Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme 2018

I am a self confessed 'learning junkie'.  I love learning - I constantly seek out new opportunities and challenges that will push me and help me to grow.  I won't lie, there have been MANY times when I get pushed so hard that I swear I will just chill and take things easy for awhile but it is never long before I start getting the urge to dive into something new.

At the end of 2017, a principal colleague told me about a possible opportunity coming to Canterbury in 2018 - The 'Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme - SLPP' .  I had heard lot's of great feedback about the Strategic Leadership for Principals’ Programme but had thought it was only available in Auckland.  SLPP is a 10-month, free programme that leverages cross-sector expertise to provide strategic leadership development and support for New Zealand principals. Needless to say - this immediately interested me and so I submitted an application to be considered in the first group of principals selected for Canterbury.

Last term, I was selected for the Canterbury intake for 2018, alongside 5 other fantastic Canterbury principals: Blair Dravitski - Linwood Avenue School, Anthony Faitaua - Rowley Primary School, Denise Torrey - Somerfield School, Andrew Leverton - Geraldine Primary School and Shane Buckner - Wairakei Primary School.  

So what is SLPP all about?  

[taken from http://www.springboardtrust.org.nz/programmes-our/strategic-leadership-for-principals-programme]

International research shows the pivotal importance of good strategic leadership for both improved school performance and student outcomes. 

The Strategic Leadership for Principals’ Programme is an action-orientated curriculum which helps principals build robust strategic plans for their school. 

Facilitated by senior business leaders and supported by skilled capacity partners, the programme is also designed to support each principal in their leadership development. Programme content is frequently updated by subject matter experts and tailored to meet the needs of individual participants by skilled facilitators.

Programme structure

In the Strategic Leadership for Principals’ Programme, we work intensively with cohorts of six principals over 10 months to develop strategic plans for their schools.

Senior business leaders facilitate a series of workshops in which principals learn about strategic planning in an education setting.

Peer collaboration encourages the development of problem-solving capabilities and the acquisition of new skills in an environment in which principals can speak frankly and openly.

98% of principals on the Strategic Leadership for Principals' Programme have indicated that they learnt a lot by sharing with other principals in their cohort.

2017 Programme Impact Report

A capacity partner is assigned to each individual principal through a careful matching process to further support them in the process of developing useful strategic planning skills. The capacity partner coaches the principal outside of the workshops to help them produce their own strategic vision, plan and goals that will address the unique issues they face in their school.

Capacity partners are drawn from a pool of knowledgeable skills volunteers with successful business or public sector leadership experience.

At the end of the programme, each principal has developed a three-year strategic plan for his or her school, a one-year action plan, and has gained an enhanced support network of peers and business people.

For more information, check out their website: 

Springboard Trust:  Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme

Capacity Partner 

I am thrilled that my mentor on this journey is Sarina Finucane, the CVP Manager (customer values proposition) for IAG.  We have lots in common but lots to learn from each other too. I am excited about participating in this awesome programme so early on in my principal career and all the learning and opportunties that may come from it! 

Coaching Leadership

Beginning Principals Regional Hui #1

Coaching Leadership - Jan Robertson
http://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/coachingleadership

Group coaching can be self-sustaining.  Follow the G.R.O.W model...


G - What do you want? What are you aiming to achieve? What would the ideal look like? Why is it important? What would happen if you did not focus on this?

R - What is happening now? What are you doing now? What obstacles have you encountered? What works?

0 - What alternatives are there? Which options interest you? Have you thought of...?

W - What are the next steps? What might get in the way? What support/planning is required? Is the goal still important? What are the barriers, enablers, time frame?



What does Stephen Covey have to say about active listening?
https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php

"Seek first to understand, then be understood"

If communication is the most important skill in life, how much training have you had in effective communication?

Most people seek first to be understood, wanting to put their opinion across, share their story. Most people listen with the intent of replying, not to listen and understand the other person.  You are filtering their story through your own paradigm.  We decide prematurely what the other person means, often before they have even finished speaking.

Empathetic listening - invest in their story, listen for their details, not applying it to your own experiences.  What happens when you truly listen to another person? The whole relationship changes.  You don't agree or disagree - you try to see it through their eyes/perspective.  You make that person feel valued.

The root cause of almost all human problems is poor communication. People do not listen with empathy. What does this look like...

Give the person your full attention
Don't ask questions or give advice
Don't share your own 'war stories'
Focus on what is said
Listen for what is not said and for what is important to the speaker

Reflecting honestly on my leadership practices...

