Extraordinary Leadership - The Five Practices That Create Great Workplaces - Inspiring a Shared Vision

I believe that I need to develop the capacity to imagine and articulate a clear vision of the future for our habitat. I want to be able to clearly explain where we are going and have a clear sense of direction. I have been recently discussing my vision of the habitat next year and the importance of progress pebbles. I want mentors to commit to this vision so it becomes our vision through shared aspirations. I have been engaging in conversations collectively and individually to create a sense of excitement about the possibilities for next year. By having conversations I have been able to create a positive feeling which has ignited the other mentors to discuss next year. There is a genuine excitement for next year.

Clearly from this reading you have to share this vision regularly and the more you do it, especially if you do it well, the more effective you will be as a leader. The recent work with Tony Burkin based on volume e.g. quantity will create quality ie by constantly talking about it, I will gain clarity and will become better at articulating not just our vision for the habitat but other visions too.

I have to ensure my vision is captivating by ensuring it means something to the mentors.  Unless everyone understands and knows what the vision means to them, they will not fully commit. I have tried to explain the impact of how the progress pebbles with impact on their planning, the students learning and the sense of clarity with everything we do. This clarity will give us a sense of joy and fulfilment that we can head home at the end of the day knowing we have made a significant difference.

I tried to appeal to the heart by saying that we could disconnect from school more easily than we are doing now and ultimately be able to relax in the evenings and find time for ourselves, which has been a common criticism so far. It was met with a mixed reaction and members pushed back by saying this is not 'deep enough learning.' A very good point, and it's an area we need to work on. However, the progress pebbles would give us a huge scaffold and springboard to start with and it would allow us to feel we meeting many needs that they have felt a little lacking this year ie clarity of where students are etc. This led a discussion to another step further into our future - our design for learning.

I certainly feel that this could be something very special, I am beginning already to feel, through our discussions, that my team members are beginning to get that sense of excitement too. This feeling can only go so far and concrete action needs to take place. There already have been discussions around meeting this vision e.g how we would store the books or how will the students regularly access the pebbles, these are possible concrete solutions to help reach this vision.

To help mentors become aligned with the purpose of what the progress pebble are doing, they need to see/experience first hand that it matters. By having the recent conferences and hearing students talk confidently about their learning and hearing positive feedback from parents - cements the why. They also start to feel apart of this 'shared' vision and the buy-in will increase.

My next step is to personalise the vision to the individual, so that they feel they are contributing in a meaningful way. This will require looking at the personalities of the mentors and tapping into the strengths and providing opportunities to utilise those strengths to meet our vision.

Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Motivaton

There has been a need for some kind of 'motivation' for our younger students. There was period of time where we were seeing big shifts of improvement in both behaviour and learning with our older students. They were particularly motivated by the progress pebbles and feedback, but the younger students were not responding to it.

There was talk of using extrinsic motivation ie stickers, which other experienced members believed would make an impact. However, there was doubts that this approach would not fit in the philosophy of the school. The response from the school was it is dependent on the needs of the students and to justify it to the leadership team.

We ran a trial with stickers, gathered some research and collected student voice and parental feedback. The results were surprising and extremely valuable.

During the trial the students reacted impressively, and we saw an instant reaction of many students behaviour completely reversed and all students reacting a positive way. The biggest find was the amount of positive feedback mentors were giving for the sticker, there was huge increase in feedback. We did not want to control behaviour purely through stickers but a way of reinforcing values and capacities in the habitat. Two hundred stickers in a week, is a lot of feedback!!

The research found clarified that our younger students can not rely on extrinsic motivation, in fact it simply doesn't work at that age. However, there was only a short period of time before it started to have some impact, so stickers would be a short term tool to allow students experience or motivate them to experience extrinsic motivation.

Student voice was the biggest surprise. The students clearly valued them and understood what they were for and a clear reason for the sticker was an expectation because they wanted to give that reason at home. Every student made it clear that they must take the sticker home, otherwise it meant nothing to them. We are now sellotaping them on!

Parent feedback was extremely positive. The parents were appreciating the learning conversations at home discussing what they have learnt and why they got the sticker, particularly boys. The feedback was that boys, when asked about their day, simply replied ok or good and very little else. This was gateway to discussions and fitting in with reward systems at home.

Six Week Review
The stickers have had a huge impact on the habitat, so much so that it all students are learning more in one way or another. There has been a tail off, but it was due to mentors giving out less stickers ie less positive feedback. The parental feedback continues to be extremely positive and please keep it going as they creating so many learning conversations.

To encourage collaboration we have collected scores for stickers and acknowledge the stickers at the end of each day. The students have responded to that too, and are clearly 'trying' hard to gain stickers.

Our next step was to give out stickers will eventually be given out less and less, to see if we still have the motivation to learn without them. But we did that and their motivation did drop off so we are not quite ready for that yet. We will continue till the end of term and review it again.

Executive Education - Learning Journal - University of Otago

Here is a summary of my course and my next steps as a leader.

Placing Personal Leadership in Action - identify three key leadership strengths you have to offer your organisation (based on Myers-Briggs report)

Thinking/Tough - My strength is objectivity with thinking, particularly being 'tough' on once a decision has been made we will follow it through ie formative assessment, teaching as inquiry

I will continue to have these as part of our agenda every week, providing examples and questions about our teaching and learning. 

