Books that Matter to Me: Good to Great

One of the best books I've read on leadership and taking organisations from ordinary organisations (or at best, what could be described as 'good') to a higher level, is Jim Collins' book: "Good to Great", Harper Business, 2001.





What I love about this book is that it's based on intensive research conducted by Collins and a great team of researchers and it has lots of practical cases (albeit predominantly American examples) of companies that have risen from 'good to great' and behind every great company, guess what? Yes there's a great leader.





Each chapter has a handy summary that gives you the key points. For example:
"The good to great leaders began the transformation by first getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it."

Rigorous decision making in people decisions:

• When in doubt, don't hire - keep looking
• When you know you need to make a people change, act. First, be sure you don't simply have someone in the wrong seat.
• Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.
• Good to great management teams consist of people who debate vigorously in search of the best answers, yet who unify behind decisions, regardless of parochial interests.
  One of the best quotes in the book is in Chapter 1: Good is the enemy of great.
  

Other great quotes: Chapter 4: from Winston Churchill:

"There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away." Collins makes the point that many companies fail to face the real facts, as he says:

"There is nothing wrong with pursuing a vision for greatness. After all, the good to great companies also set out to create greatness. But, unlike the comparison companies, the good to great companies continually refine the 'path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality.'

Collins argues that good to great leaders embrace the 'facts of life' and they understand the importance of creating a climate within their organisation, where the truth is heard. He suggests that leaders begin with questions not answers. "Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with all of the answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not yet understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to the best possible insights.

• Lead with questions not answers
• Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion
• Conduct autopsies, without blame
• Build red flag mechanisms that turn information into information that cannot be ignored

Collins describes the good to great leaders as Level 5 Leaders, which is the top level of the hierarchy of executive capabilities. They:

• display compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated
• are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard the decisions.
• display a workmanlike diligence
• look out the window to attribute success to factors other than themselves.

Level 5 leaders are not larger-than-life celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside - these are negatively correlated with going from good to great organisations.

Other tips:

• If you have 'to do lists', do you have a "stop doing" list ?
• Good to great companies think differently about technology and technological change - they become pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies.
• No matter how dramatic the end result, the good to great transformations, never happen in one fell swoop. There is no one single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break and no miracle moment!

Harry Truman once said:

You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit.

What I love about this book is that it debunks most of the myths that we hold dear about what makes a great organisation and a great leader. Great leadership is not about the charismatic all-knowing leader, who envisions and leads a group of followers to the 'land of honey'. The reality is that great organisations and great leaders can be ordinary people with passion, vision, direction and above, all humility to ask what they don't know and to get on and do the job with the best team of people they can assemble. Anything is possible with the right people, doing the right work and heading in the right direction!

Read the book and judge for yourself the benefits of asking the right questions and getting the right people on the bus and the wrong ones off! Enjoy!

Is it Possible to Live in Harmony?

World Harmony Day: 21 March, 2009

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

When John Lennon and Paul McCartney penned the song Let it Be in 1970, the Beatles were the top selling musical band of all time. The 1970’s was a period of much world unrest and dissatisfaction with big business and governments around the world.

Apartheid was deeply entrenched in South Africa.
The Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany.
Australia had only just introduced voting rights to indigenous aboriginal people and as the original inhabitants of Australia they were discriminated against and unjustly treated. Aboriginal children were still being taken from their families.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states:
“All human beings are born free and equal, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
Let’s bring harmony to our world.

Are human beings born free and equal?
In many countries, including our very own country, people are not free and not equal.

From outer space there are no borders – just continents that extend from west to east, north to south. If we were a visitor to the earth from outer space, we would have the perception that all people would be free to travel from one country to another, to work in live in the country and region of their choice.

Once upon a time this was true as humans moved in nomadic tribes to different parts of the globe. We know this is no longer the case.

Some governments make it very difficult for people from other countries to move or even visit and in some cases, make it almost impossible for their own residents to leave the country. Even in Australia, it is difficult for many people to move from certain countries to live here.

“We have seen a miracle unfold before our very eyes”, said Archbishop Desmond Tutu…. Freedom and justice must become realities for all our people and we have the privilege of helping to heal the hurts of the past.”
When Archbishop Tutu uttered these words in 1995, the South African system of apartheid was being dismantled, Nelson Mandela had been finally released from jail after 25 years of imprisonment. and he had been elected as President of South Africa in their very first multicultural election. Mandela called the new South Africa: the “Rainbow Nation.”

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
Let’s bring harmony to our world.

