“Ko ngā pae tawhiti whāia kia tata, ko ngā pae tata, whakamaua kia tina.”
The potential for tomorrow depends on what we do today.
Module Objectives:
- Enhance self-awareness: Develop a deeper understanding of personal values, beliefs, and leadership styles.
- Develop emotional intelligence: Identify and manage personal emotions, and understand and respond effectively to the emotions of others.
- Identify personal strengths and areas for development: Conduct a comprehensive self-assessment and identify key strengths, weaknesses, and areas for professional growth.
- Build self-reflection habits: Develop and implement strategies for ongoing self-reflection and professional development.
Section 1: Exploring Self-Awareness
Resource 1: “Taking off the armour and showing up authentically“
According to a study in the Leadership and Organization Development Journal, employees’ perception of authentic leadership serves as the strongest predictor of job satisfaction and positively impacts work-related attitudes and happiness. Watch this video on authentic leadership from Brene Brown – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9669oUfqbDU Consider what this means for your leadership – how do you show up at school authentically?
Section 2: Developing Emotional Intelligence
Resource 2: “Emotional Intelligence for School Leaders”
Explore this podcast on why emotional intelligence is imperative for school leaders – https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/24/03/why-emotional-intelligence-matters-educators
Section 3: Identifying Strengths and Areas for Development
Self-review can take many forms and be carried out in a number of ways, but the underlying principles of effective self-review require it to be:
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- Purposeful – leading to action for improvement
- Meaningful – not reviewing for reviewing’s sake
- Manageable – realistic in terms of time and human and financial resources
- Systematic – programmed so it doesn’t get overlooked
- Reliable – based on relevant and valid evidence
- Collaborative – involving key stakeholders
Task:
Step 1: Reflect on your personal leadership style and identify areas for self-improvement.
Step 2: Discuss with your kaiarahi the most effective strategies for gathering feedback from others on your leadership strengths and weaknesses.
Consider options such as:
- 360-degree feedback surveys: Involving staff, students, parents, and other stakeholders.
- Informal feedback: Seeking feedback from trusted colleagues, mentors, or external coaches.
- Observations: Observing your own leadership in action and seeking feedback from trusted colleagues.
- Reflection journals: Regularly reflecting on your leadership experiences and identifying areas for growth.
Step 3: Develop a plan with your kaiarahi for gathering feedback from multiple sources and document your plan in the online forum. This can be discussed at your first coaching session.
Step 4: Post on the forum a brief summary of how you will collect feedback, from who and why.
Step 5: Implement this plan and, at your second coaching session, reflect on this.
Assessment:
- Completion of all readings.
- Participation in the online forum discussion.
- Development and implementation of a plan for gathering feedback on leadership strengths and weaknesses.
- Reflection on personal leadership style and development of a personal development plan.
3 Responses
I haven’t yet had my meeting but I did enjoy the clips and articles. Both the article and the Brene Brown clip and its focus on ordinariness, being relatable, displaying the imperfect self and being vulnerable was a great lead into “how do I show up at school authentically?”
I wonder what other people’s opinions are regarding showing your vulnerabilities vs wearing armour. Sometimes as a leader, it seems, you can’t appear to be vulnerable when dealing for example with challenging situations.
What are others thoughts?
I agree, such important takeaways from the reading. I found the how do you authentically show up really thought provoking as well from Brene Brown. This made me really think about how do I show that I am showing up.
I also went with a Google Form. I had a chat with Grant as well as my Principal, and I found both their feedback about giving it a point scale system really helpful as this allowed opportunities for the participants not answer if they did not have an honest view.
My form will focus on four key headings
1. Expectations & Work Ethic
Do you feel that my expectations around staff work ethic are realistic and achievable? Why or why not?
Do I contribute to a positive and inclusive staff culture?
2. Communication & Relationships
Is my communication clear, supportive, and effective?
How well do I build relationships with staff, students, and the wider community?
How do I authentically show up for the staff and students? How could I do this better?
3. Leadership & Conflict Management
How do I handle difficult conversations and conflicts?
How do I support and mentor teachers in their professional growth?
4. Reflection & Growth
What are my key strengths as a leader?
What are my weaknesses as a leader?
What are my next steps for developing as a leader?
Finally, the people I will be asking for feedback from are: Kelly (my current principal), Paul an ex principal who I completed leadership mentorship with last year, the team of teachers who I led last year, two teachers I led at a previous school, and a team leader who I worked with in middle leadership from my previous school.
I found the reading around authentic leadership really resonated with me and I took lots away from this around acknowledging the the importance of an holistic view – taking into account the importance of life experiences. Building on the strengths of others contributes to the overall satisfaction of members within a team.
After my discussion with Grant around forming a plan to gather feedback around my leadership, I have decided to create a Google survey around key areas such as critical conversations, relationships, approachability, my different roles, communication, managing and leading change. This survey will be sent to other members of the executive leadership team and senior leadership team as well as the beginning teacher that I mentor and some other colleagues. I will then use this feedback to help form goals.