Expressive - open and honest to reflection on what is happening and what is not happening

I will continue to follow the process of what is happening, what is not happening and putting into action based on the mentors inquiries 

I will be open, honest during SLT meetings

Vision - (this came out as a weakness - which was a surprise!) It came out that I do not share the vision of what we are trying to do very clearly- this also links to my vision in education as a whole and as a leader - not cognitively portable

I will create clear purpose and week by week approach to our team approach about preparing the teachers/students for 3 way conferences

I will be to describe a 'compelling image' of the future

I will clarify in my mind the schools vision and what this looks like on aspects that will be discussed during meetings ie I have set statements/descriptions which are cognitively portable - on the agenda have clear links to the vision

Challenge the Process - seek out challenging opportunities that test my skills ie more SLT

I will seek out/discuss the opportunity to be on the aspiring principles course

I will find innovative ways to improve what we do (outside of what is already happening in the school) - introduce an initiative within the team based on our own research findings and analysis of data - focus on one of our inquiries and push one through to begin looking at ways of putting it into action ie student voice (Rachel's inquiry)

BPP Leadership Reflection

I am about to go on a 3 day leadership course with some readings (The Leadership Challenge, - James Kouzes, Reflective Action - Robert E Quinn, Leadership is Authenticity, Not Style - Bill George) in Cromwell and thought that a reflection of my leadership and the leadership around me based on our BPP would be an effective thing to do. 

Model the Way - this refers to our BPP on working as a team and having courageous conversations if mentors are not following as they should be. Regular honest conversations helps the team meet our teamwork BPP, which usually happens when I share honest examples of where I can do better - the next step is ensuring I change my habits so the team see I believe in our BPP.  SLT have a similar role if they say something needs to happen that they follow it too in practice ie it is very demanding and you can feel physically and emotionally drained by having to keep this is up 24/7.

Encourage the Heart - our BPP has a lot of focus on recognition and I took that as recognising achievements and successes. During our planning meeting I encouraged the team to put into place a Concept project about Visual Arts which is something they were all very keen to do, so much so, that you could feel the 'buzz' in the room. It will be interesting how the concept term pans out with this enthusiasm and how this impacts the rest of the habitat. Giving mentors opportunity to work in areas they are passionate about can not be underestimated ie subjects, student age-range and other mentors (teams.) SLT have the vital job of creating teams that they will believe will thrive and grow, and they have us currently looking at our personalities as a team. 

Corporate culture as one that, 'promotes hard work and continued success while also encouraging work-life balance and individualism'

The environment we work in complicates this. Hard work can be obvious ie plans and being at school. In our habitat, a lot of hard work is invisible - so much so that that mentors do not even recognise it. Working continuously alongside and taking on extra work for the greater good is unavoidable and exhausting. Dealing with extra student issues beyond a single cell environment is an expectation, I am in charge of 92 students, fact. The idea that you are sharing this number ie 23 is not the reality. For example, many parents will hunt me down or other mentors because thats who they want. We teach all students at one stage or another, and even though we have improved, we have regular conversations about the learning of one student.  Recently, we have made some great progress as a team, and team members are beginning to find the work life balance that is acceptable. Recognising the 'hard work' and ensuring mentors go home to disconnect has become acceptable and necessary if we are going to succeed in this environment. We are all different and allowing mentors to have time to be an individual in and out of school is vital.

Enables Other to Act - this is a real strength at SPS. The freedom or opportunity for freedom can be a little overwhelming at times but as time wears on we began to embrace it. As long as the 'why' has been established, we have the opportunity to do anything we want which is also vital to 'Encourage the Heart.'  I have enabled others by empowering (building trust over time) them to take leadership opportunities when it presents itself in the habitat or across the school. All members of my team are not afraid to lead and I have coached them to lead some inquiries in our habitat, which came from areas that interested them. 

Challenge the Process - this is probably my biggest challenge. Rachel and I are very similar in our expectations for students in behaviour and learning, and we are following a traditional math, literacy and writing approach. We did drop a concept time so we had to blend our learning during Literacy and Writing, which is positive. Through observations and reflections, we eventually changed our practice so two mentors is running guided reading sessions which freed us up to be more open in our 'Literacy' sessions. We have created an environment where risk taking is possible and due to our collaborative approach there is 'intelligent failure' attitude towards it and all members are willing to make suggestions.

Inspire a Shared Vision - my approach to this is to ensure we regularly visit particular areas I believe are important ie formative assessment, values/capacities and our inquiries. Every week in our team meeting these areas will be referred to and discussed. This consistent approach has become part of what we do and ensure we are making some shifts no matter how small. 

Reflection Term 3

Not sure where reflection of Term 2 went and it seems like a lifetime ago and an incredible amount has changed, so I can't retrospectively write about it! My blog on the 'permanent crisis' is probably a good temperature check of where we were. I'll focus on T3, as this has been an incredibly tough term for the team but we have come out with a huge amount of shift in our practice and leadership capabilities.

My DR - to provide a range of opportunities for feedback from my team - has developed into feedback from team and SLT. Feedback works both ways and it is much about me finding the confidence to give feedback to team members and SLT.  Our team completed some great work on 'feedback' and we have integrated our individual inquiries into this process of giving honest feedback to the team. This has worked incredibly well, by providing team members to observe the habitat and reflect on their inquiry they have given honest feedback which has brought up some positive changes ie lack of clarity of the capacities and Alice providing laminated solo sheets which are now being used in the habitat. 

My confidence to unpack 'difficult conversations' has been a huge lift from my shoulders. How to deal with certain scenarios required simple words like using 'you' and moving responsibility back to others as opposed to falling into the blame game.  I have completed some very difficult conversations where I had state the problem as opposed to teasing it out and not following it through as it wasn't mentioned. 

Action: keep having the difficult conversations (if needed!), follow the coaching approach to tease out clarity with other mentors, plan questions ahead, continue with habitat approach to feedback (based around our inquiries)

'Professional Reading' - I would like to articulate my thinking/beliefs succinctly supported by a wide range of professional reading.