Was there bitterness and revenge in the heart of Nelson Mandela? No there was not. Mandela set about changing the hearts and minds of his people – repairing the damage and breaking down racial barriers.

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
Let’s bring harmony to our world.

In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said ‘sorry’ to the stolen generation of indigenous people of Australia. Quietly but deliberately our Prime Minister moved to heal some of the hurt of our own indigenous people. Was there talk of revenge or huge compensation claims by aboriginal people?
No, there were only tears.
Tears for the past injustices.
Tears of forgiveness.
Tears of joy.

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
Let’s bring harmony to our world.

In a country where one in five people are born overseas, nearly 4 million people or just over 22.5 percent of our population are first generation migrants. Our country has been built by the labour, ingenuity and perspiration of peoples from countries in Europe and Asia in particular. Today in Australia, nearly half of our population 5 out of 10 people are first or second generation immigrants.

With so many people from so many different countries, is it possible to have harmony?

Harmony is only possible when we open our hearts and minds to the diversity of people that surround us and embrace the very differences that divide people. Harmony does not come naturally to us humans. It is only through deliberate effort on our part and deliberate practise that harmony comes.
Deliberate practise comes from making a choice in the way we act and what we say. There is a variation on the special prayer written by St Francis that is like a creed. If we followed this creed each and every day, then harmony would surely follow each step we make on life’s journey:

Master, make me a channel of your peace;
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Master, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.

Whisper words of wisdom, let it Be.
Let’s bring harmony to our world.

In simple words, if we put the needs of others before our own, if we were more caring and understanding of others, then the world would be a better place. Harmony would reign.

Today, on Harmony Day, we embrace one another’s heritage.
Today, on Harmony Day, we embrace one another’s cultural differences
Today, on Harmony Day, we embrace the very diversity of all people who share our country.

Today we celebrate harmony and all that it means.
Whisper words of wisdom, and Let it be.
Let’s bring harmony to our world.

Does School Size Matter?

“Why not the best schools?” Professor Brian Caldwell’s 2008 book came at a critical time in the educational debate around Australia. With falling standards in literacy, numeracy and science, Professor Caldwell and Jessica Harris researched those countries which were outperforming Australia, to discover why they had leaped ahead of Australia in international benchmarking testing.

In the 2006 PISA testing program on science, the top ten nations were: Finland, Hong Kong, China, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Estonia, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands and Korea. Across a range of benchmarks in relation to student performance, student completion of schooling and tertiary qualifications, Finland scored at the highest level across a range of criteria and outperformed Australia in every measure. Why is this so?

There are a number of factors that contribute to Finland’s success. Now many readers at this point, may be wondering how this relates to their own schools and what we can learn from a relatively small isolated country in the northern hemisphere, like Finland.

There has been considerable debate in Australia also about the ideal school size. What size is best for getting the best educational results from students? It may surprise many parents to learn that the ideal size according to research is between 200 and 400 for a primary school and slightly higher for secondary schools. The findings since 1996, by Caldwell and others (Cotton, K, 1996, School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance. School Improvement Research Series #20) confirm that smaller schools have many benefits over larger schools. In particular, smaller schools have:

Academic achievements which are equal to or superior than most large schools
Student attitudes toward school and specific subjects are more positive in small schools
Levels of participation in extracurricular activities is much higher and more varied in smaller schools
Student attendance is better in smaller schools
Students have a greater sense of well being and belonging in smaller schools
Interpersonal relationships between administrators, staff and students are more positive
Student academic and general self concepts are higher in smaller schools
Student social behaviours – as measured by truancy, discipline problems, violence, theft, substance abuse, and gang participation – is more positive in small schools.

There are a number of attributes which researchers have identified as accounting for the superiority of small schools:

· Everyone is known - a far smaller percentage of students is overlooked or alienated
· Adults and students in the school know and care about one another to a greater degree than in larger schools
· Small schools have a greater rate of parent involvement
· Students in small schools take more of the responsibility for their own learning; their learning activities are more individualised, experiential, and relevant to the world outside of school
· Classes are smaller and scheduling is much more flexible
· Grouping and instructional strategies associated with higher student performance are more often implemented in smaller schools.

Small schools can offer so many more opportunities to students in improved learning outcomes. Importantly, it is not just in the academic area that small schools can provide superior learning environment, but in a whole range of equally significant aspects of learning. Specifically, each student benefits in a small school in the individual personal development of each child, the social, cultural, sporting achievements and involvement and as clearly evident in recent months, in school and community connectedness.

