The Influence of Culture on Leadership

1. The Influence of Culture on Leadership OISE/UT January, 2002 Dr. Lyn Sharratt

2. OVERVIEW OF LECTURE • ON-LINE LEARNING! • SELECT REFLECTOR • WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? • BREAK AND FORMATION OF GROUPS • LECTURE: CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP • COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS • REFLECTOR

3. Definition of Culture The pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation, and internal integration, and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to newmembers as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.

4. CULTURE VARIABLES • EXPLICIT CULTURE: COLLABORATIVE; CODE OF BEHAVIOUR; STUDENT RECOGNITION; FOCUS ON IMPROVEMENT; REWARDS FOR TEACHER SHARING; TEACHER RECEPTIVENESS/COMMITMENT • IMPLICIT CULTURE: STAFF SHARES SIMILAR SET OF VALUES RE TEACHING & LEARNING; WHY & HOW OF PROG. IMPLEMENT’N IS CONSIDERED; BELIEF THAT STUDENT S CONTRIBUTE TO A STRONG CULTURE; EXPECTATION THINGS WILL / WON’T CHANGE • FIRST-ORDER CHANGES: “CORE TECH.”: CURR. AND INSTRUCTIONAL CHANGES • SECOND-ORDER CHANGES: OPERATIONAL AND POLICY PROCEDURES WHICH ALLOW FIRST-ORDER CHANGES TO REMAIN AND BE EMBEDDED

5. PAPER ON CULTURE • IN YOUR “EXPERT GROUP” EXAMINE YOUR PART OF THE PAPER, CONSIDERING STATEMENTS TO BE: • PLUS, • MINUS, OR • NEGATIVE • PREPARE TO SHARE YOUR FINDINGS WITH YOUR “HOME GROUP”

6. Culture Influences the Rate of Change! • Change in teaching requires major transformation in the culture of a school. • An event may be necessary for a cultural change to occur (remember Education Minister Snobelen’s comment re creating a crisis!) • Building a school’s culture and shaping its evolution is the “unique and essential function of leadership”.

7. Limits to Organizational Growth Leaders must constantly ask, “What does the organization currently do to prevent learning?” To find the answer, they must identify the limiting factor, such as an implicit goal, norm, or constraining resource.

8. Cultural Opportunities for Growth • Share mental models of the perceived reality • Create environments that support learning: in which it’s ok to fail/take a risk • Learn from doing better what is already done well! • Develop shared values!

9. Opportunities for Growth • Create decentralized structures and cultures that are entrepreneurial and flexible • Provide opportunities for continuous learning of leader and staff • Promote discussion and dialogue • Raise awareness of the external environment

10. Leaders • Strong leaders build cultures that outlive them...they lead even when they are gone! (Schlechty, 1990) • Culture influences the organization’s to learn, unlearn relearn and retain new practices. (Hedberg, 1986) • Culture is pervasive! (Sharratt, 1999)

11. Leadership Initiatives What do leaders do to promote learning • changed practices • reflection • increased capacity • increased skills indirectly, through strengthening and shaping culture?

12. RECAP! • RESEARCH, ACROSS CONTEXTS, STILL UPHOLDS THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE! • LEITHWOOD/LEONARD/SHARRATT, 1997 • HOW IS A COLLABORATIVE SCHOOL CULTURE THREATENED IN THE CURRENT EDUCATIONAL CLIMATE?