Leading Your International School: Practical Steps to Make Your People Count

By Andre Double and Warren S Cook

International schools are multi-million-dollar organisations. They can be the jewel in a Principal’s crown. Yet they also set many a leader up to fail with over opinionated school owners, a lack of professional development, leadership succession and professional socialisation in the role. Fortunately, there is an ally to be found and it comes from your HR department. By harnessing the potential of your HR leader, it may well be possible to develop the schools of the future we need. People, their purpose and culture really do matter - all the more so in our rich international contexts. Reimagine your International School Leadership. Do not agree your overall vision or sign off any strategic plans until you have read this!

• Language: English
• Publisher: 16Leaves
• Release date: Mar 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9789395986502

Andre Double

ANDRÉ DOUBLE is an International school leader. Prior to moving abroad to work internationally, he taught in a UK secondary school for 8 years and at Pupil Referral Units for 3 years. He currently holds an NPQ in Senior Leadership, and is working towards an MA in Educational Leadership through the University of Bath and his NPQH. André frequently visits schools around the world to observe their practice.

Book preview

Advance Praise for the Book

No matter how experienced you are as a school leader, making the transition to headship in an international context is a significant challenge. Nothing you’ve encountered in your domestic context, wherever that might be, can possibly have prepared you for becoming a successful education leader in a new culture. What makes the challenge even harder is the lack of well-informed guidance. All of that has been changed with this new publication. This book combines the theoretical thinkings and the practical common-sense that every school-leader new to international education needs. André Double writes from his own experiences in international leadership and combines this with a wide-ranging review of relevant literature which makes this such a reliable introduction to a career in this area.

Mr Chris Nash - MA/NPQH.

International Headteacher, Beijing China.

Woven into this text is a leadership philosophy that all educators should take to heart: that leadership is a collaborative approach between the individual and those he or she is tasked with guiding. To lead with empathy and compassion and to never forget that being in the ‘people business’ means you’ll never please one hundred percent of your stakeholders is a huge first step. To learn from the counsel found within these pages takes the leader even further.

Tim Allen, Ph.D. Principal, Ciudad de Guatemala

As international education evolves it is vital that practitioners like André continue to produce content like this work. Thoughtful and considerate both of culture and the changing nature of the international education landscape; educators from across age ranges, systems and disciplines will find the contents invaluable in helping their generation Alpha learning communities thrive.

Barry Cooper (MA/NPQH). Principal, The Global College, Madrid, Spain.

Leading Your International School

&

Practical Steps To Make Your People Count

André Double

and

Warren S. Cook

First Edition, 2023

Copyright © André Double & Warren S. Cook, 2023

www.leadingyourinternationalschool.com

Cover Image: johngollings.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

This book can be exported from India only by the publishers or by the authorized suppliers. Infringement of this condition of sale will lead to Civil and Criminal prosecution.

Paperback ISBN: 978-93-95986-44-1

eBook ISBN: 978-93-95986-50-2

Note: Due care and diligence has been taken while editing and printing the book; neither the author nor the publishers of the book hold any responsibility for any mistake that may have inadvertently crept in.

The publishers shall not be liable for any direct, consequential, or incidental damages arising out of the use of the book. In case of binding mistakes, misprints, missing pages, etc., the publishers’ entire liability, and your exclusive remedy, is replacement of the book within one month of purchase by similar edition/reprint of the book.

Printed and bound in India

16Leaves

2/579, Singaravelan Street

Chinna Neelankarai

Chennai – 600 041

India

[e-mail]

www.16Leaves.com

Call: 91-9940638999

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

About the Authors

Foreword - by Tristan Bunnell

Introduction

Chapter One

Vision, Values and Virtues

Chapter Two

Learning Above All Else

Chapter Three

Perspectives on International School Leadership

Chapter Four

Human and School Development

Chapter Five

Managing Your International School

Chapter Six

Your International School Culture

Chapter Seven

Governing Your International School

Chapter Eight

Barriers To International School Leadership

Chapter Nine

Leadership Derailed

Index

Acknowledgements

Dedicated to the memory of my dad, a book like this does not happen by itself. Accounts of practice, research, proofreading, and numerous edits are the collective efforts of a number of people. I would like to thank everyone for believing in my capacity to pull this off. As the flywheel began to turn, so did people’s beliefs.