Forgive me blog for I have sinned - it has been several months since my last post, eeek.

I wanted to write that and formally own that because I know how challenging it can be for our teachers to ensure they are reflecting regularly and analysing their practice on top of the day to day grind of teaching, managing, coaching, personal life etc and I am no different. I believe it's important for a leader to understand other peoples roles, their workload and what it takes to juggle everything and prioritise their tasks and that a good leader will role model this themselves. So, although my role changed last term from DP to Acting Principal, I didn't want to drop the ball and ignore my responsibilities to reflect on my own practice when and where possible.

This reflection is about my change of role. I wanted to reflect back after having been in the hot seat for several weeks and look firstly at what the change of role was like, what difference it made to my professional growth and development and what might eventuate out of this change.

To be quite honest, the change to acting principal was quite seamless in some ways. I was lucky enough to work alongside my last principal more than for them and so there was very little that I didn't have involvement in already as the DP. In saying that, there have been some small but noticeable differences. I felt more withdrawn from staff and students. A huge amount of the principal's work at our school seems to revolve around meetings. My role as DP was all about administration and relationships - staff, students and whānau. As acting, it was less of all of those things but a huge increase in meetings - CAIMS, cluster, CPPA, Ministry, Board, transition meetings and planning for the new principal and 1-1 family visits for new students looking to enrol. My admin dropped a lot which is nice but I seriously missed the daily connection to staff and students. Reflecting on what this means and what I have learned is that I feel that the principals role in a large school is often just as the face of the school. The person who fronts and speaks on behalf of the school. The only way you can be successful in this role e.g. being able to make the right decisions in the best interest of your staff, students and community, is if you know their strengths and needs really well. Herein lies the paradox - how do you know this crucial information really well if you are always off/busy in meetings? I can see how the disconnect could have serious repercussions for a school if the principal becomes quite distanced from the heart and soul of a school (kids and staff) that they then become the face and voice/decision maker about school issues they may not know enough about. This of course will lead to disillusioned staff, poor resourcing, lack of communication etc. The challenge is maintaining the vital balance of being available to and engaging with your school community while upholding your responsibilities to the external groups. How I dealt with that challenge was through calendar scheduling (critical in this role) and blocking out time for anyone who asked for it. I also continued to keep my door open at all times when I wasn't in a meeting which is what I have always done as a DP. I don't know how feasible that would be if I was in the role full-time but for 1 term I was determined to keep that tikanga going.

In relation to what difference this change has meant for me professionally and personally and next steps, I am grateful to have had the opportunity. It did open my eyes to some of the challenges and possibilities of being a school principal and it has made me carefully consider if this is something I want going forward. Being the principal of my current school was appealing because I know and love our kids and staff. But what would it be like at another school? I also know that the demands on your time can leave very little for your own family and personal health/fitness if you allow the balance to be one-sided. So yes applying for principals positions make sense in terms of a next career step but that would depend heavily on the school, the location and the school community. People are important to me and make it either really worthwhile or really hard work! I won't be rushing into anything but am a firm believer I will make the right decision about my next career move when the right opportunity comes knocking. Although I have only been here at my current school for almost 2 years, both as DP and then as acting principal for 1 term, I aim to add some value to the school in some way and that is my priority and goal for now.

Another key reflection around my leadership practices occurred earlier this year while I was away at a leadership hui in Auckland and I was able to reflect on some of the areas of my leadership I feel need to be developed.

While attending the hui we were working on some activities to identify our leadership style. One of the key breakthrough a-ha moments for me was when I was becoming frustrated that there were some issues happening back at school. I was being emailed or rung about about how to solve an issue or just being kept in the loop. This is a good thing in some ways e.g. open communication etc, but I also reflected that I seemed to be often needed and contacted whenever I am off site. The facilitator of the hui did a great job of challenging me about why staff were emailing, ringing me and made me turn it back to myself and have me consider whether this was about the confidence and competence of staff or more about my leadership style. Have I set up systems and organised things so that I am the one needed to make decisions or act, rather than empowering others to be able to do that?

I have always known I like to get things done and can sometimes think 'I will do this myself because I want it done a certain way or by a specific time'. Although I of course want to be consulted and informed of key issues, I need to build the skills and capabilities of others to be able to address issues effectively, whenever I am unavailable or they are in the right position and capable of doing it themselves.

