Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

The Principal Coaching Clinic #11

Where is your old boys’ network?

Audrey Nelson in her March 28, 2017 blog from Psychology Today entitled “Women and the Good Ole Boy’s Club” best defines the “good old boy network” as an informal system of friendships and connections through which men use their position and influence by providing favors and information to help other men.  Nelson goes on to state that it is based clearly upon the “you scratch my back and I will scratch your’s mentality.”

Does this club exist in your school or organization?  Of course, it does.  Is it fair?  Of course not.  Does it prevent women and men of color from advancing?  Of course, it does. I know, because in part, I advanced through this network of white men. I tried to do something about it.  I will let others comment whether I was successful or not.

Schools are no different than any other segment of our society.  Is it changing?  I would have to say it is but the change is too slow and the change increments are too small.  Turn on your television and you will see groups of old white men making the decisions for all of us.  Many of these decisions have nothing to do with old white men.  I will stop there because I have always tried to stay out of politics in this blog yet I think you can see what I mean.

Let us also never forget that information is power.  Location to the seat of this power is also critical. Proximity to power is important.  And the old boys club has continued to maintain control of the flow of information and the physical access to the decision makers.  Yes, this power structure is all about accessibility.   This power group is exclusionary.  And they work hard both covertly and overtly to maintain this exclusivity.  Even a white male has to be invited to join.

Pause and take a look at many schools.  Being a former coach, especially if one was successful, grants one immediate access.  You see, people seek a comfort level with those that look and act like them.  Although I believe it is changing, public schools were being led by former athletic coaches.  I like to think on some level this was maybe because of their leadership ability but who am I kidding.  They looked and acted like the group in power.  These coaches also probably possessed the personality that one liked being around.  They were fun and could talk sports in a second.  They fit right in.  In all of my meetings, I quickly would fall back on sports analogies to make a point.  My team joked with me about it and I tried to correct it.  It was difficult for me to change especially when  I was stressed.

For me, it was a public joke that you did not move up the administrative ladder unless you were Italian and had a vowel at the end of your name.  Many joked with me that I should have changed the last letter of my name so I could fit in.  I hoped this was not true, but it looked that way.  Nonetheless, I fit other qualifications of the operating club in my district.  I was white and a former coach.

I seem to paint a hopeless picture.  I don’t mean to, but it is a reality.  In my upcoming book (EduKate Me II:  A Survival Guide for the New Principal) I dedicate an entire chapter to the concept that politics are everywhere in education and to be successful you have to be a skillful politician and one who “can work a room.”

So, what can you do about it?  I wish I had a magic answer.  Perhaps it is all about waiting them out.  The members of your club will retire or die.  However, they must be replaced by open minded reflective leaders.

If you find yourself on the outside, I encourage you to develop your own “club.”  This club will hopefully grow with people that have been also left out along the way.  Numbers also are power.  Become strong as a group so that you cannot be ignored.

Secondly, I would attempt to align myself with a member of this clique.  Connect with him as a mentor.  Take on more projects.  Out work him.  Make yourself so valuable that you cannot be ignored.

One thing you cannot do is to sit and bellyache and whine about the existence of this club.  It was established long before you arrived on the scene and will hard to break.  Stay positive.  Stay strong and even in the face of the most exclusionary tactics, make yourself valuable.  Always remember your success will be based upon your effort and attitude and your success in your school will be based upon the relationships you build and how you are viewed by others.   Keep the faith.  Be part of the generation of leaders that truly eradicates this club.  Good luck!