Olabide Ikastola - Euskalit

1 LEADERSHIP leadership EFQM Excellence Award 2010 3
1. LEADERSHIP
1a. Leaders develop the Mission, Vision, Values and ethics
and act as role models.
Approach and deployment
Olabide Ikastola, hereinafter referred to in this submission document
as Olabide, is a parent cooperative, so decisions are taken by
the Steering Committee (SC) in line with directives established by
the Governance Board (GB). In turn, these decisions are implemented
by the Management Team (MT), the members of which
are the main leaders of the school. The GB is the highest level of
governance of the school and represents and defends the interests
of the General Assembly of Cooperative Members, who by definition
are both owners and, as parents of the pupils, customers of
Olabide. Parents therefore take active part in the decision-making
process, so the Olabide organisational structure is designed to be
both functional and to maximise across-the-board participation.
To do so, a management by processes model has been deployed
with a view to maximising shared responsibility among all our
people, and for all Olabide people to put forward improvement
suggestions. This proactive approach is designed to ensure that
all our people feel part of and identify with what Olabide stands
for, and therefore with the Mission, Vision, Values (MVV) and
ethics of the school.
In Olabide, leadership is defined as follows:
• We understand leadership as the collective set of attitudes
and behaviour of our leaders which enables the delivery of
our Mission and Vision.
• We consider leaders to be all those Olabide people who,
relative to their responsibility level, stimulate and inspire
other members of the organisation to perform to the best of
their abilities, focusing them on the delivery of the Olabide
Mission and Vision and acting as role models of the Values
of the school.
• Leadership is therefore practised at different levels, i.e. Management
Team (MT), Quality Coordination Team (QCT,
composed of the owners of Process Systems [PS, 5a]), Department
Heads, process owners, project leaders and Compulsory
Secondary Education (CSE) and Upper Secondary
Education (USE) tutors.
Fig. 1a.1: Olabide definition of leadership
As a result of MT reflection in 2006-07, the decision was taken to
include CSE and USE tutors as leaders, as they are responsible
for leading and driving the activities of the teachers within their
group and coordinating effective teamwork. This improvement
action has led to greater all-round recognition and effectiveness
of their work.
Successive assessment and review activities regarding who should
be leaders in Olabide have led to the deployment over time of
a greater number of leaders in the school, which has now levelled
off and stabilised. Satisfaction levels with leadership have
increased as a result, as shown below.
Indicator 00-01 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09
Satisfaction
with leaders
5.15 5.28 5.75 6.86 6.2 6.7 7.01
No. of
leaders
5 9 31 47 46 73 65 59
Fig. 1a.2: Indicators on leadership in Olabide
The changes which have taken place in Olabide would not have
been possible without leadership aligned to the MVV of the
school, a leadership geared towards securing the support and
joint efforts of all Olabide people working towards a common
goal. In 2006-07, as a result of assessment and review, the list of
general leadership attitudes and behaviour was refined and improved
for greater coherence with the Olabide MVV. This list is
shown below:
• Lead by example. It is easier to get others involved if leaders
are the first to practise what they preach, e.g. giving classes,
curricular programming, managing processes, etc.
• Empathy. Treat others as you would like them to treat you.
Observe, understand and anticipate the emotions of others,
taking into account each person’s individuality, e.g. when communicating
decisions, assigning responsibilities, in day-to-day
contact, when monitoring his/her performance, when giving
recognition, etc.
• Mutual trust. Leaders belief in themselves, their trust in the
people of the organisation and the people’s trust in them. For
this to be so, leaders must be seen as colleagues, be close to
their people and be seen to be sincere in their emotions, beliefs
and actions. This trust is born out by giving empowerment to
teachers, tutors, process owners, etc.
• Be proactive. Establish new challenges, continuously improve
existing procedures and avoid dull routine by proposing new
ones. Accept risk and uncertainty. Convert threats into opportunities.
• Share knowledge. Teach others to do new things. Be close and
easily accessible for them, showing them what you know and
taking active part in work teams. Transmit security, reassuring
those with doubts and showing confidence in decision-making.
As an improvement action in relation to this last Olabide Value,
in 2007-08 knowledge management was fully systemised as a
process, 3d. This collective set of attitudes and behaviour enables
leaders to collaborate in the development of Olabide Values.
Since 2005-06, the effectiveness of personal leadership has been
reviewed and improved by using 360º appraisal of leadership in
relation to Olabide Values.
The Olabide MVV were initially defined in 1994 and later refined
in 1997. However, with the appointment of a new School Director
in 2001-02, deployment of the EFQM Excellence model in
the school was boosted, leading to a review and update of the
Olabide MVV and their ratification in the 2004 General Assembly.
In 2006, on the initiative of the GB, the need was identified to
introduce the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR)
and environmental preservation into the MVV. In 2008-09, a review
and update of the fundamental documents of the school
was undertaken, and a series of work teams were created to this
effect. In June 2009, the new Olabide Mission, Vision, Strategy
Plan (SP), Statutes and System of Internal Rules and Regulations
(IRR) were approved in an extraordinary General Assembly.
With a view to developing a culture of business Excellence in
Olabide, MT members began to receive relevant training in 1994.
The Olabide Mission, Vision and key Values were drawn up and
agreed to on a consensus basis by members of the MT, the GB
and a group of teachers, and approved by the General Assembly
that same year. Again in 1994, various members of the MT, together
with 24 members of MTs from other schools, took part in
the first training sessions given by Euskalit (Basque Foundation
for Excellence) on the EFQM model. In 2002, the appointment of
a new School Director triggered greater deployment of the Excellence
model in the school, with more people receiving training in
Total Quality and more training hours invested in the subject.
Thus, Olabide leaders have taken part in many Excellence and
management-related courses, some of which are highlighted below
(a full list is available in Olabide Training Plan files).
• Total Quality in the education sector (all new MT members
attend courses on business Excellence);
• Training as Excellence assessors, 6 people in 2006 and 1 in
2007;
• Active participation in external assessment, 5 in 2006-07 and
1 in 2009;
• Management in schools; Univ. of Deusto, 2006-07;
• Knowledge Management, given by ERKIDE (Federation of
Teaching Cooperatives), 2007-08;
• Annual attendance at the best practice exchange forum of the
Euskalit 400 Club;