The power of relationships: executive and non-executive leadership in education

What forms of power do you use in your work as a governor? 

In my new, and slightly daunting, role as PhD student I have been immersed in reading about the relationship between executive and non-executive leadership.  There isn’t a huge amount of academic research about education governance, so I have also widened my reading out to the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.  There is plenty of agreement that this is a pivotal relationship that can have a significant effect on the functioning of an organisation - but what factors contribute to making or breaking this relationship?

 

A report by National College of Teaching and Learning [NCTL] (2014) highlights a case study that includes a comment by one chair of governors explaining that he shared with the headteacher “the same vision and ambitions” for the school and that they worked as a “relationship of equals” (NCTL, 2014).  How marvellous this sounds - really positive or, on the other hand, does it sound too cosy?  Just what should the proper relationship between these two leaders be and what factors might contribute to it working well or, conversely, to the dysfunction that I feel sure we will have all come across on our governance journeys?  

 

•        The Headteacher Standards (DfE, 2020) speak of establishing and sustaining “a professional working relationship with those responsible for governance.”

 

•       The School Governance Regulations (2013) state (Regulation 6) “2. A clear understanding of, and distinction between, the role of the board and the headteacher is crucial to effective governance.”

•         ASCL et al. (2019) “it is an expectation that governing boards and school leaders will jointly develop effective working practices which are mutually supportive and respectful of each other’s roles and responsibilities.”

Early findings emerging from research on the Covid-19 pandemic (Ofsted Sept. 2020) highlight an interesting point that, during the crisis, boards found that “their relationships with school and trust leaders have strengthened”.  However, caution is needed – it is early days and this may not be the case for all schools. Research on leadership in the National Health Service identifies that critical incidents may make the relationship but, equally, they might break the relationship (Exworthy & Robinson, 2001).

 
If the pandemic can be thought of as a critical incident, an external threat against an organisation, does this act as a catalyst for improved relationships and, if so, why? This impact on relationships may also be seen when schools are threatened by other outside forces such as inspection.  An NCTL (2014) report emphasises the importance of a strong working relationship between the chair and executive leadership and offers some case studies as evidence, two of which focus on school improvement after a disappointing Ofsted judgement.  This response to an external threat might act as the “shared mission” (Gann, 2016,), in this case urgent school improvement, enables the full team, executive and non-executive, to unite in a “relationship of equals” – the response to the pandemic might be having the same effect?

So, what if we could achieve this sense of common purpose in 'good times' too? How powerful we could be, and I have been considering if power is indeed the key to this. The National Governance Association uses a definition of governance that includes the phrase ‘governance determines who has power’ and my research is focussed on the different types of power that we use in our leadership roles.  Both the executive and non-executive leadership exercise power through “legitimacy” (French & Raven,1959; Moore & Kelly, 2012), by virtue of government legislation, not just power by “position” (Bal et al., 2008). 

The boardroom, with its enshrined cultural practices, becomes a potential “arena of conflict” (Swartz, 1997) – a power struggle?  My reading across all sectors talks of the problems that can occur when executive leaders and governors who perhaps lack confidence, have not spent sufficient time understanding their distinct yet complimentary roles, and have not spent time getting to know one another. (Carter & McInerney, 2020; Roberts &Steel, 1999) This understanding of what each party brings to the role is expressed as “complementarity” by Roberts & Steel (1999).  This is the power of relationships (Bal et al., 2008), or referent power (French and Raven, 1959), at work within an organisation to positive effect.  What we are surely looking for is a balance of power?
 

Of course there can be dangerous forms of power at play in the boardroom too including charismatic power – think back to the collapse of Kids Company in 2015 where too much power was invested in the charismatic CEO.  There is the self-important power of expertise too (Bal et al. 2008; French and Raven, 1959) and wielding the power of (educational) expertise, perhaps through insecurity or ignorance of the importance of governance, can lead to the withholding of information from the board. You cannot have effective governance without knowledge and understanding – information has power too and withholding it creates an imbalance of power in the relationship that is destructive.  Maybe the pandemic, as a completely new and unknown threat, acted a catalyst to improve the balance of power because no one had the expertise, no one had sole ownership of the power of information, to deal with the crisis.  Boards and executives were thrown together to work it out as best they could and at great speed – and how mighty were the results of this effort!

 

From research in the business community Bal et al. (2008) found that contributors felt that the power of relationships and the power of information would be the most important in the future.  What forms of power do you use in your work as a governor? – charismatic, legitimate, expert, information, sanction, reward - or the power of relationships?

 

References

Association of School and College Leaders, Institute of School Business Leaders, Local Government Association, National Association of Head Teachers, (ACSL) and National Governance Association (NGA). (2019). What governing boards and school leaders should expect from each other. https://www.ascl.org.uk/Help-and-Advice/Leadership-and-governance/Governors-and-Trustees/

Bal, V., Campbell, M., Steed, J., & Meddings, K. (2008).  The Role of Power in Effective Leadership. Centre for Creative Leadership. https://www.ccl.org/articles/white-papers/the-role-of-power-in-effective-leadership/

Breslin, T. (2021). Lessons from lockdown; the educational legacy of Covid – 19. Routledge.

Carter, D. & McInerney, L. (2020). Leading Academy Trusts: Why some fail, but most don't. John Catt Educational.

Department for Education. (2020a). Governance Handbook. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook

Department for Education. (2020b). Headteachers’ Standards 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-standards-of-excellence-for-headteachers/headteachers-standards-2020

Exworthy, M. & Robinson, R. (2001). Two at the top: relations between Chairs and Chief Executives in the NHS. Health Service Management Research. 14, 82-91

French, J.R.E. Jr. & Raven, B.H. (1959). The bases of social power.  In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power. (pp. 150-167). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.

Gann, N. (2016). Improving School Governance (2^nd Ed.). Routledge

Moore, T. A. & Kelly, M. P. (2012). Networks as power bases for school improvement. In Preedy, M. Bennet, N. & Wise, C. (Eds.) Educational leadership; context, strategy and collaboration. (pp. 227-239)

National College for Teaching and Leadership. (2014). Leading governors: The role of the chair of governors in schools and academies.

Roberts, J. & Stiles, P. (1999). The relationship between chairmen and chief executives: competitive or complimentary roles? Long Range Planning, 34(1), 36-48

Swartz, D. (1997). Culture and power; the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu.  The University of Chicago Press.