Hughes, Beatty, and Dinwood (2014) and Paraguayan Culture
The Equipo Directivo (Leadership Team) is the top management team that has the role to guide and lead our school, Colegio Johannes Gutenberg Campo 9. I, as a principal, work with this team weekly as we meet and discuss all school events and activities and as we plan future direction for our institution. The equipo directivo is composed of the principal (me), the campus pastor, the business administrator, my secretary, two teacher coordinators, and our social worker. It is not always an easy group to work with since we have inherited our position in the team through formal position. Hughes, Beatty, and Dinwood (2014) mention that one of the reasons such top management teams might have difficulty working as a team is because the right mix of skills is often absent; instead, members are chosen based on their formal position (p. 201). Every member of the equipo directivo was hired for our job and then told by the board to work together as a Strategic Leadership Team (SLT).
Hughes et al. (2014) pose several questions for SLT development (p. 213). Hughes et al. (2014) also mention why SLT struggle. I can identify that some members seem to feel the threat of one’s position, there is sometimes a trust issue, and disagreement on the team about key priorities. We, as a group, need to improve on several fronts. There is still much work to do. As a member of the team once said, we have to yet close the circle in our team development, and it is natural that we might still experience a certain amount of difficulties.
More than any of these struggles, I have to add the cultural factors. I would like to mention a few that have played a factor while trying to work as a strategic leadership team. Alfred Neufeld (2006) goes into great length into the fact that Paraguayans are very fatalistic. The people fall easily pray of believing that one cannot change the future, “it is what it is.” Our destiny has been determined already, and we cannot change it. There is a deep feeling of inferiority, much of what happens to us is luck or misfortune, and history will repeat itself, to mention a few.
Much of my job these last few years have been trying to understand the mindset of my team members and trying to build their sense of confidence and ownership of the mission of the school. Besides our weekly meetings, we have also made time for an annual retreat, going out for dinner, traveling together every two years, and encouraging each other. As suggested by Lepsinger (2010) I have also allowed each member to express their point of view and share freely their thoughts and concerns to make them feel like key players in this leadership team (p. 14).
Systems Thinking
I have been fascinated, in the last few years, by the Butterfly effect, which is part of the chaos theory. Senge (2006) mentions that this same theory can be applied to cause and effect where it might take years before one could see the effects of the decisions (as cited in Atha, 2018). One can get quite discouraged in one sense while making decisions today and not seeing the results, on the other hand, one might not realize what effects one small decision today might create in the future. As strategic leaders in our equipo directivo we occasionally fail to see things long-term and fail to reflect on the possibilities. Senge (2006) in a similar note also says that in systems thinking one should not expect immediate results. These are some of the shortcomings that I have encountered in our teamwork.
I would like to add another limiting factor in my team systems, “there is no blame.” We try to find someone or something to blame but do not take complete ownership of what has happened. Some team members are more willing to do so than others. Much of this has to do with the culture. Because of low self-esteem, people are less willing to confess shortcomings.
Currently one of our biggest bottlenecks is that systems cannot be fully perceived with one set of eyes (Atha, 2018). As a leadership team we have worked at finding solutions for problems, but we still fail to involve more people into the process. We still need more sets of eyes. I have gently encouraged members of the team to create more groups to tackle difficulties. For example, we have once a year food and fun fair with students and families. After five years, I wanted to do a more in-depth review of the festival. Members of our equipo directivo thought that we should take a few minutes in our weekly meeting to do the review. In reality, I wanted them to go and schedule evaluation sessions with different groups of parents and different groups of students. Not everyone was very encouraged because it meant more work. I hope that the results will show that it is worth the process when you have more sets of eyes. The results of the process will prove the validity of the process and encourage team members to involve more people in the process, using more sets of eyes.
Formal Groups
Just today we evaluated with our elementary teachers last week´s science fair. One observation I made was that the science teacher heading the fair did the work mostly by herself. We agreed that a formal group should be formed next year and that we should have teachers from elementary school and high school participate in the committee. Galbraith (2014) says that while staffing the group, representatives should be chosen from each affected unit (p. 91).
Galbraith (2014) also mentions the importance of the leader role in these groups (p. 92). Since projects are such an essential part of our school´s education, we will give our high school science teacher the role as a project coordinator and leader of our project-based education. From my experience, especially in Paraguay, it is imperative to have a specific leader in charge. I would not recommend rotating leaders since people would get very confused about who is responsible. The long history of dictatorship in our country has something to do with this need to have a direct leader responsible.
Reference:
Atha, D. (2018). Systems Thinking. Course Learning Notes. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs501/unit-3-learning-activities/
Galbraith, J. R. (2014). Designing organizations. Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer Imprints, Wiley,.
