Results-driven Leadership. A case study by Marilyn Daley.

This case study is an extract from The Customer Experience Playbook by Jonathan Daniels. The full book can be purchased here. Good exam results are the most sought-after achievement in almost all educational sectors in the world. However to achieve such good results, requires a lot of effort, willingness to commit, and innovation, not only from the teachers but also from the students at large thus the seesaw must balance for such an achievement to be possible. In the UK, many primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions have been at pains to make it possible that all students to achieve good exam results.

Challenge:

Marilyn Daley, a secondary school teacher has been tasked to improve the school’s exam results. This task comes with an exception which is, to avoid the traditional classroom experience.

The Approach:

In coming up with solutions to such a mammoth task, Marilyn then identified four final year prefects who were interested in different subjects and invited them to her journey to transform the school’s exam results. Marilyn then encouraged each of these prefects to use their interests to help children in the lower grades to learn by organizing regular and interactive activities. Each of these prefects focused on one of the four areas below:

• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths - breaking stereotypes by focusing on female students.

• Drama and expression through theatrical movement

• Software development - coding applications

• English Language and Literature Club

Marilyn’s goal setting and consistency are one thing that sets her apart besides her also having solid interpersonal and communication skills. She set her project such that after every fortnight without fail, she meets with each of the lead prefects and poses the following questions on them:

• How have you advertised your activities?

• How do you make sure you will get a good number of participants?

• What activities have you planned?

• How do you know that these activities will make a positive impact on the exam results for each participant?

As a support strategy, Marilyn then went on to take a more practical approach in showing the prefects how to they can come with evaluation forms to also help them to advertise and giving them general advice and guidance. In strengthening their motivation further, Marilyn also offers these prefects additional incentives including pizzas parties and also the many different lunch options.

To further cement the approach, as CX-Centric, we suggest that a leader who is faced with such a task must have good analytical skills thus the leader must drive insights from the data and information they have at hand. A leader must be able to be a relationship builder. Here one must spend time understanding the plans and ambitions of other people so as to know how to support them thus a strong leader encourages transparent communication as this will result in solving the different plenty of issues that arise in transformation. A leader must also be a strong communicator thus allowing for effective communication to happen between all stakeholders involved in a project as this drives trust and strengths relationships between the stakeholders involved. Another CX-Centric approach to this challenge is for a leader to be real. This entails doing more than just to lead the team but to also engage with people, accept challenges and as well as accept criticism.

Achieved Results:

After a period of four months, the school then noticed an impressive improvement in exam performance from pupils who participated in these activities. 80% of the students who participated in these activities were able to get more than 75% in their exams for subjects which included English Language, Maths, Physical Science, Literature in English, Chemistry as well as Physics. The school managed to achieve an overall 92% pass rate compared to the 65% pass rate it had achieved the previous year, all thanks to the approach which Marilyn took to salvage the school’s deteriorating exam results.