He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero.
What is the food of the leader? It is knowledge. It is communication.
Module Objectives:
- Critically analyse and evaluate your own communication style and its impact on various stakeholder groups within the school and wider community.
- Strategically apply advanced communication techniques to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics and foster shared understanding amongst diverse teams.
- Develop and implement proactive strategies to cultivate and maintain high levels of relational trust with staff, students, whānau, and external partners, even amidst challenging circumstances.
- Articulate the nuanced relationship between relational trust, effective communication, and their role in leading school-wide initiatives and fostering a positive school culture.
- Evaluate and apply relevant leadership frameworks and research to inform their approach to communication and trust-building within a leadership context.
As Deputy and Associate Principals, you are pivotal in shaping the relational landscape of your kura. This module challenges you to consider communication and trust through a strategic leadership lens.
Deepening Understanding of Communication Styles:
For Deputy Principals, a nuanced understanding of communication involves:
- Contextual Agility: Recognising how different contexts necessitate adaptable communication approaches, considering power dynamics and potential sensitivities.
- Strategic Messaging: Crafting clear, consistent, and compelling messages aligned with the school’s vision and values.
- Active Listening and Inquiry: Employing sophisticated listening techniques to understand perspectives and facilitate constructive dialogue.
- Non-Verbal Communication and Presence: Cultivating a leadership presence that conveys confidence, empathy, and approachability.
- Conflict Navigation through Communication: Utilising advanced communication skills to mediate conflict and guide teams towards resolution.
Resources:
- MindTools – offers numerous articles and tools on communication skills. Explore what is useful for you, from effective written communication to listening skills and everything in between!: https://www.mindtools.com/c_CommunicationSkills.htm
- TED Talk: Julian Treasure – “How to speak so that people want to listen”: https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_listen
- Article: “Four Ways to Communicate with More Empathy” – Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2022/08/4-ways-to-communicate-with-more-empathy
Elevating Relational Trust in Leadership:
For Deputy Principals, building relational trust involves establishing a school-wide culture of trust through:
- Leading with Transparency and Integrity: Demonstrating consistent ethical behaviour and fostering open communication.
- Empowering and Distributing Leadership: Trusting staff with autonomy and fostering shared ownership.
- Strategic Vulnerability: Demonstrating appropriate vulnerability to encourage shared learning and support.
- Navigating Difficult Conversations with Empathy and Courage: Addressing challenging issues directly and with empathy.
- Building Trust with Diverse Communities: Adapting communication and engagement strategies to build meaningful partnerships.
- Accountability and Follow-Through: Consistently following through on commitments.
- Systemic Approaches to Trust Building: Implementing school-wide initiatives that promote trust.
Resources:
- Article: “The Trust Factor” – Educational Leadership (ASCD): https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-trust-factor
- Video: Brené Brown – “The power of vulnerability” (TED Talk) – while not education-specific, offers valuable insights into building trust through vulnerability: https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability
Task:
Reflecting on Communication and Trust in Practice:
Consider a recent situation where effective communication significantly contributed to building or maintaining relational trust within your school, or conversely, where a communication challenge impacted trust.
Discuss with your learning partner the key communication strategies employed (or not employed) and their impact on the level of trust. Post a summary of your discussion and key insights on the forum (150 words maximum).
Assessment:
- Completion of all readings.
- Participation in the online forum discussion.
- Conversation with learning partner and subsequent post on forum
4 Responses
Recently, we faced a challenging situation with a growing Year 1 class that included several high-needs students. Four tamariki require one to one supervision to ensure they are safe as they are runners and actively try to leave the school grounds, two have toileting issues, one is ORRS funded – the addition of these children to the class make it very hard for the teachers to teach the class as they are managing behaviour constantly. To support teaching and learning, we proposed splitting the class and using a currently underutilized classroom space. This required a sensitive conversation with our Te Reo teacher, whose teaching space would be affected. Aware of the cultural significance of the room and the tikanga involved, we approached her personally, explained the rationale behind our thinking, and gave her time to process the proposal. Though initially upset, she appreciated being heard. By actively listening and showing respect for her perspective, we were able to collaboratively find a solution that worked for everyone. This experience reinforced how transparent, empathetic communication builds trust and leads to better outcomes for staff and tamariki alike.
We have had a 5 year old transition out of our Transition class, and our team leader discussed with me some of the options of class placement for this student. We looked at the pro’s and con’s and thought about best placement for the child. the team leader decided that the student would have a visit to each room to see how they got on, then we would talk again. After the visits, I recieved emails separately from each teacher, outlining why they wouldn’t be a suitable option for this wee boy. To be honest, some of the reasons ceertainly weren’t valid, however, I could hear that niether of these teachers were keen on having him. In the end, the team leader and I made a decision of his new class placement. The next day, our team leader shared the chosen class via email to all involved, ie both teachers and myself. The teacher who will be supporting this boy, was away on the day, and recieved the email at home. Once recieving the email, straight away I felt, that a phone call or in person conversation would have been best to have prior to sending out the email, to discuss why we made that decision. So after double checking that this conversation hadn’t been had with staff member, I phoned and felt an apology was in order in the fact that she hadn’t been told prior to genreal sharing, and that we did hear her reasons etc. Whilst this is only a small example, it was definately a good choice to talk with her, for her to express her concerns and worries, then move on, being aware and supported her as required.
Key Communication Strategies and Their Impact on Trust:
What Worked:
1.Collaborative planning with the team leader showed thoughtful decision-making and built trust.
2.After the selected teacher was informed via email (while away), you made a personal phone call to acknowledge the oversight and offer support. This helped restore trust and showed empathy.
What Didn’t Work:
1.The selected teacher wasn’t consulted personally before the decision was shared publicly, which may have made her feel excluded or undervalued.
2.Using email for a sensitive decision (especially when the teacher was away) lacked a personal touch.
3.Emails from other teachers declining the student lacked constructive reasoning, showing a missed opportunity for open dialogue.
Impact:
Initial trust was impacted by the lack of direct communication, but my follow up helped repair it.
This situation highlights that how we communicate is just as important as what we communicate — especially in decisions affecting others.
We have been trialling a new approach to our maths planning and teaching. I was checking in on how this was going and attended the Year 4-6 teams next planning meeting. One particular team, when I arrived at their meeting, were quite defensive about the new approach. They were asking questions about why they had to do it, that it didn’t make sense to them etc. Using some of the tips, instead of launching into it why were doing it, why they needed to do it or that it was mandated, I approached it from a curious point of view. I asked, what are the barriers you are coming up against? What parts of it do make sense to you? What parts are you struggling with or feeling a lack of clarity? By asking more questions I was able to get to the bottom of the issue which was actually that they were including all the components in their planning the only barrier was fitting it into 10 days. The messaging had been lost along the way and they had got hung up on one aspect of the programme. Once they had the freedom to make parts of it their own and include the components (that they already were including) they left happy.
I think it was interesting really getting deeper into what was and wasn’t working as if I had gone in with the message of this is how it’s done we would have got no where. At the end of the conversation they felt heard and it made sense to them going forward but they felt they had some autonomy still on how they were implementing these changes within their own team.
Morning Jessica….what an outstanding example of what Covey coined as Seek first to understand before being understood. I wish someine had shared this with me much earlier in my career. A real game changer.