Girls’ education a critical element in eradicating poverty, yet barriers remain. Alice takes action in Northern Uganda

1 06 2012

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I am concluding my second visit to Rwanda. Over the last few days we hosted a truly international summit that brought leaders and thinkers together, to strategise and to identify actions that will improve education and life outcomes for young people in rural areas of developing nations

Joining the summit was my new friend, Alice, an advocate for the education and career aspiration of girls in Uganda. She was a child during the conflict in Northern Uganda. She has witnessed the violence perpetrated by the Lords Resistance Army, and decided to act.

Five years ago she started a school in Northern Uganda for girls who are orphans, rescued from oppressors or other difficult circumstances that negatively impacts potential.

During the summit we drove through towns and villages in rural Rwanda. We met with the community, teachers and children. Alice was able to provide insight into cultural elements that ultimately inhibits the opportunities for girls.

As we drove along, we regularly saw women carrying large loads and collecting water, while men and boys gathered talking in groups. When I mentioned this observation to Martin, our driver, his response in ‘this is Africa’.

Alice explained that from a young age girls are cultured into domestic work. We regularly saw primary school aged girls with babies attached to their backs. She pointed out, for many families, once a daughter is strong enough to carry a baby it is her responsibility to care for her younger sibling, while the mother returns to work in the fields.

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Generally, girls rush home to help after school, while boys are able to play. Martin also commented that girls don’t ride bicycle, boys only. Girls wear skirts and it is not considered acceptable for them to ride a bicycle, so their freedom of movement is limited.

30% of girls in Northern Uganda are orphans or in girl-headed households, with responsible for their younger siblings. This makes them vulnerable to abuse and forced marriage.

Alice’s school is committed to transforming the life of a girl, because educating women is a critical element of eradicating poverty. She said that woman are business savvy and can generate income for the family. For $1 they can buy a chicken and over time raise $50 by selling the eggs.

Through her school and community efforts Alice advocates for changes to:

1. Culture – an appreciation of girls, a commitment to their value and education

2. Support girls who are orphans or in child-headed households

3. Judicial system in Uganda. The weaknesses in the system enables perpetrators of rape and abuse to avoid prosecution

Innovation within developing nations needs to specifically address the issues that inhibit education and career choices for girls. A deliberate strategy is needed. Our Rwandan driver, Martin, works very hard so his children can attend a good schools. He has chosen one for his daughter that has a reputation for educating leaders. He gets it.

(Read more about Alice and consider supporting the great work that she and her team undertakes: giftsforwarbrides.com)


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Categories : Education, Leadership, Women

He said, “I want to be an entrepreneur”, really? What does it actually mean?

1 06 2012

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Each day of the Rwanda Innovation Summit on education started with an observation, an experience. On the final day we went to the community at Kinigi. It took some negotiation to take the walk due to its proximity to the Gorillas National Park. The local leaders were concerned that 40 or so visitors were coming to surreptitiously see the gorillas, without the necessary permits and payments.

We finally assured the community leaders that we just wanted to walk and briefly immerse ourselves in the community and talk to some of the young people of the village.

That is where I met Claude. He looked to be about 17.

We started walking and talking. The young people appreciated the opportunity to practice their English. Last time we visited this community they said to us, “most people come and see the gorillas and leave, but you come and see us.”

I asked Claude what he wanted to do when he finished school, he replied, “I want to be an entrepreneur”. As we talked more he said he wanted to get a job, then start his own business. I was explaining the concept of scaling and replicating businesses when Seb walked by and asked, “what are you talking about?”

Seb, Alice and Pedro were the film crew we had with us to document the journey of the summit. If you asked Seb what he did, he would say ‘nomadic filmmaker’, a representative of a generation that is keen to make their own way without normal societal constraints and expectations. Seb is definitely entrepreneurial.

As he walked past, Seb commented, “entrepreneur? Too many people use that word without knowing what it is.” and with that, he kept walking. I explained to Claude, an entrepreneur is what we call a person with ideas, who make the ideas a reality and can grow the ideas.

Moments like these are great for reflection. Can anyone actually aspire to be an ‘entreprenuer’? Is it a career ambition? I don’t think it is an endpoint. No one can say, “I want to be an entrepreneur”. You either are or you aren’t. Perhaps your ideas are yet to be realised. Entrepreneurs are dreamers.

David Bessau founded the micro finance organisation, Opportunity International. He is known as a social entrepreneur. But well before he developed the micro finance model, as a teenager he was building a business selling hotdogs after the local football match in his home town. David always was an entrepreneur.