To our research team and proofreaders including Vikas Pahwa, Jeremy Fox, Margaret Phlilipson and Cary Elcome, thank you for the assistance, effort and enthusiasm you have shown.

Thank you to the team at Inkhorn Publishing for their hard work in copy editing and in taking the ideas and many iterations that I had! Thanks to all at 16Leaves who took the book to publishing.

To Warren, my co-writer and professional voice on all things Human Resources, thank you for your advice, support, and enthusiasm.

I would like to say ‘thank-you’ to all of the principals, leaders and teachers that have contributed to making the book what it is. Latterly Kai Vacher and Chris Nash.

To my mum and her partner David – love to you both. To my son Cohen, who every day makes me proud. Last, but not least, to Amy. I love you. Thank you for everything you do and the wonderful person that you already are. I am so lucky to have you. The future belongs to you all!

André Double, September 2022, Shenzhen

About the Authors

André Double is an International School leader in China. He has worked in four international schools in Malaysia and China. Prior to moving abroad to work internationally, he taught in a UK secondary school for 8 years and at Pupil Referral Units for 3 years. He currently holds an NPQ in Senior Leadership, a PENTA Level 1 School Inspection Award, and is working towards an MA in Educational Leadership through the University of Bath and his NPQH. André frequently visits schools around the world to observe their practice. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, indoor rowing, and watching rugby and his beloved Tottenham Hotspur football team on TV. When not restricted, he enjoys travelling. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his main areas of reading are focused on school leadership.

Warren Cook is Chief Human Resources Officer with Moskowitz, LLP. He is a Human Resources subject matter expert with over 25 years of experience as a strategic Human Resources business partner, project manager, and people leader across both private and public sector organisations. Warren has a proven track record of providing executive coaching and guidance to business leaders and Human Resource professionals at all levels, including the C-Suite of Fortune 100 companies. Warren holds a B.Sc in Human Resource Management, an MBA in Project Management, and an MS in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Warren is the author of Applicant Interview Preparation – Practical Coaching for Today. He lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with his wife Jennifer, his family, and the animals on his ranch.

Foreword

by Tristan Bunnell Senior Lecturer, International Education – The University of Bath

The Changing Landscape of International Schooling –

It was once said (see the 1991 Year Book of Education) that every major city had one international school, a nod to the isolated and relatively solitary nature of institutions serving the globally mobile ‘international community’. That landscape has completely changed. Three decades later, it is true to say that many cities have over 100. India alone is said to have 1,000. Some cities such as Mumbai and Bangkok seem to have one on almost every other corner, characterised most often by their delivery of a curriculum in English outside an English-speaking nation.

This picture seems incredible when we consider that the first private schools with the name ‘international’ in the title appeared in Geneva and Yokohama in 1924 with links to the League of Nations, although we know a similar school had appeared, fairly briefly, in London in the 1860s. In fact, schools had appeared in the 1820s in places such as Brazil and Argentina, catering for the children of the expatriate British railway engineers, showing that this arena of education has always been closely linked with waves of globalisation as well as post-war visions of peace and intercultural understanding.

International schools are now big business, and the global market in 2021 was estimated to be worth $50 billion based on fee income alone. Many schools are still operated as non-profit parental co-operatives, but most now earn large profits, and there now exist many big brands and major corporate networks. You will quickly become familiar with an array of acronyms. In the main, they are no longer autonomous independent schools owned by parents and Embassies, perched on the periphery of the city, offering a ‘well-kept secret’ to those expatriates in the know.

An array of business models has appeared in recent years, including franchises and even ‘manchises’. Some schools even have names that are copied from well-known private institutions in England and North America, and many cities in China now have their own version of Dulwich College or Harrow School. They occupy an ever-increasing slice of the K-12 English-speaking international educational landscape, and increasingly directly feed students into Higher Education institutions in Canada, England, and the United States (see especially the University of British Columbia and King’s College London).

