Communication and Leadership

I am mindful of how well I am communicating daily as this is an area that is a continual focus for me.  There are areas of communication that I know I am improving in but there is much to be done here. 

I was asked to watch and respond to this video this week. The key questions were "what has gone wrong with regards to communication? How could it have been avoided. 

Personally, I think here that all parties communicating have failed to establish any form of relationship prior to communication. Assumptions have been made by both parties. I think the lighthouse needed to identify itself immediately and perhaps a common language could have been decided upon... it seems that there is a real sense of self importance by both parties. 

Mark Reding pointed out to me last year, that we talk in words but hear in pictures... By this he meant that all of our conversations are influenced by our past experiences and what we bring to the conversation... I have found this is something to be mindful of on a daily basis.

I think this article shared via Twitter last week, is quite timely for me and fits nicely with this discussion.

I also read Ramsay's article about the 20 biggest communication mistakes we can make as leaders. I think that my biggest take-away is that this article reinforces how important effective communication is. I have to confess here that in a former life, I was actually a bit of a jargon junkie. I have absolutely flown with terms such as "ubiquitous", "agency", "connected"' and "ILE". (The list is endless.) Fortunately, I have been challenged to drop the jargon. The reality was that with a team of teachers starting out fresh from a range of backgrounds and diverse schools, we didn't even totally understand what each other was saying!!! I am working really hard at the KISS approach. I do have to admit here... dropping the jargon has added to my communication woes. Ensuring that we are all talking about the same thing was so much easier with jargon... (or, so I thought).

No. 6 really got me thinking about the place of large group gatherings. Ramsay states that there is a difference between teaching and preaching. He also says that "kids tune out, pontificating". This quote supports my wonderings about the level of full attention achieved in such large groups.

So where to from here?

1. Seek coaching and feedback from my peers
2. Focus on bigger picture communication: how can I ensure that I am opening communication channels up to the staff and the community.
3. Some of our families obviously need ongoing education re our vision and values: what might this look like?
4. Drop the jargon... build it collectively with the community. (Shotoverise our dialogue
5. Start challenging as appropriate the start and end of days... 

At the End of the Day, If I've Done This then I'm Doing My Job!

At the end of each day, if I've done this then I'm doing my job!

Schools can be a very busy place and days can become quickly filled with the unexpected. We can sometimes find ourselves leaving at the end of the day with the job list only longer and a sense that we have not achieved what we set out to achieve. 

The one sentence job description has become a bit of a game changer for me. It is the tool I use as I walk out to the carpark to check that I have in fact done my job that day. It should be what I have achieved in a nut shell each day. 

It works for me because if you ask me what I do each day, I can answer straight away and quite concisely. It is cognitively portable and because I share it with the people I am working with, it has become expected of me. 

The OSJD helps me to be clear about what I am trying to achieve hour by hour, day by day even when it the unexpected is happening around me.  

I know what I am doing, why I am doing it and how I can contribute. Knowing this helps me to stay right on track and not lose what is important. 

Learning to Lead #2

'It takes guts to do what a leader does, to make decisions and lead with values. 

So what values drive me to become comfortable with the uncomfortable? ...to raise the heat on myself and others?'

At the heart of what I do each day is "well-being". This includes ensuring that the  whole team's well-being is being looked after and that we are collectively providing a culture of well-being in the school. By this I mean that everyone needs to feel safe, respected, supported and that we have developed an environment focussed on learning that is supported by everyone's preparedness to become risk taking learners. 

This is the culture that underpins school interactions and helps the staff, the children and their whanau to feel valued, safe and able to achieve.

Interactions (interventions, strategies, activities, relationships, planning and practices) need to be underpinned by the school’s culture and values. All staff need to be committed to the well-being of everyone on our site and visitors to the school should see our values in action within both the learning and social contexts.

Positive relationships and school values are evident in the school’s:

- curriculum and operations

- leadership, resourcing and decision making - curriculum priorities and delivery

- pastoral care processes and systems

- interpersonal relationships and celebrations - professional learning programmes.

Leaders as Role Modellers

Leaders are role models in their commitment to well-being and establish clear goals and expectations that ensure supportive environments for students. Mentors are well supported by the Senior Leadership Team and Team leaders in their social skill development work with children.

Partnerships are key

Leaders and mentors work in partnership with each other, the children, parents, whanau, community and external agencies to promote student well-being. Students contribute to the review of school tone and well-being. Mentors collaborate to enhance student and staff wellbeing, through seeking and sharing knowledge of what works for all individuals.

Learning to Lead

Fred Koffman suggests that leaders are not respected for their success but instead for their "behaviours" in other words the walk they walk. 

This week, I had a go at defining what I value as a leader. I realised that most of these were actually behaviours. Some that I think I do reasonably well and some that are not "cognitively portable"... yet.  There's a bit of a theme emerging for me. The leadership capability survey reminded me that I need to be continually aware of my responses and energy particularly when under a bit of pressure.