This is not to say the skills of entrepreneurship can’t be nurtured, they definitely can. The reality is that a person who has ideas, can scale and replicate the ideas and build something out of them is the entrepreneur.

I doubt whether any real entrepreneurs set out to say, “I want to be an entrepreneur”. Real entrepreneurs are out there doing, not talking about it.

I guess what Claude was saying was that he wants to build a business that can support himself and provide jobs. Maybe one day someone will look at his achievements and tell Claude that he is an entrepreneur.


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The Innovation Equation: (skills + design) x passion/purpose/drive = innovation

23 05 2012

These are interesting times.

We face new problems that need new solutions. The old solutions can’t necessarily translate into the 21st century context. Global financial uncertainty have shifted the tectonic plates. This is not the era of “a job for life”. Many industries are sent offshore, creating employment opportunities in other parts of the world. The coin-operated workforce is diminishing. That paints a somewhat gloomy picture, but it’s not all bad.

It is in times of uncertainty that innovation flourishes. We now need to teach/provide conditions for young people to be innovators. We can choose to be discouraged, or encouraged and look differently at the world as a place of opportunity. If some markets and industries close, new ones will emerge.

The best advantage we can give young people is to press the reset button on schools and how learning happens.

I’m writing this post from Kigali in Rwanda, prior to hosting the Innovate Rwanda Summit. The participants have started gathering, from all sorts of places. Over lunch yesterday we were sharing our stories. Amongst the group are a few young entrepreneurs, these 20-something’s represent the emerging generation – creative, connected, risk and opportunity takers.

Kau is from India, he works with an organisation that challenges teachers in his country to think differently. Since we arrived he has worked out how to get around, looked for and found opportunities and warmly engaged with whomever he meets. I asked Kau about his education, assuming he had completed a degree. Not the case. He started law, but found the study and the practice was not for him. He is now carving his way differently. Kau is pursuing passion, making a difference and honing his skills on-the-job. He represents the spirit of this generation.

He indicated that with family members in the medical profession his decision to leave university wasn’t what his parents expected. This is understandable. However, Kau is exemplifying how innovative thinking creates new ways of working.

The equation for the innovation age is:

(skills + design) x passion/purpose/drive = innovation

Skills and expertise necessary, these can be learnt or sourced.

Design thinking ensures that the shape of the idea can work, can scale and be replicated

But without passion, drive and purpose innovation can’t flourish.

How can you apply the equation? Where do you fit?

1. We can’t provide conditions for students to innovate without innovative teachers.

2. We can’t expect teachers to be innovative without innovative leaders.

3. Leaders can better provide conditions for innovation to flourish when legislators ‘get it’

4. Legislative requirements will change when politicians understand that ‘the times they are a-changing’

5. Politicians will see the light when they accept that the community needs new vision and they won’t lose votes.

6. The voting-public need to be shifted on their perception of the purpose of education in the 21st century

You can choose to be overwhelmed by this list, or jump in at whatever point represents your sphere of influence. The key is not to be numbed by the size of the challenge, but to start somewhere.

(I am currently reading Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner. These thoughts have been influenced by Ch1)


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Categories : change, creativity, Education, innovation

Identifying leadership potential: Track record trumps talent

13 05 2012

A colleague faced a dilemma. She had a leadership position to fill and a two potential candidates. Both displayed leadership ability, had the skills and qualifications to undertake the role, yet one stood out from the other. When he said ‘yes’ he meant it, he could adapt to change, he was not self-seeking and importantly he displayed a genuine relationship with and interest in his co-workers.The other person was less reliable, sought to further his ambition at the expense of others and was not well-regarded by his peers.

The decision was simple. One had a better track record than the other.

Track record is probably the most important consideration for identifying potential leaders, especially when they are known within your organisation. There are a few key elements of a good track record, including:

  • Reliability
  • Flexibility
  • Humility
  • Quality relationships

A track record shows a pattern of behaviour. None of us are perfect, but a good track record is skewed toward the positive side of the ledger.

How do you rate?

1. Reliability: Am I true to my word?

If I say I will be there, I will

If I say I will do it, I will

I look for people whose ‘yes’ means ‘yes’. It doesn’t mean that they will always say ‘yes’. I would prefer that if something can’t be accomplished because of time or extenuating circumstances that they would say ‘I’m not able at to this time’, then we can address the situation and work out a solution.

2. Flexibility: Can I roll with it?

I’m OK if plans change

I will step in to fill a gap

I can put my agenda aside

Organisations are dynamic and a leaders need to be able to adapt to change and adjust their plans. There are times when something needs to be done that is not specifically in the your role, but is crucial to fulfilling the mission.

