Managing Staff DoubleMe Conference 2018 1

Aims To understand our roles as school leaders To develop our skills as leaders when managing staff To understand how coaching can be used to manage staff effectively Encouragement that others have thought of something – some easier than others perhaps! Leadership can sometimes be lonely so it’s important that like today, we can meet together and support/encourage one another and there will be an opportunity to do that later. 2

Briefly write this down. To begin with… Think of a current situation/person that you are currently finding difficult to manage. Briefly write this down. Encouragement that others have thought of something – some easier than others perhaps! Leadership can sometimes be lonely so it’s important that like today, we can meet together and support/encourage one another and there will be an opportunity to do that later. 3

Three aspects to a school leader’s role: Leadership Management Administration Direction setting Path-making Leading the way Inspire/motivate Knowing the right things to do Following the agreed path Doing the right things Tidying the path Maintaining processes and systems Doing things 4

Three aspects to a school leader’s role: Leadership Management Administration Captain Manager Clerk 5

Managing Staff The success with which you manage people in school will, in many ways, reflect your success as a leader You cannot fulfil your role as a leader if you don’t take your team with you 6

Managing Staff You cannot fulfil your role as a leaders if you don’t take your team with you Group Team 7

Managing Staff You cannot fulfil your role as a leaders if you don’t take your team with you Group Team People work in isolation Lack of commitment Lack of trust Not all get involved Members do as they are told Often content with ‘good enough’ performance Can just about get by! Offer support Have commitment Build trust All contribute All opinions are valued Honest and open All share the load Shared sense of purpose Communicate well How do you create a team? Communication – listening Involve them/ask for their views (don’t always have to follow, but involve them where you can: remember some decisions do need a leader to decide) Value them Encourage them Encourage/talk about the need to work together Model teamwork – help them out/cover a lesson for them when they need it (this will breed other ‘random acts of kindness’ Together Everyone Achieves More 8

Managing Staff To manage people you need: empathy emotional intelligence high level communication skills 9

Empathy The ability to understand and share the feelings of others Empathy is putting yourself in other’s shoes (seeing things from their perspective). Sympathy is understanding from your perspective. Empathy facilitates helping behaviours that come from within, rather than are being forced, so that we behave in a more compassionate manner. Studies show direct link between workplace empathy and staff performance, workplace productivity, staff well-being and retention of staff. Prioritise the well-being of your staff and in return, your staff will give everything they’ve got to protect and advance the well-being of one another and the organisation – fostering a team of people not a group of people Doesn’t have to be financial – time off for funeral or support of family member; positive words of encouragement (‘I know things have been difficult for you lately but you have made such a difference to the students in your class recently…’); recognition in front of others; free meal or food; status within the school (the lead on reading)… 10

Emotional Intelligence The ability to recognise, understand and manage our own emotions. The ability to recognise, understand and influence the emotions of others. 11

Emotional Intelligence Not always taking emotions that are presented at face value, for example: A fiery outburst is a cry for help because someone isn’t coping A person bursting into tears about an issue at work is actually related to something from home A continuous making light of something is actually masking someone’s insecurity about a situation As leaders we need to ‘look’ beyond the initial emotional presentation of our colleagues and staff to enable to support them. How is this done? Showing empathy Talking and listening Offering support Making them feel valued…all those things that make a team! 12

High level communication skills Communication is made up two elements: talking and listening Talking Be calm (even when you’re not!) Be polite and respectful (even when delivering difficult messages) Show empathy Be clear Listening Give staff time to talk to you – scheduled opportunities or open-door policy Look for a balance of you talking and you listening Encourage them to talk and give them opportunity to say what they want to say 13

Coaching Coaching is a model for supporting staff and helping them to solve their issues and to help them achieve their full potential. A process that enables learning and development to occur and in turn improve performance. A process that: encourages self-reflection (and thereby developing emotional intelligence) helps develop self-improvement provides a means to analyse, reflect and act Should be modelled and implemented by school leaders. Encourage peer-to-peer coaching amongst staff - empowerment 14

Coaching What does a coach do? What does a coach not do? Engages in active listening Uses appropriate body language Has genuine interest in helping Is honest, frank and open Challenges without threat Clarifies, extends and probes Asks good questions Gives an answer or advice Makes judgements Offers counselling Creates dependency Imposes agendas or initiatives Gets emotionally involved Talk too much 15

Coaching Three-step coaching model Step 3 Step 2 Step 1 How do they get there? Action planning, setting steps to be taken Step 2 Where do they want to be? Setting the direction Where are they now? Unpick, discover detail, analyse, clarify and understand Step 1 16

Coaching Three-step coaching model Step 3 Step 2 Step 1 How do they get there? What do you need to do? What do you need to accomplish this? What steps do you need to take? Step 3 Where do they want to be? What could they do? What are the possibilities? Which option do you think is the best/worth trying first? Step 2 Where are they now? What is the issue? What has happened? What have you already tried? Step 1 17

Coaching A good coaching session has the coach: talking 10% of the time; listening 90% of the time asking good questions encouraging the person to develop and clarifies answers not giving the answer to the person but supporting the person in finding what they will do next 18

Activity Working in groups of threes, you are going to have the chance to coach, be coached and to observe the coaching process. The issue that you will use when being coached will be the one you thought of at the beginning of the session. The coaching process will last 7 minutes, when only the coach and coachee will talk. After this, there will be 3 minutes where the observer will give feedback on the effectiveness of the process, along with the coach and the coachee’s feedback, before moving on to a taking a new role in the group so all have a turn at each role. Remind people of issue of confidentiality. People may prefer to use a pseudonym for the name of the person they are discussing. 19

Feedback How did that work for you? How can you see that being used regularly? Who else could you train to coach in your workplace? Remind people of issue of confidentiality. People may prefer to use a pseudonym for the name of the person they are discussing. 20

You don’t build a business, you build people and then people build the business. Zig Ziglar Zig Ziglar – American motivational speaker 21

You don’t build a school, you build teachers and then teachers build the school. 22