Authorizing and the Five Practices of

Exemplary Leadership

JAMES N. GOENNER, PH.D.

Goals for Today

KIDS!

Expand Vision for Authorizing

Become Better Leaders

Learn & Grow Together

Have Fun!

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3 Inspire Hearts & Minds

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The Most Consistently Admired Characteristics of Leaders:

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Honest

Forward-Looking

Competent

Inspiring

How Leaders Earn Credibility

• “They practice what they preach.”• “They walk the talk.”• “Their actions are consistent with their words.”• “They put their money where their mouth is.”• “They follow through on their promises.”• “They do what they say they will do.”

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The Leadership Challenge

RELATIONSHIPS

“People don’t care how much you know until they

know how much you care.”

“Know Thyself”

The First Person You Lead Is Yourself

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Who Said …

“The future is not what it used to be.”

— Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer

Common Authorizing Functions

Gatekeeper Monitor Evaluator

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Alpha Authorizing Functions

Change Agent Market Maker

Force for Quality Catalyst for Excellence

Change AgentAKA: The Innovator

Challenge the “givens”

Foster an environment that attracts talent, capital and entrepreneurship

Influence policy and practice

Provide leadership and ideas for improving education

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Change the incentives by withdrawing the exclusive franchise

Charter new schools so people have choices

Foster an environment that attracts can-do people

Market MakerAKA: The Doer

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Force for QualityAKA: The Enforcer

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Thoroughly screen applications and applicants Issue performance-based charter contracts

Measure and evaluate performance

Preserve discretionary judgment

Protect school autonomy

Appropriately intervene when people fail to perform

Catalyst for ExcellenceAKA: The Facilitator

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Recognize and reward performance

Encourage the replication and expansion of success

Create new performance-based paths for authorizing, overseeing, and renewing charter contracts

Make authorizing a respected profession

Relentlessly pursue excellence

Protect, preserve and advance the idea behind chartering

AS AN AUTHORIZER:

HOW WOULD YOU RATEYOUR OWN PERFORMANCE?

CHARTER SCHOOLS

A strategy to transform public education by injecting choice,

change and competition into the system.

The Seven Habits

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Be Proactive

Begin with the End in Mind

Put First Things First

Think Win-Win

Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Synergize

Sharpen the Saw

WHAT TRULY MATTERS

Ensuring all students are prepared for success in

college, work and life.

Purpose of a Charter School Authorizer

“To ensure, on behalf of the public, that students are learning, money and resources are well stewarded, and the organization passionately pursues greatness, while modeling the highest legal and ethical principles.”

“Dr. James Goenner

National Charter Schools Institute

You can order at: CharterInstitute.org/services

Superior Performance

Distinctive Impact

Lasting Endurance

What Is Greatness?

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“Good is the enemy of great.”“

-Jim Collins

KIDS

Authorizers

Boards

Schools

Aligning for Greatness

Develop a Relationship of Mutual Trust & Respect

Set Clear Performance Expectations – No Surprises!

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Establish a Shared Vision & Commitment

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People Need Systems to Turn the Flywheel

• Principles and practices for predictably achieving goals

• Processes that are specific, orderly, and repeatable

• Leverage time, money and abilities• Deliberate, intentional and practicable

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PerformanceAgreement

=• Academic• Fiscal• Operational• Values

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AS AN AUTHORIZER:

HOW ARE YOU CREATINGTHIS ENVIRONMENT?

Greatness . . . is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.”“

-Jim Collins

Be honest with your schools. Give real feedback or change will never happen.

Structural Overview

Charter

School

State & Federal

Law

Authorizer &

Charter Contract Board

Policies &

Procedures

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Authorizer

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To Ensure

A Simple Way to Frame Roles

School

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To Execute

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Leadership Pyramid

What Level of Leader Do You Want?

Level 5 Leader

• Ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the organization, the work — not themselves.

• Displays a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

Level 3 Leader

• Organizes people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives.