We have structured the leadership team for this to happen specifically around behaviour, but I can see the need to ensure this becomes more widespread. Even the example of our Monday morning admin meetings, where I am always the one to set the TV up, run through the agenda and lead the discussion. I noticed that if I am late and I assume when I am not there, no-one really takes the initiative to lead this themselves. Not because they cant, but perhaps because they see me doing it and assume it needs/should be me, when in reality, it doesn't.

I like to think I can help everyone and want to reduce the workload for teachers as I know they are so busy and appreciate any support they can get, but often this means that I rush to step in and 'fix' things for them, rather than with them. I need to ensure my inner control freak is kept under control!

One of my next steps is to hunt out opportunities to openly encourage other people to step up and problem solve, take on small but key leadership responsibilities or make important decisions themselves. When staff come to me and ask me to 'fix' something, a key statement I will use from now on will be "Thanks for sharing this issue with me, how can I help you to resolve it".

Whanaungatanga in action!

A new year has arrived.  The summer holidays flew by as they always do for us teachers and before we know it we are back at work.  This time last year was my first day at a new job, at a new school and I remember clearly how awkward the first teacher only day was for us newbies.  The school did things quite differently to what I was used to and because of this and it's sheer size and therefore number of staff and students, it took me quite a long time to settle in and feel like I belonged.  This is not an easy thing to navigate, especially being Māori and coming from a previous job where tikanga Māori took pride of place.  Not having mihimihi meant I did not know who everyone was, where they came from and if we were perhaps connected somehow.  Not having karakia tīmatanga, waiata or karakia whakamutunga before and after hui was also jarring as it felt like we went in cold and separated to hui instead of combined as one and when we finished everyone just went their separate ways.  This is not a criticism of my school, merely pointing out that at this time, these elements of tikanga Māori were not in place, which no doubt was one of the reasons I was hired, and if you have read my earlier posts you will know that many of these things are now highly valued and implemented daily at our school.  But in response to that feeling of isolation from the start of last year, I planned a very different teacher only day this year.

Firstly, I changed the name from teacher only days to staff retreat and the emphasis for our retreat would be whanaungatanga and effective planning for 2016.  I asked the Principal and BoT to support this initiative with some funding, which they kindly did and I promptly went about booking accommodation and a conference venue in Hanmer Springs for 2 days in Jan. An agenda was created early in Term 4 where all staff could add their ideas to and volunteer to take certain sessions or workshops over the 2 days.  Some of the things we worked through was all the day to day running of the school issues like duty, curriculum update and responsibilities, sport/music/cultural responsibilities, planning and appraisal etc.  But excitingly, we also covered some awesome new ideas like collaboratively creating a M.A.T.E's  document (mutually agreed team expectations) for the way we as staff will work together and practiced a process for mihi whakatau for when we welcome manuhiri, in line with Ngāi Tūāhuriri tikanga as mana whenua. We also spent time talking about PB4L (positive behaviour for learning), Teaching as Inquiry and all of our LwDT (learning with digital technologies) initiatives planned for this year.  I might be showing how much of a geek I am but it was awesome stuff! Highly engaging, productive, collaborative and relevant for all staff.

One of the best outcomes for our staff retreat though was the obvious effect it had on building a sense of whānau for us all.  Staff were sharing rooms together, car pooling up to and back from Hanmer, having a drink together, going for walks together, having dinner together, working in groups throughout the 2 day hui and all the time, building a strong sense of whanaungatanga.  We got to know the person behind the teacher - what they liked or disliked eating, how tired they were because of waking babies at home,  that they snore loudly or that they can play the guitar.  We even started our first day playing a game called "Whanaungatanga".

One person stands and starts talking about themselves - where they are from, family members, interests...anything they want.  When someone else can connect to what they are saying, for example if I said I have 3 children and someone sitting down also has 3 children, they stand and yell out "whanaungatanga"!  Then they take over and start talking about themselves until the next person can buzz in with a 'whanaungatanga".  This game was great to hear more about each other, to demonstrate that although we might all lead different lives, we all can connect to each other in some way too and it also was awesome to hear the improved te reo Māori pronunciation!  And do you know what really blew my mind and made my heart sing...when I walked around our school on the first day back for our kids, several of the classes I walked into were playing "whanaungatanga" - ka mau te wehi!

