Excellence Model and Objective Key Results

Lecture Notes

Principals’ Conference, 26^th July 2018

Introduction

Leadership is not about titles, positions, wealth, execution of tasks, and

systems and processes. Leadership is about:

Higher purpose and meaning

Vision

Unlocking human potential, your potential,

and that of others you are responsible for.

About making a difference, legacy and impact

Self-awareness

History is littered with examples where ordinary people become extra-ordinary.

Without challenging goals even extra-ordinary people become ordinary.

Man is born potential. With deliberate practice and the pursuit of goals, he

becomes talent.

In my experience, the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching one’s goals.

The tragedy of life lies in having no goals to reach. As a result, goal-setting is not about

winning. Whether you achieve your goals or not is irrelevant. What is important is what

you become as a result of trying to achieve your goals. What counts at the end of the

day or the end of one’s life is whether one put in the effort?

What is achievement? Fulfilling a task or working hard is not achievement. If

you do what you can do, it is not achievement. If India wins the IPL it is not an

achievement. But if India wins the World Cup in 2022; that is an achievement. Born

out of sacrifice, achievement is a record of one’s:

 Transformation - your transformation when you transform others.

 Unlocking potential through challenging goals.

 Contribution towards one’s profession.

 Ability of bouncing back after failing.

If you look around most organizations or the friends you know, there may be

just a handful who have demonstrated continuous growth. The mainstream mass

continues doing what they did ten years ago; may be even more! Excellence is all

about raising the bar, and only goals can make it happen. For example, in academic

rigour, continuous improvement will be a key measure of excellence. This progression

occurs, provided one sets challenging goals, and pursues them with grit and firm

determination in the face of heavy odds.

Rewards on Goal-Setting

Myriad.

Gives you control over your life - a sense of purpose, meaning in life, and

happiness.

Long-term vision and foundation of motivation.

Focus. To achieve challenging goals, or to achieve Pareto’s critical few, one

needs to focus one’s complete energy on the goal and the required efforts.

Achieve balance in life and at work, thus sparing plenty of time to do what one

wants to do.

Achieving excellence by achievement goals that instill intrinsic student

motivation to learn, improve student behavior, and improve academic achievement.

Creating the Excellence Model

The goal setting process can begin in any one of the following three ways:

SWOT, translate superior’s goal into one’s goal, and creating an excellence model. I

believe that when one is seeking high performance in any category, the excellence

model is the best start point.

The excellence model is built on the hypothesis of comparing oneself with the

best in the world, and identifying the accomplishment gap. For example, let us assume

that, the OKR is: Obtain high academic rigour in the Diploma Programme. The

excellence model could be built after matching the performance parameters of the

best schools in the world, the success of Icelandic football as well as football teams of

other nations with low population (Costa Rica, Senegal, Croatia, Cameroon Islands,

Panama, Serbia, Belgium, and many more), Finland’s prowess in school education,

and one’s experiences.

Excellence cannot happen overnight; it requires time to come to fruition, as it

involves changes in lifestyle, intrinsic motivation and building base competencies. You

will recall that in sports and performing arts, the selection and training begins very

early on. Therefore, since academic rigour and collateral cognitive and non-cognitive

competencies cannot be built overnight, a minimum of four years of deliberate practice

is necessary.

Therefore, the first step is to start DP preparations from Grade 9 onwards;

thereafter it is too late. Given the required motivation and mental readiness required

for high academic performance, an early start should be the beginning. Regrettably,

schools begin their readiness only in Grade 12. However, the issues that must be

addressed are: what preparations and how? In this regard, I strongly recommend that

a Four-Year Strategy is prepared to enable students to be initiated in self-directed

learning, book-reading habit, eventually leading to deep reading, writing persuasively,

and learning how to learn.

The second step is to write down what competencies and skills are necessary

for high academic performance. In turn, each competency should be further broken

down into smaller baseline requirements to create the excellence model personalized

for each student. Personalization is the key. These would be:

Academic Skills

How to learn & self-directed learning

Concept understanding

Repetition

Progression (deep practice)

Immediate feedback

Failure is OK

Discipline

Setting learning goals

Meeting academic deadlines

Time management

Study routine

Psychology

Self-esteem and motivation

Mindfulness

Grit

Visualization

Lifestyle

Physical exercise to improve memory

and concentration

8 hours of sleep

Nutrition

Teacher-Coaches

Mentoring

Personalized coaching

Feedback

The third step is writing down learning goals (using the OKR model) by the

Coordinator, each teacher and each student, in that order. At the end of each month

the results are reviewed dispassionately by the academic coaches, and remedial

actions taken and followed up. The entire operation has to be planned and executed

as a well-oiled military operation.

