We all say we want to become a better leader, but what steps have you taken to see whether you\u2019ve improved.\u00a0 Sure, you\u2019ve read books, gone to conferences, and maybe even have a leadership degree, but have you ever asked others?\u00a0 Hopefully we are all open to some feedback, but how much?\u00a0 If you\u2019re James MacDonald, Head of School at Yokohama International School, you want as much feedback as you can get.\u00a0 So much so, that he created an anonymous committee whose job it was to meet and discuss his strengths and weaknesses as a leader.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to think that we\u2019re all that open to the opinion of others, but to my knowledge I\u2019ve never met another head of school to do the same.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s not just a desire to develop as a leader that led Mr. MacDonald to create such a committee.\u00a0 More important than increasing his effectiveness as a leader, it\u2019s an example of the style of learning and growth that he believes YIS should be known for.\u00a0 Simply put \u201cyou can\u2019t have a culture of leadership different then the culture you\u2019re trying to create in the classroom.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s this openness that has allowed YIS achieve great results while also creating a spirit of openness and risk taking.<\/p>\n (If not specifically quoted, Mr. MacDonald\u2019s responses to these questions have been paraphrased)<\/p>\n You moved from the deputy head to head of school in 2010, what were the advantages of moving into the headship internally?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBeing internal [has been] fantastic in many respects because I [already] knew the people\u2026[which is crucial because] a lot of the way I work is through [building] relationships and talking with people.\u00a0 So being able to hit the ground already having [built] trust [makes progress easier].\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n At the same time things change when you\u2019re the boss.\u00a0 While it didn\u2019t feel like my relationships changed too much with people, there was definitely a little bit of a shift.\u00a0 And I guess that is only natural.<\/em><\/p>\n Do you think there are more advantages to being an internally hired head?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard that the success rate of internal candidates is much higher than the success rate of external ones\u2026which makes intuitive sense, because schools are such complex environments that somebody who is coming up through the ranks and knows the culture of the place stands to be more successful and less likely to trip up on something that may not be obvious to an outsider.\u00a0 So as a first headship I was very lucky to be internal.\u201d Specifically at YIS a lot of the initiatives we have implemented were getting their start at that time I first became head so to be able to continue working on them with no information gap was a huge advantage.<\/em><\/p>\n You originally started at YIS in \u201997 as an IT teacher, what made you decide to pursue leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201c[Like many heads] so much of it comes down to your ability to affect change and have an influence in a positive way\u2026and of course [I like] the challenge\u2026The other cool thing [was the opportunity to lead] and work with [such great] colleagues. \u00a0 It\u2019s incredibly rewarding and [at the same time] pretty humbling to work in an environment like this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n So what specific skill set do you bring to YIS as the head of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest one thing [the board] found attractive at the time [I was hired] was I finished my MBA. \u00a0 [I think this has been so helpful] because [at my core] I\u2019m and educator but I can [also] understand financial statements and can speak to that side of the organization\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was looking into leadership positions and seeing the kinds of things that head of schools had to deal with\u2026[it became obvious] how much [of the job] had to do with the business side of education, for better or for worse.\u00a0 [Some leaders want to avoid the business part of the job, but] I often thought if you can\u2019t speak that language fluently then you\u2019re going to have to defer to other people\u2026[and I\u2019ve also found that] if you\u2019re an educator who has visions that they want to accomplish, at some point you\u2019re going to have to make a lot of decisions through a business lens.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Besides business savvy, what other skills have you developed?<\/strong><\/p>\n What\u2019s funny about being a head is that even though we read all these books about how to be a better leader and how to lead a school, the important things we learn about ourselves can simply come from listening to others.\u00a0 So in the spirit of personal development \u201clast year I approached the school counselor and asked if he\u2019d chair a committee of faculty and staff, to give me feedback on my performance.\u00a0 Basically the only thing I told him was \u2018tell me what I need to hear to make me better at my job\u2019.\u00a0 I also told him jokingly, don\u2019t invite the first 3 people to sign up\u2026they might be too eager.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe [complimentary] things that people [mentioned]\u2026were about my personality, approach, openness, and communication.