What Makes a Good Head?
Judy Schechtman and I visited the West Bank (my third such trip) to facilitate work by a group of 17 principals (heads) of Palestinian private schools in the West Bank (primarily from Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho) to craft a list of characteristics necessary for successful school leadership. While the West Bank poses unique challenges for school leaders, the list these principals generated is probably not much different from what we would see in other places;
- Understandsand embraces the school’s mission
- Hasa vision for the school
- Hasa plan for fulfilling the vision
- Knowledgeableabout modern educational approaches and means
- Effectivelycommunicates with community, teachers and parents
- Isflexible; able to adjust plans to accommodate changing contexts
- Makestimely decisions
- Knowledgeableabout politics, business, economics, and society
- Ableto build relationships with surrounding community
- Networkswith other educators inside and outside of Palestine
- Hasand lives by a strong code of ethics
- Skilledin fund-raising
- Isa marketer of the school
- Ableto scientifically analyze the school and plan accordingly
- Goodmoral skills Ability to follow up and manage and monitor
- Ableto deal with small children, religious leaders (if a faith-based school),governmental ministers, etc.
- Possessesgood social skills; relates to others based on love
- Understandsself and others and knows what they want
- Listenswell; has patience; is fair; emphasizes team cooperation; works well underpressure; has a strong personal work ethic; speaks well in public
- Knowledgeableabout pedagogy and curriculum
- Goodpresence, self-confident, open-minded, extroverted
- Ableto study own school and design plan for improvement/sustainability
- Capableof managing finances and human resources
- Leadschange well
- Encouragescreativity and innovation
- Delegatespower appropriately
- Treatstudents equally
- Usestechnology in management and education
- Canlead school in student-based education
- Enforcesdecisions, but is not dictator (non-authoritarian)
- Accountablefor outcomes
What does stand out about the above is how difficult it would be to measure many of these factors, say, in potential headship candidates. What metrics would predict how well a prospective leader might perform, literally, under fire?
Malcolm Gladwell's talk at the New Yorker Conference in 2008 was about the fallacies that enter selection metrics for pro athletes and pro teachers (the data are surprisingly convergent). The talk is worth watching, if for no other reason than how forcefully Gladwell debunks the notion that attempts at scientific-seeming metrics and standards yield better hiring decisions.
Maybe, as the above list suggests, the problem is with the "softness" of what we are trying to measure. And when it comes to headship success, as many of us have intuitively suspected, it's all about the soft stuff.