Interview panels are fond of questions about vision. I'm often stumped - even more so when it's asked over Zoom and I haven't yet visited the school in question. I usually end up muttering something vague and non-committal - cringing inwardly as I do so - and resolve to do better next time.
Having done some digging around I'm going to try responding in this manner next time I'm asked about vision:
- It would be presumptuous of me to lay out a vision before having got to know the school properly
- Jim Collins' 'First Who then What' mantra resonates with me
- My early focus in a headship role would therefore be to focus on staff - getting 'the right people on the bus, in the right seats'
Using the bus metaphor, Collins explains the reason for this focus on people first as follows:
If people join the bus primarily because of where it is going, what happens if you get ten miles down the road and you need to change direction? You’ve got a problem. But if people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus, then it’s much easier to change direction: “Hey, I got on this bus because of who else is on it; if we need to change direction to be more successful, fine with me.” Second, if you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up; they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great. Third, if you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company.
In this vein, I was intrigued to see that the US Navy Seals evaluate their people on a two-by-two matrix which I have augmented slightly with Jim Collins' insights as below:
Clearly having people 'on the bus' with neither technical nor character strength is no good and they must be (humanely) removed or redirected. But the very worst people of all to have on the bus, those who will be most corrosive to the team dynamics, are those with a high level of technical competence, but a low level of character strength (shown in red on the diagram). Left to their own devices these dark actors will ruin the culture of a school whilst, in the wrong sort of school, enjoying the invulnerability that comes with having good metrics. These individuals need to be rooted out and removed leaving the top two quadrants to get on with their jobs.
So, my vision? To make it all about people.