Building Leadership Capacity within Leadership Teams Joe Corbett September 2014

Building capacity Of the leadership team itself to drive school improvement Of each member of the team so that they can lead others on the school improvement journey

Some thoughts on leadership ‘People rarely succeed unless they enjoy what they are doing’ Dale Carnegie ‘The task of a leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been’ Henry Kissenger

(continued) ‘A leader is a dealer in hope’ Napoleon Bonaparte ‘Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things’ Peter F. Drucker ‘We can do anything we want as long as we stick at it long enough’ Helen Keller

(continued? ‘It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself’ Eleanor Roosevelt ‘If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing’ Margaret Thatcher

(continued) ‘Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand’ Gen. Colin Powell ‘Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new’ Albert Einstein

Reflecting on one’s own capacity Capabilities; what are you really good at? What do you rely on other’s for? Your leadership journey; who have been your role models and what did you learn from them?

Emotional Intelligence and leadership Self-awareness Self-regulation Social awareness Social skills/relationship management Handout/reflection

Social styles and leadership Know yourself Know your people Make the best use of your people Create powerful teams Recruit wisely Build capacity Handout/discussion

Reflective practice in leadership Handout/discussion

My observations Core elements for effective leadership; A passion for what you do, a commitment to making a difference to student outcomes(moral purpose) Work to build positive relationships Communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders Plan for the short term and long term Make effective use of data, evidence based practice Network and collaborate with others Are resilient and optimistic Keep things in perspective and remain calm under pressure Delegate effectively Can be tough when required

8 Characteristics of Effective School Leadership Brown et al, 2015 They have consistent, high expectations and are very ambitious for the success of their students They constantly demonstrate that disadvantage need not be a barrier to learning They focus relentlessly on teaching and learning with very effective professional development for all staff They are expert at assessment and the tracking of student progress with appropriate support and intervention based upon a detailed knowledge of individual students

They are highly inclusive, having complete regard for the progress and personal development of every student They develop individual students through promoting rich opportunities for learning both within and out of the classroom They cultivate a range of partnerships, particularly with parents, business and the community to support student learning and progress They are robust and rigorous in terms of self-evaluation and data analysis with clear strategies for improvement

How do you know if you are making a difference? Data/evidence Anecdotal Feedback

Building a highly effective team Talents, skills and community(Miller) Characteristics of high performing teams What are the strengths of your leadership team/areas for work? In what ways do your and your APs(Leading Teachers) skills/styles complement each other? Team protocols

Myths about teams Most people like working on a team The best teams are composed of the same sort of people with the same set of skills Disagreement is unhealthy for team building Team leaders need to be good at everything

In highly effective teams the members Work collaboratively and passionately towards a common goal Listen to each other and offer mutual respect and support Feel trusted and valued for their strengths Communicate effectively with each other with everyone contributing to discussions Are aware of processes and defined roles Are solution focussed in their problem solving and decision making

(continued) Avoid personalising disagreement and focus on outcomes Value the diversity of the group in relation to skills and experience and learn from each other Feel free to express their feelings as well as their ideas Feel secure and relaxed with each other Provide each other with positive and constructive feedback Recognise and celebrate achievements Reflect on and review team operations

Ineffective teams have: An absence of trust A lack of direction and unity of purpose Unclear processes and poorly defined roles A fear of disagreement Poor processes for managing conflict Members with poor interpersonal skills Poorly aligned individuals Unfair distribution of work Disharmony because of dominance of some personalities

Building the capacity of individual leadership team members Encouraging self reflective practice Providing positive and constructive feedback Mentoring and coaching A role model Debriefing Mistakes management

Leaders are agents of change ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change’ Charles Darwin

Debriefing session; e.g. 1 So briefly what was the issue you were discussing? And how are you feeling right now? What was happening for you during the situation? What were you thinking and feeling? How did you manage yourself emotionally? How was the other person presenting? What do you think the other person was really wanting? What was reasonable about the other person’s concerns? What did you find most difficult about the situation? What is worrying you most about what happened? Were there parts of the interaction which you felt were successful?

(continued) If you were to go through the situation again what would you like to change about the interaction? What needs to happen next? Is there anything you feel you now need to follow up? What do you need from me? Is there anything I need to put in place?

Debriefing session e.g. 2 Tell me what happened Why did it have such a significant impact? How are you feeling about the events right now? Are there things you need to say about what happened that you haven’t had the chance to? On reflection what were the positive things you/the school did to manage the situation? On reflection what could you have done differently to manage the situation for a better outcome and to maintain staff well- being? Do you have any ongoing concerns in relation to this matter? What else needs to happen?

Mistakes management We all make mistakes and we can learn from them Script; Tell me what happened What do you need to do now? What do you need from me?

Particular skills Active listening Clarity of communication/messages Meeting management Team building Time management Delegating Project management Problem solving/decision making Giving positive and constructive feedback Preparing for and having ‘challenging conversations’ Managing and resolving conflict Resilience

SMART goals

As leaders some key responsibilities are To deliver the best learning outcomes for each and every student To build the capacity of all staff to help achieve this To build high performing teams across the school To build leadership capacity across the school To nurture and develop our future leaders

So you are a coach, mentor and role model And hopefully a values driven, ethical leader who is committed to making a difference to the learning outcomes of our young people so that they have a better future

Final thought; ‘Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviours. Keep your behaviours positive because your behaviours become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny’ Mahatma Gandhi