It is sometimes difficult to comprehend the enormity of the growth, especially since the 1990s. In the twenty-year period from 2001 to 2021, the number of schools delivering a non-national curriculum in English has grown from 2,500 to 12,373 (all data here is courtesy of ISC Research, the largest and most respected market intelligence agency), representing an increase of two schools per day. The 6,000 mark was hit in January 2012, and the 10,000-mark hurdle fell seven years later. The number of schools grew between 2011 and 2021 by 60%. At the same time, the corresponding number of students has gone from 1.00 million to 5.68 million in an almost symmetrical fashion. The number of teachers has increased from a relatively small cadre of 90,000 to almost half a million. There is widespread anticipation of 20,000 schools by 2030, as the current wave of globalisation continues to drive demand from a newly wealthy middle class, and neo-liberal policy making facilitates the necessary supply.

The geography of the arena has seen major changes, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi emerging as ‘hot spots’ of activity. The previously Geneva-centric nexus of activity has been replaced by one closer to Singapore or perhaps Shanghai. The United Arab Emirates, especially Dubai, now represents the biggest single student market although mainland China is now considered to have the most schools. The discussion about growth has moved from ‘major city’ to ‘Tier-2 cities’ and beyond. For instance, the discussion about English-speaking international schooling in China is now more likely to talk about Chengdu or the major cities of the Pearl River Delta such as Foshan or Shenzhen than it is about Shanghai, or even the well-established market of Hong Kong. All this seems quite phenomenal when we consider that observers in the mid-1960s were identifying about 50 schools worldwide, and places such as Dubai and mainland China had maybe one or two ‘international schools’.

With enormous growth has come enormous changes in operation. The previous synonymous linkage with the programmes of the International Baccalaureate (IB), which the International School of Geneva helped develop in 1962, has been fundamentally broken and many schools prefer to offer a diversity of curricula, maybe even a fusion. Programmes such as the International Primary Curriculum, even the National Curriculum for England, have become popular in Southeast Asia. Many schools are bilingual, and they increasingly cater for children of the locally based parents, representing a new type of global middle class – of which we still know surprisingly little about in terms of their background, status, or intentions. You will no longer find yourself facing an assembly hall full of children with parents working overseas for multinational agencies. The once dominant ‘Third Culture Kid’, first coined by researchers John and Ruth Useem in the 1950s, is slowly being replaced by newer variants. Increasingly, the children are there on purpose and the parents have chosen to enter their children into your midst. This creates new purposes, new demands, and new expectations.

What was once home to the ‘accidental teacher’ or the ‘trailing spouse’, teaching the ‘accidental student’, has become an attractive profession with its own sense of lifestyle and career opportunities. Many educators and leaders – still mainly emanating from Britain and North America, proving that some things never change – are now happy to transition between schools and nations. An exciting, yet equally precarious, alternative pathway has appeared. You must be made aware that most ‘international schools’ are not accredited, and that the previous hallmarks of quality assurance are lacking in most cases, although private schools in places such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi are now annually inspected.

Tristan Bunnell

Introduction

The Journey Abroad

A Book Is Born

The Pitfalls Of International School Leadership

Key Topics

Your Cultural Context Is Highly Important

Values Laden Leadership Is Your Moral Obligation

Developing Your People Builds Organisational Agility

Recognise That Bad Hires Become Costly Hires

Coaching To Build Capacity

See Every Failure As An Opportunity To Learn

Understand That HR Needs ‘A Seat At The Table Of Leadership’

Accounts Of Practice

Who Is This Book For?

The Journey Through

Bibliography

Introduction

The Journey Abroad

Before boarding flight MH3 I asked the captain, who was shopping at WH Smith, if he minded posing for a photograph with me. He was delighted to agree and as we posed together his smile seemed as wide as Malaysia itself. Moments later I sat down on the Airbus A380, in awe of its size and appearance, my international teaching adventure – and all that was to follow – was underway. With two suitcases to my name and a corresponding number of flights ahead to reach Penang and its steaming humidity, I sat back and contemplated the challenge that lay ahead, buoyed up by high hopes and an inclination towards adventure.