I have become more purposeful in my reading. I was a little keen to read anything and everything to fulfil this DR but quickly realised I need purpose. We have done a lot of reading around Clarity in the Classroom and slowly working my way through Quiet Leadership. I am on a 3 day course during the holidays around leadership which has readings so I will blog about those once read and the course is finished. Really looking forward to solely focussing on my leadership capabilities. 

Action:  complete readings for leadership course and reflect, keep dipping into quiet leadership, stay focused on relevant reading ie difficult conversations (will see how the course goes - chat with Ben about possible books)

'Learning the Level' - we have made huge strides with our learning around the age group. Having our focus on formative assessment and creating our progress pebbles has ensured we have unpacked everything that we teach. Creating the pebbles makes you consider the stage carefully and by creating each pebble you are having to look at the range. Making it visible in the habitat means you have it to get it right as students, mentors and parents see it! It is placed under scrutiny the moment its up, which is a good thing. Our exploration of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has explored many facets around this age group and using research has helped us create a balanced approach to meeting the needs of all the students. The stickers have clearly helped the younger students, and by collecting student voice, the older students have appreciated the approach by needs a more intrinsic approach. Displaying the pebbles and working towards the next level has been very successful for the very able mathematicians and has really moved forward. 

Action:  continue inquiry into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (students needs will change and so will our approach), continue to create pebble across all areas of the curriculum (only maths and reading so far) 

‘To empower my team to drive the vision of Shotover Primary School’

This means I believe the students are the ‘heart’ of every decision - shared values and expectations are being met - ‘clarity in the classroom’ - progress pebbles - clear vision (identify principles of learning

Our weekly focus on progress pebbles has kept it in focus and staff meetings based around clarity in the classroom has helped push our progress with the pebbles. The team are using them regularly now and creating their own on more regular basis.

Grow Mentors Capabilities - Provide opportunities for team members to lead the meeting -

After our regular mentor meetings themes came through with each person. We clarified teacher inquiries and they have become a focal point each week which a mentor has lead. This involves an observation of the habitat and following a process of describing what is happening, what is not happening and what next. Mentors have all become involved in groups/activities outside the habitat.

Leadership in (permanent) Crisis

Reading this blog entry, by Mark Osborne, has really helped me self-reflect on my current 'wobble.' Before the reading, I was reflecting on my next steps with the understanding of dealing with my workload and so I could overcome this current situation.

Leadership in (permanent) Crisis



The idea of leaders to step up in times of crisis to guide the school through difficult times is nothing unusual, the idea of having to do this on a daily basis, is.

Crisis seems an extreme term to describe as a daily event, but with the complexity of 5-6 mentors working in the same space and with the other daily relationships outside the habitat - it isn't too far off. Crisis is described as 'a difficult or dangerous situation that needs serious attention,' and when you relate this to relationships within our workplace -the 'relationship situation' can shift from difficult to dangerous regarding the impact it could have on future relationships. In many cases, these situations can lead to a lack of trust and be damaging for a very long time. Trust can takes months to build and a lot of work can be undone by not dealing with a situation effectively. Hearing the article describing our environment as having 'ongoing disruption' and how things will never return to normal, has in a bizarre way - made me feel better.

I have realigned my focus to deal with not my technical challenges;
Technical [or first order] challenges—problems that can be pretty clearly defined and can be addressed with known solutions or ones that can be developed by a few technical experts. No big impact on people here. An example might include moving to a new kind of computer, or teaching a different topic.

But with my 'adaptive challenges.'

Adaptive [or second-order] challenges—these require significant (and often painful) shifts in people’s habits, status, roles, identities, ways of thinking, etc. The impact on individuals is often significant, personal and emotional. An example might include moving to project-based learning, or a dispositional curriculum.

I was creating a plan of how to deal with my workload which was all technical challenges ie OTJ's, WoRM presentation, LIncED, but now I have changed it to dealing with primarily adaptive challenges which is based around the capacities to be adaptive.

Elephants in the room are named:

‘undiscussables’ are minimised so all members of an organisation are empowered to critique mindsets and practices; confront areas of complacency; and ask the questions that need to be asked.

The hardest capacity by far, especially as I have had experiences which have been catastrophic ie having to leave a school. This primarily based around the relationships I have with both my habitat team and the SLT. All are ongoing discussions and some are even daily. This highlighted why I am so stressed, particularly as Tony Burkin highlighted the impact of the stress of taking these conversations home and dwelling on them. I/we have dealt with some, but the constant daily stress of bringing them home is certainly beginning to take its toll. I will create an 'action plan' based around these discussions/relationships. By creating a plan may help me cope with the stress knowing there is a plan in place and they will be dealt with eventually.

The following two capacities are going very well.


Responsibility for the organisation is shared:
People look beyond their own immediate areas of responsibility to lend a hand or support others to advance the greater good.

Independent judgement is expected:
Decisions made by people are the ones that only they can make; all others are delegated to other people or team members to grow their decision-making capacity.

My Team have grown their leadership qualities so quickly in many ways and of course there are many areas we need to work on but they have been dealing with many situations that ‘look’ like my decisions - when I am not around. I can't describe how grateful and proud that they have done that. Which leads me to...

Leadership capacity is developed:

Everyone is considered a leader in some capacity, and this pipeline of leadership talent is always nurtured. This helps to grow the overall leadership capacity of the organisation at all levels.

Growing my team as leaders. Pipeline 2 leadership expectations is the daily norm for my team and it is my responsibility to coach my team through this expectation. Tony described this pipeline with domains which I want to explore and develop with them.

