Coaching Phase 1

Now the mentors have a clear idea of what their inquiry is I will begin to meet with them using the visual aid of coaching process ie Aim, Reality and Action.

I am currently reading 'Extraordinary Leadership in Australia & New Zealand' from cover to cover as I have delved into it many times without reading it in its entirety.

Great Leaders are Great Learners

Leadership is an observable pattern of practices and behaviours and a definable set of skills and abilities. And any skill can be learned, strengthened, honed and enhanced. What's required - is the willingness to get better. Great leaders are great learners. Open to new information and new ideas, not afraid to experiment and to make mistakes.

Sustained effort, practice, a tolerance for discomfort and good coaching required. You have to deliberately and consciously practice, practice and practice. What do you practice?

After working through Aim, Reality and Action, I also want the mentor to have something they are working in Leadership Pipeline 2 in regards to teaming, with the idea they consciously practice it.

I am not convinced that some members of the team will naturally team and it will require some discomfort with other members practicing elements of teaming. As well as their own teaching as inquiry, we will identify an aspect of teaming to work on, from a leadership perspective, and ask them to 'practice it.'

Achievement vs Success

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Achievement vs Success

(from Start with Why - Simon Sinek)

Many people who achieve great success don't always feel it. Success and achievement are not the same thing. Achievement is something you reach or attain, like a goal. It is something tangible, clearly defined and measurable - ie National Standards. Success, in contrast, is a feeling or a state of being - ie seeing the students applying/using their new knowledge in a way that fits our 'Powerful Learning' model? Achievement comes when you are pursue and attain WHAT you want. Success comes when you are clear in pursuit of WHY you want it. The former is motivated by tangible factors while the latter by something deeper in the brain. Achievements, WHAT we do, serve as the milestones to indicate we are on the right path. We need both. Our BPP for powerful learning - ensure our WHY and WHAT are aligned. Hold ourselves accountable to HOW we do it and WHAT serves as the tangible proof of what we believe. Personally, what does it look like when we achieve 'success'? When do you believe, you will feel success? The achievement is tangible and clear. Action: Create a statement for our belief/why...

This was a successful discussion where we ended up creating a belief for Powerful Learning based around one word - Purpose. We wanted to be able to articulate with others our belief and felt having one word would help us begin a conversation and use examples around the habitat. Here is our current BPP on Powerful Learning...

The Point of Difference

During my state of play with Ben he asked me the question of why Coronet reached a 9/10 for teaming. I subsequently listed lots of hows and whats ie high trust, leadership opportunities, clarity and purpose of what we do. I left the meeting with that question ringing in my ears as I felt I haven't answered the question very well - I struggled to answer something that was so important it bothered me greatly.

As I am reading Start with the 'Why - How great leaders inspire everyone to take action' by Simon Sinek this question continuously bounces around my head and I now have more clarity.

The reason we were successful was because the majority of the team bought into the why ie our vision was to create an environment where 'We set students up for success.' Both Rachel and I were driven by that vision and every decision we made was put through the 'celery test' ie will this decision/change help the students to succeed. Will this change set students up for success?

Our early decisions to focus on students reading skills as many were below what we expected had to be addressed but at the same time we identified that to succeed we had to focus on our teaming. We all had a wide range of skills and knowledge to offer which meant were not afraid to admit that we didn't have the skills and knowledge to meet those needs, but Rachel did. We followed her lead, high trust, and we made a difference. It was a team effort based on using the teams strengths and working together. Through that experience we built trust by working towards a clear vision.

There were many other factors too such as the modelling of sweep the sheds - hugely important. However, I want to put out something challenging and essential to the success of future teaming. Team leaders need mentors who believe in their vision and bring it to life. Mentors should have the choice to join a team leader's vision ie at the end of the year they meet the team leader and put a case forward of how they believe in this vision and what their understanding looks like.

This year has not been as successful due to a mentor having different beliefs and if they were in a different habitat with the right vision that aligns with their values and beliefs it would bring the best of the mentors and students.

I believe we need to challenge the process of leadership creating the teams and, at least, include the mentors and team leaders in the creation of teams based around the vision of the leaders. You could argue that those visions would/should be similar - walk around each habitat and you will clearly see and feel a very different team. The point of difference? Vision.