Elephants and Fleas: Is your organisation prepared for change?

By Charles Handy

Read the article online

Overview

Charles Handy is a writer and broadcaster who writes in a journalistic and motivational style about work group culture. Principals and boards are the main groups who will find this interesting once they have thought about the implications of these ideas for their school environment.

There are references as wide as Chairman Mao and John Keats, an expansion into the usefulness of federalism, and lively metaphors as the title suggests. Perhaps the most useful idea is the metaphor of the sigmoid curves, which Handy uses to demonstrate the need for institutions to constantly support and develop experiments.

He argues that leaders need to blend continuity with innovation to keep the life of an institution vibrant and responsive. “Hence the critical importance of the talk of vision and values and the necessity for the top leader to accentuate these in every statement and action.”

The article will help school leaders who want to be responsive to new trends, to step back from the particulars of their situation, and to consider the bigger picture.

Reflective questions

These reflective questions might guide you in your reading of this article:

• What is the balance like in your school between the ‘fleas’ and the ‘elephants’? How can you make it a more productive relationship?
• Use the discussion on federalism in this paper as a basis for critical reflection about the way your school’s structure is working. For example in secondary schools, how might this have implications for a discussion around how departments are organised?
• What planning is your school doing in response to further growth spurts, possible areas that are in decline, and future educational developments?

References

Handy, C. (2002). Elephants and fleas: Is your organisation prepared for change? Leader to Leader, 24 (Spring). Available: http://leadertoleader.org/leaderbooks/l2l/spring2002/handy.html [Retrieved 2005, April 3].