NASJE News, Spring 2009

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Manager's Briefcase
Court Administrators Use Kolb Model to Teach Meaningful Leadership Skills
by Rod Olson Trial Court Administrator, Administrative Unit 2 North Dakota

Courts have spent precious financial resources and many hours talking and teaching about leadership in the courts. Have we ever asked ourselves, “Is what we are doing working? Is there a noticeable difference in the people working for the courts who have attended leadership classes?” In short, are we receiving our bang for the buck?

Many of us have attended court leadership classes and seminars and listened to nationally recognized speakers on this subject. Most times we have come away disappointed. The major problem is this type of training is strong on theory and weak on practical application (see this). People who run the office need to take responsibility for what happens in the office but it is unclear how leadership seminars instantly make people better leaders.

We believe there are two fundamental flaws in the way leadership is taught. First, there is a tendency for courts to take the easy road and invite a “leadership” speaker to a conference once a year and mark it off the list as a topic that has been covered. There are no ongoing meetings, no follow-up to see what people have tried to use, no assurance that we have learned from our experience. Second, courts believe that leadership is important—but do we take that next step and let people take the lead without micro-managing them?

With regard to the first point we need to realize that leadership needs to be developed like any skill. There has always been the controversy over whether people are natural-born leaders or if they can develop leadership skills (Sharon Daloz Parks, Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World, Harvard Business School Press, 2005, page ix). Our fundamental assumption is that leadership can be taught.

We felt there was a need to have a leadership class for our state-employed Clerks of Court and Juvenile Director. Our goal was to approach teaching leadership in a new way. This would involve regular monthly meetings, each lasting approximately three to four hours, with open discussions, setting expectations of managers and yes, there would be homework.

Having recently attended an educational workshop on how adults learn, we knew that using straight lecture would not work. We also knew we had people who would each learn in a different way. Therefore, we decided to use Kolb’s Learning Circle to ensure we would provide enough variety to the class so all participants could benefit (see this; 8/15/2007; pages 1 – 3).

As an icebreaker, we spent fifteen minutes of the first few meetings telling each other about ourselves; we took turns going through our education, work place experiences and anything else that people wanted to share. This helped us get to know each other better and be more comfortable speaking in the group. With initial assistance from our Judical Branch Education Director, Lee Ann Barnhardt, we located articles on leadership and posted three or four each month in a folder on a shared network drive. Our managers were asked to read them and post comments in the folder one week before class. This was done for two reasons; one, to make sure everyone read the articles before we met and two, to give them enough time to think about the articles in depth before the meeting.

At the meeting the group would spend time going over points we agreed and disagreed with in the article. There were also discussions focused on how some of the ideas could be implemented in our offices. We also purposely posted articles we did not agree with. This was done because at first there is a tendency to agree with the “boss.” We wanted to instill immediately that it was okay to disagree with us. Only by doing this could we have free and open discussions. Each month the managers would bring back something we had discussed the previous month and discuss how each had incorporated an idea in his or her office and whether it had the potential to work. In addition to articles, we would discuss daily situations that come up in offices and pro and cons for different ways to deal with those situations.

After a few months it was very apparent people felt much more comfortable in saying how they felt. The group would bring problems forward and problem-solving would take place within the group. Managers have expressed appreciation for the small group atmosphere and the opportunity to discuss issues on a local level.

After meeting monthly for nine months we wanted to have a short test to see how far we had come. We asked the managers to view a movie about training soldiers who go into combat in World War II. (For history buffs it was the first installment of “Band of Brothers” from the HBO series.) We asked the managers to point out the different leadership styles of characters in this movie focusing on the strengths and weakness of each character. We were pleased that they found the same strengths and weakness in these characters’ leadership skills that we had found.

So, to go back to our original question, “Is what we are doing working?” As Court Administrators we no longer feel we have to provide direction on every problem that might arise. Our managers now view leadership as something that takes place every moment of every day. They express an appreciation for the opportunity to develop as leaders and managers and, most of all, for the time to meet face-to-face to build relationships and discuss issues of importance both locally and to the court system as a whole. They also recognize these meetings present a unique forum for them to work through ideas and share their failures as well as their successes.

Why did this work? Answering this question brings us to our second point. Upper management must truly want leaders. There must be trust in the people you are developing as leaders. We let our managers become leaders. As managers made decisions we supported these decisions. We admit not all decisions were the way we would have done it, but by allowing the managers to try new things without having to look behind them or be continually corrected we believe we helped build the confidence leaders need.

Does this program take time? The answer is yes, but we believe the results have more than made up for the cost in time. Too many times Court Management is looked on as putting out fires. By implementing this program we have moved to fire prevention.