"The best teachers are performers" Heath Monk
This was the weekend the 2014 Cohort were told to "fail here!" and that we should rehearse, take the feedback, get the confidence to perform and write a stump speech to return to over the coming years. Make the mistakes now while still on Foundations.
Leadership behaviours, Drew Duncan and Anne Barton
Drew's delivery was hugely engaging and entertaining, and after a video introduction to his school he shared loads of advice and ideas on leadership traits. He explained that honesty, competency and forward looking are three very important ones but they won't work unless you have credibility so make sure that nobody is more punctual than you and that your lessons are outstanding etc etc. Your default positions will surface and you need someone to let you know when these undesirable traits appear i.e. in times of stress. Drew went on to say "People are not aligned to anything they do not own. You can't just model leadership behaviour, then people follow. No. You must embed the values, align others with your values then personify the values on a bad day. Watch what you say, always and everywhere."
 |
| Exemplary leadership behaviours. Anne Barton and Drew Duncan |
Anne talked about 'challenging the process', taking risks and modelling the way. She said "Getting all 1200 students into assembly gives teachers confidence, if they're having trouble with particular groups, that it can be done". Every child can behave.
On Saturday morning we had a leadership perspectives session with Heath, where we received our Dimensions report. According to the report my personality type is INTP: basically that I'm quiet, like to solve complex problems, analytical, apply logic and independent minded. I feel that this is a fair reflection but more importantly it emphasises that I will need to rely on others in my team that have the personality traits lacking in my profile.
As Peter Hughes said on weekend one:
As Peter Hughes said on weekend one:
"Find out what you are rubbish at, then employ someone to do it."
Shakespeare Schools Festival
We practised using the 'Prepare, Play, Organise, Present, Reflect' method for rehearsing and presenting our speech.
And we used this 'I notice, I like and I wonder' method to give feedback to each other.
Articulating your vision
This is a draft of my stump speech as I prepared it for the sunday morning. I then delivered this to the rest of my coaching group (see picture below) as part of the virtual school task for the Made Up Academy Trust (MUAT).
Imagine for a moment, that you are the new principal of the Wilby Community Academy, and you have this AMAZING opportunity to bring together our two schools; (pause) you've heard, that staff morale has been very low; and there is uncertainty about what the merger will mean for their roles; several senior leaders have left and many staff are concerned that an all-through academy is not for them. On top of that, You’re academy is in an area of high deprivation, and many families have had poor educational experiences themselves. (pause) How do you successfully merge two schools like this into one highly achieving all-through academy of excellence?
The answer is YOU can’t. (pause) YOU must work with the whole community, you have to rely on your team of staff. And those individual staff members who have already shown a great deal of true resilience and dogged determination!
As you may be aware, I have recently been involved with success at two academies in challenging circumstances. What was it? - that turned these academies around? (paause) It was about a body of staff having high expectations and no excuses; it was about the emergence of middle and senior leaders from a talented team of staff. (pause) And now, it’s September once again, a chance to start a fresh and look to the future with hope; that we can help our students to succeed and reinvigorate the community.
Let me share our vision for the academy:“At Wilby Community Academy our vision is to work with our community to empower all learners with the skills, habits and beliefs to achieve excellence in school, university and life beyond.”
There will be changes, and I am very clear about the fact, that WE will need people to lead these changes. We’re looking for people to step up, take risks, and show US that you are prepared to do the hard work, and most of all, have the interests of our young learners at heart.
We we will be building on the good things already happening here (pause) Learners in the Early Years Foundation Stage get good support for their personal development and their speaking and listening skills.
Learners are proud of their school, and movement around the schools is calm, and sensible creating a warm and positive atmosphere. Standards in various disciplines, in both schools have been improving because teaching is improving, and the governing bodies understand our need for improvement in English and literacy, across the academy.
I would now like to share with you, our core values, (pause) and they are non-negotiable:we commit to attendance, perseverance and independence.we aspire to achieve, succeed and excel.we respect ourselves, each other and the community.and as a community we commit, aspire and respect together.
