adult learning principles.
76.	Student learning principles.
77.	Principles of change.

Open-Ended:

        78. Please identify specific assessment-related activities that teachers can engage in as part of their professional learning:

        79. Please identify specific curriculum-related activities that teachers can engage in as part of their professional learning:

        80. Please identify specific instruction-related activities that teachers can engage in as part of their professional learning:

        Demographics:

        Demographic Items:

        81. Total years in education (including the current year).

            Years:

        82. Total students in your school.

            Students:

        83. Total years as a Principal (including the current year).

        Years:

        84. Total years since your last higher educational course (any course).   Years:                                                                                     

85.  Do you participate in a professional learning team?

Yes/No    (Strike out which is not applicable).

      If yes, please describe the composition of the professional learning team.

86. Please identify which Education Board you are part of.

Education Board: CBSE/ICSE/IB/IGCSE/State Board

In case State Board, specify:

                      

Thank you!

 

Thank you for your participation in this important survey!