Lessons from Apple 3: Working collaboratively

Jobs worked hard to foster a culture of collaboration at Apple. many companies pride themselves on having few meetings. Jobs had many. "Our method was to develop integrated products, and that meant our process had to be integrated and collaborative," Jobs said.

From Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography  

I think collaboration is really important. Education is an example of an integrated product. It's vital that senior management teams meet frequently, and often, with a clear agenda, to ensure that the team is collaborative.

This approach also applied to key hires. He would have candidates meet the top leaders rather than just the managers of the department where they wanted to work.  

It's important that everyone in the senior management team meets any potential new members of staff. The new employees have to fit in. They have to be right for the team. That means that all leaders need to meet them.

NPQH

I'm delighted to say that I've been accepted on to the NPQH course. I'm looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time!
Here is my feedback from the Gateway Day:

Leader or Manager

I loved this tweet today.

Is your headteacher a leader or a manager?

Ten Qualities that make a good leader

Sue Hoyle, director of the Clore Leadership Programme, highlists ten qualities that make a good leader:

1. A passion for your job so that you enthuse and inspire those around you.
2. Proven achievement in translating vision into action.
3. A self-awareness that allows you to recognise both your strengths and your weaknesses.
4. Motivation that gives you a strong sense of purpose.
5. An effective communicator in writing, orally, in the use of technology, as a presenter and as a negotiator whilst always being sensitive to the interests of others.
6. An enquiring mind that has the capacity to reflect and learn.
7. Sound judgement that allows you to analyse complex information, assess risk and make appropriate choices and decisions.
8. A team player who has the ability to motivate and develop others whilst setting high standards and expectations of yourself and others.
9. Flexibility that enables you to think laterally and creatively.
10. Integrity so that you demonstrate honesty, authenticity, humility and openness.

Taken from:   

Mission Statements and HUGGS

I recently read The IKEA Story by Bertil Torekull. I really liked reading about the mission statement and values of the company.

The official IKEA mission statement is so large and global that it seems impossible to achieve...

"Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people." 

This reminds me of Andy Cope's message about setting HUGGS - Huge Unbelievable Great Goals. The vision statement should arch over everything an organisation does. It perhaps will never be achieved - but we work towards it as it guides everything we do. Schools should have a vision statement written as a HUGG.

That overarching mission statement is backed up, however, by a "business idea" which defines the IKEA brand to its customer and makes the IKEA mission attainable with the masses. The IKEA Business Idea is... 

"Offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them." 

I love the idea of setting a business plan so simply like this one. It adds substance and realism to your mission statement.

Source: http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/IKEA-Stores-Mission-Statement.htm

Kamprad wrote his nine 'commandments' in his book for staff, 'A Furniture Dealer's Testament'. These commandments constitute the spiritual basis of IKEA.

1 The Product Range Is Our Identity
IKEA offers a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices that are so low that s many people as possible are able to afford them.

2 The IKEA Spirit Is a Strong and Living Reality
IKEA builds on enthusiasm, a desire for renewal, thrift, responsbility, humbleness toward the task, and simplicity. "We must look after each other and inspire. Pity the man who cannot or does not want to partake."

3 Profit Gives Us Resources
IKEA will achieve profit - "a wonderful world" - through the lowest prices, good quality, more economical development of products, improved purchasing, and cost savings.

4 Reaching Good Results with Small Means
"Waste is a deadly sin."

5 Simplicity Is a Virtue
Complex regulations paralyze, "exaggerated planning is the usual cause of death to companies," and simplicity gives strength. IKEA people do not drive flashy cars or stay at luxury hotels.

6 Doing It a Different Way
"If from the start we had consulted experts about whether a little community like Almhult could support a company like IKEA, they would undoubtedly have advised against it." IKEA goes its own way, turning to shirt factories to make cushions and window factories to procure good frames for tables, charging more for umbrellas when the sun is shining but selling at bargain prices when it rains.

7 Concentration Is Important to Our Success
"We can never do everything everywhere, all at the same time."

8 Taking Responsibility Is a Privilege
"The fear of making mistakes is the root of bureaucracy, the enemy of development. Exercise your privilege, your right, and your duty to make decisions."

9 Most Things Still Remain to Be Done - A Glorious Future!"
You can do so much in ten minutes. "Let us continue to be a group of positive fanatics who make the impossible possible."

In schools, these nine commandments would be called our school aims. Every person working in the school should have an understanding of the aims and what we want to achieve as a school.

Week 44: A time saving tip for teachers

Think about the way you mark. Consider using coloured highlighters to show how the children have achieved.

Feedback should be given if the children don't meet the learning objective to help them to understand why.

If a child has met the objective, there's no point in writing well done. Tell them why you like it - be specific.