Team (colleagues hold each other to account) - Creating team culture - people can speak up, reflect

Dialogue - Discussion

Communication - Facilitate reflective conversations, Interview, Courageous conversations, Feedback, Facilitating meetings

Capability Development - Coaching, Mentoring, Delegating, Directing

Reflection and continuous learning are institutionalised:

Difficult reflective questions are asked; smart risk-taking is rewarded, and experimentation and prototyping is honoured.

We are beginning to do that for our teaching and learning, but are we doing that for our ‘Leadership Capacity?’


What next?
Create an action plan with support based around the 'Elephants in the Room' which includes support/coaching for my team based around Tony's domains.

Desired Reality - Knowing the Level

My 'Teaching as Inquiry' has evolved from the original discussion around my desired reality of improving knowledge around the curriculum for our habitat. This goal has become 'Improving my content knowledge to help my students with immediate feedback.' Research has proven that the most effective feedback is immediate and with the opportunities of being able to give groups a 100% of my time and the eagle role. I believe this goal will have a significant impact on student outcomes. At first I created rubrics based around the curriculum for reading, writing and numeracy. After discussions with Claire and the habitat I created these to go in the front of the student's books to help direct conversations around their learning. This is my original and the student version was adapted from this and reduced to something more manageable.

Moving into Term 2, I initially edited/created the rubrics with levels to help my observations become based around curriculum levels. I wanted to avoid taking a copy of someone else's rubric and created them myself to go through the process of using the SPS indicators. 

Not long after creating this rubric and after a few discussions the relevance of progress pebbles came to the forefront of our discussions. After a few meetings of getting my head around them, I began to create my own. 

I tried creating a writing progression based around the process to keep things focused which is much easier for the students and to use with a group. I chose an area for reading

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

Ben has shared some reading from 'When Leaders are at their best' about the five practices of exemplary leadership to help us define our principles and acts of leadership for our BPA around leadership.

I really enjoyed the clarity of the reading and could relate them comfortably to my current challenge of leadership in the habitat. The article emphasises five principles to make extraordinary things happen in organisations: Model the way, Inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart. 

Model the Way

'Titles don't make a leader. It's how you behave that makes a difference. Exemplary leaders know that if they want to gain commitment and achieve the highest standards, they must be models of the behaviour they expect of others.'

Even though this sounds obvious, it is essential for our habitat. It adds a lot of pressure to the Team Leader as you do feel you have to constantly model every second of the day. Not only with your teaching but even down to the day-to-day expectations of clearing up, dealing with noise and sharing resources fairly. It feels relentless, very tough. It is noticeable if you don't model, if you don't do it - it it wont be long before it drops off. However, recently there has been a shift in leadership and other mentors have picked up the mantle and not let things slip. 

'Before you can lead others, you need to know clearly who you are and what your core values are. Once you know that, then you can give those values a voice and feel comfortable sharing them with others. Exemplary leaders affirm the shared values of the group. Exemplary leaders set the set example by aligning actions with shared values.

Through their daily actions, they demonstrate their deep commitment to their beliefs and those of the organisation.'

This part of the reading had a huge impact on me. It really made me sit down and identify what I wanted to see happen in the habitat. With the introduction of 'Clarity of the Classroom,' as our school focus, gave me the confidence to identify that was one of my core values. I was advisor for AfL for five years and it means a lot to me and my success as a mentor. This has given me real direction in what I believe in and want to support my mentors to achieve in our habitat. I feel much more comfortable with myself as a leader knowing it is something I can help develop and know what a positive impact it will have on my team and students in Coronet. 

Inspire a Shared Vision

'You have to enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations. You have to have a vision in mind and be clear about why it's important to you. You need to be equally clear about why it should matter to those you're sharing your vision with. When you express your enthusiasm and excitement for the vision, you ignite that passion in others.'

Having identified what was important to me and quickly thought about how I can get across the importance of Clarity of the classroom across to the mentors. Fortunately with it being a school focus that itself gives it credibility and using school 'mechanisms' such as progress pebbles should also give it credibility. It won't sound like it is something I recommend alone, its importance is recognised across the school. My time will be spent with 'Clarity of the Classroom' and using our collaborative planning as a tool to help get across some of the techniques recommend. Also, my genuine enthusiasm and belief towards this will help drive the important messages across too. 

Challenge the Process

'Leaders venture out; they don't sit idly by waiting for fate to smile on them. You need to search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve. Because innovation and change involve experimenting and taking risks, your major contribution will be to create a climate for experimentation in which there is recognition of good ideas, support those ideas, and the willingness to challenge the system. Leaders are constantly learning from their errors and failures as they experiment, try new things, and incrementally move projects forward. The best leaders are the simply the best learners, and life is their laboratory.'

This is the biggest challenge for me. I take calculated risks, very calculated. Always have and working in the habitat - I have to show I am not afraid to take risks. I had to make one of the hardest professional decisions and allow the habitat to go down a route I was not convinced about at all. We will have to go down a road knowing its going to be extremely difficult and learn from it. I would have never done this teaching by myself and it is extremely frustrating and challenging, but this environment is unique due to the importance of relationships. The gains towards building trust in our relationships was more important.

Enable Others to Act

'Lead by empowering those around you. It is essential to be open to all ideas and to give everyone a voice in the decision making process. Leaders foster collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships. Giving your power away and fostering their personal power and ownership will make them stronger and more capable. When you strengthen others by increasing self-determination and developing competence, they are more likely to give it their all and exceed their own expectations. Leaders turn their constituents into leaders themselves.'

