Reflections: Good to Great

D'Arcy Maher, Director of Early Education Services

Introduction

Jim Collins, in his best seller Good to Great,¹ set out to understand the dynamics of companies that, over the course of their existence, have moved from good to great. While the five-year study yielded insights into the business world, schools nationwide consider the information in light of effective schooling. The components of effective schooling, often varied and argued, find a commonality within this research. More importantly, these results find ready implementation in a school environment. What does the implementation look like in an early education program?

Research Basis

Choosing companies for the study took place after reviewing market earnings over several years. Financial outcomes became the sole basis for consideration. Chosen companies earned at or below the market value then hit a breakthrough point when earnings steadily climbed—outpacing the market substantially. At this time, stock is continuing to climb. In addition to choosing the breakthrough companies, comparison companies were chosen on the basis of the financial picture as well. Interviews revealed the differences in philosophy and practice that drive each company.

The application to early education becomes problematic. Determining good to great early education programs cannot necessarily be defined in fiscal terms. In most cases, it definitely cannot. Are effective programs determined by the qualifications of the staff? Curriculum? Parent satisfaction? Accreditation? Leadership? Kindergarten entrance test scores? Student behavior or knowledge? Ministry impact in the community?

It is my opinion that the field of Christian early education is catching up to where it should be. The above indicators factor into an effective program; however, perhaps each early education program needs to evaluate its effectiveness against its internal mission and goals, and develop best practices on the basis of the plethora of available research.

Reflection Questions

1. In your opinion, what do you consider to be an effective, exemplary program?
2. Think about the early education programs in your area. How does your program stack up against them? How would you feel about a side-by-side comparison with one or two of them?
3. If you were to seriously engage in moving your center from good to great, who would you need on your team, and why?

Collins eloquently points out that good is the enemy of great. For some, good is comfortable—and it will take dissonance and change to move to great. Entertaining that possibility can be decidedly uncomfortable. Yet, inherent in change is growth.

► Finding #1: Level-5 Leadership

As much as the researchers wanted to disregard the issue of leadership (thinking instead the answer would be found in the philosophy and practices of the companies), they could not. Each good to great company had at its helm a level-5 leader. Level-5 leaders embody the following traits:²

1. Combine the paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will
2. Set up successors for even greater success in the next generation
3. Display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated
4. Are frantically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results
5. Display a workmanlike diligence—more plow horse than show horse
6. Look out the window to attribute success, look in the mirror to blame self when things go wrong to take responsibility

John Maxwell, in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, states that everything rises and falls on leadership.³ Maxwell also describes this finding as the law of the lid.⁴ This law informs us that the organization will grow only to the extent that the leader grows.⁵ Within this context we conclude that consequences remain dependent on the growth or the stagnation of the leader.⁶

Reflection Questions

1. Refer to page 20 in Good to Great. In the description of each level of leadership (1–5), which description best fits your style?
2. Do you currently possess any of the level-5 leadership characteristics?
3. What needs to happen in your life to move you into mastery of the level-5 leadership characteristics?
4. Do you have a network of individuals to support you in this endeavor?

► Finding #2: First Who … Then What

Collins wraps this finding into a fantastic word picture: the bus. The good to great research team found that successful companies found the right people to put on the bus and made sure they were in the right seat as the journey unfolded. At times, companies even hired the “right” person prior to having a position for the person, doing this simply because he or she possessed the right attitude and skills to strengthen the team.

John Maxwell, in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, discusses this same concept in two of the laws: the law of the niche (all players have a place where they add the most value) and the law of the chain (the strength of the team is impacted by its weakest link).⁷ Leadership mentors agree on this topic. Bill Hybels suggests hiring potential team members on the basis of character, competency, and chemistry.⁸

Why is this hard for an early educator? There are several reasons, actually: often the existence of more available positions than qualified applicants, the low wages of the field, and the classroom isolationism of the educational field often obscuring the true gifts and liabilities of individual teachers and assistants. The list could continue.

Reflection Questions

1. List the people on your bus. What are the criteria to determine whether they are the right people? Are they in the right seats? Were you fully responsible for getting them on the bus? Did you inherit staff when you took this position? Is there any reason to rearrange any of the passengers?
2. Continue to think about the bus analogy. Who has the authority to drive the bus? Where is the bus headed? Who on the bus wants to be on the bus?
3. Whose bus are you on? Where is it headed?

► Finding #3: Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)

Most sectors of the educational field hold to the core value of evaluation. We evaluate student progress; teachers are scrutinized on several levels such as classroom performance, ongoing professional development, and daily documentation of instruction. Though I’ve been in the field for 16 years, I know from experience that early educators often approach situations with an eye for encouragement first and gentle suggestions second. It is sometimes easier to be idealistic than to confront reality.

