10/23/2009

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NESA Business Managers Institute 2009

dThursday October 22nd

Sarah Daignault, Executive Director, NBOA

Marc Levinson, Associate Director, NBOA

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Today’s Topics:• Jim Collins – Good to Great

and the Social Sectors Why and the Social Sectors Why Business Thinking is not the answer

–Defining Great–Level 5 Leadership–Get the right people on the bus

Today’s Topics:

• The Hedgehog Concept• Economic Engine• Brutal Facts• Culture of Discipline

–Decision making

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“Good To Great”

Defining Great

The Cleveland SymphonyNumber of Standing

OvationsTechnical Range of PiecesInvitations to play at

Other LocationsOther LocationsBHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goals

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Leadership

Level 5 Leaders are A biti f th CAmbitious for the Cause

Mission DrivenDecisive –may not appear that wayComplex Governance IssuesDiffuse Power Structures

Right People• Teacher Tenure

Do not accept Mediocre• Do not accept Mediocre• Culture of

Discipline• Self Selection

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What are you Deeply

Hedgehog Concept

Deeply Passionate

about

What drives your

What you can be best drives your

resource engine

can be best in the

world at

Hedgehog Concept• Truly great companies (organizations –

schools) have a simple core concept that d hdrives everything: – What can we be the best in the world at? – What drives our economic (resource) engine

(and what could accelerate that)?– What are we deeply passionate about?

(Need all three to be great ) (Need all three to be great.)

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Social Sector Variation

Must rethink the hedgehog concept without the profit motive: i e challenge is to define and profit motive: i.e., challenge is to define and achieve “greatness” not “profit.” In for-profits, money is both an input and output: in non-profits, it’s only an input. Mission achievement is the output, defining metrics by proxies for greatness (e.g., Cleveland symphony). “In the social sectors performance is measured “In the social sectors, performance is measured by the results and efficiency in delivery of the social mission.”

Social Sector Variation

TimeAttract people willing to give Attract people willing to give time for free

MoneySustained cash flow

BrandCultivate a deep well of emotional goodwill

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Economic Engine

What are your concerns about your economic (resource) engines?

Are the economic issues different now than a year ago?different now than a year ago?

What changes have you made?

Group Work

• What is your Hedgehog?y g gWhat are you deeply passionate about?What are you best at?What drives your resource What drives your resource engine?

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Culture

• Invisible• Outside of Policies and Procedures• Strong Culture – consistent with the

mission can move the organization forwardWeak Culture can be divisive or • Weak Culture – can be divisive or negative

Values

“Values reflect what the leader holds worthy what the organization assigns worthy, what the organization assigns worth. They are the ideals, principles, and philosophy at the center of the enterprise. They are protected and revered. They reveal the company’s heart and soul They energize the heart and soul. They energize the covenant.”

Leonard L. Barry, Discovering the Soul of Service, 2003

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Brutal FactsThe Brutal Facts

Wh t f t i t hi h thWhat facts exist which govern the environment in which the school operates?What do you know to be true?Does the culture inhibit schools from confronting their brutal facts?confronting their brutal facts?What are your current brutal facts?What has changed?

Brutal Facts

• Honest Assessment—Unwavering FaithCulture of openness that invites critiques from – Culture of openness that invites critiques from all: frequent and healthy debate.

– The Stockdale Paradox—having the faith that you will prevail but disciplining yourself to face the brutal facts of current realities

• Debrief Success AND Failure– End each meeting with, “Where did we

succeed…and where did we fail?”

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NAIS’ Brutal Facts for Schools

Rising costs will alienate current and future customers, make us less affordable and customers, make us less affordable and attractive to most of the marketplace and diminishing our diversity. Smaller schools will face survival issues.Parents have become more consumer-oriented and difficult to manage.Resistant cultures will make it more difficult Resistant cultures will make it more difficult to innovate and lead and preclude creating thinking about 21st C. schools.

Prosperity and the “long boom” upon which our schools have relied has been

NAIS’ Brutal Facts for Schools

which our schools have relied has been compromised by global instability, fractious social issues, a larger US deficit, terrorism and war.Ethical relativism will become more pervasive and parenting less effective.Equity and justice efforts aside, we are Equity and justice efforts aside, we are still not ready to live in a world where whites are a minority and Christianity is not dominant.

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Unshakeable Beliefs

• The values / beliefs for your school regardless of the situation / economic climate / enrollment etcetc.

NAIS’ Unshakeable Beliefs for Schools

Because of our freedom from government control, independent schools can be mission-control, independent schools can be missiondriven and child-centered. Independent schools have the resources and freedom to innovate in the development and delivery of curriculum and to share that innovation for the betterment of the larger education community.education community.Independent schools can make individualized decisions in the best interests of the child and can create diverse, supportive environments where children can thrive.

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NAIS’ Unshakeable Beliefs for Schools

Independent schools can continue to survive, even in a tough economy, because of g y,independent financial controls and our focus on high quality and on accountability to the families and communities we serve.Independent schools provide an ethos and culture that is values-oriented, one that will always attract and provide value to families.Independent schools have three sources of capital that have not even begun to be fully utilized: physical capital; intellectual capital; social capital.

Culture of Discipline

• What is the culture d b d t around budgets

and money at your school?

• Culture can be changed to meet changed to meet goals and mission.

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Disciplined People, Thought, Action

Environment of freedom circumscribed by a culture of discipline. pWith disciplined people, you don’t need much hierarchy or bureaucracy (since self-disciplined people don’t need to be managed). With disciplined action, you don’t need many controls.Combining a culture of discipline with a spirit of Combining a culture of discipline with a spirit of entrepreneurship creates success. Discipline is as much about saying “No” to temptations that are not one’s core business as it is about saying “Yes.”

Disciplined People, Thought, Action

• Social Sectors Variation: – “Greatness is not a

function of circumstance; greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”

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Mission &

Your Challenge

Mission &

21st Century Education

Financial Innovation ConstraintsInnovation