And then thinking about which behaviours I walk the talk with and which ones I don't gives me a clear picture of what I need to be mindful of. I am beginning to identify behaviours that may in fact put my credibility as a leader at risk. I won't unpack or give explanations as to why I am not available, inspiring, calm or structured here. I am simply learning to lead and the reality of life, family and new school stuff have meant that I have dropped a ball or two... 

This is very much a work in progress as I read, ponder and make connections to the variety of models in this module, and my own experiences.  More time unpacking and defining my values and "Shotoverising" the behaviours that accompany these will help me learn to lead effectively and grow others' capacities. 

Current and Desired Reality

My current reality is pretty much where I hoped it would be when I sat down to this task just over 12 months ago. We are a team that takes turns at leading and looking out for each other. We let others know when we are in the 'pit' and how we can be supported to work our way out of it. 


The current reality does not need to be a bad place just a point of time to be aware of which will help me move forward and improve what I do day to day as a leader in our school. 

The aspects of my current reality that I am not so fond of are the systems that need to be worked through (hence the blue clipboard and the green list) and my role in ICT/ eLearning at the moment. The latter is something I am absolutely passionate about, however my pedagogical beliefs about the place of devices and their impact on learning are instead consumed by contract agreements, technical issues and setting up of new devices.

The increase of devices is being warmly welcomed and used to their potential but I feel a real need to slow everybody down and ensure that collectively we are on the same page. It is the beliefs that need to have time spent on them. We have one approach to this landing and it is always easier to take the lid off than put it back on.... 

A detailed description of my realities can be described as this:

In the left, top and right borders are sentences that reinforce our vision and values. These need to be visible in our culture and evident in our day to day practice. In the bottom border is what was my one sentence job description from 2015. This formed my daily measure as a leader... if I got nothing else done in a day, had I " built capacity, provoked thinking and maximised potential"? To have all of these phrases cognitively portable helps me to walk the talk each day. 

Current Reality:

At the core of everything we have done over the past year has been the development of a collective construction and understanding of our beliefs and principles. We have constructed BPPs for everything including systems, the physical environment, relationships and philosophical. The sun in my image is rising because the practices you see at our school are clearly reflecting our shared beliefs and principles.

The mountain climbers symbolise the teams that in and the fact that different people will be seen taking the lead. We are okay letting others know when we are in the 'pit' and will seek support/ support each other at different times. The lone climber looking lost and confused represents the nine new staff that have joined us this year. We need to keep an eye out for them and ensure they are not 'left behind'.It is really important that they are supported by the foundation team so that they 'own' some of the work that has already been done. 

The blue clipboard and the green list illustrate the fact that I find myself 'managing' more than I would like to. I often feel consumed by resourcing and the set up stage. As for the iPad and computer... frustration that I have has to negotiate to actually get the ICT agreements that we signed last year, actioned and functioning. In the meantime, this has taken my time away from supporting teachers to introduce the BYOD programme and use of the Google domain.

That's the juggle of management vs leading and I hope that gets easier as we move into our second cycle.

The Desired Reality

This year I want to take time to really reflect on my leadership and develop an understanding of others' perceptions about my leadership. The binoculars represent the fact that I want to be able to see the big picture and also be forward thinking as a leader. I also want to be able to 'zoom in' so that I have a good awareness of the individuals in the team, their performance and their well-being. 

The kind of leader I want to be is one that helps to grow and support a culture that is successful, determined and has a collective vision. I want the vision to be obvious to those who visit our school no matter who they talk to... The images in the binoculars reflect what this will look like...

1. The chain of people represents a united and engaged team.
2. The hats on their heads illustrate the structure and clarity in our organisation. This includes roles and responsibilities and the fact that we will all have a turn at leading.
3. The map indicates the direction we are heading.
4. Green and blue people show the trust that we need to have each other reciprocally, the accountability we have to the rest of our team.
5. The green line shows that we are on an upward trajectory overall but that this will not always be linear. The dips in the line are there to remind me of the need for me to be able to inspire and energise in order to maintain that upward trajectory. 
6. The red and blue people show the need for on-going dialogue, transparency, timely/ authentic feedback that develops and empowers. 

The 3 Great Steps:

These are the 'indicators' or the steps I need to maintain to become the leader I want to be and are based on my "action plan":

1. To improve my leadership, I need to journal the journey and reflect on my successes, failures and challenges.
2. I need to regularly seek feedback and perspective about my leadership (, reflect on it, journal it and determine actions).
3. Celebrate successes and grow capacity in others by way of a robust, authentic appraisal system which emphasises improving not proving.

Thinking about Thinking

How we think is the essence of learning. The school's graphic for our "Thinking" value has four cogs because thinking is 

1. creative, 
2. critical, 
3. reflective and 
4. metacognitive. 