This section supports our philosophy of empowering mentors at SPS. Working in the habitat is so complicated, due to the amount of relationships, that one leader is simply not enough. The more leaders we have, the more chance we have coping with all the complications. The collaborative planning process would not be possible if all the mentors were relying on me to guide them through the process. Two sets of two mentors have to collaborate together without me, I have to ensure that leadership is demonstrated within those pairings to ensure it works. It has only been a few weeks but the signs are fantastic. Mentors are giving up their time to build those relationships and comprise. Certain mentors are leading the relationship through the process of collaboration. There will be bumps on the way and it is essential I coach and guide them through it. To be honest, the mentors have been guiding me!

Encourage the Heart

'People become exhausted, frustrated, and disenchanted, and are often tempted to give up. Genuine acts of caring draw people forward. Recognition is the most powerful currency you have, and it costs you nothing. Leaders recognise contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence. It's part of your job as a leader to show appreciation for people's contributions and to create a culture of celebrating the values and victories by creating a spirit of community. Celebrations and rituals, when they are authentic and from the heart, build a strong sense of collective identity.'

Again, this becomes complicated due to the nature of our environment. For recognition to be authentic and to ensure my relationship, based on trust and credibility, stays in tact trust  everyone has to recognise it as fair and worthwhile. If I give it recognition and other mentors do not see it as worthwhile or justified it can come across as empty and damage future recognitions particularly for themselves. I have tried to keep my recognitions one-to-one and have worded my recognition collectively carefully which leads to other mentors supporting that recognition. If I sense around the team that it is not being recognised I lead the conversation away from the recognition to more of an acknowledge of the work done. You have to be very mindful of how your recognition is given as certain types of praise can feel authentic for some mentors and totally empty for others. You have to build an understanding of that person and base your recognition around who they are. Very recently, my recognition was met with a real sense of achievement with two mentors and one mentor was not so enthralled. No matter the circumstance, recognition when authentic and meaningful is powerful and needs to happen. 

Tony Burkin - The Role of the Team Leader in ILE

What does leadership look like in the habitat?

Tony spoke about moving away from the traditional beliefs of a team leader who is expected to fix things. We are not fix-it leaders. We need to create a new belief system based around raising the capabilities of our mentors through provoking thinking.

We need to define our new role as a leader in the habitat. Work with the team to help clarify what they want to see or not to see and adapt our role depending on the feedback and experience. We need to open about our problems of having to work in Pipeline 1 and 2, describe how difficult that is and how we all need to support the leadership in the habitat.

Tony repeatedly referred to the idea that mentors are trying to protect their image. In a traditional environmental you can close the door and work or develop ideas. In our habitat that is not possible and we will feel insecurity. These are difficult conversations.

The job is gruelling. Coping with three things - new school, ILE, leadership. One of those elements would be difficult, this is going to be extremely difficult and not for everyone. To succeed we need to increase the capabilities of the mentors. They are in a better position to grow your leadership. You are on the track when feedback works both ways. Feedback is something I need to collect urgently and adapt my role. From there I can be explicit about expectations.

Ben explained the differences between technical and adaptive challenges. Technical challenges are based around systems and structure where the traditional role of a team leader can manage. These challenges are based around organisational skills and can be set up comfortably with experience and some managerial skills. Adaptive challenges are where they are no clear answers and requires leadership and deeper thinking to meet the needs of the problem. Our current situation has a lot more adaptive challenges than technical which makes it such a difficult role to define.

Tony and Ben highlighted the importance of understanding the concept of 'working as a team.' Collaboration is only one aspect. Ensuring we have consistent clear beliefs on everything we do will ensure the mentors have the confidence to lead. It is imperative that we create an environment where mentor grow as opposed to simply succeed. We need to find a way to help accelerate growth to help us all cope with the three elements.

At the end of the meeting I explained to Tony my next steps is to discuss Pipeline 2 with the mentors and clarify what they believe I should or not be doing as a leader. At the same time, we will be defining our leadership roles as a team and help define my role as a leader. With my job description of empowering my team to drive the vision of SPS, I want to provide opportunities for mentors to drive thinking around 'working as a team.'

Quiet Leadership by David Rock

'People do not need to be managed, they need to be unleashed.'

Just had a very thought provoking and defining week of PL. Our focus has clearly be defined by the idea of developing the capabilities of our teams. Moving away from telling mentors what to do and ensuring they think for themselves. My initial impressions are that I am pretty good at allowing mentors to have autonomy and they have many opportunities to take responsibility and lead our habitat. The crucial question is now to ensure that we are all agree on expectations and belief so we have the confidence to take decisions that we know the habitat will be happy with.

There is a new world to explore here. If we are trying to help other people think, we might develop a whole new set of skills - such as the ability to create the physical and mental space for people to want to think, the ability to help others simplify their thinking, the ability to notice certain qualities in people's thinking, the ability to notice certain qualities in people's thinking, the ability to help others make their own connections. 

These are some of the most important skills that leaders must master today, and central to being a Quiet Leader.

Early days with the book but the idea of developing the mentors ability to think as opposed to simply giving them opportunity will be crucial.  The idea of mentors 'wanting' to think will be one of the biggest challenges because at the moment seem tired and lacking the energy to think about things. Providing the opportunities and developing the ability will require a strong purpose and to be focused. The inspiration to read this book came from Darran who spoke how he is empowering mentors to drive deeper thinking around working together in the habitat is something I want to develop in Coronet. 

Doing the thinking for other people is not just a waste of our own energy; it also gets in the way of other people working out the right answers. 

Action: ensure mentors are not passive with progress pebbles - they create them, not given them. Giving mentors ownership of creating them will make it more likely they use them. We will have a regular slot in our team meeting to discuss progress pebbles, this will give mentors the opportunity to share valuable knowledge and understanding of the curriculum.

