Framing and Reframing Organizations in Education
Faculty: Matthew L. Miller
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
The Four Frames of Leadership
Session Overview
In this session, we will discuss and apply the “Four Frames” of leadership model developed at HGSE by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal. We will consider the frames in light of leadership challenges you confront as school leaders on a regular basis. Becoming a more effective leader depends both on understanding our own strengths and inclinations and understanding the dynamic organizational contexts in which we work. Through interactive presentation and the case method of dialogue and debate, this two-session sequence will invite you to consider the exercise of leadership through multiple lenses and in context.
We will also explore the Bolman and Deal frames in a way that enables you to identify potential areas of growth in your own leadership practice.
The questions we will explore during these two sessions include:
- How do you make sense of and understand your organisation? How do you act as a leader within it?
- How might you think differently about the exercise of your own leadership in ways that expand your capacity to exert constructive and creative influence in schools?
- How can you use the frames and the process of reframing as tools for both diagnosis and action in school leadership?
Required Reading*
*Case Study Part A: Lithgow High School (2020) and Lithgow High School Part B (2026)
Please read the two-part case, taking notes as you read in light of the study questions below. (Please read the case studies only after you have read the memo on the Four Frames for our first session.)
The Part A case is divided into the case narrative followed by a series of exhibits of data and artifacts from the life of the school. Spend some time analysing the appendix materials. In particular, you may want to note places throughout the case where you make connections to each of the Four Frames, key “turning points” and important actions taken, and puzzles or questions you have about actions taken in the case.
The Part B case takes place after Caro leaves Lithgow and a new principal arrives. Please only read this case after you have thought deeply about and answered the questions related to the Part A case. As you read Part B, think about how the Four Frames might be relevant to understanding how Foty Loupos approaches his work as principal.
Study Questions for Preparation
- Thinking specifically through the lens of each of the frames, what decisions and actions do you think were responsible for the progress made at Lithgow? What were the most important of these decisions and actions that were taken? What, if anything, might you have done differently?
Structural - timetabling, staffing changes, new appointments, course changes
Symbolic - creating a new language for the school about the children "these are our kids"
Human Resources - seeking the voice and valuing the staff, putting the right people in the right seats to effect change
Political - making the most of the new equity resources and engaging with the community in new and different ways (community groups working within the school to support mental health).
Most important: culture shift / community engagement, investment in supported learning/mental health and academic courses
Wondering - was the mental health, transition to work and learning support resourcing measured against behaviour, suspension and attendance data and reviewed each quarter?
- As you look ahead for Lithgow, what are some key things that you think Caro and others need to keep in mind to maintain forward progress? What do you think are the right “next moves”? (Again, please think with respect to all four frames.
Sym - Maintaining the culture within the school and ensuring the common language about expectations can be measured for both staff and students.
HR - Looking behind to ensure that the team are in the waka with her and she is not driving in the front with significant groups looking the other way.
Sustainability beyond just Caro
- In the Part B case, how is Loupos's approach similar to and different from Caro's? Do you see evidence of Loupos's attention to multiple frames in his leadership? If so, what stands out to you from across the frames?
Structural - ability grouping in middle school, transition to work for all students, focused on opportunities and engagement for students in learning
Symbolic - shift in thinking about behaviour - language / culture, less focus on extrinsic.
Different - became part of the community, present in the community, expectations of the community groups
Was thinking about strong and sustainable systems to underpin the strategic plan
What stands out - structural and symbolic.
Less mentioned about staff in this case study and about political aspects.
Notes from Matt's morning session
The four frames as a useful resource to provoke thinking about different perspectives that may not have been considered.
The four frames are both windows on the world and and lenses that bring the world into focus.
Framing effects are all about perception, decisions can be influenced by how things are framed.
Ways to think about the four frames:
Structural = factory
(not just doling out the work and roles, important to have mechanisms to bring the organisational pieces back together, clarity around success/outcomes important)
Human Resources = family (needs and belonging)
Political = jungle (harnessing political power for the good of the school community)
Symbolic = theatre (collective stories, common language, common north stars)
Case Study - Data Dilemma - Sarah Chen (Structural)
Implications for us @BIS -
Discuss with NM and SLT
Data and assessment - why? Clarity of why
Consultation around the new assessment processes
Systems of accountability. Procedures and purpose for these.
Analysis of data - data informed practices. Who and why?
Link the data to practices
How might the practices need to vary? ie for children on LS register
Think through structural processes, think about how to make sustainability
Think about how to coordinate individual efforts in assessment
**(check out the slide about diagnosis in the structural frame)
Case Study - Vida Primary School (HR Resource)
Implications for us @BIS -
PD alone can be insufficient to change practice. The why and the norms are important to take time to learn and imbed.
How to we show people in concrete ways that we see them and value what they are doing?
How to we build trust and continue to build trust?
Ways of working, need to be crystal clear
TOD - The of staff need to be collected - what do they love about the school, what do they think the next steps are for our team? How does this compare to the community and to what ERO and the govt are expecting?
Conduct a cultural survey to establish where to next (ten years of leading the school, how to tweak and refresh). Results to be shared widely.
Term One - quick walk throughs and engagements with learners (what are you learning and why?) Thanks and positive feedback to the teacher! Continue to normalise deprivatization of learning and BEST acknowledgements for teachers
Revise - individual PDPs within PGC docs. PDP observes of colleagues and colleagues obs of practices (post ob conversations vital - strength based)
Induction - Sense of belonging and inclusion important. You were specifically chosen. We are excited to have you here, we want you to feel you belong and are valued and important.
First induction meeting - create a sense of I see you, I hear you, you are an important part of our team. Hopes and intentions for 2026.
Opportunities and incentives for growth and development for individuals.
How is the school PDP link to our teachers PDP and their needs.
Genuine opportunities for staff to engage with this voluntarily.
Case Study - Curriculum Crossroads at Bay Primary (Political)
Political - also includes scarce resources such as how many and which events I might choose to get to. Who gets recognition and who doesn't get recognition for things that get done.
Differences to be managed, not eliminated. Lots of sources of power, ie expertise, control of information and how that is communicated, incentives, coercive power, democratic power/credibility/experience.
Implications for us @BIS
Where do our students have agency and power over decisions?
ie E and E options, language options, opportunities outside the classroom, clubs
Term One - first pulse survey
The power / influence of parents and community groups in our school.
How do we capture their voice during the year?
What is mandatory in our school and what is choice?
Needs analysis. Consultation and decision making based on best interests versus bargaining and negotiation. Mutual interests may help define solutions going forward. SCOT.
How well is learning going in our school?
Look at the tasks that students are given, the feedback students are given and what the next task is to get them to the next progression?
Case Study - Tension at Eucalyptus High School (Symbolic)
Symbols, stories, ritual, heroes, legacies that we are a part of are powerful deep ways that people can find meaning in their organisation.
Cultural norms likely to be more influential than institutional rules.
What is normalised in our setting?
Think deeply about the messages we send to others and language of our organisation.
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