Value and Future-Ready Schools
Future-ready schools, it could be argued, exhibit three characteristics: (1) they know who they are and what they stand for, (2) they are fixated on speed and simplicity, and (3) they are obsessed with scaling up their ability to learn, innovate, and seek good ideas, irrespective of the origin of those ideas. So say co-authors Aaron de Smet, Chris Gagnon, and Elizabeth Mygatt in a recent article on future-ready organizations in Rotman Management. Although the co-authors were talking about companies, the characteristics of traditional hierarchies are to be found in schools inasmuch as they are found in companies, and the aforementioned characteristics could just as easily be in future-ready schools. Ultimately, this is about value: knowing what your families value, and obsessing about delivering that value.
Reality Isn't What It Used to Be
"With a growing range of virtual interfaces continuously evolving around us, reality isn't what it used to be[,]" writes Amy Webb, Professor of Strategic Foresight at New York University's Stern School of Business, and author of The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology (2022). Webb posits that leaders need to consider carefully these evolving interfaces. To my mind, school leaders in particular need to consider these developments and emerging signals…
A Failed Trendbook
As a consultant, I hear about (and see) lots of things in schools, from start-up schools and highly innovative approaches to learning to financial solvency crises and everything in-between. In the past, I often read the annual Trendbook with great anticipation, looking to devour its pages and come away the wiser. Anticipation changed to disappointment with this tome.
On Rules
One wonders whether our 'school rules' (think: practices and processes) might benefit from updating, in order to keep schools fit for purpose. Let us keep in mind that rules (policies, procedures, processes) were put into place with the current, temporal context in mind: that was the backdrop, and the rules corresponded to it. Rules tend to be designed to address specific issues; the intent behind rule-making is that those rules will apply for years to come. Some rules may indeed stand the test of time (for how long, one wonders?), yet others have lingered beyond their usefulness.
What Boards Really Want From the Next Director
Too many boards don't know what they want from the next director, when there is a transition. They aren't short on ideas of what they *think* they want, but one wonders whether what they think they want and what the school needs align in ways that are beneficial to all involved. Let's be honest: 100% success of the new director is never guaranteed. Sometimes things just don't work out the way that the board thought they would. There are also those boards which continue to be shocked and appalled when their director choices fail repeatedly.