Due: 12th May
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:
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
- Analyse your current communication style and its impact on interactions within the school community.
- Apply strategies for crafting clear, concise, and culturally responsive messages for diverse audiences.
- Demonstrate active listening techniques to enhance understanding and build stronger relationships.
- Facilitate open and honest communication within your team and across the school.
- Develop clear, concise, and appropriate written communication for various school contexts.
- Foster a culture of respectful and inclusive communication within your sphere of influence.
Learning Material:
As middle leaders, your ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, is fundamental to your success and the well-being of your teams and the wider school community. This module will explore key aspects of communication, empowering you to build stronger connections and foster a more collaborative environment.
Crafting Clear and Concise Messages:
Effective communication begins with clarity. To ensure your messages are easily understood and impactful, consider the principles outlined by the Plain Language Commission New Zealand. Their resources emphasise using clear and direct language, structuring information logically, and tailoring your message to the audience – crucial elements for effective communication within our diverse school environments. This article is a good place to start thinking about your own communications at your kura – https://www.newleaders.org/blog/inclusive-effective-communication-4-strategies-for-education-leaders Also have a look at this resource from TKI, which is aimed at principals but has many helpful points for all leaders in improving communication in a school environment – https://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Managing-your-school/Guides-for-managing-your-school/Effective-communications
The Power of Active Listening:
Truly understanding others requires more than just hearing their words. Julian Treasure’s TED Talk, “5 ways to listen better” (https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better), offers practical techniques to enhance your active listening skills. By focusing on presence, asking clarifying questions, and empathising with the speaker, you can build stronger relationships and gain a deeper understanding of perspectives within your teams.
Fostering Open Communication:
Creating a culture where open and honest dialogue thrives is essential for trust and collaboration. Explore this article for some tips on how to do this – https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbescoachescouncil/2023/05/31/20-smart-ways-managers-can-foster-more-open-dialogue-in-the-workplace/
Developing Effective Written Communication:
In your role as a middle leader, you will frequently communicate in writing with various stakeholders. Focus on the strategies of clarity and conciseness, knowing your audience, providing opportunities for clarification, and being consistent and transparent. Again, this article is aimed at principals but has tips that are applicable to all. To ensure your written communication is professional, clear, and achieves its intended purpose, consider the guidance offered here – https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-principals-here-are-4-simple-tips-to-communicate-better/2023/06
Task: Reflecting on and Applying Communication Skills:
Consider a recent interaction (verbal or written) you had within the school community.
Discuss one of the following scenarios with your learning partner and post your collaborative response on the forum (max. 150 words):
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- Scenario A (Verbal): A staff member on your team consistently misses deadlines and their communication about progress is often vague. Brainstorm two distinct communication strategies you could use to address this verbally, incorporating principles of clear communication and active listening.
- Scenario B (Written): You need to inform parents about a change in the school’s drop-off procedure. Draft two key elements of your written communication (e.g., subject line and first sentence, or two key pieces of information conveyed) ensuring they are clear, concise, and audience-appropriate, drawing on the principles from the New Leaders article.
Assessment:
- Discussion with learning partner
- Collaborative post on the forum
- Engagement with reading materials
9 Responses
Scenario A
A staff member on your team constantly misses deadlines, and their communication about progress is often vague:
Strategy 1: Objective and Collaborative. Start the conversation on a positive note, appreciate and acknowledge the effort they are making. Then address the specific behaviours (missed deadlines, vague updates) in a non-judgmental way that you are focusing on the issue, not the person. As they explain what’s going on, and they ignore the issue, then I need to work hard at demonstrating active listening by avoiding the need to rebut and remain objective. Try to remain focused on what I might learn instead of what I want to teach them, then collaborate with my staff member to generate solutions, and discern and determine whether a catch up is needed to support them.
Strategy 2: Make bank – the deposit and withdrawal analogy. You can’t withdraw from what you haven’t deposited into. So, focus on building an environment of trust as a foundation for productive conversations, so if or when situations like this happen, you can go back to or withdraw from this strategy. This will make what could seem like a “hard conversation” just a conversation. Also, within the conversation and where appropriate, show some vulnerability by sharing my own experiences with challenges or mistakes I’ve made and learnings. This approach can increase psychological safety, narrowing the nature of an awkward gap of incompetence and encourage my staff member to reflect and improve.
Scenario A: Verbal Communication Strategies
A team member is consistently missing deadlines and provides vague updates. Two key strategies can be used to address this:
Strategy 1: Curious and Supportive Approach
Begin the conversation with genuine curiosity and empathy. Consider what might be affecting their performance — personal challenges, workload, or inexperience (e.g. beginning teacher, parent responsibilities). Open the discussion with something non-confrontational like, “I noticed you weren’t at the last staff meeting — is everything okay?” Listen actively, be patient, and create space for them to open up. Use open-ended questions to draw out their perspective and make it clear you’re there to support them, not to judge.
Strategy 2: Safe and Direct Conversation
If the staff member’s vagueness stems from fear of reprimand, it’s important to create a safe, non-judgemental space where they feel comfortable being honest. As a leader, reflect on how your approachability may affect their openness. At the same time, be clear about expectations — communicate that their contributions are valued and their presence is necessary. Use firm but respectful language to reinforce that meeting deadlines and attending commitments are part of team accountability. If needed, offer alternative support, like connecting them with another staff member they may feel more comfortable talking to.
Scenario B
Scenario B (Written): You need to inform parents about a change in the school’s drop-off procedure. Draft two key elements of your written communication (e.g., subject line and first sentence, or two key pieces of information conveyed) ensuring they are clear, concise and audience-appropriate, drawing on the principles from the New Leaders article.)
