Assistant/Associate Principals and Deans Statewide Mentoring Meeting Thursday, September 21, 2017

Outcomes: Cultivate a professional learning network; Explore expectations and resources associated with SAI’s Mentoring and Induction Program; Experience strategies to support a quality leadership-life fit; Gain insight from practicing principals regarding best practice in managing, developing, and evaluating staff; Discuss pertinent legal issues; Consult with colleagues regarding a leadership challenge; and Become familiar with strategies, tools, and protocols to support difficult conversations.

Links Resources: https://sai-iowa.site- ym.com/page/sept17apmentoring Evaluation: http://bit.ly/APDeans921 Mentoring Matters: http://www.sai- iowa.org/mentoring-and-induction.cfm

Name Building/District

What is your “one thing” for this year? (It can be a personal focus or professional—what is the one thing that you want to be sure to keep in mind in order to be successful?)

Mentor-Mentee Time Process each other’s questions Set dates for monthly meetings and building visit/s Explore Mentoring Matters Resources Review the October calendar together

Leadership-life Fit: Stress and Peak Performance (and making the case for leadership-life fit) Dana Schon, SAI

Reflection – 2 minute quick writes What is stress? How do you experience stress?

Mentor Mentee

The Yerkes-Dodson Law How anxiety affects performance Optimal arousal and optimal performance Keep colleagues at this level!! Strong Energized Impaired performance because of strong anxiety Increasing attention and interest Fatigued Focused Performance performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (stress) but only up to a point. When the level of stress becomes too high, performance decreases. “Whether self-generated or externally imposed, you need some stress (often in the form of positive incentives or consequences from inaction) to be productive. Without it, not much happens – you stay in bed munching chocolates. As you begin to experience pressure, your performance improves, at least at first. Eventually you reach a point (which varies from person to person) at which further demands, in the form of too many balls to juggle or too heavy an emotional load, start to undermine performance. This dynamic creates more stress, further reducing your performance and creating a vicious cycle as yo go over the top of your stress curve. Rarely, outright exhaustion sets in and the new leader burns out. Much more common is chronic underperformance. You work harder and achieve less.” Because this is all about perception, each person’s curve looks different – much like leadership life fit. Exhausted Bored Broken down & Burned out Weak Low Arousal/Stress High

Performance Arousal/Stress Strong Zone of optimal performance for easy task Easy Task Performance Zone of optimal performance for hard task Hard Task More complex task, lower level arousal tolerated Weak Low Arousal/Stress High

Mentor Mentee

Moving toward optimal stress Where can you establish more control in your life? What routines support you? What does your morning routine include (e.g. reading, writing, meditation, exercise, prayer)? What habits or routines are not serving you well? Cognitive demand of “little decisions” – routines or opportunities to eliminate some decision-making can open up cognitive space for the more important decisions

Setting the Stage: Legal Updates http://bit.ly/LEGAL921

Modified Panel Discussion: Managing, Supporting, and Evaluating Staff

Welcome, Panelists!! Jeff Schneekloth, Cedar Rapids Darin Haack, Ankeny Josh Manning, Pella

Leaders of Human Capital What do you find most challenging in managing and/or evaluating staff? What does your support of new teachers look like both in terms of evaluation and as related to helping them acclimate to the building (how might this be more challenging for a new AP or Dean?) Have you had to place a teacher on a plan? What led up to that decision? Can you describe the process you followed and the end result? How and when did you involve the principal? Turn and Talk

Leaders of Human Capital Describe the record keeping and tracking piece of evaluation (and observation)--how do you track which teachers you’ve visited? Do provide feedback for each visit? What is the purpose of your visit and what do you record in your own notes? Do you utilize walk-through data as a part of your evaluation? What are you looking for when you observe? Teacher behaviors? Student behaviors? Student work? How do you know if a teacher is successful or meeting the standards? In terms of supporting all teachers, what expectations do you have for teachers and teacher leaders to work together? Turn and Talk

Leaders of Human Capital With regard to evaluation, what is your best advice for a new assistant/associate principal or dean?

Principal Evaluation Evaluation Instrument 10 Professional Standards for Educational Leaders IAPDP

Legal Reminders and Updates Matt Carver, SAI

Learning Community: Leadership Dilemma Consultancy

Protocol- STEP 1 Leader whose last name begins with a letter closest to the end of the alphabet. Timekeeper/facilitator will be the person to the left of the presenter Presenter shares an overview of the dilemma and poses his/her focus question. 3 MINUTES

Protocol- STEP 2 Consultancy Group asks questions Help presenter clarify and expand his/her thinking about the dilemma presented to the group. Help presenter analyze the dilemma. 2 MINUTES

Protocol- STEP 3 Consultancy Group talks with each other about the dilemma presented while the presenter listens and takes notes: What did we hear? What didn’t we hear that might be relevant? What assumptions seem to be operating? What questions does the dilemma raise for us? What do we think about the dilemma? What might we do or try if faced with a similar dilemma? What have we done in similar situations? 5 MINUTES

Protocol – STEP 4 Presenter reflects on what he/she heard and on what he/she is now thinking, sharing with the group anything that particularly resonated during the consultancy. 5 MINUTES Rotate to next presenter.

