Leadership Needs “SQ” Too

We talk a lot about EQ and IQ when it comes to school leaders. And there's no doubt, both are important. But there's a missing component to effective leadership that I will call "SQ" - Systems Quotient. Let me explain.

Leaders need to have IQ, to be intelligent, to be strategic. We all know this.

Leaders need to have strong "EQ" and be relational, having care for their teams and being attuned to the needs of their team. We know this, too.

So where does "SQ" come in?

I have seen high EQ/IQ leaders work Herculean hours supporting their people. I have seen their investment in their teams. Staff appreciation that was over the top, individual conversations day after day with team members, and being present for their people. And yet, the staff in those very same schools were feeling overwhelmed and burning out at high levels. Despite longer hours being put in, student outcomes did not continue to improve.

And it got me wondering... what was going wrong here?

The answer? These leaders had high IQ and EQ but low SQ.

A leader's high IQ/EQ can create improved performance. The leader is smart, relational, and present - and staff feel supported. From the outside, it looks like fabulous leadership.

This gets trickier if the school initially experiences improvement and success with that leader - people correlate the high EQ/IQ of the leader to the demonstrated improved outcomes.

But. As time passes, the high EQ/IQ leader begins to take on greater pressure and conflict, pulling even longer hours, working harder than ever to keep everyone emotionally regulated. The leader is literally holding the school together.

Further complicating this is that educators tend to just "make the magic happen" - often at their own expense. High leader EQ/IQ is not enough to address this, high SQ is needed to establish systems that prevent educators from taking on too much too often. Without this, the school will start band-aid-ing its way to quick fixes instead of constructing foundational systems to sustain the school and the educators inside it.

As the band-aids continue being slapped on, staff become exhausted from navigating unclear expectations, overlapping job duties, inconsistent procedures, figuring out what they are really supposed to be doing, and interpreting shifting priorities. The leader begins to feel overworked and undervalued. Doing this day after day, year after year, causes them to feel lost, unfulfilled... and educators (and leaders) burn out or leave.

As leaders, we need to not just contemplate how to support our people emotionally and intellectually... we must establish systems and processes to reduce pinch points and strain - which can often be hidden - that our people are experiencing every day.

High IQ and EQ might create short-term results in schools, but high SQ is what makes a school thrive for the long haul.

This is high EQ, high IQ, and high SQ leadership. And it is of critical importance in today’s rapidly changing world.