There's no need to mark every book in detail.

More ways to be Brilliant

More powerful quotes from Andrew Cope's book, 'Being Brilliant: The Art of Being Everything You Can Be!'

Invest in relationships - it's the only way to keep them strong.

Hearing is easy, as it only requires your ears. It's a passive skill. Listening is much more difficult because it's an active skill. To listen effectively you need to use your ears, eyes, emotions, intuition, in fact all of your senses. You can listen at word level. This is when the words go in one ear and out of the other. You can listen at meaning level, which requires interpretation of words and body language. To be brilliant, you can listen at essence level. This requires you to have an excellent understanding of what makes people tick, a real understanding of human beings. What do the words really mean? What is the person really feeling? 

Think of 'efficiency' and 'effectiveness'. Efficiency is 'doing things right' and effectiveness is 'doing the right things'. You are living life as an emergency, trying to do everything properly, but you may be neglecting the jobs that really matter, those that will achieve long-term results. Stop living life as an emergency. Spend time reviewing how you work and ask yourself whether you are being efficient or effective. Do the jobs that matter and spend time with your people. Build trust and respect. Work on skills and attitudes. Support with coaching. Teamwork will naturally follow.

Any business is only as good as its employees. Invest as much time as possible in developing your people. Remember, leadership isn't about how high you can climb, but about how many people you can take with you. Coaching is a great way of drawing out true potential.

Andrew also talks about setting HUGGs! He writes more in his blog:

SMART goals that are basically the same as last year but 5% higher. I’m suggesting you get yourself some HUGGs. Huge Unbelievable Great Goals that stretch you and your team to the limits. HUGGs are eye-wateringly exciting and can only be achieved by creativity, passion, innovative thinking and teamwork. HUGGs require a working environment where people are actively encouraged to be their best selves,consistently. HUGGs are about being world class and, between you, me and the gatepost, that is the only direction to be heading.

http://www.artofbrilliance.co.uk/Brilliant-Blog/entry/everyone-needs-a-hugg.html

Lessons from Apple 2: Quality

When returning to Apple, Steve Jobs insisted that the company drop many of its products and focus on just four great ones - for consumers, for pros, for desktop and for portable devices.

It is this focus on quality that later led to the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Some head teachers seem to go after every quality mark available. How can a school with ten quality marks (Artsmark, Inclusion Quality mark, etc.) be doing every one of those things brilliantly? How can quality be ensured throughout all of those areas. If a school has been awarded a kitemark for so many things, how much extra is expected of their staff? How can staff divide their time up to do every one of those things brilliantly?

No, I'd prefer to focus, like Apple did, on a small number of areas and make sure that they are delivered to the highest standard, than pretend to be an expert on everything.

Week 43: The best bit of advice that you've ever been given

As a teacher, the best bit of advice I've ever been given is:
"Have a conversation with every child every day."
This shows that you value your pupils; it shows that you want to nurture them; that you care.

As a person, the best bit of advice I've ever been given is:
"Do your best."
It's a good piece of advice for anyone.

Leading By Inspiration

I recently read Andrew Cope's book, 'Being Brilliant: The Art of Being Everything You Can Be! '. It really is quite inspiring. It also sums up what sort of a leader that I want to be. The following is an extract from the book which explains it.

Forget 'leading by example'. It's OK up to a point but has some serious side effects. For example, I know lots of managers who take pride in working long hours because 'it sets a good example'. One in particular used to boast about being the first in the car park and the last out at night, as if this automatically made him an excellent manager. Far from it; it just proved that he worked long hours. All he actually achieved was to make his staff feel guilty for leaving the office on time and daring to have a life outside work.

I knew another who made sure she could do all her team members' jobs to prove her worth to them. 'Respect' was her watchword. "I won't ask them to do anything I can't do myself," she boasted. All very laudable but what was the result? She spend so much time doing their jobs that she never actually 'managed' anything at all. Her team was totally reliant on her expertise. 

I'm not saying that 'leading by example' is necessarily a bad thing, just that the modern leader needs more. I believe the elusive ingredient is 'inspiration'. So, supplement 'leading by example' with 'leading by inspiration'. Now you have the ingredients for a mouth-watering leader that the modern workplace craves. This is someone whose presence inspires you to give your best, day in, day out, during good times and bad. They don't necessarily know exactly what you do or how to do it themselves, but they do spend time talking to you. They want to know your ideas for improving performance. They listen, coach and praise. They are calm under pressure. They laugh, sometimes even during the bad times. They have high expectations and you raise your game to meet these. You feel valued and you love your job. Most importantly, you grow.

Someone who 'leads by inspiration' can achieve all of the above and, boy, what a difference it makes to morale and performance.