Traditional Goal-Setting and OKR

On the surface, SMART goals and Objective and Key Results, or OKR, appear

similar, but there are subtle differences. Traditional goal-setting is useful when the

environment is stable, and there is a reasonable degree of certainty about the future.

In a VUCA scenario, the alternative is OKR. The main difference is that in OKR the

goal is split into the objective and how it is to be measured. I would like schools and

individuals to adopt this style. However, there are common features such as SWOT

analysis, challenging objectives, and preparing detailed and measurable plans. The

salient differences are shown below:

SMART Goals

OKR

Duration

6 months and beyond

1-3 months in an unstable

& stable environment

future

Focus

Annual

Quarterly or monthly review @

Levels

- principal down to

student

Response

Slower

Faster as measuring is

more precise and frequent

How Many

Not more than 2 or 3

Multiple Key Results (3 to 5)

Suitability

Competencies

Academic and financial targets

in Schools

A specimen OKR is given below.

Objective (what you want to accomplish): “Achieve an academic score of 37 in DP”

Key Results (A measurable goal that defines achievement):

Qr 1

Qr 2

Qr 3

KR # 1

KR #2:

KR #3:

KR #4:

OKR can be effectively used by students and teachers to perform optimally and

unlock their potential. There are four distinct steps: first, create an excellence model;

second complete a SWOT analysis to determine the accomplishment gap; three, write

out the OKR; and four, review monthly, or as frequently as possible.

Designing, writing down the goal, and presenting an excellent plan is not the

end of the exercise; it is the implementation and monitoring of the plan that matters

most. This process is best staged and phased as under:

1: Multi-level goals are set - for teachers, and school leaders as well. A lot

of training is required in this regard.

2: Students are assisted in designing learning goals, based on pre-

assessment and the excellence model.

3: Deliberate practice: frequent formative assessments.

4: Coach enables mental preparation and self-motivation, and provides

continuous feedback to students as well as teachers.

5: Determine continuous progress and goal attainment through data

analytics.

6: Fortnightly performance review separately for teachers and students.

7: Modify OKR @ end of quarter, if necessary.

Academic Coaches

A small country like Iceland with a population of 3.5 lacs has 600 football

coaches. Erstwhile East Germany and Soviet Union scaled the gold medal tally in all

Olympics because of their obsession for coaching and psychological preparation of

athletes and sportspersons. In today’s complex world excellence cannot happen

unless we have the best coaches. We need to institute academic coaches with

immediate effect. I urge all academics present to seriously consider this proposal.

When we are seeking excellence, average coaches, and that is what teachers have

been considered all these years, are not good enough. In no human endeavor can

excellence be achieved unless the best coaches are available. Given the

interdisciplinary nature of excellence - motivation, competencies, neuroscience of

learning and memory, psychology and deliberate practice, etc., the present approach

to excellence is unworkable. The time has come for the sports analogy to be applied

in academics. I don’t think countries like Senegal, Nigeria, Costa Rica or the

Cameroon have higher motivation than us!

A White Paper on academic coaches will be circulated for your comments.

Their key responsibilities will include:

1. Preparation and monitoring a 4-Year Strategy for readiness for the IBDP

examination.

2. Assisting students in writing their OKR for learning. This will include vertical

alignment of goals by teachers and the Coordinator.

3. Student and teacher feedback analysis.

4. Data analytics to design strategies for teachers and students in continuous

improvement.

5. Monitoring performance on continuous basis.

6. Conduct workshops and advice on MOOC/LinkedIn courses on how to

learn, best teaching practices, and strategies in:

 Self-directed learning.

 Neuro science of mindfulness, growth mindset, and Circadian rhythm

and Alpha waves for improved memory and concentration.

 How to rewire the brain for improved memory and smart study skills?

 Pareto’s 80:20 and time management.

 Note-taking and test-taking.

 Lifestyle and routine to include sleep, daily exercise and nutrition.

Conclusion

I wish to emphasize that excellence is a journey involving sweat, tears and

elation. The following is the secret sauce:

Protracted time

Excellence model based on the best in the world

Personalization

Expert coaches

Continuous review, monitoring, feedback

Leadership! Leadership!!