Working at an international school was going to be the zenith of my career and a marriage of courage and open-mindedness. This perhaps was my first lesson: that assumptions are dangerous! In the subsequent time I’ve been working in international education, I’ve witnessed people come and go faster than the time it took the ink on their contract to dry. I’ve seen things I never expected to see, and heard things I never expected to hear – including a principal asking me if he could be my ‘wingman’ on my next date! Yet at the same time, International education has given me so much to be grateful for, including my experience of its different curricular approaches and the wonderful cultural melting-pot that it so often represents.

In the film Forest Gump, Forest (played by Tom Hanks) famously says, Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. The same could be argued about international schools. Teaching in certain countries and schools should carry a government warning: ‘This school may be seriously bad for your health’. As my co-author Warren constantly reminds me, your international school staff will assume that your school is doing the right thing. It is however, usually when that assumption changes – for whatever reason – that your school begins to increase its exposure to risk. As my Educational Leadership journey started to evolve, I began to write down my experiences that form the basis of this book.

A Book Is Born

Thus, the germ idea for this book was born. I started to collect and reflect on a range of issues and practices (good and bad) including: the unique pitfalls that one faces within an international school, approaches to recruitment practices, and the failures of leadership. Many seemed to have their roots in a lack (or absence) of effective Human Resources (HR) policies and practices.

The Pitfalls Of International School Leadership

In this book, we present a range of tips and strategies to help improve international school leadership and management, learning, human resource management, and school culture. In doing so, we will highlight both successful practices and areas in which we feel schools can do better. Indeed, some schools deem it ‘unprofessional’ to bring forth unpleasant facts and you may even be accused of not being a ‘team player’. We encourage you to look beyond such a lens. Working at an international school requires a new breed of leader, one who we hope is able to steer around the pitfalls of international school leadership that include:

•Failing to define the cultural complexities of the country you are working in.

•Lacking a clear vision for success and the values and virtues that will underpin it.

•Differing agendas of school owners to yours.

•Change Management that is not uniquely understood across your stakeholders.

•Inadequate HR practices , including recruitment, onboarding, and professional development, that hamper retention.

•‘ Them and us’ lines between international and local staff, leading to a toxic culture.

•Short-Termism and the failure to build capacity that can sustain itself long after you leave.

Key Topics

Within this book, we highlight a number of key topics that can be used to improve the overall effectiveness of your international school leadership. Below, we summarise several key aspects which highly effective international school leaders should pay attention to.

Your Cultural Context Is Highly Important

Wherever you are internationally, the importance of your local culture and investment in it cannot be underestimated. Whether it is guanxi in China or family values in Italy, taking the time to explore, understand and learn from your deep cultural context is becoming an increasingly nuanced skill that the international leader requires. Aligning people from different cultures to a shared vision does not happen overnight. Such a simple support mechanism, as having a local curriculum, historic expectations and contractual employment rights translated into English, can save a huge amount of time and reduce uncertainty.

Values Laden Leadership Is Your Moral Obligation

We face a wealth of challenges on a global level – overuse of finite resources leading to too much waste, and a mindset that regards technology alone as the solution to the world’s problems and needs. We need to focus on effective and value-laden leadership to drive positive sustainable change. As educators it is vital to highlight the need for simplicity – doing more with less, or educational minimalism. This can seem to run contrary to trends in our international schools, with their drive for more campuses, more facilities, more diverse curriculums and a greater choice of Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs). Perhaps, most importantly, we need leaders whose values match their actions, showing courage and assertiveness, two virtues you will read about in the first chapter.

Developing Your People Builds Organisational Agility

Seventy percent of all organisational efforts to change, fail (Kotter 2015). The need to write a book including factors that can derail leadership is not just necessary, but urgent. Why are so many principals unable to implement change, despite their elaborate CVs, enormous salaries and bonuses on offer? Why is teacher turnover so drastically high in some international schools compared to others? What (if any) use therefore are leadership manuals if leaders do not have the requisite skills to put the theory into practice? One reason may be a lack of capacity building.

