Harvard professor, Dr. Carolyn Hughes Chapman, led a study some years back on the superintendency which I believe is insightful for us as school district leaders. The study included 12 professors and 18 superintendents. It was an in depth view of the superintendency from various perspectives, and it sought to determine where district leaders face their greatest challenges on the job. I believe the lessons learned here are not only applicable to superintendents, but in many cases other educational leaders as well. Let’s take a look at some of Chapman’s findings.
Below I outline eight findings from the study which I believe are most helpful for superintendents and other educational leaders, regardless of their time in the position. My hope is that you might read each of these items, reflect upon your own practice, and determine how you can prevent repeating the challenges faced by the individuals in the study.
1. Unshared Vision: The study revealed that failure to recognize the “human side of the change process”, and get stakeholders engaged in helping to determine the direction of the district, led to failed initiatives. Therefore it is important to thoroughly understand the change process (study Schein, Fullan, Kotter, Gardner), but also remember there must be a strong emotional tie if success is to be achieved. In other words, the change which is being pursued must hit people at an emotional level to be successful.
2. Too Much Too Soon: Assessing problems too quickly, and moving forward without broad understanding or support. We must again thoroughly understand the change process when putting forth initiatives and be sure that we effectively build the “why” prior to moving forward.
3. Promises, Promises: Making Hasty or Baseless Promises that Work to Compromise Credibility. We need to always reflect before we react when faced with questions or pressed to make changes. One technique which can buy us time is to always ask individuals making a request to give us a written proposal. Doing so give you time to think and reflect prior to responding.
4. Offending School Board Members: Not recognizing board members’ need to feel important and failing to develop sound working relationships with them as individuals. We need to put in place ways for school board members to feel as though they are contributing. Clearly this is different for each individual, but the first step is to know each member at a personal level so you understand their hopes and desires.
5. Not Doing Homework Before Board Meetings: Clearly board packets are huge and there is tons of detail which must be reviewed, understood, and considered prior to a meeting. In our busy schedules we must make time for preparation. One method which can help is to do a “dry run” of each presentation prior to the board meeting with your team so that you can find errors and anticipate questions which might arise.
6. Power Politics: Failing to take time to understand the various power groups and their agendas. As this shifts based upon the topic, it is smart to map out constituent perspectives prior to putting forth ideas or initiatives. Take time to understand the history behind the issue and only act when you can anticipate the types of challenges you will face in moving the item forward.
7. Blunt Talk: At times school district leaders forget that diplomatic speech is required when addressing organization limitations or problems to avoid alienating people in the district. We must remember that there is always history behind why something was done a certain way, regardless of how ineffective it may have turned out. Successful school district leaders seek out the historical context, and identify the concept’s champions, prior to making statements on the topic.
8. Alone at the Top: Many, especially those newer to the position, underestimate the complexity and loneliness of the job. It truly is different when you are at the top. It may be that you have been a school and district level administrator, but when you are in the top position it is different. To mitigate the effects of this reality we need to find other CEOs, superintendents, and organization leaders who we can relate to and discuss our challenges.
I hope outlining these challenges is helpful to you. Many of the items are intuitive, but it always helps to reflect upon the challenges of the job so that we can formulate a useful response. If you have thoughts or ideas related to these challenges, or can identify other key issues which we face, please put them in the comments below. Remember, we all accelerate our wisdom when we share with and learn from each other.
Thank you for providing this insightful information to help superintendents. I am thinking these suggestions could also make sense when working as a State Superintendent for all superintendents and schools within a state. I believe these suggestions could and should work with the individuals within the state Board of Education. One finding (# 6 Power Politics) seems especially applicable when becoming a change agent, in a large system. In your opinion would it make sense to visit (survey superintendents in large, medium and small schools) to identify two; policies, processes, or procedures that are working extremely well and the one; policy, process, or procedure that is a game stopper or is very difficult to handle and deal with administratively.
Thank you for this information.
The more I read, the more I know, I have to read more!
I believe this research points to items which are important to understand for all superintendents. I think more research, as you suggest through surveys and the like, would be helpful. It would also be great to figure out how to provide this additional information to individuals so that greater learning can occur.