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.

In an online environment our integrity can be compromised if we do not think carefully about what we make public. In Joe McCarthy’s blogpost on The Dark Side of Digital Backchannels in Shared Physical Spaces there are examples of backchannel behaviour that has had dramatic effects on people’s lives.

Our actions are amplified because so many people have access to our thoughts and behaviours. This amplification can help our message reach a wider group of followers. It can also amplify decisions that, in retrospect, we wish we had not made. Online integrity is connected to our moral beliefs yet the day to day living of these beliefs can easily be eroded by quick, irreversible online decisions. The establishment of online behaviours, etiquette and cultural norms can be developed by:

• parents understanding and modelling sound online behaviours so that their children can follow by example;
• schools recognising that social networking is here to stay and that we will get feedback from students through backchannels whether we like it or not. You can bury your head in the sand and ban social media or use it as a way to deepen online integrity and build student awareness and skills;
• constantly checking your own personal behaviours to see if your offline and online behaviours are congruent – and ethically sound; and
• not responding unethically in response to inappropriate online behaviour.

Let’s face it. None of us are perfect. Yet if we have well defined values and beliefs we may be less likely to cause offense or put ourselves in situations where we wish we could turn back time, erase 140 characters, remove a photo before a job interview or get back our privacy.

Some useful sites to visit:

• Safety Tips
• Cartoon on Good Samaritanism

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.

Margaret Wheatley says that hope propels us to action and that when hope enters the room fear is always by its side. That is because while hope looks to the future, fear is based on the past and the ‘what ifs’.

I have really become aware of the many people who are seeking to make a difference to others, throughout the world and for many different causes. They are driven by passion and commitment. They have high hopes that their work will make a difference and at times, fear that the difference is not great enough. They are not paralysed by this fear, but rather more determined than ever because it is worth the risk. One example is the Adonis Musati Project, based in Cape Town, yet another ripple of hope to help humanity:

I fear for a world where we cannot reach out and help others, instead focussing on greed and self interest. Is that not what got us to this place we are today? These are times for courageous leadership, for each of us to have a strong moral compass that compels us to lead ethically, driven by clear beliefs for what could be. Again, Margaret Wheately describes this profoundly:

We may not succeed in changing things, but we choose to act from the clarity that this is right action for us. People who endure and persevere for their cause describe clarity as a force arising within them that compels them to act.

They express this by saying, “I couldn’t not do it.”

The goose and the golden egg

The key messages as they apply to us are:

• effectiveness is not just about results. it also involves looking after our assets so the goose not only lives but thrives.
• It is not enough to focus on things. People matter. Relationships are paramount.

I have been reflecting on this story as it relates to expectations placed on schools by their governments, school districts and boards. And I have a problem. Let me share this in the context of recent changes in NZ education. The new government of the day has moved to fulfill its election promise of introducing National Standards to schools. They have received feedback from the community and educators regarding the standards and will now proceed with indecent haste towards implementation.

I don’t have a problem with some aspects of standards, if they increase the accountabiilty of schools to improve student achievement. Trouble is I’m not convinced that you can measure some of the really important things that students should be achieving.

During my recent trip to South Africa I pondered the rigidities of curriculum and the lack of a focus on teaching students to think for themselves. The focus was on covering the curriculum whether the students were ready for it or whether it was relevant to them.  Literacy (for the digital age) and numeracy remain indisputably important, but if people aren’t actively taught to think for themselves South Africa won’t move forward. Neither will any other country, including New Zealand. To even begin developing a future focused curriculum requires a huge amount of energy and the more we focus on testing the less we have for action.

If the implementation of standards is to be successful we need to learn from failed attempts in other parts of the world and this takes time. Feedback from teachers indicated that there were concerns with the extra workload the national standards would create. My concern is that it will take the ball off the implementation of the new curriculum and a wonderful opportunity to move the future thinking of schooling will be lost. That poor golden goose looks even more threatened. We are being implemented to death.

My plea?

• Take another year to sort out what will work and how the golden goose (teachers and principals) can be supported, otherwise mindsets will stay the same, people will hunker down and students will be no better off.
• Listen to the experts on learning – from within NZ (educators and researchers) and overseas (such as Andy Hargreaves). I mean, really listen rather than just watch their mouths move. I mean, ask inquiring questions and seek first to understand rather than be understood. Engage with them and mean it.
• Think about education for the future not the past. Use the opportunity created through breathing space to develop ongoing systems of reporting that link into the use of web 2.0 tools and make the partnership between home and school based on a continual conversation between parents, teachers …oh and let’s consider even involving the students. Wouldn’t that be novel…

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.