Tracy Luke, a principal I worked under in the UK, has developed no fewer than eight current principals. Her approach of highly effective distributed leadership developed challenging and engaging leadership tasks with a school-wide focus. She created a culture of leadership development in several schools. Roles were frequently changed, giving leaders valuable exposure to a variety of skills, including pastoral care, assessment, and school strategic planning. This approach avoided ‘sticking points’ and ‘one-dimensional abilities’ in senior leaders’ careers, and is crucially important in the fast-moving world of international education. Your job as principal is to leave your school’s leadership development and succession in better shape than when you inherited it, thus building your school’s capacity.

Recognise That Bad Hires Become Costly Hires

From the initial posting of your school vacancies and throughout the employee life cycle, your school is exposed to risk. In particular, your interviews carry huge risk. How you deal with reference and police checks carry risk. Your start dates present risk, especially when teachers are unable to physically arrive prior to teaching. Recruitment therefore, becomes one of the most critical processes to support the success of your school. In our experience, on average, the cost of a bad hire can be anything up to 30% of an annualised salary. Repeatedly get this wrong at more senior level positions and the figures become serious. Failure to ask the most basic closing question, ‘Is there anything we need to be aware of that might affect your ability to carry out the central functions of the role?’, can leave both parties exposed and skating on thin ice.

Coaching To Build Capacity

Throughout this book, we repeatedly advocate both coaching and mentoring. Although mentoring has received some criticism for its failure to lead staff to independence, we need to remember that not all staff want to lead (Spillane, 2019). It is vital that the coaching you receive as a leader cascades and develops your school’s capacity. Your job as leader is to grow and develop the next generation of leaders (Kolzow, 2014).

Educational consultants are an ever-increasing expense for international schools. Whilst most are professional in what they do, that expense could be obviated in future by taking a better approach towards HR and engraining a culture of coaching. Your school may already have the talent to both build your capacity and coach staff. A simple ‘ready now’ / ‘ready in a year’ / ‘ready later’ exercise that Warren shares in the book will bring succession planning to the front of your mind.

See Every Failure As An Opportunity To Learn

Success and failure are inextricably linked - in life, sport, and education. Thanks to organisations such as the ‘Failure Lab’ (www.failure-lab.com), the power of failure means people often form more successful narratives around failure than they do success. I recently spoke to a teacher from an international school that had employed four school principals in the space of five years. The content laid out in this book will not only help such schools but will also assist their school governors attempting to create such conditions for continuity.

As teachers, we are told about the power of lifelong-learning, and reflection on our mistakes and social experiences. Yet most leadership resources define ‘how to’ become a successful leader without taking into consideration the cultural context of your school, your staff and their skills. Thus, we include examples of how not to lead, drawing upon our own personal experiences and those our research has gathered. Learning from others’ mistakes by using the power of ‘Blackbox Thinking’ (Syed, 2018), we share examples that help you see what successful leadership does not look like.

We hope this book can give you the confidence to join the debate about international leadership practices and can help you to foster an environment based around internal accountability (Fullan, 2015) required in a successful school.

Understand That HR Needs ‘A Seat At The Table Of Leadership’

Human Resources and the management of people within our international school contexts need to be further understood. Leadership and HR often cohabit but on completely different islands of thinking. We propose that the two must be fundamentally intertwined. This is a central core aim of everything you will read in this book. It is a sobering thought however, that despite an abundance of current leadership resources, including coaching and professional development, school leaders can still fail to recognise the links between HR and school culture, professional development programmes, and capacity building.

Many international schools focus on the wrong leadership strategies or take it for granted that leaders can successfully implement them. School leadership books often take a simplistic view of HR and assume that successful school leadership is centred around what happens after staff are hired, not before. We suggest instead that HR and its capital affect nearly everything a school and its teachers do, since the job of a highly effective HR team is to realise the potential of those around them.

Accounts Of Practice

The accounts of practice in this book – represented as ‘voices in the classroom’ – have travelled to each and every corner of the globe. They represent the views of teachers, leaders, and HR professionals in order to further the debate on international school leadership. We hope to extend the discussion on what effective and ineffective leadership practices look like. One central idea continued to surface throughout our research – effective leadership cannot take place in the absence of an effective strategy to maximise people and their Human Resources. HR definitely does need a seat at the table of leadership – something we repeatedly advocate for. For this to happen, we need to shift the way we perceive, engage, and reflect with the notion of human capital. For now, there is still a certain amount of caution ahead.

