Page 7 - Leadership Basics 10

You should have answered 'yes' to at least some of the questions. The relevance of each of the
questions will be explained as you read the booklet.

We were recently with a school leader who claimed proudly that he believed in a completely
participative style of management. He showed us the agenda of his last staff meeting. It had
thirty‐seven items on it! He maintained that by involving staff in all decisions, they could never
complain about being left out. We doubt whether his colleagues shared his enthusiasm for the
four‐hour epics, which could hardly be described as productive use of precious professional time. As a
leader, you have a great responsibility to ensure that precious time, better devoted to student learning,
is not being wasted.

Of course, not all meetings are about decisions or consequent action. They may be arranged to give
information, but the question arises as to whether this could be dealt with in another way. If it
involves straightforward dissemination with little discussion, an email sent to all interested parties
would probably do the job more economically. If, however, comment is required or if there could be
misunderstanding, then a meeting is appropriate. Similarly, if it is important that teachers listen to a
certain person because of their status, knowledge or information, then that may be another good
reason to bring them together.

Below are some important functions which meetings might serve:

1. Testing out the Quality of Decisions
Although many criticisms have been raised about meetings, they can be excellent vehicles for
testing out ideas and developing creative solutions to problems. By encouraging teachers to engage
in constructive criticism, only quality ideas will survive and you will avoid the disappointments
caused by failing to put decisions to the test of critical scrutiny. You have to be careful here though.
Some people have great skill in taking ideas apart and finding the faults in them. This is a good thing
but it can also turn into a destructive exercise and cause many upsets.

2. Getting a Message Across to a Group of Teachers
Meetings are also suitable for conveying a message to a group of teachers, but they should be used
for this purpose sparingly. You have to think carefully before taking many people out of their
classrooms and generally disrupting the progress of learning. But if you want to say something
important, it may be better to hold a meeting rather than let the 'rumour mongers' go to work.

3. Building Up Team Cohesion Within the School or Department
Many talk about the team‐building attributes of meetings as a form of justification for the
inadequate gatherings for which they are responsible. They do help to build teams, but only if they
are run well so that members are working together cohesively towards a common goal and are
enjoying success in their efforts.

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