Principle 8: Drive Out Fear

Common management myths (see here and here) must be replaced by sound guiding principles. In this post, I’ll describe the eighth such principle, Drive Out Fear. It is worth noting that the 14 Principles for Educational Systems Transformation are mutually supporting, so it is important to understand all of them rather than studying them in isolation. An in-depth discussion of the full set of Principles for Transformation can be found in Chapter 3 of my recently released book Win-Win: W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge, and the Science of Improving Schools.

Principle 8: Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the school system. No one can perform their best unless they feel secure to express ideas, ask questions, and make mistakes.

W. Edwards Deming discussed the role that fear plays as an obstacle to improvement efforts numerous times in both Out of the Crisis and The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education. One of his most poignant quotes on this topic is in Out of the Crisis where Deming says:

Where there is fear, there will be wrong figures.[1]

Wrong figures in the form of both qualitative descriptions of important work processes as well as in quantitative data makes it impossible to improve. How would you even know where to start an improvement effort if the figures are inaccurate? If you are a systems leader, it is critical to be aware that fear is present in your organization without exception. The pervasiveness certainly will vary in terms of the severity of the fear and its impact on employees and students, but it is present. Its presence is guaranteed under the prevailing style of management because it’s a by-product of Management by Objective, performance appraisal, and any type of rating and ranking system. Within organizations that employ these methods, the goal becomes for the individual to optimize their own performance instead of optimizing the organization as a whole. Likewise, management must cease blaming employees for problems of the system which account for the vast majority of problems in all organizations. Faults of the system are the responsibility of management because they have the authority to change the design of the system. Educators and students cannot work effectively if they dare not ask about the purpose of their work or have the ability to offer suggestions for improvement of the system that are in turn followed through on by management. Not every suggestion leads to a change to the system, but there has to be a process to make the suggestions as well as follow-up communication to indicate what, if any, system changes will be made as a result. There also should be sound rationale for the decision.

Blog Series: 14 Principles for Educational Systems Transformation

The four components of the System of Profound Knowledge work in concert to provide us with profound insights about how our organizations operate so that leaders can in turn work to optimize the whole of our systems. However, there is a step beyond simply avoiding the management myths. The next step is to be able to think and make decisions using the lens provided by the System of Profound Knowledge. This is where the core set of 14 Principles come into play. In this series, I’m describing the principles that will enable you to move from theory to practice with the Deming philosophy.

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John A. Dues is the Chief Learning Officer for United Schools Network, a nonprofit charter management organization that supports four public charter schools in Columbus, Ohio. He is also the author of the newly released book Win-Win: W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge, and the Science of Improving Schools. Send feedback to jdues@unitedschoolsnetwork.org. 

Notes

1. W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis (Cambridge, MA: MIT, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, 1986), 266.