I regularly find myself connecting information dots. This time, on the theme of err. The dots; the Chancellor, Teresa May and Microsoft’s CEO. Unfortunately, just thinking about it, creates more disconnected questions. The point here, I’ve attended many different training sessions, attended numerous leadership sessions, read numerous leadership books, and the position statement has always been, one of anticipated success? How? When? Do we approach or lead in times of err?
The Chancellor’s is reported as reflecting on his fundamental error.
It is clear that compliance with the ‘legislative’ test of the Manifesto commitment is not adequate.
That as it is, it is May’ actions as Leader that caught my attention. Responsibility for the mistake could not have been the single responsibility of Hammond. I can not think of a school policy that was not reviewed and checked by at least one other member of SLT?
Compare this to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella response in support of staff following a very public failure. Just under a year ago, Microsft launched a Twitter bot with AI. Things took a vicious turn when this bot was exploited and started spewing racist and profane comments. The bot was quickly shut down.
If you worked on the project, you probably thought the worst. That’s what makes the follow-up email from Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, so remarkable.
Keep pushing, and know that I am with you … (The) key is to keep learning and improving.
Quite different from May. Nadella went on to explain the reasoning behind his encouraging tone:
It’s so critical for leaders not to freak people out, but to give them air cover to solve the real problem. If people are doing things out of fear, it’s hard or impossible to actually drive any innovation.
I like to think that teachers are in the business of innovation. If not innovative, teaching is anything but predictable.
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