3. Humility: Is it all about me, or not?

I don’t need/seek acknowledgement

I prefer recognition for the team

The Level 5 Leader, as described by Collins in Good to Great displays a combination of humility and will, demonstrating “compelling modesty, shunning public adulation; never boastful.” They look out the window (toward the team) when successful and in the mirror (at themselves) when things don’t go quite right.

4. Relationships: Am I liked and do I like people?

I have positive relationship – 360 degrees

I empower and develop others

I look for opportunities for my team to shine

Leadership is about people first and the successful leader in the 21stC values quality relationships, because they value people. For the emerging or potential leader it is equally important to ensure that time is invested in people, not just those who may give a professional advantage.

But what if your track record is a little patchy?

It’s never too late to get back on the right track. It does require making some commitments, especially in these few areas. Make a few resolutions, write them down and share them with a confidante or mentor for accountability. Things like:

  • I will say ‘no’ if I can’t get to something, rather than say ‘yes’ to everything and not show up
  • If my team need me I will deviate from my schedule
  • I will consider the team’s success to be my success
  • I will set a goal to meet five new people each week

 


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How can we expect teachers to change the way they teach unless we have changed the way teachers learn?

10 05 2012

Professional learning for a new paradigm 

About 12 months ago I found myself sitting in a conference surrounded by hundreds of educators on a topic of 21st Century education, delivered in an industrial-era paradigm. We sat passively, in a big auditorium, then we were herded like cattle to workshops where we sat passively in smaller groups.

Something didn’t add up. Why was I there? There were big name speakers, who have something to say. But when I Googled them I found that what they had to say I could actually catch on a YouTube clip or read in their books.

I am a self-motivated and self-directed learner. I seek learning opportunities, so why would I attend PD? Don’t we often say that the best thing about a conference was the conversations at the coffee break? But sometimes, isn’t it great to get away for the day, think about new things, engage with new people, be in a different physical space and have a nice lunch? Absolutely, but often in doing that we put up with content that can be accessed ourselves and reinforce outdated methods of delivery.

Unless we change the default setting for professional learning, we cannot expect teachers to think differently. They need to experience professional learning another way. Event-hosting companies have tapped into this market, with a commercial agenda. They have the capital to attract big names, get big sponsorship and roll out big marketing, yet don’t have the foundational thinking to change the content delivery method. Educators have just become their new market.

As we organise the Rwanda Open Summit to be held later this month I am reminded of the importance of thinking differently about how we engage learners. With incredibly high youth unemployment rates it is clear that there are significant gaps in the children’s learning. One of the people attending describe the approach to school in the region as “learn by rote and rule by fear”. Sadly, in developing nations the default approach to education reflects an aspiration of a western culture that we have now passed by.

The model of education that these young people desperately need is one that can leap-frog from the 1950′s British command-and-control era to the 21st Century knowledge economy. The access to technology, wireless and 3G networks and mobile devices can make a difference to the quality of teaching and learning. This is not just for the students, but essentially teacher pre-service and in-service education.

Newspaper reports this week predict the peak of the baby-boomer retirement in the next couple of years. Thousands will be retiring and thousands of young teachers will be needed to replace them.

It is imperative that we implement new approaches to conferences and PD, ones that provide opportunities for professional dialogue and networking. We need to rethink and present meaningful PD for educators that will model and give hands-on learning experiences, replicating the ways that engage and inspire young people. There is still the place for expert content and guest speakers, but can we become more creative about the program and provide opportunities for meaningful connection and sharing ideas?

We can’t expect teachers to change the way they teach until we change the way teachers learn.


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Categories : change, Education, Leadership, school, teacher quality

“The DNA of a leader needs to be fundamentally different from what it was in the past…be the person you want other people to be” Leadership lessons from a driving instructor.

6 05 2012

When your offspring reach a certain age, a sense of fear and trepidation rises. The time has come to teach them to drive. My husband and I considered ourselves good drivers and, at the time, we were teachers, so it seems only natural that we would be excellent driving instructors.

We spent several months driving with each son. When your kids are learning to drive you must take every opportunity to build up the mandatory hours, a requirement in our state.  At times the stress was tangible in the sweat on the back of the neck, but thankfully the driver, the parent-instructor and the car came out relatively unscathed.

In the last month or so, before the driving test we would engage the services of Ernie, the local driving instructor who had a pretty good pass-first-time record amongst the teenagers in the area. He had a very good reputation, and knew when his protégée was ready for the test.

After a couple of weeks driving with our first son we asked Ernie how Joe was making progress. “Pretty good”, he replied, “I just needed to spend a bit of time helping Joe unlearn some bad habits”.

