Stage Fright in Education

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Kim Walker

Founder of VirtuosoCEO

What is stage fright in education? The press coverage of the university sector can be fraught with politics and intrigue. I know firsthand what happens when media step in to dramatize based on partial information. My life was forever changed when a junior reporter took up the banner of portraying me as the world’s greatest plagiarist, as a 5’2” bully and delivered a steady stream of articles on controversy at the University of Sydney.
The faculty put up flyers of a talking horse Mr. Ed to respond,

but that never hit the press, nor did the many successes of the students and faculty in the period.  

The fact that a colleague at the Sydney Morning Herald coveted the position I held, and brought forward all the allegations never really got told, nor did the much bigger reason behind the furore.  

I cooperated fully with all investigations and was cleared each time so that in fact none of the allegations positioned by the jilted suitor were ever brought forward. 

Media might usually report when there really were allegations, but in fact we never got that far…so better to start the fight in the media where the electronic ink was free!  

Not long before my saga, one of the brightest researchers had to deal with allegations of tampering with data.  He was cleared, but the time it took to investigate, and the mere inference meant he was no longer in position to receive research funding, and his career was ruined.   

And so it goes…for many more academics around the world.  The political trials take their toll as the controversy dooms their career trajectory to being the first eliminated in any search.  

At the same time, this reveals a bigger and sadder episode.  You could politely call such leaders who are the tall poppies that transform and innovate and really pursue dreams, which dare to upset the status quo as “passionate”. 

The consequence is however, that not all…but most people play to avoid making a mistake, as opposed to play to win or innovate.

Chairing the 8th National Higher Education Women’s Leadership Summit this past week I watched as the innovators, the leaders, the traditionalists all contributed to a formidable mix espousing respect, how people skills matter, building teams and gaining agreement to turning the legacy systems upside down.

 In shaping the future, ensuring that students are part of the design team as the key constituents, means that lectures are now recognised as the least effective teaching method, spaces are set up for teams to collaborate and co-creative hybrid teaching methods are the norm. 

At the same time, higher education is a good decade or more behind business.  Why?  President Myles Brand who was my mentor used to say, “universities are too frightened to make mistakes so they never dare do anything really big.  Coming from a place of fear is the greatest danger to higher education”.  

Today’s neuroscience says that your heart is running the show and sends vital information every minute to the amygdala (reptilian brain) based on whether there is danger or safety within your 23-foot radius.  

When alarm bells ring, whether from media disasters, or professors who want larger offices and parking, or student protest flaring up, cortisol flooding your system and creating stress diminishes one’s intelligence by half.

We rarely give of our best from here.  Instead, people operate well within their comfort zone so they don’t make mistakes.  In a sad paradox, the thing they fear becomes the thing they deliver.

What does this mean for leadership?

How much of your time is spent building enough trust and encouraging appropriate risk-taking? Does the team culture encourage people to focus on not making mistakes or encourage them to co-create amazing results? 

You see, I would suggest it is a real asset to have a leader who has smelled the smoke of fire, been cleared and walked through controversy with grace and humour.  They may have had a target on their back…but they also will have demonstrated vision and power if they ruffled some feathers.  They will have stood for something and made choices.  

At the top there is no shortage of trial by fire or trial by media so perhaps it is an essential tool that running for top jobs requires, and in fact the experience distinguishes them.  The question is do they still have their sense of humour, contribution, compassion, energy and outrageous ability for vision? Do they build and empower other leaders?

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Power Hour Business Breakthrough by Kim Walker