Subject line: Changes to our Drop Off Procedures
“Dear parents and caregivers,
will be implementing changes to drop off procedures to ensure the safety of our students. Due to traffic congestion at gate xx and the risks this poses for student and staff safety we will no longer be opening this gate for parents/ caregivers to drop off their students. Instead, please drop your student off at gate x or y as seen on the map below.”
Scenario A (Verbal): A staff member on your team consistently misses deadlines and their communication about progress is often vague. Brainstorm two distinct communication strategies you could use to address this verbally, incorporating principles of clear communication and active listening.
Strategy 1 – approach the staff member with genuine curiosity, ask them what’s happening for them that they are missing deadlines, consider what might be going on for them at work/ personal life before having the conversation to see if you have any inklings/ consider support strategies prior eg. Are they a beginning teacher? Do they have kids? Is there an issue of overwhelm etc…
Strategy 2 – It seems like this person is being vague maybe because they don’t want to get in trouble – set up a safe space to allow for an honest chat. Kind of relates to my strategy 1, but if this staff member doesn’t feel safe to be honest with you, that’s a you problem – what can we do as leaders to be approachable
Scenario B (Written): You need to inform parents about a change in the school’s drop-off procedure. Draft two key elements of your written communication (e.g., subject line and first sentence, or two key pieces of information conveyed) ensuring they are clear, concise and audience-appropriate, drawing on the principles from the New Leaders article.)
Subject line: Changes to our Drop Off Procedures
“Dear parents and caregivers,
will be implementing changes to drop off procedures to ensure the safety of our students. Due to traffic congestion at gate xx and the risks this poses for student and staff safety we will no longer be opening this gate for parents/ caregivers to drop off their students. Instead, please drop your student off at gate x or y as seen on the map below.”
Scenario A:
The way I would approach this would be two-pronged.
1- Have proactive conversations with my colleague before the due date. Perhaps involve them in the creation of the deadline itself if the context is appropriate to do so. Check in with them a week out from the deadline (only one check in so they don’t feel as though they are being micro-managed) to see how they are tracking and if they have any questions about the task.
2- Have an honest conversation soon after missing the deadline. I would ask questions first such as “I’ve noticed that your last few deadlines haven’t been met and I was wondering what we can do as a team to meet these moving forward? What have been some of the challenges that have made these hard to meet? How can I better empower you to meet future deadlines consistently? I would then listen to what they have to say, and ask deeper questions based on their responses. From there I would collaborate with them on next steps moving forward, while making expectations clear for them.
Strategy A:
One strategy is to be proactive and take a collaborative approach to designing the timeline of expectations together. For example, as a marking team, identify the first benchmark meeting date, expectations and checkpoints, and when final moderation will occur. We have found that when staff are included in the setting of deadlines, they are much more likely to follow them. It also allows time to discuss those choke points that occur in the workflow and whether we can mitigate them in any way preemptively.
When staff are aware of the impact their not meeting milestones has on colleges, they are more likely to work toward them. By having a clear schedule, it also provides the backdrop for those conversations when staff fail to meet deadlines. So the second step would then be to have that restorative (active listening) conversation and identify why the staff member has been unable to meet the timeline proposed and what the expectations are moving forward and put any support in place that is needed.
I really like your idea about co-constructing deadlines with team members here Leanne and think this would be a great way of possibly targeting these challenges.
Scenario A-
One response might be having an open, honest, and transparent conversation. Being courageous. “I have noticed you have missed the last few deadlines that we have had. I am wondering what we can do together to achieve these being done? What are some of the challenge’s you are facing? How might I help support you?” Understand and show empathy. Listen to what they have to say- to gain perspective and a possible narrative that might be happening for them. This could be an easy fix of offering strategies like; supporting them to break down the task into bite size chunks or having regular check-ins to offer support etc. It might be that something big is happening at home and they are struggling with the current work load while this is on top. Protect their mana by asking the question and listening to listen opposed to listening for a response. This will whakamana the person.
Another response might be- Ask the team to send through regular updates (through email) on how they are going and where they are up to with their task that is due. This way that person potentially won’t feel targeted and you get the information on where everyone in your team is up to. You could then offer tautoko to those that might be further behind. This opens a space for clear communication, accountability (as it is in written form), a chance to clarify their understanding of the task, gain support and share challenges or barriers that are getting in their way.
Scenario A:
One strategy we believe could be effective is taking a proactive approach. This would involve speaking with the staff member ahead of the deadline. In this conversation, we would clearly communicate when the deadline is and ask for an update on their current progress. Our focus would be on gathering specific information, such as how many tasks remain. By doing this, we could identify any potential roadblocks early. We believe this would help the staff member stay accountable and reduce the likelihood of a last-minute rush to complete everything.
Our second strategy applies when a staff member has already missed a deadline. In that case, the conversation would focus on active listening and constructive feedback. The aim would be to understand the underlying causes of the repeated delays. We would create a supportive space where the staff member feels safe to share their challenges and thoughts about the current systems. By asking open-ended questions and listening closely to their responses, we could identify patterns or recurring issues. This would help us uncover any obstacles in the workflow and encourage collaborative problem-solving. Rather than addressing just the symptoms, this approach aims to tackle the root causes and promote lasting improvement.
Jess, Wessel & John
I like your korero here guys around not addressing the symptoms (reactional) but tackling the root- to “promote lasting improvement.” Being proactive. Which is more mana enhancing and positive long term. Thanks for your sharing.