What bad habits? My husband and I were his first driving teachers. He could start the engine, steer, indicate, navigate traffic lights and roundabouts. What was there to unlearn? We just thought Ernie would do what needed to be done to pass the test. Perhaps it wasn’t the ‘big’ things, habits are often the everyday things we don’t see.

Unknowingly, we had passed certain habits onto our sons, as we instructed him and as he had been our passenger over his lifetime.  We were unintentionally teaching these habits, both the good and not-so-good. Those not-so-good habits were mostly from my husband, I’m sure.

Recently, I was reading about Rebecca Dee Bradbury the head of Kraft Foods in Australia and NZ. She is a successful woman who has risen through the business ranks, and has been brought into Kraft to transform the organisation, what she does best.

Rebecca Dee-Bradbury represents the new style of leader,

“The DNA of a leader needs to be fundamentally different from what it was in the past. You need to be the person you want other people to be.”

Ouch!

21stC leaders take responsibility for the health and growth of their team. They also need to realise that the problematic aspects of the team, may just come from the leader. Let’s say it out loud, “you and me”.

Leadership today isn’t directing, it’s modelling. A procedures manual can tell people ‘what’ to do, but the essence of leadership is the ‘why’ and the ‘how’.

What things are your team seeing and hearing?

Contributing to a greater cause or building your empire

Valuing people and communicating vision or merely getting the job done

Focusing on excellence and integrity or cutting corners and covering up

Conveying trust and empowerment or micromanaging

Learning from mistakes and errors or imposing punitive consequences when things don’t go quite right

The model of leadership that you and I project will be the one that our team members learn. Many of us intuitively lead, unaware of the habits we are modelling and teaching our people. Maybe from time-to-time we need an ‘Ernie’ to help identify and correct the transmission of our bad habits.

And, yes, both of our kids passed their driving test first time.


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Categories : Education, Leadership, Soft skills

Courage is at the heart of leadership. Vulnerability is scary. Both are necessary for 21stC leaders

29 04 2012

In an earlier post I asked: What skills and attributes does a principal need?
I answered my own question, listing things like vision, endurance and the last one was courage.

A tweet came back: “courage” is a key one.

How often is the ‘courage’ of leadership raised?

I watched a TED talk recently on vulnerability. Brene Brown, a qualitative researcher, emphasised the power in being vulnerable and the courage of vulnerability.

A city is vulnerable to attack, my home may be vulnerable to crime and a body vulnerable to infection. These statements convey negative impressions. So why, then, is being vulnerable important and worthwhile?

Through a journey that was personally painful, Brown looked at ‘How the whole-hearted live’. They lived with courage and vulnerability. The ‘whole-hearted’ have a strong sense of love and belonging and believe they are worthy of this. These people fully embrace what made them vulnerable and this also made them beautiful. This is not comfortable.

Vulnerability is essential to wholeheartedness and a wholehearted leader is the best kind of leader. Why? Because leadership is about people and people hurt and are hurt. We talk about the soft-skills of leadership, when they are really the tough skills of leadership.

I guess the term ‘soft’ emerged as a descriptor of a less tangible set of skills that focus on people, rather than task. In a sense, however, the term ‘soft’ underplays their significance. More and more the leader today is working alongside a team of people, charged to bring out their best as a means of achieving corporate or collective goals. The command-and-control method is no longer as effective.

A team  needs a leader who knows them, understands them, appreciates them and, dare I say, loves them. This isn’t a one way street. The leader also wants to be known, understood, appreciated and, dare I say, loved. This kind of relationship can only work with vulnerability

Vulnerability cannot occur without courage.

Being vulnerable means ‘capable of being wounded or hurt’. In a war zone, the soldier goes into battle, knowing that he or she is capable of being wounded or hurt, but they go anyway. The soldier shows courage, but courage and fear are not mutually exclusive.

Courage, and perhaps fear, are at the heart of leadership.

The derivation of the word courage is ‘heart’, a Middle English word from Old French corage, and from Latin cor ‘heart’, denoting the heart, as the seat of feelings. Vulnerability takes courage, because it is placing myself, with chinks in  my armour into the fray. Because of this I am more likely to show my authentic self, and I am real.

Brene Brown’s in depth investigation of vulnerability led to an unexpected consequence, what her therapist called a ‘spiritual awakening’, Brown called a breakdown, as it revealed elements of herself she needed to address.

The journey to vulnerability is not an easy nor comfortable one, but it will make us better leaders if we are courageous enough to take it.


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Categories : Education, Leadership, Soft skills

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