Over the summer I binged on Disney’s superb drama series ‘The Bear’.
If you’ve missed it so far… well, you really need to do something about that, but it’s basically about a top young (deeply unhappy) chef who moves from the best restaurant in New York to take over his dead brother’s (deeply dysfunctional) sandwich shop in his hometown of Boston.
It is beautifully written, and throughout I kept having to resist the urge to shout at the TV ‘THAT’S JUST LIKE SCHOOL!’.
So whether you’ve watched it or not (and if you haven’t you should), here are some leadership lessons which I pondered upon whilst binge watching an American TV drama…
1. ‘Chef!’ – Disfunction must be greeted with expectation.
In the show, the star chef, Carman, takes over a team who have no discipline, no standards and have basically given up.
The first thing he has them all do – in a filthy, broke backstreet sandwich shop – is refer to each other as ‘Chef’, as a mark of respect. It is greeted with derision. This is not a place for chefs.
Until it is.
I have worked with many teams over many years, and the old Henry Ford adage ‘whether you think that you can, or think that you can’t; you’re probably right’ rings true.
The first job of a leader, whether it be of a sandwich shop or a school, is to impress upon the team that they can be more than they currently are.
2. Scrub the floors.
Next in the show, Carmen teaches his reluctant team to scrub every inch of the sandwich shop, every day. Again, they rail against higher standards being applied to a setting which, in their view, doesn’t warrant this focus.
I have visited, or worked in, or had leadership roles in, a great many schools over my 27 years in education.
I have never seen an excellent or outstanding school which is a mess.
The physical environment is a proxy for all the standards we aspire to in teaching and learning.
3. ‘Chef behind!’ – The power of processes.
In the show, Carmen makes his reluctant, and at times, openly rebellious, team shout ‘Chef behind!’ whenever they pass another team member. Again, they rail against this. But this simple act stops them crashing into each other and causing accidents.
And so it is with schools.
Warm feelings and aspiration will give the the vision its first breath. Boring processes, taught, practiced and habitualised by every team member, will create an effective environment for teaching and learning.
Routines – for both staff and children – are the key to every successful school I’ve ever known.
4. Treat your people like stars.
In the show, the staff – most of which have no training and no discipline – are exposed to training and development which far exceeds their expectations. Marcus, who’s previous experience was working in MacDonald’s, is sent to Copenhagen, to learn from one of the best chefs in the world (a friend of Carmen).
Whilst this is a bit OTT, it serves a plot theme: that when you provide opportunities which presuppose your people will be exceptional; they become exceptional.
In the real world of school improvement, without the contrived circumstances of fiction, this is more grounded. Few of us have the budgets to lavish foreign PD trips on individual teachers.
However, it poses an interesting question: do we truly believe that our people, irrespective of rank or track record, can achieve exceptional outcomes when provided with exceptional professional development?
Or do we fall into lazy fixed mindset thinking where ‘only the cream’ rises to the top?
Again, in all the best schools I’ve seen, the whole workforce are given exceptional professional development. And in so doing, an exceptional workforce is created.
5. Inspirational visions inspire discretionary effort.
We can probably all recall a time when we felt this was missing in our schools.
We can, hopefully, also recall – hopefully right now – a time when there was just that magic in the air around our schools.
A time when the team did things not because they had to, but because they each wanted to.
Because they feel a deep sense of connection with the vision and work that the school is engaged in. At such moments everything is easy. The team give freely of their own time and effort – because they really want the vision to succeed.
This state of grace is hard to achieve. It requires a commitment to everything so far mentioned. Cash in the trust bank which may take at best months, but most probably years, to earn.
And it can be lost in a moment.
6. When things are crazy and overwhelming, don’t get crazy and overwhelmed.
Having only hours before delivered this line at a crunch moment for the (now) restaurant, in the show, Carman cracks under the pressure and launches into a tirade against his team.
As a Headteacher, the feelings of accountability can be overwhelming and the events that come at you can feel crazy. We must check our behaviours at such times.
Trust, carefully nurtured over many months, and sometimes years, can be lost in a moment of ill-advised ‘candour’. As a new Headteacher, I once led an exhausting staff meeting after a poor LA review at our (at the time) failing school. I allowed my personal frustrations to rise to the surface. It took many months to win back the team.
Thankfully, I now have better instincts, but also an SLT who are quick to tell me when they think I’m showing frustrations and anxieties in a way which is toxic or liable to damage the team’s morale.
We must surround ourselves with people who are confident enough, and empowered, to check leaders when they are straying into unhelpful behaviours.
7. Rumble with vulnerability within your leadership team.
This is a difficult balancing act.
There is nothing worse than a Headteacher who unloads their emotional baggage on a leadership team without first building trust and mutual respect. Likewise, a cold, distant leader who never shares any doubts with their SLT is equally disconserting.
Brene Brown talks about ‘rumbling with vulnerability’. I suspect this comes more easily to Americans. We British tend to be more conservative. Or maybe repressed.
But if you as a leader can’t occasionally admit doubt to your most trusted senior team, then some work needs to be done. Without their support and candid feedback (as outlined above) you and they will never establish a dynamic which allows for authentic interactions.
8. We are here to provide an exceptional service.
In one episode, a particularly resistant team member, is sent to do work experience at the best restaurant in Boston. They spend a week polishing forks before they allowed to experience any other aspect of the operation.
The reason given?
That details matter. That people have worked hard to save up to visit the restaurant and therefore the service should be exceptional.
And so it is with our role as public servants.
The Charter Schools in New York (the inspiration for Lemov’s ‘Teach like a Champion’) deliberately treat every child, in the poorest communities in the city, as if they were paying for the most expensive private school education that the state has to offer.
They are wildly successful.
And if there is to ever be any social justice here in the UK, we must don the same mantel. We must aspire to the highest standards of opportunity for our young people. And the wider community.
We must treat every child, every day as though their education matters deeply to us. That their success is our overriding priority. Again, this shouldn’t be a controversial view, but do we always look at the detail in the service we provide?
In the end, as school leaders we get to write the story.
And that’s why we lead.
As school leaders we get to make a difference to the communities which we serve. We get to shape a story; a narrative about education which young people will carry forward into adulthood.
Which is a gift.
And when you’re tired and grumpy, watch ‘The Bear’ – it’s a great show!
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