Lessons in True Team Building
I had the pleasure to meet Dr. Crosby twice.
The second time was the opening of the 2020 school year. He was an honored speaker at the opening day ceremony celebrating the start of a new school year.
As our retired school district superintendent, his busy and limited schedule only allowed me to quickly exchange pleasantries. If there was more time, the conversation would have turned to how our first meeting opened my eyes to a world of service.
Dr. Crosby retired just before I was hired into the school district. Since there was no reason for our paths to cross, we had never met. When I moved into the administration end of school business, he was gracious enough to visit the transportation office on a school day when he was in the area.
His short meeting was a lesson in leadership.
We talked for a couple of minutes and part of the conversation covered his management style during his many years of service. At one point as we talked, he asked for a sheet of paper and drew a triangle. He divided the triangle into 3 equal horizontal sections and explained how the base of the triangle is the strongest. Capable of holding its shape and providing immense support.
He started to fill in the diagram as he spoke. The bottom section of the triangle contained the folks that make sure every day operation happens.
Secretarial, custodial, maintenance, food service and transportation staff who provide necessary support to open school buildings, transport students and make sure no child goes hungry.
In the middle section he listed the administrative support team.
Included in this section were teachers, counselors and others who make up the educational group directly responsible for providing comprehensive student growth. At the top of his drawing he noted the Superintendent. The individual responsible for reporting School District performance to the School Board.
One thing to understand, he continued, was to realize people at the base of your organizational pyramid are the ones who make your organization successful.
Many organizations believe they would be more flexible and quick-thinking if decisions and ideas flowed from the top to the bottom.
His lifetime of achievement indicated this form of company organization does not always yield the best results.
To illustrate his point, he turned the paper upside down.
The workers were listed at the top with the Superintendent position at the bottom.
From this perspective, ideas now flow within the organization. Employees and their information add value. In such a structure, management is focused on asking the employees what kind of support they need to achieve the goals of the organization and increase communication.
According to the study “The Iceberg of Ignorance” by Sidney Yoshida, most of an organization’s problems are known by employees.
74 percent are known by supervisors. 9 percent by managers.
4 percent are known by top management.
When a small group, with the least information, get to make the decisions, those decisions are based on insufficient information.
As a result, the decisions are poor.
The purpose of the inverted leadership pyramid is to give the leadership of the organization a better perspective of things and maximize communication in a structure where the employees take a more prominent role.
