The greatest lesson Greg learnt was to “share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects (p.150).” This may have seemed more time consuming to start with but in the long run it produced more sustainable results. Too often leaders are focused on doing things rather than creating connections. They become driven by improving the external environment of their organisations without considering the foundational relationships that underpin the organisation’s success.

In their work based in Chicago schools, researchers Bryk and Schneider came to the conclusion that relational trust was foundational for school improvement. They suggested four vital signs for identifying and assessing trust:

• Respect – genuinely talking and listening to each other in ways that acknowledge and accept the views, ideas and beliefs of others.
• Competence – the ability and willingness to fulfill responsibilities and believe others to be competent.
• Personal regard – caring for each other personally and professionally. Going that extra mile.
• Integrity – keeping ones word. Putting the needs of children first, even when tough decisions need to be made.

These points were all exhibited by Greg Mortenson. He did not try to impose his views on those he was working with and he was prepared to do what was needed, at times with great personal sacrifice. The building of trust allowed him to work in areas that few could access and to provide education to many.

Future leadership is very much about collaboration, building professional learning networks and growing capabilities in others. It builds on trust and integrity and comes from the heart as well as the head. Future leadership requires leaders who listen and who constantly reflect on their own behaviour.

• Haptics -the ability to experience the sense of touch and apply pressure through a simulated environment. Will this help experts share their knowledge and skills (eg surgeons) in all countries without leaving home?
• Surface Computing – smart surfaces with no keyboard mouse. So do we need to learn to handwrite beyond a basic level? Is it relevant in this day and age? How much longer will we need keyboard skills?
• Gesture controlled computing – a swish of the hand to make yourself understood. How could we use this to communicate in new ways? Does this mean that communication will be more in the head and the gesture than in the vocal chords? Implications?

The videos below explore cutting edge technologies. They pose many challenges to the way we think, and open up many new possibilities. I’m not suggesting all these are positive. But we do need to be watching the trends and keeping up to date if we are to develop our preferred futures.

As you watch the videos you might like to consider some of these questions:

• How could these technologies change the ways we learn?
• As a leader, how will I adapt and help others adapt? What will I keep doing? Stop doing? Start doing?
• How will I enable these new technologies to distribute leadership and to collaborate globally in new ways?

These are just some of the tensions that face leadership for the future. Take a look…and ponder…

Visteon Haptic and Touch Screen

An omnidirectional projector being developed by Microsoft

And another example: The g-speak Spatial Operating Environment inspired by Tom Cruise’s The Minority report film

I was interested in finding out what was happening in all these schools. One process I use to do this is the web walk, a type of learning walk which involves looking through a site looking for key statements and ideas that provide information about the school:

• What does it stand for?
• What does it focus on?
• Is it an ongoing ‘story’ or just updated for marketing?
• What does it tell you about the benefits of attending the school?
• Does it mention learning (you’d be surprised the number of schools that don’t)?
• Is there any evidence of student voice?

My passion is leadership for the future so I was particularly interested to see whether there was any collaboration between staff, students, school and wider networks and whether the learning seemed to be future focused. So here is what I found…

Out of the 11 school sites I looked through 9 had up to date newsletters and term calendars. The sites had information about the structures of schooling – the buildings, the curriculum learning areas, the rules, the board of trustees…  I was hoping for more. I wanted to see the visiosn connect with ideas around key competencies, rich tasks and global projects. I wanted to see the odd glimmer of teachers being active inquirers. I wanted to see a glimpse into what might come next…

I see the challenge of schools for the future as articulating the processes of learning and collaborating with the world. While this may be happening in some of these schools, no evidence presented itself during my web walk. There is still a focus on students being involved as house leaders and school councillors. Nothing wrong with that (depending what the role involves and what is being achieved)….I just want the and… how have we moved on to really engage students in meaningful learning? Are they participants or observers? Give me examples of students having input into their learning and giving feedback to the school. 21st century learning was supposed to start 10 years ago. Have I missed it?

This year I am launching a series of ebooks to explore these developing technologies. The first of these is a series on Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk. These are for educators who wish to use a learning walk process to develop their pedagogical leadership skills. Aspects of the Kiwi Leadership for Principals that are highlighted in this book include relationships (since these underpin learning walks) and the power of context. Leading change, problem solving, culture, pedagogy, systems and awhinatanga are also key strands throughout this book series. Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk also relates well to the Leads Other for Learning section of the ACEL Leadership Capability framework which you may also want to explore further.

Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk experiments with flip book technology, giving the look and sound of the pages of a book as they turn over. You can read it online or download as a pdf. Adding embedded audio and video will be the next stage in my learning. If you come across new ideas and tools that I could use please let me know. Ebooks are on the rise!

You will find more information about the content of  my first ebook on the News! page and can place orders at the Store.

Think Beyond is about to launch an exciting new leadership program for 2011. This will involve face to face opportunities, online support and webinars. As with all of the work undertaken by Think Beyond, these programs will be underpinned by a strong ethical base, an understanding of the latest leadership research and a focus on leadership for the future. Think Beyond tailors its programs to meet the needs of participants based on expert facilitation. If you want to be part of this program, co-create ideas, or have the first preview of new programs follow cheryldoig on twitter, register for our newsletter or use the contact form to find out more.

Learning Walks

Cheryl’s new ebook is now available for purchase from the ‘STORE‘ link on this website. Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk is an introduction to learning walks as a process for bringing about change in education.

This book is the first in a series, with future ebooks being available in the next few months. The writing of ebooks fits with the Think Beyond philosophy of sustaining resources. Rather than cut down trees, the book can be read online or downloaded as a pdf. It is easily updated, and has the ability to provide interactive resources such as videos and audio.

The Future Learning Walk  is based on the process shown in the diagram below. It asks leaders to focus on what is important and to be courageous in leading their learning organisations forward.

Future Learning Walks Process

This first ebook in the series outlines the learning walk process, with each subsequent book providing greater detail of each stage of the process.

Welcome to Think Beyond

An organisation passionate about collaborating, challenging and creating to meet your future leadership needs.

Collaborating

• Listening to your needs and meeting them together
• Growing a relationship based on trust and support
• Building local and global networks through online environments
• Extending skills in communication and facilitation

Challenging

• Stimulating debate and thought leadership
• Focusing on future trends in leadership
• Using research and practice to think beyond status quo

Creating

• Extending future leadership practices through innovative practices, strategies and thinking
• Envisioning the future – creating the pathway to change
• Developing future leadership capabilities
• Leadership focused on adapting to change and dealing with complexity

Congruency – our underlying principle

• Think Beyond has the constant aim of living by its beliefs.
• We uphold ethical behaviour, integrity, reliability and confidentiality.
• We work with thought leaders who have similar congruent beliefs.