{"id":911,"date":"2012-05-27T07:24:43","date_gmt":"2012-05-27T07:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/?p=911"},"modified":"2012-05-27T07:24:43","modified_gmt":"2012-05-27T07:24:43","slug":"tlp-stephen-dare-hong-kong-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/tlp-stephen-dare-hong-kong-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"TLP: Stephen Dare, Hong Kong Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you pay any attention to the status of international education in Southeast Asia, you know of the tremendous growth that has taken place.\u00a0 Despite this growth, areas like Hong Kong continue to see demand outpace supply.\u00a0 Some schools see this as an opportunity to expand.\u00a0 Hong Kong Academy, currently located on Hong Kong Island, is not<\/em> that kind of school.\u00a0 It\u2019s true that HKA will increase its enrollment from 470 to 600 students when they move to their new location in Sai Kung in 2013, but this is by no means a mega-school; and that\u2019s exactly the point.<\/p>\n

I had the pleasure of speaking with HKA Head of School Steve Dare, and what struck me most in our conversation is how he has helped shape a clear mission and vision that drives the school.\u00a0 At the core of this vision is a focus on building an intentionally diverse community, which from what I could tell aligns well with Mr. Dare\u2019s values as a leader.<\/p>\n

Describe your leadership style?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say one has a style, [instead] I try to be aware of what my strengths are and the challenges I have\u2026[I believe] I have the capacity to bring people into the leadership conversation.\u201d\u00a0 I realize building a school isn\u2019t just about my ideas as a leader, but it\u2019s a conversation between stakeholders. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c[One of my greatest roles] is as an ambassador for the school and because I have a clear vision and sense of direction for the school, I want to bring as many people in as I can who share that vision.\u201d\u00a0 In this process it\u2019s important to always remember \u201cthat we\u2019re working with human beings\u201d and you must always value building community and relationships.<\/em><\/p>\n

How have you developed from place to place? Did you grow more through moving to new schools or maturing in the same position?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s a mixture of everything.\u00a0 Working at very different schools has allowed me the opportunity to see how well established programs operate, as well as experiment with new ideas.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s been really important in my development is to see what different communities value.\u00a0 \u201cEvery school context is different, the more access you have to an international community, and different experiences [help] you become a better person\u2026because you develop a much greater perspective.\u201d\u00a0 Schools are about community so working in these different locations has helped facilitate that better.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your greatest priority when choosing teachers and administrators for HKA?\u00a0 How important is leadership ability?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt can sometimes be situational and depends on the job description\u2026Teachers are leaders in their own capacity in their classroom.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When it comes to administrators I need leaders who are ok with making decisions and can be innovative.\u00a0 Much of what administrators do is manage change, which can be difficult for schools.\u00a0 However, People are often afraid to change not because they don\u2019t want it, but because they don\u2019t understand or know how to go through the process.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c[Great leaders] are able to convey things with simple language, because one of the problems we have in change areas is we over complicate things, use too much jargon and language and we lose people\u2026these leaders are able to put things in very simplistic terms that make people feel good about the change and make it seem achievable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

HKA\u2019s mantra is \u201cSmall School, Big Ideas\u201d, how do you embody this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re never going to become the school that\u2019s looking to [enroll] 2000 students, we like the fact that we\u2019re small\u2026[and] we believe there are many advantages to being in a small school\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c[For example] we strive for intimacy within our community\u2026[and we value] really knowing the people in our population\u2026I\u2019ve never been in a school that is so dedicated to building community as Hong Kong Academy.\u201d\u00a0 Even outside of our school walls we try to engage the community.\u00a0 Many of our new building and facility decisions were made by examining what the surrounding community could already provide so we could complement that.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c[Also] just because you\u2019re small, doesn\u2019t mean you have to miss out on big school opportunities.\u201d\u00a0 Our new purpose built facilities will give our students many of the same experiences as other schools in Hong Kong.<\/em><\/p>\n

What advice do you have for the next generation of international ED leaders?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keep building connections with people.\u00a0 Especially peers at other schools who can help guide you in decisions you\u2019re considering at your own school.<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to be bold but be aware of your own strengths and challenges. Nobody expects you to know or to be able to do everything, but you are expected to get the best resources for the job in hand.<\/em><\/p>\n

Empower others around you and always give credit to that that has made a difference.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you pay any attention to the status of international education in Southeast Asia, you know of the tremendous growth that has taken place.\u00a0 Despite this growth, areas like Hong Kong continue to see demand outpace supply.\u00a0 Some schools see this as an opportunity to expand.\u00a0 Hong Kong Academy, currently located on Hong Kong Island, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":912,"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":[55,63,122,124,125,223,244,248],"class_list":["post-911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-leadership-project","tag-china","tag-community","tag-hka","tag-hong-kong","tag-hong-kong-academy","tag-stephen-dare","tag-the-leadership-project","tag-tlp"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/hong-kong-sd.jpg?fit=900%2C220","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5BJbv-eH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911","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=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}