Scroll LinkedIn for five minutes and you’ll find them. Nine phrases you’ll hear in a positive workplace. Green flags in good people. Infographics on what incivility costs an organisation.* They gather thousands of likes, plenty of them from people who work in schools.
Which makes it all the more striking how many negative leadership cultures in international education carry on untouched.
Most of us have seen one. A school where people stop speaking up in meetings. Where good teachers quietly leave at the end of a two-year contract and nobody asks why. Where “how can I help?” is said, but “don’t bring me problems” is meant.
International schools are particularly exposed. Boards can be distant. Contracts are short, visas are tied to employment, and everyone knows a reference can follow them around the circuit. Silence becomes the sensible choice. And leaders who create the conditions for silence can easily mistake it for harmony.
Teachers are observed, appraised, tracked against data and held to account for outcomes. That’s fair. But the same rigour rarely travels upwards. Few heads receive 360 feedback that carries real weight. Exit interview themes seldom reach the board. Staff retention is rarely part of a leader’s appraisal.
The research on workplace incivility is consistent: people busy protecting themselves have less left for their work. In a school, that cost doesn’t stay in the staffroom. It reaches the classroom.
Liking the post is easy. Real accountability for leaders should look exactly like it does for teachers: regular, evidence-based, and with consequences.
*Posts referenced, as seen on LinkedIn (original creators not always clear): “9 Phrases You’ll Hear in a Positive Workplace”, shared by Mike Leber (graphic credited to leadership.mikeleber.coach); “Green flags in people”, shared by Mike Leber (graphic watermarked @herpsychology); “Toxic Workplaces Drain High Performance”, posted by Dr Michelle Penelope King (@michellepking), drawing on Porath, C. L. & Pearson, C. M. (2013), The Price of Incivility, Harvard Business Review.
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