WHY IT MATTERS THAT SCHOOL LEADERS PRACTISE CONSEQUENTIAL LEADERSHIP
Few professionals have a more personally significant or enduring impact for good in our society than teachers. Together with their staff colleagues, educational leaders also have a highly significant and enduring influence on children and young people, the consequences of which shape the essential nature and the culture of their school and local community, as well as shaping the character and moral development of the children and young people they work with, all of which has irreversible consequences for the nation at large.
But what does consequential leadership look like? What are the traits displayed in a consequential leader?
Reflecting on the events in Ukraine, communications executive Jim Olson foregrounds the leadership being shown by Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy as an example of a contemporary consequential leader, comparing him with Abraham Lincoln, Ernest Shackleton, Rosa Parks and Amelia Earhart among many other leaders in history whom he acknowledges he could have selected (in How Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy exhibits the 5 virtues of consequential leadership, in Fastcompany, 3 March 22).
No one personifies consequential leadership more at present than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Olson writes. As we watch the invasion of Ukraine unfold, we are witnessing an unanticipated spirit of resilience, patriotism, and heroism emerge that reveals the best of humanity, he avers, adding, the heroic response to this situation has demanded much of Zelenskyy and his people. Olson notes that it has been said that a crisis doesn’t build character—it reveals it, suggesting that this particular crisis has revealed even more about Zelenskky’s character than anyone ever expected.
No-one is suggesting for a moment that the daily work of a school leader in any degree resembles the responsibilities borne by a national leader, least of all when an entire nation is in crisis, but by observing leaders at all levels in other fields of human enterprise and engagement, school leaders can reflect on their own practice and enhance the quality and influence of their own leading.
According to Olson, there are five virtues of consequential leadership that Zelenskyy and his brave comrades are demonstrating.
A consequential leader has Conviction.
Conviction:?Consequential leaders know—and honour—their purpose, Olson affirms. They recognise their responsibility to use the talent, health, education, opportunities, and influence they are blessed with to solve big problems and do really hard things. He points out how, in rare circumstances like Zelenskyy’s, consequential leaders are called upon to do things no person should ever have to do. While most of us devote our lives to preparing to be the leader we want to be, in moments of consequence, we must become the leaders the world needs us to be, Olson suggests. As school leaders, we need to know – deeply to know – our purpose, and then work in ways that show we honour, value and are willing to defend that purpose.
A consequential leader acts with Courage.
Courage:?Cicero says courage is the mother of all virtue. Consequential leaders demonstrate by their actions that they have the fearlessness to live out their purpose—even under life-threatening conditions, Olson says, observing that it is easy for leaders to talk endlessly about their convictions when times are good from the comfort and safety of their offices. But talk is easy. Consequential leaders – at whatever level and in whichever area of endeavour - walk their talk, showing what Olson calls a primal valour, in the way that Zelenskyy and his lieutenants have done.
While the issues we as school leaders deal with are mercifully on a lesser scale, showing we have the courage to walk our talk, and act in accordance with our publicly declared values and convictions - however unpopular and regardless of the personal conflicts with which our decisions confront us - ensures that our leadership has undeniable, positive consequences.?Among those positive consequences is endorsement of our decisions by those to whom we are ultimately responsible and accountable – the young people in our care and their parents.
Then, a consequential leader retains their Composure.
Composure:?According to Olson, consequential leaders thrive under attack and in times of great uncertainty. There is no blueprint for moments of consequence like the one Zelenskyy is facing. There is no playbook for a national leader responding to the invasion of your country. Nor is there a playbook for school leaders faced with incidents in the life of their schools that create deep uncertainty and make them feel they are losing control.
However, leaders of consequence like Zelenskyy don’t panic, Olson attests - they stay calm, rational, and in control, knowing that panic only fuels fear and that composure catalyses confidence. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth personified this in Britain during World War II – the famously recognisable slogan of the day, Keep Calm and Carry On, pithily capturing their approach and inspiring the nation. For school leaders too, maintaining their composure empowers senior staff and others working closely with them, giving them the confidence and resolve to respond appropriately to any challenge, ensuring the school’s response is focused and positively consequential.
A crucial part of this, as always, is Communication.
Communication:?Consequential leaders communicate frequently, authentically, and truthfully, Olson suggests, continuing, they speak to our minds, move our hearts, and have the intuition to know when and how to deliver the hard truth as well as realistic hope. Truthful, honest, unembellished communication in a time of crisis for a school goes to the heart of our integrity as school leaders. Stuff happens in life. Stuff happens in the life of a school. Measured, truthful analysis and communication in response to challenging situations in schools can have significant consequences in making students feel safe and well-supported, and in helping their parents to feel reassured.
Short-term playing down of a situation or concealing its gravity is a short-term, pointless strategy – in schools, the truth will out! Consequential school leaders are candid about the situation the school is facing. They are frank about what has occurred and show they are aware of the possible downside of the crisis, but they also raise the eyes of their communities, in Olson’s words, to remind their students, parents and community of the prosperity of blessings we have — things like family, friends, country, and faith. Consequential school leaders speak to our minds, move our hearts, and have the intuition to know when and how to deliver the hard truth as well as realistic hope.
The final trait Olson identifies in consequential leaders is Compassion.
Compassion:?Consequential leaders serve the needs of others ahead of serving their own, demonstrating their compassion and empathy.?Zelenskyy and leaders like him put the public interest ahead of their self-interest, Olson observes. Consequential leaders strive to identify the gifts and talents of their people and empower them to develop and express those talents. They demonstrate that they value their people as individuals by recognising their contribution and celebrating their humanity.
Olson suggests some leaders measure their?success by the status they gain in the world’s eyes through their leading. Consequential leaders, by contrast, put themselves last, devoting themselves to making a difference in the world by drawing the best from those whom they lead to make their community, their society and the world a better place, where the people and the community they serve flourish as a result of their leading.
When the consequence of your leadership is a significant difference in the life of a child or young person, you are fulfilling your calling as an educational leader. After all, in all moments of great consequence, when all is said and done, you, like other leaders, will be judged by how you acted – and by the consequential benefits to others your leading delivered.
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