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Winners Want to be Associated with an Authorizer that …

• Knows its purpose and why it exists• Understands it is the highest authority in

the organization• Knows it represents the public• Is disciplined in its role and behaviors and

those of its individual members• Is trustworthy and predictable

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• Uses its authority to empower, not strangle• Ensures the organization is effective

and efficient• Has high expectations and measures

performance • Is unafraid to judge, but does so fairly• Continuously earns credibility

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Winners Want to be Associated with an Authorizer that …

“Doing everything keeps us so busy we don’t have time to think about what is really important to us.”“

The Power of Clarifying Values

TEAMWORK

• We recognize that no one of us is as good as all of us.

• We will put the team’s goals before our own.

• We will collaborate.

• We can be relied upon to fulfill commitments.

• We are accountable for ourselves and to each other.

• We will celebrate our successes and have fun.

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The Five Temptationsof a CEO

“We believe Authorizers that govern for greatness ask wise questions and measure things that really matter.”“

-Dr. James Goenner National Charter Schools Institute

HOW WELL IS OUR SCHOOL …

Wise Questions

Preparing Students for College, Work and Life

Leveraging Resources

Fulfilling Its Commitments?

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Setting Goals.Defining Targets.

Common Challenges

Dysfunctional Group Dynamics

Disengaged Board Members

Uncertainty About Roles and Responsibilities

Source: Problem Boards or Board Problems? The Nonprofit Quarterly

 

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Where Do YouSpend Your Time?

First Things First

“If you do not change, you can become extinct.”

Who Moved My Cheese? ““

How clear is your organization about its ...

Vision

Mission

What is the organization really trying to accomplish? Is it compelling? Will it make a significant difference?

How will the organization proceed with making this vision a reality?

Values What are the core things the organization will use to guide and evaluate all of its actions and behaviors? 

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How do you find your voice

& encourage others

to find theirs?

Five Practices of Exemplary Leaders

Model the Way

Inspire a Shared Vision

Challenge the Process

Enable Others to Act

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Encourage the Heart5

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You can order at: CharterInstitute.org/services

“Set the standards higher for yourself than others would set them for you.”“

-John Maxwell

Lessons

• Front-Load: Complexity Is Deceiving

• Start With the End in Mind

• One Size Does Not Fit All

• Opportunity to Align Goals, Standards, Assessment and Evaluation

• Results Matter

• Challenge of Rapid Growth

“When I go slow, I go fast.” — Chinese Proverb

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Lessons (continued)

• Can’t Regulate Excellence

• Navigating the Invisible Line: Oversight vs. Support

• How to Differentiate Performance

• Capture the Baselines and Benchmark

• What Gets Measured Gets Done

• Closing a School Is the Ultimate Test

• Never Get to California If We Waited for the Freeway

• America Is the Real Experiment!

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“It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

— Winston Churchill

“Public schools are the backbone of this country, . . . and as long as I am superintendent, charter schools will not be welcome in Detroit.”

— Connie Calloway, Ph.D., Detroit Superintendent as reported by the Detroit Federation

of Teachers, June 11, 2007

“I look at charter schools, for example, as prostitutes in the sense that when our police department tries to curb prostitution, they arrest the Johns now as opposed to the prostitutes because the prostitutes are always going to be there. And charter schools are obviously going to be there.”

— Dr. Jimmy Womack,Detroit School Board President

Detroit News Online Video, July 18, 2007

Changing the Paradigm

• In theory, law, policy and practice

• “Era of Assignment” to “Era of Choice”

• Removed the district’s exclusive franchise

• Schools without boundaries

• Fund students, not schools

• Empowering parents

• Choice and competition

• Dual accountability

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“Study after study shows that state standards vary wildly and the states with the lowest standards are lying to children – by telling them they are ready for college or work – when they are in fact unable to compete.”

— Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

Some Assumptions for Breakthrough Performance:

1. Students value and take ownership of their education.

2. Outcomes measured against clear, consistent standards.

3. Outcomes linked to teacher and organizational effectiveness.

4. Productivity and results are measured and rewarded.

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Is the academic program a success?Key Renewal Questions:1

Is the school financially viable?2 Key Renewal Questions:

Is the school equitable & organizationally sound?3 Key Renewal Questions: