SCHOOL principal turned business executive Dave Myrie has urged headmasters and headmistresses to adopt more corporate-like principles into their management of educational institutions.

According to Myrie, there are more similarities than differences between the CEO (chief executive officer) of a private company and a school principal.

“They use the same principles,” said Myrie, the deputy CEO and chief operating officer for the H&L Group, a subsidiary of GraceKennedy. “As the principal, you are the CEO of that school and as the CEO, you are responsible for everything within that sphere.”

The former Wolmer’s Boys headmaster was speaking to principals of six high schools under the $100-million Mutual Building Societies Foundation Centres of Excellence programme. The six institutions were:

* McGrath High in St Catherine;

* Porus High in Manchester;

* Mile Gully High, also in Manchester;

* Seafort High in St Thomas;

* Godfrey Stewart High in Westmoreland; and

* Green Pond High in St James.

The occasion was a recent workshop held at Medallion Hall Hotel in St Andrew.

Meanwhile, Myrie said that similar to a CEO, a school principal must set a clear vision and articulate it in such a way that it is well understood by the majority, including parents and the communities in which the schools are located.

“A critical skill that any leader must have is (the ability) to set the culture of the school, and how you present yourself and how you dictate it will determine that,” he said. “Therefore, if you are not going to tolerate lateness and you set that up from day one and it flows down to all of your people, then that culture is going to be embedded in your school.”

Myrie added that a principal must also strategically determine how the school’s resources are to be used in the best interest of the institution, and to develop the highest quality product — as is required of a CEO.

“You must see education as a product and the quality of that product will determine who wants to come to that school,” he said, while carefully noting that the quality of the educational product had less to do with the quality of students the schools received and more to do with the quality of education delivered.

Myrie was quick to add that the quality of education their schools deliver will be determined by how they implement their respective visions for their institutions.

“If the board members are the ones who set that focus for you, I think you have lost the plot because the board should not be micro-managing you as the principal of the school. You are the ones running the schools on a day-to-day basis, therefore, you are the ones who have to set the vision,” he said.

However, he charged that as officers at the helm, principals must monitor carefully and take responsibility for the “goings on” in their institutions.

“As a principal, you have to delegate a lot. However, you cannot delegate and leave it like that. You have to retain some of the responsibility to ensure that what you are delegating is being done,” he advised.

Myrie also urged that they identify a mentor who can provide guidance to them in carrying out their duties.

“That mentor does not have to be a head teacher, but somebody who you can talk to about a number of things — someone who can actually help and guide you,” he said.

In addition, Myrie encouraged the principals to be diligent and to allow their work to speak for itself. “When your work speaks, it should speak so loudly you should not even have to open your mouth,” he said.