Too many thoughts, too little time - we can make a tremendous difference to other people's thinking by helping them clearly identify the insights they would like to hardwire, and over time reminding them about these insights. 

Action: to help mentors 'hardwire' their understanding of the progress pebbles we will discuss them and how we are using them, every week - it is understood that they will be a regular item on the agenda. Knowing that we will discuss it each week has placed a cognitive emphasis on it as well as a practical sense too. As long as continues to feel relevant and helpful for students this approach will 'hardwire' connections for the mentors and this new approach will become the norm. 

Most Likely to Succeed

A very thought provoking movie which raised more questions than answers. However, it affirmed a belief I have had since arriving in NZ. 'Exhibitions' are the key to everything. This is something I am going to work hard with the team to create. Having an exhibition will help bring accountability and purpose to our learning with our Concept. Can't wait to get back into this way of working/learning, I had so much success and fun with this approach. We will discuss concept as a team and ensure a type of exhibition is included in our planning from the start, however this can evolve and become something that suits the students or the passion of the mentor. Working to the passions of the mentors is something else that came out of the movie. 

Planning Concept with Emma

Discussed the SPS concept process and what that looks like. Unpacked what immersion is and how that fits with prior knowledge.  We came up with the idea of linking movement to growth mindset which meant we would have immerse the students with both movement and growth mindset. It was decided that Emma could a run an 'immersion' session with our writing groups as it will involve writing and this will give the mentors the opportunity to see immersion being modelled.

Do you block time for thinking?

Quote

Do you block time for thinking?  No phone. No Computer. No one else. Just you. Sitting and thinking. The best leaders do.

- Dr Henry Cloud

This quote really resonants with me as I try to fits this 'block' in as many times a week I can. Running on the treadmill for an hour, is my time for reflecting and thinking - its very powerful and works. 

Having that hour to myself usually leads to at least one or two moments of thinking which helps me with the next step of leadership with my team. The only thing that has changed recently is that I have had to use Google Keep to record my thoughts, there has been a couple of occasions where I had a great idea and couldn't recall it. Very annoying.

Moving Forward

This image sums up perfectly the reality of our progress. There are so many things going on that it is easy to get lost and lose focus on driving the team forward. However. using the leaders and expertise around us will ensure we do follow 'our plan' and progress. Including Jill, Claire and Emma in our meetings has been a huge benefit in helping us reflect and think more deeply about our practice. Also, consistently reflecting on our beliefs and tinkering what we do, will ensure we will make those all important steps forward. 

3 Great Steps from my Current Reality to a Desired Reality

Changing the wording of one of my great steps already! 

'Professional Reading' - I would like to articulate my thinking/beliefs succinctly supported by a wide range of professional reading.

'Feedback' - to provide a range of opportunities for feedback from my team 

'Learning the Level'

Term 1 Week 11

I finished my first leadership book called 'Rework,' and loved it! Really enjoyed the process of reflecting on what the book has to say and referring to our current experience. It really suits my style of working ie purposeful. I have jumped straight into my new book, 'Quiet Leadership' which seems very relevant with what I want to achieve next ie improve the capabilities of my team. I feel more confident/comfortable already in articulating what my beliefs are and what we are trying to achieve in Coronet. Still a way to go though!

A bit short on feedback at the moment, although I have opened the door for feedback about my role and what I can do more or less of. We will see how that goes! It's a start.

Everyday I am learning about this particular age group. It actually wasn't so much the age but going back to old pedagogy. It's been quite awhile since teaching with rotations and tasks etc. I have just got a couple of systems going and now we are going to step towards more personalised workshops and opportunities for choice. Oh well, this will be much closer to what I have been used to and I am so excited to be collaborating with both Alice and Roanna.  With their support, I feel confident we are going to fly with this. :)

Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson - Founders of 37Signals

Link to Rework

'Planning is guessing' - Plans are inconsistent with improvisation. You have to be able to improvise - pick up opportunities as they come.  You have the most information when you are doing something, not before it. Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier!

A message I have shared with my team is that we do not to plan but it certainly should be for the first few days and depending on how the lessons/workshops go should mould/guide the lessons through the week.  It is a worry if someone works through a weekly plan exactly - can they know the outcome that well?

'Workaholism' - Working more doesn't mean you care more or get more done. It means you work more. Working like that isn't sustainable over time. Make the people who don't stay feel inadequate for 'merely' working reasonable hours. Leads to guilt and poor morale. The real hero is already home because she/he figured out a faster way to get things done. 

This is not a problem with our team at the moment. I have learnt over the years that if team member are working day and night to plan or other things outside their teaching, I'm worried. You should be at your absolute best when you are working with your students. If you are tired or not motivated with your students that needs to be addressed. I am certainly appreciating that argument working with 6/7 year olds! You have to have incredible energy to keep those guys engaged and on track during the entire day. 

'Draw a line in the sand' - As you get going, keep in mind why you're doing what you're doing. You have to believe in something. You need to have a backbone. You need to know what you're willing to fight for. When you don't know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious. 

As a team we have building our Beliefs Principles Practices (BPP's) and this has been a powerful tool to bring us together with our shared expectations in the habitat. A particular belief that immediately presented itself was the idea of achieving Attention Level State 2 (based on Kevin Knight's workshop). The team were all behind this belief and how it impacts on the children's work. We consequently put into place strategies/practices to ensure we reach this attention level and so far we are all insisting on those level. There was absolute clarity of why this was so important and we have a wholeheartedly got behind it. The challenge is now to create a similar strength behind other beliefs.

Live it or Leave it! - Standing for something isn't just about writing it down. It's about believing it and living it. 

