Good To Great and the Social Sectors

1. Good To Greatand the Social Sectors Jim Collins Interpreted by Dr. Rich Hawkins

2. Guiding Idea • “We need to reject the naïve imposition of the “language of business” on the social sectors, and instead jointly embrace a language of greatness”

3. Good –to-Great Cases Inflection Point GAP Good, not Great Good, not Great Comparison Cases Matched Pairs What Explains The Gap?

4. Five Key Differences • Defining “Great” Calibrating Success without Business Metrics • Level 5 Leadership Getting Things Done With A Diffuse Power Structure • First Who Getting the Right People On The Bus

5. Five Key Differences • The Hedgehog Concept Rethinking the Economic Engine without a Profit Motive • Turning The Flywheel Building Momentum by Building the Brand

6. 1. Defining Great • Input vs. Output • Measure what is important and essential to the Vision/Mission • Deliver superior performance over time • “hold yourself accountable for progress in outputs, even if those outputs defy measurement!” • It’s all about what you value and the evidence that you are achieving the desired outcomes

7. 1. Defining Great • Your system is creating the outputs it was designed to create – Deming • Given your organizations outputs, what was it designed to create? • Think achievement, behavior, plusses, minuses, etc. • View through the lens of all stakeholders

8. 1. Defining Great - translated • System design yields system outputs • To achieve different outputs, you must change the design and the thinking that created these outputs initially. • Structures produce behaviors • Create tension through creation of the BHAG’s! (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) • “Become the World’s Greatest Orchestra” • Design, Teach and Steward (think about the Cleveland Orchestra story)

9. 1. Defining Great - translated • Sustainability requires data over time • Over time, when the culture shifts, sustainablility is more likely • Measure what matters! • Even if it f\defies measurement • “Make a great orchestra even greater, defined by artistic excellence”

10. 1. Defining Great - translated • All indicators are flawed • “Don’t find the perfect indicator, but settle upon a consistent and intelligent method of assessing your output results, and then tracking your trajectory with rigor!” • Establish baselines and benchmarks • Pursue your goals with a “laser-like” focus!!!

11. 2. Level 5 Leadership • “I’m not on top of anything” • Confront the “brutal facts” about your current reality • Leadership “style and behavior” must consider the culture and needs of the organization you lead • Executive and Legislative leadership

12. Executive Leadership • Leader has enough concentrated power to simply make the right decisions • Identify a leader in your organization who has the ability to exercise this kind of power?

13. Legislative Leadership • No individual leader – not even the nominal chief executive – has enough structural power to make the most important decisions by him/herself • Relies more on persuasion, political currency, and shared interests to create the conditions for the right decisions to happen • It is precisely this legislative dynamic that makes a Level 5 leader!!!!!

14. Level 5 Leaders… • Ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the movement, the mission, the work – not themselves • They have the will to do whatever it takes to achieve the vision (see p. 12) • Personal humility and professional will is a key factor in creating legitimacy and influence

15. “The whole point of Level 5 is to make sure the right decisions happen – no matter how difficult or painful – for the long-term greatness of the institution and the achievement of its mission, independent of the consensus or popularity”.

16. Level 5 Leaders • “I suspect we will find more true leadership in the social sectors than the business sector”. • “The practice of leadership is not the same as the exercise of power” (Burns, 1978) • “True leadership only exists if people follow when they have the freedom not to”.

17. “Indeed, perhaps tomorrow’s great business leaders will come from the social sectors, not the other way around.” (Collins, 2005, p.13)

18. Level 5 Leaders translated • Level 5 Leaders are “servant leaders”. • Leaders have followers • Leaders can lose followers as easy as they gain them • Distributed leadership (legislative leaders) • Design Vision, Teach Vision and Steward Vision

19. 3. First Who… • “The Who Principle” • Get the Right People on the Bus! • Get the Wrong People off of the Bus! • Get the Right People into the Right Seats!

20. 3. First Who… • “Our schools could be so much better” • Get the right people on the bus! • Think of all stakeholders, not just teachers • It’s easier than getting the wrong people of the bus (though this is just as important) • “No, you will most likely not get tenure, unless you have proven yourself to be an exceptional teacher” • Is your organization giving tenure to good teachers or great teachers?

