SHIRLEY HARDING
Contribution to Perspectives
[a coffee table book on Leadership]
Shellee-Kim Gold
[http://www.dgmt.co.za/files/2012/02/perspectives_leadership.pdf
Page 7 for full piece and image]
“Leadership is not about being a person of power, it is about being part of a group that aspires to the same vision”.
So said Shirley Harding, principal of Wynberg Girls High School, on her definition of leadership.
And like all good leaders, the recognition of the role certain qualities in oneself can play in both a one-on-one and group context is imperative to her success.
Ex school counsellor Harding is, by her own description ‘an approachable person, a listener who tries to keep an open mind until proven otherwise, reasonably democratic and a servant leader, rather than one who leads by commanding’. The one- time President of the South African Girls School Association, she also tries to be fair and consistent.
Yet the role of school principal to a school that has had a 100 % pass rate for the past 20 years came about quite apart from anything associated with these qualities.
It was more a case of the previous principal taking a voluntary severance package, which was suddenly brought forward by the Department of Education. Harding then became the Acting Principal almost overnight.
“ I had to decide whether to apply for the job, because as a counsellor once you have crossed the line into that level of management and discipline, you cannot go back. So my eventual leadership was actually by default, more than anything ”.
What didn’t occur by default was an opportunity given to her at 22 as a very young teacher to be a school counsellor. A big step at the time, but one that helped her realize what she wanted to do with her life. “Somebody saw that I had potential and allowed me to believe in myself. While I enjoyed being the person who made decisions [in my] one man department as a school counsellor, the ability to make them and learn from mistakes taught me a lot about how to be a leader”.
Doing a short stint away from Wynberg Girls, Harding also spent a year working for the Department as a Mentor Principal with some schools that had new principals. Two of these were on the Cape Flats which exposed her to a lot of different life styles and approaches to leadership.
Although raised and schooled in Fish Hoek and from a family that enjoyed ‘individual’ children who were ‘not in a mould’, it was involvement with Sunday schools on the Cape Flats that provided Harding with her first taste of leadership. “As children we were allowed to make decisions –although within family norms. I did a lot of church youth group work in small Sunday schools and I learned something of leadership through having to make decisions there.”
While many leaders have or develop an understanding of the human psyche as a vital tool in relating to others, few leaders have such insights as a part of their formal training or direct experience in the workplace.
“That I went into psychology has been a huge bonus for me in leadership. My whole approach to life has been about people [through] counselling, psychology and professional development”.
A large part of her ‘professional development’ practise means constantly attending courses and conferences, listening to others speak about how they have done things, and learning from what they have done right and wrong.
While Harding is clearly too much an individual to have any one role model, the influences on her have been many in the past. They range from her own school teacher-role models to authors and politicians.
Inspired by the leadership writings of John Maxwell as much as local politician Mamphela Ramphele for her ‘quiet confidence, presence and who speaks well’. Helen Zille is another. Harding admires her strength and passionate belief about putting herself on the line. “If she believes something is right, she will stand up for it”.
Some qualities in other female leaders she admires are strength – without being forceful and brash. Other qualities she likes include humility, decisiveness, people who believe in themselves and those who are accountable.
“I also like leaders who have the ability to speak well in public, to carefully articulate what they feel in order to convey their ideas. Communication is a very big tool of a leader and I enjoy people who communicate their vision well”.
For Harding, though, it is more the qualities she dislikes in leaders that speak the loudest to her.
“Much of what I saw as a Mentor Principal that did not work was due to (lack of) communication. The leadership or Principal was not leading by communicating thoughts or ideas and was not gathering or empowering people to be part of the decision-making”.
Learning about where and how leadership can go wrong is a definite part of the process of becoming a better leader for Harding. “You would consciously try and avoid leaders in the public profile that you do not like and who do things you do not like. It is not always that you aspire to be like somebody, but it is the things you do not like that speak louder”.
Leadership, believes Harding, is about making mistakes, thinking it through and doing it a different way the next time. “There are many instances where I have walked into the staff room and said, ‘Okay, I messed up there. We will think of a new way to do this next time, but it was not good this time’”.
Because Harding prioritises practicing what she preaches, part of the commitment to her own ongoing education as a human being and leader means consciously and consistently removing herself from her comfort zones.
“It doesn’t matter what field you are in. I think it is absolutely vital to shape your leadership by putting yourself in a place that is not your comfort zone. For instance, I lead seminars which I did under our Teachers Union. And I would not be who I am if I did not do things like that”.
Back on home ground at the school she describes as ‘being in her blood’, she doesn’t entertain any double standards either. She said if you can do it (anything) yourself as a leader, you can ask other people to do it.
On this count, Harding launched into teaching computer studies at one stage, not knowing anything about computers. “It is about leading from the front and visibly doing things”.
Nor are there any airs and graces that Harding assumes or special treatment she expects due to her position that would set her apart from others, as some leaders choose to indulge in. “I always say do not ask somebody to do something you would not do yourself. And if that means clearing the hall of chairs, then I must clean and clear the chairs as much as anybody else.”
Encouraging her staff out of their own comfort zones is precisely how Harding tries to steer them too, towards nurturing their own leadership potential and inspiring their growth.
Her philosophy of leadership in training leaders at staff level is: “Identify those people that you can see are going to move; you can see them very early when they are teachers. Give them opportunities, send them on conferences. They learn confidence, they learn that leading is fun and exciting and you can make decisions. You can then slowly move them into other areas”.