Imagine for a moment, that you are the new principal of the Wilby Community Academy, and you have this AMAZING opportunity to bring together our two schools; (pause) you've heard, that staff morale has been very low; and there is uncertainty about what the merger will mean for their roles; several senior leaders have left and many staff are concerned that an all-through academy is not for them. On top of that, You’re academy is in an area of high deprivation, and many families have had poor educational experiences themselves. (pause) How do you successfully merge two schools like this into one highly achieving all-through academy of excellence?
The answer is YOU can’t. (pause) YOU must work with the whole community, you have to rely on your team of staff. And those individual staff members who have already shown a great deal of true resilience and dogged determination!
As you may be aware, I have recently been involved with success at two academies in challenging circumstances. What was it? - that turned these academies around? (paause) It was about a body of staff having high expectations and no excuses; it was about the emergence of middle and senior leaders from a talented team of staff. (pause) And now, it’s September once again, a chance to start a fresh and look to the future with hope; that we can help our students to succeed and reinvigorate the community.
Let me share our vision for the academy:“At Wilby Community Academy our vision is to work with our community to empower all learners with the skills, habits and beliefs to achieve excellence in school, university and life beyond.”
There will be changes, and I am very clear about the fact, that WE will need people to lead these changes. We’re looking for people to step up, take risks, and show US that you are prepared to do the hard work, and most of all, have the interests of our young learners at heart.
We we will be building on the good things already happening here (pause) Learners in the Early Years Foundation Stage get good support for their personal development and their speaking and listening skills.
Learners are proud of their school, and movement around the schools is calm, and sensible creating a warm and positive atmosphere. Standards in various disciplines, in both schools have been improving because teaching is improving, and the governing bodies understand our need for improvement in English and literacy, across the academy.
I would now like to share with you, our core values, (pause) and they are non-negotiable:we commit to attendance, perseverance and independence.we aspire to achieve, succeed and excel.we respect ourselves, each other and the community.and as a community we commit, aspire and respect together.
|
Steve, David, Grainne, Khadeja, Myself, Jenny, Kush, Kiran and Tracey: The West Midlands Cohort
Many of us have children of our own; and we have high expectations of them. Imagine a situation, where families see the importance of education, the need for regular attendance, punctuality and the completion of homework. (pause) They see the value of education. It would make our job a whole lot, easier. However, when the opposite is true, it makes our job a whole lot more, important. We don't just have a professional duty here – we have a MORAL duty to help break this cycle of educational disadvantage.
In short, if you want to work in a school where we respect all members of the community, then this school is for you. If you want to join in with the promise to commit to a compelling vision, then this is the school for you, and if you want to aspire to achieve greatness and help others to do the same, then this school is for you and you are welcome on-board!
I think the 'burning platform' in this scenario is the cycle of educational disadvantage but I could have added that if the number of students on roll is falling then redundancies could follow. Burning platform is based on putting fear into people that the status quo is going to lead to dire consequences whereas another option would be to try and share a vision so compelling it becomes irresistible and people buy-in to the vision and values to achieve greatness rather than merely avoiding mediocrity.
Many of us have children of our own; and we have high expectations of them. Imagine a situation, where families see the importance of education, the need for regular attendance, punctuality and the completion of homework. (pause) They see the value of education. It would make our job a whole lot, easier. However, when the opposite is true, it makes our job a whole lot more, important. We don't just have a professional duty here – we have a MORAL duty to help break this cycle of educational disadvantage.
In short, if you want to work in a school where we respect all members of the community, then this school is for you. If you want to join in with the promise to commit to a compelling vision, then this is the school for you, and if you want to aspire to achieve greatness and help others to do the same, then this school is for you and you are welcome on-board!
Patrick Lencioni The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: Heath asked us to look up this book before Foundations week one in August and suggested that we get into these conflicts when we return in the summer because we now have trust in our groups.
According to the book, the five dysfunctions are:
- Absence of trust—unwilling to be vulnerable within the group
- Fear of conflict—seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate
- Lack of commitment—feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization
- Avoidance of accountability—ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior which sets low standards
- Inattention to results—focusing on personal success, status and ego before team success
No comments:
Post a Comment