21. 3. First Who… • “Our schools could be so much better” • Get the right people on the bus! • Think of all stakeholders, not just teachers • It’s easier than getting the wrong people of the bus (though this is just as important) • “No, you will most likely not get tenure, unless you have proven yourself to be an exceptional teacher”

22. 3. First Who… • As the culture shifts, the “wrong” teachers become uncomfortable – “like viruses surrounded by antibodies” • “Tenure poses one set of challenges, volunteers and lack of resources another but the fact remains: Greatness grows from having the right people in the right seats, not the other way around.”

23. 3. First Who… • Great companies focus on getting and hanging onto the right people in the first place, those who are… • Productively neurotic • Self-motivated • Self-disciplined • Compulsively driven to do the best they can because it’s in their DNA • Lack of resources is not excuse for lack of rigor!

24. How to Who • It’s about the persons character • First, tap into a persons idealistic passions and second, by making the process selective.” • Employ rigorous screening and and evaluation • The #1 resource for social sector organizations is having enough of the right people willing to commit themselves to the vision and mission • Money can attract people, not necessarily the right people • Money is a commodity; talent is not • Money can never compensate for the lack of right people

25. 3. First Who…translated • You lead people, not schools • People do the work of the organization. • Will they work for the benefit of the organization or against it? What determines their choices? • Great teachers get great results • Beware our mental models. Are we using the existing staff effectively?

26. 3. First Who…translated • Treat people with dignity and respect when telling them the truth! • Tenure great, not good. The culture begins to shift! • Tenure may be an obstacle, but it’s not insurmountable if you have the “will to focus on the vision” • Design, Teach and Steward from the • start!

27. 3. First Who…translated • Align hiring and all processes around hiring, retention, and evaluation around the vision and mission. • Hire a person whose passion, values and skills align with the vision and mission

28. 4. The Hedgehog Concept • “…to attain piercing clarity about how to produce the best long-term results, and then exercising the relentless discipline to say, “No thank you” to opportunities that fail the hedgehog test. • E.g.: Test prep vs. strong first teaching. • What would a Level 5 leader do? • Whose interests would the decision serve?

29. 4. The Hedgehog Concept What are you Deeply Passionate About? What Drives Your Resource Engine? What Can You Be Best in the World at? It’s all about understanding the deep alignment between these three factors

30. 4. The Hedgehog Concept • Passion: Understanding what your organization stands for (its core values) and why it exists (mission and purpose) • Best At: Understanding what your organization can uniquely contribute to the people it touches, better than any other organization on the planet? • Resource Engine: Understanding what best drives your resource engine, broken into three parts: Time. Money, and Brand

31. 4. The Hedgehog Concept • Passion: Understanding what your organization stands for (its core values) and why it exists (mission and purpose) • Best At: Understanding what your organization can uniquely contribute to the people it touches, better than any other organization on the planet? • Resource Engine: Understanding what best drives your resource engine, broken into three parts: Time. Money, and Brand

32. The whole purpose of social sectors is to meet social objectives, human needs and national priorities thatcannotbe priced at a profit.

33. Economic Engine in Social Sectors: 4 Quadrants • Quadrant 1: Government Funded • Quadrant 2: Charitable Support • Quadrant 3: Hybrid (Business and Charitable) • Quadrant 4: Business Stream (profit generating) Identify the revenues schools generate within each sector.

34. “…the wide variation in economic structures in the social sectors increases the importance of the hedgehog principle – the inherent complexity requires deeper, more penetrating insight and rigorous clarity than in your average business entity” (p.20)

35. ALIGNMENT • “How does focusing on what we can do best tie directly to our resource engine, and how does our resource engine directly reinforce what we can do best?” And you must be right.