The good to great research team, however, discovered that the ability to confront the brutal facts, the data right in front of them, was a key in moving the company from good to great. I recently spoke with an early education program that detailed the changes in its neighborhood over the past 25 years. The original white-collar neighborhood slowly changed to blue-collar, then to predominantly African American and Latino, and now (25 years since its inception) many Asian families bring their children to the center. If this program chooses to continue to maintain the same target audience, how would the community be impacted?

Reality is different for every program. Your reality may include specific traditions or inherited staff or the inability to create and spend your own budget. Let’s take this further. Does your entire staff see the same reality? The perspective of the teachers and teacher assistants may be different from your own. Does a climate exist where the truth can be heard?⁹ I’ve recently heard the phrase truth to power. The idea is that those in authority need to be willing to hear the truth. The other side of the same coin is to be a leader courageous enough to speak the truth to those over you in authority. Collins suggests four ways to create such a climate:¹⁰

1. Lead with questions, not answers
2. Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion
3. Conduct autopsies, without blame
4. Build red-flag mechanisms

The second part of this finding points to the very essence of Christian early education: never losing faith—in spite of tremendous odds and opposition. While we may not lose faith, we can become discouraged. Often discouragement flows out of the fatigue that overcomes because of the intensity of directing a center. Who in your life brings encouragement and shares your vision?

Reflection Questions

1. What is your reality?
2. What is the reality of your staff? Do you fear finding this out?
3. What is the climate within your center? List 5 to 10 descriptive words.
4. Who on your team speaks truth to power?
5. How do you encourage dialogue and debate?
6. What is your dream for your early education center? How have you shared this dream with your team? How can this dream become a motivating factor for your team?

► Finding #4: The Hedgehog Concept

Collins again provides a great word picture by contrasting the fox and the hedgehog. The fox pursues a myriad of opportunities, while the hedgehog reduces all complexity into simple ideas. Those things that do not have direct relevance are rejected.¹¹ Collins insists that good to great companies found a simple concept and then implemented it with fanatical consistency.¹² He suggests that the hedgehog concept flows from the intersection of three circles:¹³

1. What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at)
2. What drives your economic engine
3. What you are deeply passionate about

Many early education centers want to be the best in their community, period. Those same programs, however, may not be prepared to take that on. In working with the staff at one program, we acknowledged their outstanding environment; it was incredible—one of the best we’ve seen. However, in matters of curriculum, they seemed lacking. Soon they began to write their own curriculum to support the specifics of their environment. I was saddened to think of the wasted time and momentum. Fabulous early education curricula exist. There is no need to write another one; that’s not their hedgehog. Their passion for an appropriate environment for young children is in jeopardy of being drained by the curriculum project.

According to Maxwell, leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment, which he explains in the law of priorities.¹⁴ Focused effort in one direction creates momentum, which is a leader’s best friend.¹⁵

Reflection Questions

1. Complete this statement: my center is best in the world at___________.
2. Now complete this: we are not the best in the world at_____________.
3. If you were to share your answers to the above questions at the next staff meeting, how would your staff respond?
4. What is your passion? Is it being expressed in your center?
5. In what ways do you need to evaluate the priorities within your center?

Finding #5: A Culture of Discipline

Stop now—right now after reading the title of this finding—and write several sentences about what a culture of discipline would mean in your early education program. Often the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” seems more readily applied in early education programs than elsewhere! The multitude of details that must converge every day in EE programs is staggering, and directors can often be found holding their breath rather than optimistically planning for the future! Think back to your initial written comments about a culture of discipline. What kinds of people need to be on your bus to make that happen?

The researchers found four things that define this premise. I want to note the first three:¹⁶

1. Build a culture around the idea of freedom and responsibility, within a framework
2. Fill that culture with self-disciplined people who are willing to go to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities
3. Don’t confuse a culture of discipline with a tyrannical disciplinarian

These three points find immediate application to the early education program. The framework within which freedom and responsibility can be exercised must be part of the employee handbook and clearly explained in the interview process. Great teachers hold this freedom as a sacred trust and creatively set about teaching by using personal gifts and talents for the benefit of the enrolled children. They will be responsible in meeting the student goals and objectives. If self-disciplined individuals fill the center, there is little need to manage the people—just the systems need to be managed.¹⁷ If, however, your staff is a mixture of highly disciplined individuals and less diligent individuals, Maxwell points out that you will lose the respect of the best if you do not deal properly with the worst.¹⁸

I personally appreciate the care of the researchers in pointing out the difference between a culture of discipline and one of a tyrannical disciplinarian. This takes us full circle back to evaluating the leadership style of the early education director. Maxwell reminds us that “people naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves.”¹⁹ Your staff needs to see in you the qualities that bring the culture of discipline to life in a consistent fashion so that they will have a model to follow. This modeling frees leaders to operate in their areas of giftedness rather than constantly managing the people instead of the system.