So why is it that a small country like Finland leads the world in literacy, numeracy and science learning? Firstly there’s a clue in the fact that Finland is relatively small. Secondly and most importantly, Finland ensures that all teachers employed hold a Masters Degree and it pays its teachers commensurately. Thirdly it insists that all teachers undertake regular Professional Development every week to ensure that they are abreast of the very best and latest in teaching and learning strategies.

Some educationalists argue that Finland is a homogeneous culture with only Finnish spoken. This fact, combined with the less complex nature of the written and spoken language of Finland, results in higher literacy levels in this country compared to Australia for example. This claim can not be made about all of the other countries that lead Australia in literacy and numeracy though.

Finland has a National Curriculum, which is very broad in principle and is not prescriptive of specific topics and themes. The development of work programs lies in the hands of the schools and the teachers, who are highly qualified to carry out this task. Unlike the US, which has slipped further behind on the international league tables, Finland does not have standardised testing. There is an adage:
"If you carry on doing what you've always done, you'll carry on getting what you've always got" (Jay Abraham).
In other words, more testing (and not changing anything else) does not result in a better outcome, and Finland is testament to this principle. My only hope is that Australia does not fall into the same trap that the US has with standardised testing.

In relation to Australia's more recent performance in The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), as reported by Sue Thomson, Principal Research Fellow in ACER, Australia's students are performing to an 'average standard' but our students are not performing at the very highest levels as students in Finland, Singapore or Korea.

In fact there is now evidence showing that Australian students are not as interested in Mathematics and Science as they once were, particularly in the Primary and lower Secondary Schools. This I think (and many educators would agree) is due to the poorer quality of teachers entering the profession and the lack of high quality teacher training in Primary and lower Secondary education. Finland leads the world in terms of qualifications needed to enter teaching, but ten years ago this was not the case. Australia is in a position to change the current trend, but only with heavy investment in teacher training and raising the standard of university entrance for teacher education.

Does school size matter? Yes it does and there is compelling research which clearly demonstrates that smaller schools have many benefits that larger schools can not provide. See some of this research and links to other sites at:

http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/roundup/W98-99.html;

http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/10/c020.html

More information on Australia's performance in TIMSS 2007: Taking a closer look at mathematics and science in Australia by Sue Thomson can be found at the ACER website at: http://www.acer.edu.au/

What educators really mean when they say.......

Educators have a funny way of talking sometimes .... it's like they're in a world of their own, with their own peculiar language which makes perfect sense to them, but it doesn't always make sense to people outside education.

This site is excellent for plain speak education and it's organised in a simple A to Z menu to find that perplexing language deciphered. The site is called: Lexicon of Learning, and it's a fabulously easy and simple way of cutting through the complexity of educatorspeak. I'm reminded of the oft quoted Detective Muldoon from the Naked City: "Just the facts ma'am." I have included some of the more commonly used expressions of educators from this site. Make sure you go to this site, next time one of those 'mysterious eduspeak expressions' appears in print or speech.

The site: http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Lexicon_of_Learning/B.aspx

is a plain speak explanation of what educators really mean when they say such things as:

• Benchmark - (no this is not a seat with a scratch)
  A standard for judging a performance. Just as a carpenter might use marks on his workbench to measure how long a part should be, teachers and students can use benchmarks to determine the quality of a student's work. Some schools develop benchmarks to tell what students should know by a particular stage of their schooling; for example, "by the end of sixth grade, students should be able to locate major cities and other geographical features on each of the continents."

• Brainbased teaching - (you're thinking that all teaching has something to do with the brain but wait there's more...)
  Approaches to schooling that educators believe are in accord with recent research on the brain and human learning. Advocates say the human brain is constantly searching for meaning and seeking patterns and connections. Authentic learning situations increase the brain's ability to make connections and retain new information. A relaxed, nonthreatening environment that reduces students' fear of failure is considered by some to enhance learning. Research also documents brain plasticity, which is the brain's ability to grow and adapt in response to external stimuli.

• Developmental education - (how do I know if my child is ready for this?)
  Curriculum and instruction that is in accord with the physical and mental development of the student. Developmentally appropriate education is especially important for young children because their physical and mental abilities change quickly and vary greatly from child to child. For example, some 4-year-old children are able to sit quietly through a group story time, while others become fidgety. This does not necessarily mean that the more active children have ADHD; their neurological functions may simply not have matured as quickly as others in their age group.
  