36. The Hedgehog Concept – Make the Connections Skills and Capabilities (ppk) Relationships Practices Deep Learning Cycle ABA’s Guiding Ideas Evidence Awareness and Sensibilities PDSA Domain of Strategic Architecture Innovations in Infrastructures T, M, & Tools

37. No Hedgehog Lives Here Shared Vision? Herein Lies the Problem

38. The Hedgehog Lives Here! Shared Vision The Ideal

39. 4. The Hedgehog Concept… translation • Design, teach and steward in alignment with your vision and mission • “Our most valuable “resource” in schools is the people in our system who believe in our vision and mission with passion and dedication, and an unusual, productive obsession on overcoming all obstacles to the organizations success” (Hawkins, 2009)

40. 5. Turning the Flywheel • “In building a great institution, there is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary break, no miracle moment. Rather, our research showed that it feels like turning a giant, heavy flywheel” (p.22).

41. 5. Turning the Flywheel • After pushing and pulling with great effort –days, weeks, and months of work, with almost imperceptible progress – you finally get the flywheel to inch forward. But you don’t stop. You keep pushing, and with persistent effort, you finally get the flywheel to complete one entire turn. You don’t stop. You keep pushing, in an intelligent and consistent direction and the flywheel moves a bit faster. With continued ,persistent effort, it moves faster and faster until it speeds toward the breakthrough! It continues with almost unstoppable momentum. This is how you build greatness. (p. 23)

42. 5. Turning the Flywheel By focusing on the Hedgehog Concept, you buildresults. Those results attract resources and commitment, which builds a stronger organization. The organization delivers even better results, which attracts greater resources and commitment, which builds a stronger organization, which enables even better results. People want to feel the excitement of being involved with something that just flat out works. When they begin to see tangible results – when they can feel the flywheel beginning to build speed – that’s when most people line up to throw their shoulders against the wheel and push.

43. 5. Turning the Flywheel Building a great organization requires a shift to “clock building” – shaping a strong, self-sustaining organization that can prosper beyond any single programmatic idea or visionary leader. To have the greatest impact on society requires first and foremost a great organization, not a single great program Organizations that focus on the Hedgehog Concept and that build greatness get a “brand reputation” that enables leaders to do their work the best way they know how. Get out of their way, and let them build a clock.

44. 5. Turning the Flywheel Is Harvard delivering a better education than other colleges? Is the Red Cross truly delivering the best disaster relief services? Are North Shore school districts truly delivering better education then South Shore Districts? A key link in the social sectors is brand reputation – built upon tangible results and emotional share of heart – so that potential supporters believe not only in your mission, but in your capacity to deliver on that mission. Brand reputations give people an easy way to support a cause they care about.

45. Focus on Vision/Mission “More Better” Results Results Attract Even More Resources and Commitment Attract Resources and Commitment Even Better Results Better Results A Positive Reinforcing Loop Attract More Resources and Commitment

46. 5. The Flywheel…translated • Continuous Improvement • Plan, Do, Study, Act – Deming • Go slow to go fast! • Start with a small, committed group and design for quick wins and CELEBRATE THEM! • Create alignment around the vision and core mission (educating all children to high standards) • Maintain a laser-like focus on the “main thing”! • Success breeds success! • Maintain creative tension

47. Great Organizations • Practice the principle of Preserve the Core and Stimulate Progress, separating core values and fundamental purpose (which should never change) from mere operating practices, cultural norms and business strategies (which endlessly adapt to a changing world).

48. Great Organizations translated • Practice the principle of Preserve the Core and Stimulate Progress, separating Vision/Mission and Guiding Ideas (which should never change) from mere Cultural norms, Innovations in Infrastructure and Theories Methods and Tools (which endlessly adapt to a changing world).

49. Great Organizations • Social Sector leaders pride themselves on “doing good” for the world, but to be of “maximum service requires a ferocious focus on doing good ONLY if it fits with your Hedgehog Concept. • To do the most good requires saying “no” to pressures to stray, and the discipline to stray, and the discipline to stop what does not fit.

50. Great Organizations translated • Social Sector leaders pride themselves on “doing good” for the world, but to be of maximum service requires a ferocious focus on doing good ONLY if it fits with your Vision, Mission and Guiding Ideas. • To do the most good requires saying “no” to pressures to stray (strong first teaching), and the discipline to stop what does not fit (test prep).