Engaging in Difficult Conversations

“Our conversations invent us “Our conversations invent us. Through our speech and our silence, we become smaller or larger selves. Through our speech and our silence, we diminish or enhance the other person, and we narrow or expand the possibilities between us. How we use our voice determines the quality of our relationships, who we are in the world, and what the world can be and might become. Clearly, a lot is at stake here.” — Harriet Lerner, The Dance of Connection Turns and say something

Signs that you may need to have a conversation: You pretend not to know something. You find yourself speaking more about a person than to that person. You have a negative physical response when you think about this person or situation.

Signs that you may need to have a conversation: You disagree with what is being said in a meeting but don’t speak up. You pretend to agree with someone when in fact you think the idea or strategy is flawed. You pretend to agree with your colleagues, then act in complete defiance of what you said. You see the behavior lacks integrity or worse, violated policy, practice or the law, but stay silent.

Mentor Mentee

Why people might avoid a difficult conversation… 1 3 1 5 4 2 7 6 8 9 1 5 6 4 3 5 2 9 4 5 3 2 1 6 7 2 3 1 8 7 4 1 9 1 8 7 8 6 2 3 8 9 7 6 4 5 4 5 3 4 2 9 3 5 1 2 6 9 8 7 Hours Minutes Seconds

Switch Roles Mentor Mentee

Additional reasons people might avoid a difficult conversation… 1 3 1 5 4 2 7 6 8 9 1 5 6 4 3 5 2 9 4 5 3 2 1 6 7 2 3 1 8 7 4 1 9 1 8 7 8 6 2 3 8 9 7 6 4 5 4 5 3 4 2 9 3 5 1 2 6 9 8 7 Hours Minutes Seconds

Consequences of Avoidance When we ​avoid ​difficult conversations: Our beliefs and actions are not aligned We give silent support to others We cede control to others We experience a high level of tension, stress, anxiety, and depression Our own trustworthiness can be undermined

When we avoid difficult conversations, we trade short term discomfort for long term dysfunction.

So…

Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations Our lives are a series of relationships, the success or failure of which happen one conversation at a time. Extraordinary leadership is the result of having fierce conversations with ourselves first and then with others. Only then can any of us hope to provide the caliber of leadership that our organizations need and desire. Not investigative conversation—the ones that make you unsettled. You have the information you need to have the conversation.

What difficult conversation aren’t you having? What are we personally pretending not to know? What is our school pretending not to know? What is the most important thing we should be talking about today? How have we behaved in ways guaranteed to produce the results with which we are unhappy? What topic is XXXX hoping I won’t bring up? What is the most important decision we’re facing? What is keeping us from making it? What is bothering me? Note on planning tool. Could be group or individual

3 principles: Get Clear Craft Communicate

Get Clear! What language can you “borrow” to make your conversation more focused and less subjective? What does the job description say? What do the standards say (teachers)? What do staff, student, parent, and/or volunteer handbooks say?

Make a Plan Identify what you would like to see. Consider what the teacher will need to make it happen. Consider what you will need to do to support the teacher and what resources you may need to make available.

Mentoring pairs process template Mentoring pairs process template. Mentors: What else do you consider as you prepare for a conversation? What difficult conversations have you experienced and how have you prepared?

Hold the conversation… Set the tone and purpose (check your own energy) Get to the point and name it professionally (avoid judgment and adjectives) Give specific examples—share ONE or TWO of the most current Describe the effect of this behavior on the school, colleagues, students State your wish to resolve the issue and open the discussion

A few tips… Acknowledge emotional energy – yours and theirs – and direct it towards a useful purpose. Know and return to your purpose at difficult moments. Don’t take verbal attacks personally. Help your partner come back to center. Resistance is the pivotal moment in transformative conversations. Don’t assume they can see things from your point of view. Practice the conversation with a mentor/colleague before holding the real one. Mentally practice the conversation. See various possibilities and visualize yourself handling them with ease. Envision the outcome you’re hoping for. Other advice from mentors?

Tough issues aren’t resolved with one conversation.

Final Thoughts & Evaluation Upcoming learning opportunities: http://www.sai-iowa.org/events.cfm Evaluation: http://bit.ly/APDeans921