• Differentiated curriculum - (this can be tricky for teachers but it's so important)
  A form of instruction that seeks to "maximize each student's growth by meeting each student where she is and helping the student to progress. In practice, it involves offering several different learning experiences in response to students' varied needs. Learning activities and materials may be varied by difficulty to challenge students at different readiness levels, by topic in response to students' interests, and by students' preferred ways of learning or expressing themselves."
  Source: Quote from "Lesson 1: What Is Differentiated Instruction?" in Differentiating Instruction, an ASCD PD Online course by L. Kiernan, 2000, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

• Dyslexia - (just because you have trouble spelling this word does not mean you have dyslexia!)
  Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.
  Source: From "Frequently Asked Questions," by The International Dyslexia Association, (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2005, from http://www.interdys.org/servlet/compose?section_id=5&page_id=95.

• Gifted and talented - (every parent's dream for their child..... and yes every child has a gift or talent in something; however,...... the experts say this about G & T......)
  The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) says "a gifted individual is someone who shows, or has the potential for showing, an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of expression." For example, a person may be exceptionally talented as an artist, a violinist, or a physicist.
  For much of the twentieth century, giftedness was usually measured by IQ tests, and people who scored in the upper two percent of the population were considered gifted. However, some authorities believe that giftedness is indicated not so much by test scores as by consistently exceptional performance. Federal legislation refers to gifted and talented children as those who show high performance capability in specific academic fields or in areas such as creativity and leadership, and who, to fully develop their capabilities, require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school.
  Source: Quote from "Who Are the Gifted?" in Parent Information [Web page], Washington, DC: National Association for Gifted Children. Retrieved February 21, 2002, from http://www.nagc.org/ParentInfo/index.html

• Metacognition - (a fancy way to describe thinking about thinking.... yes, it's that easy.)
  The ability to be conscious of and, to some degree, control one's own thinking. Educators have come to use the prefix "meta" to refer to the application of a process to the process itself. (For example, meta-analysis is analysis of a large number of research studies on a particular topic.) In this case, cognition is thinking, so metacognition means thinking about one's own thinking.
  You are using metacognition when you can track your progress in solving a multistep problem or when you realize that you have been looking at a page in a book without following the meaning and backtrack until you find the place where your mind began to wander.
  
  
• multiple intelligences - (no, this is not about people who have a personality disorder, it's really about different ways that people think.... and learn.....)
  A theory of intelligence developed in the 1980s by Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. Gardner defines intelligence broadly as "the capacity to solve problems or fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting." He originally identified seven intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. He later suggested the existence of several others, including naturalist, spiritual, and existential. Everyone has all the intelligences, but in different proportions.
  Teachers who use a multiple-intelligences approach strive to present subject matter in ways that allow students to use several intelligences. For example, they might teach about the Civil War using songs from that period or teach the solar system by having students physically act out the rotation of planets around the sun.
  Source: Quote from "Multiple Intelligences Go to School: Educational Implications of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences," by H. Gardner & T. Hatch, 1989, in Educational Researcher, 18(8), 4–9.

• Scaffolding - (so you thought your teacher was doing some building on the side? No not really......)
  The way a teacher provides support to make sure students succeed at complex tasks they couldn't do otherwise. Most teaching is done as the students go about the task, rather than before they start. For example, as a group of elementary students proceed to publish a student newspaper, the teacher shows them how to conduct interviews, write news stories, and prepare captions for photographs. Because the teacher supports the students to make sure they don't fail in their effort, it reminds researchers of the scaffolding that workers sometimes place around buildings. As the students become more skillful, the teacher gives them more responsibility, taking away the scaffolding when it is no longer needed. (This gradual withdrawal has been called "fading.")

• School readiness - (for some families, this is the most stressful time of their children's lives - no it's not the children who are stressed, but the parents! Some tips to help you get ready.....)
  The basic background and knowledge that children are usually expected to have upon entering kindergarten. Some educators believe that school readiness skills should include
  Recognition of colors and basic shapes.
  Gross motor coordination that enables children to catch a ball.
  Fine motor coordination that enables them to hold a crayon or pencil.
  The ability to sort objects (e.g., beans or coins).
  Knowing their first and last names and home address.
  In addition, school readiness is usually thought to include, for example, good nutrition, inoculations, and care, safety, and guidance. Some programs, including Head Start, attempt to boost the preschool development of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

• Zero tolerance - (and you thought there could be no 'z' words - yes there is and here it is.......)
  Provisions in legislation or official policies that require specified punishments for given offenses, no matter how slight the offense. Zero tolerance rules are adopted to send a message about unacceptable behavior, and adherents support them for that reason. However, school administrators who are permitted no flexibility in enforcing such rules are sometimes ridiculed in the press for their apparent poor judgment.