Making the Case for Complementary Leadership

Ensuring that 5 + 5 + 5 = 18.

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It’s not being conventional that helps a team win. It’s maximizing what you’ve got.”

Ed Smith in Making Decisions: Putting the human back in the machine

Considering the potential of your school’s board is an interesting exercise. You might start by assigning a score to each member, with 5 being the highest. But then, what would you be evaluating? John might have significant financial expertise, which is great for a school likely run by educators turned administrators. Nancy might be a tech executive with a deep engineering background — ideal for a school with a 1:1 laptop program or aspirational STEM goals. Diane might be a newly retired Head who brings fundraising prowess to a school beginning a new capital campaign. All good.

But are John, Nancy, and Diane all 5s? Sort of. Or rather, it may or may not matter. As subject matter experts (SMEs), they are all well equipped to be major contributors to a school’s board. That doesn’t mean that their presence at your next board meeting automatically gives your board a starting score of 15 in terms of its potential. 5 + 5 + 5 could very well equal 15; just as likely, it could equal 9 . . . or 18.

SMEs (like superheroes) are often accustomed to working alone or in a context that amplifies their individual contributions. High functioning boards or administrative councils (super teams) work together and often in contexts that challenge their ability to first cohere and then contribute. The sum of the parts of a team will only add up to 15 (or even 18!) if someone clears the way for work that isn’t isolated (by individual) and then expected to add up (by team). Instead, such effort needs to be elegantly and intentionally conjoined — made complementary — from the start. Such leadership produces outcomes that could only be created by a particular group of people, working together, at a particular time, and in a particular space.