To develop a thinking culture it is important that thinking is 

• on-going, visible and audible in our learning spaces. We model this as adults in our well established culture of asking the 'why'.
• the culture allows for transparency which allows for reflective thinking that is open and honest. 
• the process of learning is a focus for each of our learners which leads to increased self awareness. 

How do we model thinking especially metacognition? Metacognition monitors, evaluates, and regulates our thinking.  It is important that children learn that they can analyse their thinking techniques they are using. Do they know that they can the strategies being used suit the learner? I wonder if this is key to developing "agency" and truly "self-regulating" learners? 

Modelling metacognition out loud can also help children to understand how to monitor the clarity and accuracy of their knowledge and thinking. Modelling is key and takes time out of the learning experiences. 

The way we learn information is determined by the processes that we put in place if you are analysing our thought process helps us to achieve a higher level of mastery. 


Teaching information/ learning to others helps reinforce and consolidate learning. This reinforces the concept of Tuakana/ Teina. 

I believe that there is a need to slow down the learning experiences to help children to use metacognition. This naturally leads itself into 'reflection' and paves the way for children to set their learning goals and to monitor their own progress towards meeting those goals. 

As we begin down the path of "Communicating Learning", I believe we need to ensure that we are giving thinking the time and coaching that it requires to help us develop our culture of learning. This takes time and we need to ensure that all stakeholders know and value the time that is needed to talk about learning. 

Innovation and Creativity

As we begin our second year, I am wondering about how we could go about establishing an innovative and creative culture. I believe this takes energy but also out it will come more energy.

Sir Ken states that creativity can be planned for systematically. He makes the point that we need to make innovation a habit and systematic. How can creativity be planned for systematically in schools like literacy and maths?

To be interested in innovation, we need to nurture imagination. Being creative is the process off putting the imagination to work. Often the idea that is ended up with is most likely not the idea that was at the start of the process. Some ideas are highly imaginative but useless.

The definition of creativity is.... the process of having original ideas that have value.

What processes can we put in place?

2015: Learning to Lead

DESIRED REALITY

3 GREAT STEPS

1. Focus on our vision: make this transparent.
2. Establish and develop relationships.
3. Build a collaborative environment that engages the community. 

ONE SENTENCE; EVERYDAY

"...Very supportive... when Ben asks you 'how do you know you've grown' say 'look at Muireann!' She believes in herself now and that is HUGELY down to you and your support...but you have grown so many other people too! and the school culture! and a huge amount of trust from others - and your provoking skills are impeccable! As for feedback -  I'll need time to think about that one..."

SPS CRITERIA

My Job Description

AP Responsibilities

An Attempt at Goals in March but it was a real case of I didn't know what I didn't know... I would like to put some real thought into what these goals look like in 2016 with Ben and Helen in the new year. 

And... then... You wonder if you are bringing what you said you would to the position when you applied... And also the realisation that the bar is rising.... 

"I believe I could contribute to the leadership team at Shotover Primary School because I am a collaborative and connected educator. I am a passionate about teaching and learning and would bring a reflective approach to teaching and learning at the school. I would bring a proactive response to the needs of the children, their families, the teachers and the wider community. I constantly strive to implement high quality teaching programmes based on effective pedagogy and am very aware of the diverse needs of not only the learners but the teachers I am working with, also.

I would contribute to the team by:

• bringing a proactive response to scenarios as opposed to reacting
• having relational awareness: ensuring my availability, valuing others
• knowing the community and their expectations
• seeking mentoring and promoting the sense of AKO within the school
• ensuring that my practice is current, reflective, changing to meet the needs and the environment
• being aware of the big picture approach ie. strategic
• walking the talk
• having a professional focus on learning

Lastly, I believe that reflection really is a signature of my practice. My professional blog might give some insight into my professional reflection and growth over the past few years."

Concept, 2016

The purpose of our professional learning session today was to come up with the macro concept for 2016. and to begin thinking about the Big Question so that we are ready to take this a bit further with Julia Atkin in January.

We spent some time: Thinking and Deciding, Refining - What is Concept?   

A clarifying discussion was held.  Is this kid friendly terminology?

Reminder that the concept is the large umbrella but the Big Ideas need to be portable so that the mentors can access this when the opportunity/need arises.

Using Pam Hooks Macro Conceptual ideas, we investigated and shared ideas to the group.  This was done in the true sense of Google collaboration on slides with no allocated tasks. Ideas were added to the slides so that we have a collective understanding of the concepts and a resource to refer back to.

Groups were then asked to 'pitch' (or not) the concepts they had researched. Decision making followed, using the 10 counter vote system.  The winning concept …………. Movement.

Nagged

I believe a significant part of my leadership role is to be able to implement the NAGs in a meaningful way in the day to day running of learning programmes. 

The Board has an overall responsibility to ensure that the school is running competently but at the end of the day, the SLT are probably more likely to lead. 

This is especially so for NAGs 1 - 3.  This is my breakdown after re-visiting the NAGs. It includes a breakdown of each NAG and potential direction which are very much open for discussion and challenge!