Holding hands with a tornado

Workforce, June, 2003 by Tom Terez

You think your work is tough? Try on the top job at a grade school. The typical principal endures daily phone calls and visits with parents. Meetings with teachers, support staff, administrators, union leaders, legislators, community members, and vendors. And hundreds of close encounters with yelling, running, jumping, jostling kids.

That's what makes Fred Burton something of a leadership marvel. He's the principal of Wickliffe Elementary School in Upper Arlington, Ohio. And he readily acknowledges the potential chaos that's a part of every school, describing the typical workday as "a little like holding hands with a tornado."

But from the very first meeting with Dr. Burton, you can't help but notice it. He's calm. Remarkably calm. Consistently calm. He seems to have the inner peace and self-confidence that all leaders seek, Picture a 48-year-old version of Mr. Rogers, complete with friendly smile and easygoing manner, staying serene in the midst of chaos. That's Burton.

As for organizational results, Burton and Wickliffe have plenty. The school, with 420 children from kindergarten to fifth grade, is home to last year's Ohio teacher of the year and music teacher of the year. It has been recognized as an Ohio BEST school, an award given by a major business coalition. And National Public Radio spent a day there interviewing students and staff for an expanded feature on progressive education.

So what are the leadership lessons from this teacher turned principal? One is to be observant. No matter how hectic things get, Burton makes a point of stepping from his quiet office into the busy hallway, so he can absorb all that's happening. He looks for positive stories--then he tells them over and over to reinforce the school's culture.

One day, after the bell had signaled the start of recess, children began hustling to the playground. Burton stood in the hallway, saying hello and smiling, taking it all in--when a piece of student artwork got knocked from the wall. The principal watched from a distance as an alert first-grader hunched down, grabbed the fallen art, and taped it back onto the wall.

Later that week, at the school's town meeting, Burton told about the child who had saved the picture from certain destruction. Then he asked the boy to stand up. The 419 other students responded with a big round of applause.

Burton also makes a point of drawing answers and solutions from the people around him, instead of trying to impose his own ideas. In one recent phone call, he listened to an anxious parent who felt that her child wasn't being sufficiently challenged. He asked a question, and another, and another. Then he promised to call back after consulting with the teachers.

He met with the student's teacher and a specialist in programs for gifted children, and all agreed to meet the parents in person. But the teachers worried that the meeting would degenerate into a confrontation. So Burton became a coach. "What about asking questions?" he suggested. "What would happen if you asked the parents, 'When you see your child fully engaged and positively challenged, what does that look like?"'

As the teachers took in the idea, they began to envision a dialogue in which they would involve the parents as partners. A few days later, the meeting unfolded just as planned. Positive questions and careful listening had made all the difference.

Burton's biggest lesson has to do with the nature of organizations. "They are not machines with precision parts' he says. "They involve people and relationships." When we huddle in our office or hurry along our conversations or avoid conversations altogether, people feel dismissed--and might be back with bigger issues and deeper problems. "We pay for our speed later on."

Technology can make things worse. E-mail, for instance, is a one-way proposition that keeps people from reading nonverbal cues, asking questions, engaging in conversation, and making discoveries together. "Technology as a whole has increased speed," Burton says. "And speed is the enemy of quality."

Even after 11 years as a teacher and 15 years as a principal, Burton says it's still tough to remain attentive. "I'm continually working on it," he says. "I believe it has to be learned each day. Like most managers, I'm in an environment that does a good job of distracting me from being present and listening and asking, 'What's really going on here?"'

Okay, so you're not a principal. But just like Burton, you're a leader who faces extraordinary demands. His simple lessons apply to us all: be observant, tell stories, ask questions, and put people and relationships ahead of efficiency.

Tom Terez is a speaker workshop leader and author of 22 Keys to Creating a Meaningful Workplace. His Web site, Better WorkplaceNow.com, features strategies and tools for increasing employee satisfaction and productivity. Write to Tom at BetterWorkplaceNow.com, or call (614) 571-9529.