Who is this book for?

This book is for everyone who wants to find a better way to lead or be led. In particular, it is aimed at four types of reader:

1. International school leaders and those who aspire to be one.

2. HR Professionals committed to developing what they do and how they do it. Reducing your school’s exposure to risk and serving as a core strategic partner in your school.

3. School Governors looking to gain a competitive advantage. Learning from others, using our evidence to support the Principal, while holding them to account for what needs to be done – not what doesn’t.

4. All teachers and key stakeholders who seek to understand international school leadership and collaborate in building stronger, more sustainable schools.

The Journey Through

We begin in Chapter One with the ‘Three Vs’ – Vision, Values, and Virtues – and how to define and apply them. In Chapter Two, we take a laser focus on ‘Learning Above all Else’, so that you can keep this at the core of everything you do. Chapter Three looks at Perspectives on International School Leadership. In Chapter Four, Warren provides a comprehensive view of Human and School Development and its importance to all aspects of your school operations and strategies. Chapter Five details the many aspects of Managing Your International School and the unique challenges in the international sphere. Chapter 6 is about the importance of building a strong International School Culture – and how to bring the multiplicities of cultures of your students and staff into alignment. Chapter 7 details best practices in Governing Your International School - particularly important for startup schools. Chapter Eight presents common Barriers to International School Leadership, and Chapter Nine takes an honest look at ‘Leadership Derailed’ which will lay bare the frustrations and interpretations of school leadership and how people become ‘derailed’ from their intended purpose.

Bon appetit!

André Double

August 2022, Shenzhen

Bibliography

The new international school data for 2022. ISC Research. Available online at: https://iscresearch.com/international-school-data-for-2022/

Failure Lab, www.failure-lab.com.

Fullan, M., Rincón-Gallardo, S. and Hargreaves, A., 2015. Professional capital as accountability. Education policy analysis archives 23, pp.15–15.

Kolzow, D.R., 2014. Leading from within: Building organizational leadership capacity.

Kotter, J., 1995. Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review. March 1995.

Spillane, J. P., 2019. In Midskard, J., Distributed leadership (no. 12). Podcast: Research in Early Childhood Settings and Social Care Settings.

Syed, M., 2015. Black box thinking: why most people never learn from Their mistakes--But some Do. Penguin.

Chapter One: Vision, Values And Virtues

Vision, Values And Virtues

Communication As The Vision - Haidilao

Vision: The Core Of Your School’s Learning Journey

British School Muscat

Building A Vision

Begin By Listening

Connect Your People To Your Purpose

Articulate Your Vision In Everything You Do

Be Brave And Take Risks

Inclusivity Is The Key

Visions, Their Conflicts

Myths About Visions

Use HR To Drive Your Vision

Values: The Core Of Your School And Its Curriculum

What Are Values?

Where Do Our Values Come From?

The Values Gap

Your Values Compass - What Challenges Are You Likely To Face?

Use Values To Support Your Vision – A Curriculum Approach

Virtues: The Core Of Moral-Based Leadership

Respect

Resilience

Self-Discipline

Fairness

Courage

Assertiveness

Responsibility

Compassion

Wisdom

Honesty

Loyalty

In Summary

Bibliography

Further Reading

CHAPTER ONE:

vision, values and virtues

Chapter Quote:

We all have a fundamental personal code that we carry through life, and its language is values.

Dr. Mandeep Rai, The Values Compass: What 101 Countries Teach Us about Purpose, Life, and Leadership. (2020)

Vision, Values and Virtues

A powerful vision is the foundation of any successful international school. It tells the story of where your school is going. This vision will be sustained by the values of you and your people. Values are nothing without virtues, which are about how we live out our values. The problem? Most people confuse values and virtues. Values are personal standards and principles, highly influenced by your individual background and as such, change over time. Virtues, the cast-iron moral qualities that define you and your people, serve as the foundational support for your school-based values and their systems. Together, they underpin the joint collaboration between you, your senior leadership team, your HR leader, and your staff, in implementing the vision.