Reflection Questions

1. What is the culture of your center?
2. What specific characteristics of discipline do you consistently model to your staff? Listed here are a few categories to get you started: spiritual life, professional growth, balancing family responsibilities, and caring for your physical needs.

Finding #6: Technology Accelerators

Discussing technology may not be the most engaging of topics for early educators! However, time and time again I encounter directors who do not have computers in their offices or do not have email access. At some level, not having the option to carefully select programs to expedite your work cripples your effectiveness.

Researchers found that good to great companies used technology as an accelerator, not a creator, of momentum (emphasis mine).²⁰ “How a company reacts to technological change is a good indicator of its inner drive for greatness versus mediocrity. Great companies respond with thoughtfulness and creativity, driven by a compulsion to turn unrealized potential into results; mediocre companies react and lurch about, motivated by fear of being left behind.”²¹

Reflection Questions

1. List all the programs currently on your computer. Place a star next to the programs in which you are proficient.
2. List all the ways technology brings an added dimension of effectiveness in the administrative offices as well as for the staff.
3. Create a prioritized list of technology needs; create a proposal for at least one item on the list.
4. How does the research available on the Internet specifically benefit your program? What sites do you frequent to stay informed on early education issues?

Finding #7: The Flywheel and the Doom Loop

Collins provides us with yet another word picture: “Imagine that your task is to get [a] flywheel rotating on [its] axle as fast and long as possible.... Now suppose someone came along and asked, ‘What was the one big push that caused this thing to go so fast?’… Was it the first push? The second? The fifth? The hundredth? No! It was all of them added together in an overall accumulation of effort applied in a consistent direction.”²²

Maxwell defines this as the law of process. Success is found in daily habits; it does not happen in a day.²³ Another analogy familiar to Christian early educators is the scriptural analogy of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7–9, Psalm 126:5–6). Understanding this idea and internalizing it in such a way that your life is guided by it are two different things.

As early educators, we rarely see the fruit of our labors. We often do not see the children and families we serve after they leave our program. It is during the interval between the planting and the harvest that the defeated one can tempt us to be discouraged and try to derail us from continually pushing the flywheel. We are also tempted to think we are the only ones planting seeds or pushing the flywheel—forgetting all those who diligently work alongside. We can also forget the Comforter, who has been given to believers as the one who will come alongside and empower us to glorify Christ in our lives and work.

As the flywheel begins rapid rotations, we find the effort to push becomes much easier. This momentum, then, becomes the leader’s best friend.²⁴ “When you have no momentum, even the simplest tasks can seem to be insurmountable problems. But when you have momentum on your side, the future looks bright, obstacles appear small, and trouble seems temporary.”²⁵ “With enough momentum, nearly any kind of change is possible…. Momentum puts victory within reach.”²⁶

Reflection Questions

1. “Pushing the flywheel” is a daily habit that informs our success. List several of the daily “pushes” you provide for the flywheel.
2. What “pushes” do your staff provide for the flywheel on a daily basis?
3. In thinking about this concept, describe the morale of your team. Are some discouraged? Are you discouraged? What are some things you can do today to encourage your team?
4. What is the level of momentum in your center? What activities provided the momentum?

Conclusion

Dr. Ken Smitherman, president of ACSI (retired 2009), is greatly concerned with the question of effective Christian schooling. Believing that Christian schools need to be a transforming influence on today’s culture, he has challenged leaders of Christian schools to think strategically about what they want Christian school graduates to “look like.” He suggests a range of expected student outcomes to guide the process.

In early 2003, he challenged the Department of Early Education Services to do the same. These intended ends for early education students were introduced at the 2003 International Early Education Directors Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. These intended ends have been researched, and they offer a suggestion of what young children might look like when they leave a Christian early education program. What do the expected student outcomes look like for your center? This is one very specific way to address the effectiveness of your center immediately.

Notes

¹Jim Collins. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

²Jim Collins. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins, 2001: 39.

³John Maxwell. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998: back flap.

⁴Ibid., 1.

⁵Ibid., 7–8.

⁶Ibid., xx.

⁷John Maxwell. The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001: 28, 58.

⁸Bill Hybels. Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.

⁹Jim Collins. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins, 2001: 73.

¹⁰Ibid., 74–80.

¹¹Jim Collins. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins, 2001: 91.

¹²Ibid., 92.

¹³Ibid., 95–96.

¹⁴John Maxwell. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998: 175.

¹⁵Ibid., 165.

¹⁶Jim Collins. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins, 2001: 124.

¹⁷Ibid., 125.

¹⁸John Maxwell. The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001: 64

¹⁹Maxwell, John. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998: 67.

²⁰Collins, Jim. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins, 2001: 152.

²¹Ibid: 162.

²²Jim Collins. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins, 2001: 164–165.

²³John Maxwell. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998: 21.

²⁴John Maxwell. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998: 165.

²⁵Ibid., 171.

²⁶Ibid., 173.

Good to Great 6.1