So far the team have been focused on establishing routines and believe in the importance of embedding this culture for learning. It's obvious to see, this would be the same in a single cell environment. The real challenge comes with the more problematic areas of powerful learning. Providing the students with choice and agency - do they really believe it works? For us to live this belief and ensure it happens will require a lot of deep thinking and support. 

You often can't recognise the details that matter most until after you start building. That's when you see what needs more attention. You feel what's missing. 

This is a quote that defines the way I work very well. Our team have set-up a structure fairly quickly with the intention to help us cope with the day-to-day rigor of teaching in this environment. However, what's most powerful is that by having daily reflections we are questioning every facet of our practice and what matters most - the students and their learning. We are currently tinkering what we do, the biggest challenge will be when we may have to make more significant changes.

Decisions are Progress - You want to get into the rhythm of making choices. When you get in that flow of making decision after decision, you build momentum and boost morale. Decisions are progress. Each one you make is a brick in your foundation. You can't build on top of 'We'll decide later,' but you can build on top of 'Done.'

I do not believe that all decisions should be made quickly, especially the ones that need deeper thinking. However, we have many smaller decisions that seem to be lingering around at the moment and not sure if they have not happened as I am new to the school etc. Reading this has made realise I/we need to push on these more managerial decisions and build on these quickly. There are couple of things that should be in place now and they are not. This has caused a few unnecessary stresses which could have be avoided. Hence, our agenda for tomorrow has been up-dated - time to build on the 'Done.'

Quick Wins - Momentum fuels motivation. It keeps you going. It drives you. Get in the habit of accomplishing small victories along the way. Even a tiny improvement can give you a good jolt of momentum.

Something I have added to our BPP about working together as a team is acknowledging/celebrating the progress we make. Every 3 weeks we reflect on what is happening and what is not based on our goals and what we have put in place. Interestingly, we were very focused on on what is not happening and made many changes. However, there was a big victory with looking and gaining consistent full attention from the whole team.

Long Lists Don't Get Done - Start making smaller to-do lists. Long lists collect dust. Long lists are guilt trips. The longer the list of unfinished items, the worse you feel about it. Break that long list down into smaller lists. Whenever you can, divide problems into smaller and smaller pieces until you're able to deal with them completely and quickly. Prioritize visually. Put the most important thing at the top. When you are done with that, the next thing on the list becomes the next most important thing. That way you'll only have a single next most important thing to do at a time. And that's enough.

I initially had a ridiculous to-do list which evaporated into nothing. I completed a handful of things and felt guilty about what I should have done. Although, life has continued on without too many people dying. I have followed the simple above approach with a smaller list and working on the top thing at a time most of the time. I have another 'list' on our Team Agenda and other less urgent things are placed on the agenda for other weeks later on in the term. Interestingly, when I review these items at a later date sometimes they get deleted as they have been dealt with or a simply not needed. It seems to be a system that works well in that I do not panic as much when a bulk of things to do arrive.

Make Tiny Decisions - Big decisions are hard to make and hard to change. Make choices that are small enough that they're effectively temporary. When you make tiny decisions, you can't make big mistakes. These small decisions mean you can afford to make change. There's no big penalty if you mess up. You just fix it. Achieve big things with one tiny decision at a time. 

A liked this chapter as it reinforced what I am trying to do with Coronet. I am frequently tempted to go right that's it, let's completely change everything. However, this has inspired me to create and clarify our vision and put in place those 'tiny' decision that will lead us to a 'big' decision. I will share this development plan with my team and gather their thoughts and 'tiny' decisions to get there. The team also need clarification that what we are doing is going places to.

Copying skips understanding and understanding is how you grow. You have to understand why something works or why something is the way it is. Be influenced, but don't steal. 

This chapter was perfect timing for me/us. I am wanting us to create tracking sheets based around our teaching and the temptation is to give everyone a copy of one and follow it. However, it will be far more powerful if team members create their own based on the needs of their students and what they are teaching.  There will be meaning and relevance to 'their' work as opposed to following mine.

Say no by default - 'If'd listened to customers, I'd have given them a faster horse.' - Henry Ford
It's easy to say yes. Use the power of no to get your priorities straight. People avoid saying no because confrontation makes them uncomfortable. But the alternative is even worse. Making a few vocal customers happy (parents) isn't worth it if it ruins the product for everyone else. 

In Coronet, its not about saying no but ensuring we question any decisions and think deeply about them. We are meeting at a a crucial crossroad soon and there will be some huge decisions to make about our next step. Some ideas will be easy to say yes to but ultimately are not the right decision if you think about our vision. It is important that the reason why is explored and what we are ultimately trying to achieve by making these decisions. We shouldn't be afraid to say 'no' to ensure we stop and think about it first. I have found myself saying yes a few times to get through 'now,' is that wrong? Many of the 'yes' decisions help build trust and empathy within the team, which will help create faith in 'bigger' decisions later on. I don't regret it at this stage and I don't believe it has held us back, although I/we are about to find out!

Go behind the scenes - Even seemingly boring jobs can be fascinating when presented right. People love finding out the little secrets of all kinds of businesses. People are curious about how things are made. They want to know how and why other people make decisions. Letting people behind the curtain changes your relationship with them. They'll feel a bond with you. They'll see the sweat and effort that goes into what you sell (do). They'll develop a deeper level of understanding and appreciation for what you do. 

This chapter highlighted the importance of teamwork and collaborative planning. In fact, reading it has got me excited as I sincerely miss it from last year. Next term we will be working this way and it can't come soon enough. I have struggled more than I have ever done before in my career, which is a little scary so it can't come soon enough for me, personally. There have been a few moments where I have helped other mentors and was surprised how quickly they adopted some things and I wished I had shared 'behind my scenes' a bit more. However, I/we can look forward to doing this a lot more next term. We should also look forward to bonding with each other a lot more and ultimately, helping the students learn more powerfully.  