Flippin' professional development for teachers

Who else has sat in a staff meeting, exhausted from a busy day of teaching and found themselves totally tuning out to the so called PD, which usually looks like someone at the front of the staffroom talking to teachers, who are sitting 'listening'.

There is little opportunity for interaction, discussion or challenge and even IF the person at the front has some amazing gold to share, it is still extremely difficult to remain engaged in the learning when you are tired and thinking "I need to mark the kids writing from today, I need to email parents about camp, I need to talk to my team leader about a behaviour issue, I need to get home and pick my kids up, feed them, do homework, cook tea....." - who's with me? I know I'm not alone on this, as evidenced by all the hilarious staff meeting memes out there!

Now I need to raise my hands and plead guilty as in my time as a deputy principal and professional development facilitator, I have OFTEN found myself at the front of the room, staring out at people and wondering if they are hearing or caring about a word I say.  And I am sure we are thinking the exact same thing "There has to be a better way!"

This week I had the privilege of facilitating another Ako Panuku Hui ē, Tāiki ē! hui in Auckland, one of 3 hui I have facilitated this year.  The purpose of this hui was to firstly discuss and analyse the changes in education across Aotearoa and then introduce the following drivers of change - agency, connectedness, ubiquity and collaboration and how these provide opportunities to improve outcomes for tamariki by changing teaching and learning practices.  My co-facilitator Dee Reid and I wanted to model some of these practices throughout the PD hui and set up the two days so that we provided examples and ways of working that fostered these four kaupapa. We created an online Google Site and pre-populated the it with clips, links, resources, examples and questions around each of the 4 kaupapa.

Ako Panuku Hui on PhotoPeach

 On day 1 we began the hui with a open discussion about what is driving change in our own schools and how different people feel about the changes.  Then we introduced one of the key drivers of change at a time e.g. agency and directed all the teachers to the online content.  They had time to read, watch, research, play, learn and reflect and then we came together as a group to share what we had learned, what resonated with us, what challenged our thinking, what examples (if any) we saw of this in our school and what we would now commit to implementing in our classroom to provide opportunities for agency, ubiquity, collaboration and connectedness. As you can see from these pictures, all teachers on day 1 were engaged in the learning (for the entire day!).  They worked their way through the content at their own pace, they contributed their ideas and thoughts online through a shared google doc and face to face through our discussion time.  They had the ability to rewind and share the content with others.  They had time to explore and reflect and relate it to their own practice and most importantly, apply their new learning to their context, as this was the outcome for day 2.

Day 2 gave the teachers time to now create a resource that they could use in their own practice, back at their own school that directly linked to one of the four key drivers of change.  Each teacher had a several of hours to plan, design and create their resource and then had 20 minutes to share their mahi back to the whole group.  This was recorded and shared with everyone so we now had a kete of rauemi (a whole kit of resources) for everyone to access, if they wanted to.

When I asked the teachers how they felt about this style of professional development, they told me it was enjoyable as they could pick and choose things that interested them personally, it met their individual needs, it engaged them, they enjoyed having choice and the time to delve deep, they loved coming away with something practical they could use in the classroom and their professional learning was exponential. I won't lie - it felt really good to see this model was successful in terms of the learning outcomes we hoped to achieve and the engagement level of our participants.  Even better was the extremely small amount of time I stood at the front and talked to everyone aka poured the PD down their tuned out ears :)   This is just one small example of the way we could flip our traditional staff meetings to better engage staff and actually achieve some of the desired outcomes that we hope our PD will provide for our teachers.  If we as educators firmly support and believe that all of our children deserve an education that provides opportunities for student agency, ubiquitous learning, collaboration and connectedness then SURELY our teachers deserve that too?

Let's start a movement and phase out meeting for meetings sake, meetings that are all talk/no action, meetings where we all leave and think what did we achieve today or worse, what difference will that make for any of the kids in my class?   Perhaps we even need to start by phasing out the word meeting!  Let's move towards engaging, targeted professional development that meets the needs of staff, that let's them participate anywhere, anytime, online and face to face, where we connect and collaborate and even better, where we walk away with practical ideas, strategies and resources that we can use in our classrooms tomorrow that will support learning outcomes for our kids.

I know it sounds hard and I don't want to fall into the trap highlighted in the above meme of 'discussing things that must happen but never will' so I hunted this out on www.teachthought.com about "5 Challenges We Overcame Moving to a Flipped Staff Meeting", which could help get us started.  I am positive that with a little commitment and hard work it is achievable...who is with me?