In a humorous twist, though, sometimes encouraging others out of their comfort zones to help them expand can surprisingly backfire in unexpected and ironic ways.
Harding put a book she’d read, Who Moved My Cheese, in the staff room because she thought it a good thing to help ‘move’ people. “Three months later, one of my very good Afrikaans teachers brought it back and announced her resignation. I asked ‘What for?’ She said: ‘You challenged me to rethink life and to move out of my comfort zone. It’s time for me to move on’.”
Having successes, said Harding, is also about people moving on and can be heartsore, saying goodbye to those you have nurtured. But the wins are always greater than the losses, it seems.
And success stories also mean that you be open enough to thinking beyond just the limitations of the school.
For Harding it is about inspiring people to take those leaps of faith from which success would come. And people aspiring to be on the next run or taking a promotion post elsewhere is part of that.
“Looking for hidden talent can very often surprise you. You give people who did not think they were going to be great leaders the chance and you are absolutely amazed at what comes out. Success, for me, is seeing somebody tackle something they have not done before, leading in a direction they have not yet had the opportunity to do. They then become a better person, a better teacher and a better mentor to my girls at school because they did it”.
On a very practical level, Harding applies her unique leadership style and philosophy to the student body of Wynberg Girls with equal veracity.
A perfect ‘dry run’ for life in the real world, student leadership here is not about wearing the badge or having the position, but rather about what they do with it. There are no prefects, but a school counsel and each has a particular portfolio.
Seeing a job description on the board, a student leader would apply for it in much the same way you apply for a job in the world with a CV. An interview with senior staff members follow and the student leader is then appointed to the position. If it’s seen the job isn’t being done properly, there will be a letter of warning and a dismissal. “Our entire student leadership was remodeled during my time as Principal to mirror real life.”
Very much based on discipline and reward through the house system, the smooth-running of the school is equally in the hands of Harding’s senior management who are heads of houses.
Harding is big on ‘rewards’ at her school. However, this does not necessarily mean money, but always means acknowledgement. “Anybody who does something in school will be acknowledged in the early morning meeting. People who have achieved something within themselves and are acknowledged by their peers will want to do it again”. It builds their confidence, said Harding, and gives them a bit of inspiration to try something bigger and better.
And some of the many potential leaders that have emerged from the school under Harding and her team’s mentorship are testimony to this.
One Matric student from last year, Rihana Odendale, was awarded the Amy Biehl Foundation Scholarship. “She was an incredibly service-minded child. And her leadership just grew increasingly in terms of bringing children alongside her and creating opportunities for them to help the community”.
The highly-intelligent Leanne Johannsen who was also an artist of note is another who impacted the school, but who had a mind that was almost ‘too big’ for it. She went on to the University of Cape Town, led forums, became a Rhodes scholar and studied at Oxford.
And then there’s the student Harding herself taught that is now a deputy principal of a private school in Gauteng.
Providing her staff with enough leadership opportunities and keeping them inspired to be there are some of what Harding grapples with regularly.
“Young people especially compare themselves to others in the corporate world, earning three to four times what they are. It is not always easy to reward their core business and provide them with a sense of achievement”. Harding feels she has to be aware that her staff also deserve those opportunities that money will bring to them, too.
And then there is the regular resolution of all manner of educational issues. Such as the latest news from the Department.
Schools like Harding’s have all been asked to take in up to ten Matric failures from last year.
Said Harding: “Trying to sell that to my staff with their huge investment into our total pass rate is not easy. It is working out ways to encourage people to look at life differently in education, to keep a fresh approach”.
But something that Harding does feels very grateful for is the kind of school governing body she has – and the confidence they show in her abilities.
“A lot of my colleagues feel the strain from interference of school governing bodies. Their hands are tied. Mine says: ‘You are the educationalist, you run the school, you make the decisions in education and we will help with other things that need to be done’, which is a huge bonus for me. I am allowed to lead in directions that I feel passionate about, which is fantastic”.
Harding does not spend time reinventing the wheel. “If somebody does it well at another school or you have heard about it at a conference, then let’s find out about it and adapt it here”.
Although this tactic wouldn’t apply to the teaching of leadership, just because there’s so little of it around locally. Harding knows there is not enough leadership being taught and ‘you have to go looking for it’. Yet, what she wants to make clear in the case of leadership schools or teaching is: “It is all very well teaching leadership theory, but it is the practice that counts. You can come away and have everybody’s theories on leadership, but that does not make you a good leader”.
So how, then, does Harding see leadership trends developing down the track?
“What I’ve seen is how you create your own environment, your own job. People will start to identify their own talents and create leadership positions that suit them. And I see leaders who are going to challenge the ‘norm’, teaching people there is a new ‘norm’, new perspectives and ways of doing things”.
This Principal reasons that there are as many leaders as there are people, and leadership does not have to be about the top dog. She feels you must be comfortable leading at the level you are leading – and leading from wherever you are in the world.
“I hope that the trend of servant leadership continues because I believe very strongly you cannot lead without being a servant. Not only a servant to the people, but a servant to the cause or vision that you are trying to create for people”.
Harding describes herself as a servant leader and believes leaders have to serve others – it is part of the job. She also thinks you get more from others because you are prepared to serve.
“I am not a better person because I happen to be the leader. I am a person, I am human and I must also do everything that I ask people to do”.
Including, she said, having a sense of humour because you are not going to get everything right!
Spoken like a true (servant) leader. One who both leads to teach – and teaches to lead.
SHELLEE-KIM WRITES... 