Whether you are already in a senior leadership position in an international school, or aspiring to one, your vision, values, and virtues will inform everything you do. This chapter examines the meaning of each and the different ways they can manifest within your leadership style and your school. We begin with a story of the restaurant Haidilao, which has much to teach us about our three Vs, especially your vision.

Communication As The Vision - Haidilao

The Singaporean hotpot restaurant chain ‘Haidilao’ is a modern-day phenomenon in China. By 2021, its owner Zhang Yong claimed the company was opening a restaurant every three days. Hotpot is considered to be one of China’s culinary treasures and Haidilao’s entry into this impossibly overcrowded restaurant sector is nothing short of remarkable. Not least, as the food and beverage industry in China is cutthroat. Restaurants have a typical lifespan of less than two years before most disappear into obscurity and are replaced with newer and more exciting versions. Not Haidilao, however.

Hotpot unites people – whatever their backgrounds – by fostering a sharing culture. Anyone who has visited one of their restaurants will testify that the level of service in Haidilao is simply remarkable. Their vision for what a successful restaurant should look like has revolutionised the entire restaurant sector in China. In 2010, the company even opened a college, aimed at passing down its corporate culture. By the end of 2021, the company had more than 1400 restaurants employing over 145,000 people with branches in China, Singapore, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Canada, and Australia. Demand for its service, it would seem, is greater than ever (Behind the Business, 2021).

Haidilao’s vision is not simply to serve high-quality food and provide the service to match it. The company places the upmost attention to detail in curating an atmosphere that encourages its customers to chat to each other while enjoying their food. At Haidilao, communication is the key and the methods that enable it are simple but effective. Guests are encouraged to share their birthdays, with staff singing birthday songs and providing gifts to go with these celebrations. It is not uncommon for people from other tables to converge at a table that is celebrating a birthday. Chefs weave around the customers, whirling noodles in spectacular fashion. Finally, there are wonderful drama shows that involve the changing of masks. Children in particular are wowed by these performances. Every possible customer detail has been explored and for Haidilao, therefore, communication is the vision¹.

What can we learn from Haidilao? First, that communication is integral to your vision. You must take the time to continually communicate your school goals, align your staff to them and ensure that all your stakeholders know what they are. Set your school up for communication success with expectations of how staff should work and communicate with each other. Create collaborative spaces in which communication is facilitated.

Second, that integrity is what enables you to hold and express your deepest values. It is no surprise that integrity sits as one of Haidilao’s defining values. At Haidilao, the customer is the central focus of their efforts. They are committed to innovation in menu design, customer satisfaction and, of course, excellent service. This was most aptly evidenced when Haidilao was faced with a PR crisis surrounding the cleanliness of one of its restaurants. Its immediate response was to shut it completely for a deep clean, to restore customer trust. Such integrity may explain why its customers keep coming back, even in such an overcrowded market place.

There can be no greater purpose than meeting the needs of the people you serve. Your school values will lead to the making of moral decisions that become second nature. As a leader in an international school, your own integrity can therefore be one of your greatest marketing tools to your staff and parents, particularly if parents know the care their children will receive is exemplary. Once staff realise you will always treat them fairly, and are never prepared to ask of others what you aren’t prepared to do yourself, you are on your way to value-laden leadership and you begin to live out your vision.

At the same time, international schools are often places where leaders are likely to have their integrity tested at multiple conjunctures. Research carried out by Ellery and Dirnhuber (2022) for The Times Newspaper suggests that some schools within the Middle East are dropping anti-homophobic guidance and legislation from their school policies. If you choose to work within such schools, your values and virtues may therefore be severely tested. Thus, the ability to act with courage is a key virtue, as we will discuss shortly, although it is not always straightforward given the cultural complexities, the school systems that we inherit and, at times, the relatively short tenures of leaders themselves.

A school’s values often grow out of the successful blend of the school vision and the people who work there. Finding staff who match your school’s values is a complex skill that requires a deep understanding of people. Some schools are adopting personality assessments during interviews in an effort to ensure the right organisational blend of people. Bear in mind that values change over time: over