\u00a0 It was such a good reminder to me that it\u2019s all about people; everything we do at schools is all about people and relationships.\u00a0 While we look at different skills, or maybe the fact that I have and MBA and I can read a cash flow statement, the reality is that teachers tend to rate these skills behind the interpersonal ones.. Obviously it\u2019s important to have a variety of skills sets to get things done, but at the end of the day we want to work with really good people, we want to enjoy our job, we want to be challenged, we want to know that we\u2019re cared for, and this is true for everyone.\u00a0 So as a head of school I think the skills that matter the most are the people ones.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n So now that you\u2019re in your third year as head what do you think is your most important role, and has it changed at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a conversation I\u2019ve been having with a number of people lately.\u00a0 \u201cThere is so much conversation out there about how schools need to change\u202621st<\/sup> Century learning, and all the rest\u2026but I\u2019ve yet to see anyone [show how a head\u2019s position has changed as well]\u2026it\u2019s such a big consideration when [you] think about where schools are going and what is the [head\u2019s] role and how has that shifted.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I wrote a blog with this question earlier this year and got a lot of great feedback from people. What struck me the most was \u201cthis need for vision and direction,\u201d which I think as head you must be able to help produce.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n However, I don\u2019t really like the word vision, because \u201cI think it\u2019s a self-limiting word.\u00a0 [Instead] I think story is much better than vision\u2026[I think] one problem with vision is we\u2019re just looking forward\u2026[with vision you] can see where you are right now [and where you want to be, but] you really can\u2019t see behind you.\u201d\u00a0 I think sometimes when we say vision it\u2019s almost like we\u2019re separating ourselves from everything we currently are and why we are that way.\u00a0 \u201c[Instead] I much prefer the idea that a school is writing a story.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n If YIS is writing a story, then the creation of the Global Citizens Diploma will become an important chapter, why did you decide to do this?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe first thought of it came from Neil Richards, a former YIS headmaster, who was said \u2018you should get your own diploma as a school\u2019\u2026[so eventually] we put together a team who really looked at this and thought what it might look like\u2026then we got feedback from the community.\u00a0 We surveyed parents, the alumni, students and of course teachers fed into it on a number of different occasions and we just looked at ways we could recognize the great things [our students] are already doing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cClearly there\u2019s very important academic learning that happens in the classroom, but the classroom is no longer the sole domain of education, yet our credentials haven\u2019t changed.\u00a0 Schools have changed, education has changed, but our credentials remain focused on academic learning.\u00a0 When you think about what a powerful message that\u2019s sending to everybody in the community about what we value\u2026well it\u2019s no wonder kids chase grades\u2026it\u2019s because that\u2019s what we value and give a qualification for. So were conscious about avoiding a system driven by checked-boxes or making kids jump through hoops, but we realize our kids are doing this stuff anyway but it\u2019s not acknowledged.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n When you think about how 55% of IB graduates come from public schools in the USA and they receive the same diploma as our students, no matter what school program they come from, I feel an obligation to help our students standout when it comes to college applications.\u00a0 At YIS we wanted to differentiate ourselves, rightfully I might add, because we have a very strong program.\u00a0 I think one of the great things of about the Global Citizen Diploma is that it is both very idealistic and pragmatic at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n Do you have any advice for aspiring administrators?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201c[You must always] keep a strong focus on learning [because that\u2019s our business].<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be really really good with people, because leaders have followers\u2026and [you can\u2019t be one] in a school setting if they don\u2019t think you care about them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We all say we want to become a better leader, but what steps have you taken to see whether you\u2019ve improved.\u00a0 Sure, you\u2019ve read books, gone to conferences, and maybe even have a leadership degree, but have you ever asked others?\u00a0 Hopefully we are all open to some feedback, but how much?\u00a0 If you\u2019re James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[113,146,248,264],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-leadership-project","tag-global-citizenship-diploma","tag-japan","tag-tlp","tag-yis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/yis.jpg?fit=900%2C220","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5BJbv-sd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}