Hughes R., Colarelli-Beatty K. & Dinwoodie D. (2014) Becoming a strategic leader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Second Edition.
Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution gap: How great leaders and their companies get results. John Wiley & Sons.
Neufeld, A. (2006). Contra la sagrada resignación. Cristianización y cosmovisiones fatalistas en el Paraguay. Un análisis histórico, cultural y teológico. Asunción. Editorial El Lector.
Hi Marcelo, I was away this week at a Teachers Conference and unable to post until now. Response to Marcello 3.1
Hi Marcello,
Thank you for sharing your insights on some aspects of leadership in your role as principal in Paraguay. I found it interesting to hear about some challenges that you have faced in learning to work strategically with your team. Hughes, Beatty and Dinwoodie (2014) note “There is no doubt that working as a team at the top of an organization is not an easy thing to do” (p.201). You write “It is not always an easy group to work with since we have inherited our position in the team through formal position. Hughes et al., (2014) mention that one of the reasons such top management teams might have difficulty working as a team is because the right mix of skills is often absent; instead, members are chosen based on their formal position (p. 201). Every member of the equipo directivo was hired for our job and then told by the board to work together as a Strategic Leadership Team (SLT).” I wonder if, you as principal, could speak to the board of directors and ask them to involve you more in the selection process for hiring your own administrative team?
According to Harris (2014) and Fullan (2012) distributed leadership has many benefits. As cited by Fullan (2012, p.27), “Either too much sameness or too much scatter is problematic. Interacting only with the like-minded or being hyperlinked to scads of strangers is dysfunctional. Creative collaboration has a sweet spot that consists of the right mixture of established relationships and newcomers. Within the collaborative cocktail, distributed leadership is pivotally important because it is the “social glue” that supports effective interdependent working” (Harris 2014, p.4).
“Much of my job these last few years has been trying to understand the mindset of my team members and trying to build their sense of confidence and ownership of the mission of the school. Besides our weekly meetings, we have also made time for an annual retreat, going out for dinner, traveling together every two years, and encouraging each other.” In what ways do you encourage each other? Do you think the annual retreat has helped your staff become more invested in the mission of the school?
I really like what you said here “As suggested by Lepsinger (2010) I have also allowed each member to express their point of view and share freely their thoughts and concerns to make them feel like key players in this leadership team (p. 14).” This reminds me of what Atha (2018) wrote “Utilize the team, bring everyone together, review collectively and by all means make problem solving the group activity it is meant to be” (p.14).
“One can get quite discouraged in one sense while making decisions today and not seeing the results, on the other hand, one might not realize what effects one small decision today might create in the future. As strategic leaders in our equipo directivo we occasionally fail to see things long-term and fail to reflect on the possibilities.” This sounds similar to a missionary I once supported. She worked with an American mission agency in Toulouse, France. She and her team-mates worked with North African Muslims who had come to France as refugees. After more than ten years in the field working with these people she became very disillusioned. It seems to be times like this when one must step back and re-evaluate what the mission and vision are and re-examine the Big Picture. Hughes et al., (2014) write “It’s often helpful for these teams to step back and refocus, gain the big-picture perspective and bring it into the foreground again (p.199).
“I would like to add another limiting factor in my team systems, “there is no blame.” We try to find someone or something to blame but do not take complete ownership of what has happened. Some team members are more willing to do so than others. Much of this has to do with the culture. Because of low self-esteem, people are less willing to confess shortcomings.” This problem makes me think about Atha’s (2018) view on leaders when he writes “leaders are like symphony conductors who endeavor to maintain a melodious performance in which the contributions of the various instruments are coordinated and sequenced, patterned and paced, while the orchestra members are having various difficulties, stage hands are moving music hands…” (p.16). According to your noted experiences, your staff are just learning how to play their instruments. I think it is important for teams to work cooperatively in order to be successful. Galbraith (2014) sums it up succinctly when he asserts “Success depends on teamwork” (p. 98). Perhaps your staff could use some strategic pro-d workshops on building up their esteem? You could also try fitting this topic of discussion in for your staff collaboration days.
Thanks for sharing Marcello! I am certain that your staff will follow your example, as you lead the way as a strategic transformational leader.
Reference:
Atha, D. (2018). Systems Thinking. Course Learning Notes. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs501/unit-3-learning-activities/
Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere: Integrating technology, pedagogy and change knowledge.
Toronto, ON: Pearson Canada.
Galbraith, J. R. (2014). Designing organizations. Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer Imprints, Wiley,.
Harris, A. (2014). Distributed leadership matters: Perspectives, Practicalities and Potential.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Hughes R., Colarelli-Beatty K. & Dinwoodie D. (2014) Becoming a strategic leader. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass Second Edition.
Thank you for your encouragement and analysis of what I wrote. I appreciate you commenting on my post.