Fake, Fake, Fake - Nobody likes plastic flowers - Don't be afraid to show your flaws. Imperfections are real and people respond to real. Reveal things that others are unwilling to discuss. Be upfront about your shortcomings. You might not seem as professional, but you will seem a lot more genuine. 


Throughout my career I have always been very honest about my practice and that has certainly helped me gain the trust of my team. I have continued this characteristic in Coronet but a little concerned about how much I reveal I'm getting wrong, in the sense you start to come across incompetent. I am choosing to reveal certain things that I believe they may not reveal themselves to help stimulate discussion towards other pressing issues. It has certainly worked a few times but I am being mindful of not revealing too much!

Press releases (newsletters/group emails) are spam - Instead, call someone. Write a personal note. Do something meaningful. Be remarkable. Stand out. Be unforgettable.

The reason I included this quote was to highlight the importance of communicating learning in a meaningful. We have recently received some very positive emails about our communication and moving away from the traditional communication is definitely helping. Sending not one but two newsletters with links to the blog and including frequent updates on the blog about what we are doing has made a mark. Our recent parent conferences based around our communication of learning for individual students was extremely personalised and did not feel generic at all, it was very satisfying and looks like it will be extremely effective in the future. The parents certainly appreciated it, particularly having an image to compliment the comment so the student can then talk about what was going on. It was meaningful.

Everything is marketing - Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365. Marketing is - answering the phone, sending an email, every word you write on the web. Recognise that all of these little things are important. Marketing isn't just a few individual events. It's the sum total of everything you do.

I totally understand the importance of SPS's philosophy of greeting people around the school. In fact, two parents commented on how wonderful this approach was as it was so noticeable that the students were following this approach. This kind of marketing is making an impact not just around the school but the Wakatipu Basin. This highlights the importance of everything else we do and I believe listening and communicating with parents tops that list. Rachel picked up on this early on and noted how we must listen to parents and if they need a little personal attention of sending an extra book home, why not? We did it one time and they haven't done it again and have accepted what Coronet is doing as a whole. We listened. Parents talk and that marketing is fundamental to the community embracing our philosophies. Homework is not great example of meeting individual needs of families and comprising initially. We are certainly not sending lots home but if a parent asks for something, through a discussion about what we are doing and allowing a comprise to go home, we have listened and valued their opinion whilst defining and clarifying our philosophy also. Each time this has happened, it has only happened once maybe twice before it settles down.

Strangers at a cocktail party - if you go to a cocktail party where everyone is a stranger, the conversation is dull and stiff. You shy away from serious conversations and controversial opinions. You need an environment where everyone feels safe enough to be honest when things get tough. You need to know how far you can push someone. You need to know what people really mean whey they say something. 

I love the analogy of 'strangers at a cocktail party.' It so true and reminds me that there is a still an element of that with us at the moment because at times our meetings do feel a little 'dull and stiff.' However, in time that will change and our professional discussions will become more honest and we will can unpack in more depth what is going on. It highlighted the importance of taking things slow as dealing with certain things will be easier further down the track when we can have a more 'small, intimate dinner.' ;)

Hire great writers - Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They know what to omit. Writing is making a comeback. Communication via instant messaging, blogging. Writing is today's currency for good ideas.

This chapter got me thinking about how we can communicate ideas as a team. Obviously a lot of discussion and thinking can be done together, but certain members of the team work or communicate more effectively through writing such as on a Google Doc. I will give time to team to reflect on our thinking and add information at a later date via a Google Doc as many ideas could/will come at a late date.

Speed Changes Everything - Getting back to people quickly is probably the most important thing you can do when it comes to customer service. It's amazing how much that can defuse a bad situation and turn it into a good one. Once you answer quickly, they light up. They become extra polite, often they that you profusely. Even if you don't have a perfect answer, say something like, 'Let me do some research and get back to you' can work wonders.

This chapter simply confirmed my beliefs, particularly getting back to say that we are looking into it and we will get it sorted asap. In my twenty years of experience, quick responses have kept a lot of parents content. The more personal it can be, the better. If I can speak to them then all the better, which is why I celebrate the SPS approach to communication. Spending time at the habitat to speak to parents means you can even deal with problems before they happen, you can see the relief on parents' faces from a one minute conversation. It shows you care and value their concerns.

Take a deep breath - When you rock the boat, there will be waves. When people complain, let things simmer for a while. Let them know you are listening. Show them you are aware of what they're saying. But explain that you're going to let it go for a while and see what happens.

I am preparing myself for a deep breath! Establishing the document of reviewing what is happening and what is not happening will certainly help things 'simmer' for a while and then give others the opportunity to review what has happened. Having this system in place will help the team give new initiatives the time so they can understand and embrace new things. Also, if this new approach is not helping students learn then we need to be honest and make changes.

Culture is the by-product of consistent behaviour - You don't create culture. It happens. If you encourage people to share, then sharing will be built into your culture. If you reward trust, then trust will be built in. Culture is action, not words. Like a fine scotch, you've got to give it time to develop. 

This chapter highlighted the importance of consistently emphasising the importance of shared expectations. It has been a challenge to keep on top of this and we have definitely dropped off on some things and by leading through example have kept things going. What's interesting is that in time I have noticed that we all individually have days where we are not doing things  but someone else in the team leads in that situation which is fantastic. It is definitely happening more than it was, which highlights the fact that we understand its purpose and importance - we just have moments where situation or tiredness gets in the way.