Due: 9th June
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, participants will be able to:
- Understand the key elements of high-performing teams.
- Develop strategies for building trust and fostering collaboration within teams.
- Understand and apply the principles of shared accountability within a team context.
- Identify and address potential barriers to team effectiveness.
- Develop and implement strategies for creating a positive and supportive team culture.
High Performing Leaders are ‘Networked Leaders’ who build leadership capacity in individuals, and in institutions, through enhancing professional relationships. Partnerships are based on the importance of maximising potential, and harnessing the ongoing commitment and energy needed to meet personal and professional goals.
High Performing Leaders follow a process of reflection, introspection and then connection. Through coaching and guidance, they decipher their strengths, areas for development and focused improvement.
As school leaders reflecting on your own leadership, and ways in which you can more effectively facilitate learning, the goal of this korero is to work with each other as coaches and mentors, creating deep learning relationships within professional practice.
One of the essential ingredients of high performing individuals, teams and organisations is creativity (Basadur, 2004). Being creative means releasing talent and imagination. It also means taking risks and, in some cases, standing outside the usual or accepted way of doing things. High performing leaders push boundaries; they seek new ways of seeing, interpreting, understanding and questioning.
Relational Trust
“High trust relationships exist when leaders are respected for their deep educational knowledge, their actions and values, and the way they engage respectfully with others with empathy and humility, fostering openness in discussions. Leaders have good emotional intelligence and self-awareness.”
– Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018.
Trust provides a strong foundation for effective working relationships which, ultimately, has a positive impact on student achievement. Trust has been shown time and time again to have a huge benefit in leading change and in creating great teams. Teams and schools with trusting relationships have staff who are open to sharing practice, taking risks and sharing what is and isn’t going well in their teaching. However, it does not happen by accident and it is not built in the same way for every person, depending on their personal narrative. As a middle leader, it is important to intentionally work to build trust with colleagues, whānau and community.
- Reading 1: Trust in educational leadership settings – https://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Professional-information/Leadership-capability-framework/High-trust-relationships#:~:text=High%20trust%20relationships%20exist%20when,emotional%20intelligence%20and%20self%2Dawareness.
- Reading 2: “Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Reform” B. Schneider. – https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/trust-in-schools-a-core-resource-for-school-reform
- Reading 3: “How the Best Leaders Build Trust” S. Covey. – https://www.leadershipnow.com/CoveyOnTrust.html
Collaborative Teams
Reading 4: https://www.arts.on.ca/oac/media/aire/Documents/IdeasIntoActionBulletin3.pdf
Reading 5: Collective teacher efficacy – https://visible-learning.org/2018/03/collective-teacher-efficacy-hattie/
Additional Resources:
– Working effectively with iwi and hapū, Melanie Taite-Pitama: https://vimeo.com/242861287
– Legacy – 15 Lessons in Leadership, by James Kerr (2013). Chapter 6 pp 74-83
– Open-to-Learning Conversations- Relationships and Trust, Viviane Robinson, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_l5-HKIR1s
Optional Resources:
– Connecting with Māori Communities; Whānau, Hapū and Iwi, Mere Berryman and Therese Ford, 2014:
https://kep.org.nz/assets/resources/site/module8-v20a-up-16Apr15-w-image_5Jan16.pdf
– Robertson, J. (2015). Think-piece on leadership education in New Zealand. Leadership for communities of learning: Five think pieces. https://teachingcouncil.nz/assets/Files/Leadership-Strategy/Leadership-for-Communities-of-Learning-Five-Think-Pieces.pdf
- “Five Faces of Trust: An Empirical Confirmation in Urban Elementary Schools.” – W. Hoy and M. Tschannen-Moran. – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NBTBXVSjokVr_RPx3Qlze-Ao3E1m6XWI/view?usp=sharing
Task:
Reflect on the readings and identify one thing that you could do in your role to improve the function of your team. What would you do and what impact would you expect that to have?
Assessment:
- Completion of all readings.
- Participation in the online forum discussion.
- Submission of reflection on the forum.
21 Responses
From these readings, the thing that stuck out the most for me was that trust needs to be gained, from both the leader AND the teaching team. In my school environment, I think the hardest thing to overcome is delegation and this comes solely down to trust. When our current leader took over the team leader role, they didn’t trust us to complete a set task to their standard and that in turn made us feel inadequate to help within our team. Our leader would delegate things and then just do the task themselves, out of fear that they wouldn’t be completed to the same standard.
After a VERY courageous conversation (maybe more of an intervention looking back at it now) our team took the time to speak with our leader and explain how we were feeling. Although it was an uncomfortable chat, it made our leader realise what they were doing (and it would seem they didn’t actually know they were doing it – or at least didn’t mean any harm by it). It also helped us to grow as a team, knowing we could trust each other to do what was asked without needing to have it ‘checked’.
As a result, we have a highly successful and functional team and delegation is now something we can joke about.
When taking on the role of leadership, it is important to realise that you can’t run that ship on your own. You need to trust and to be trusted. This filters through from the top leadership all the way down to your students. It helps to build value within the team and everyone can be confident moving forward.
Femke, I admire you and your team members having the couragious conversation with your leader. To me it appears that there is an environment/culture in your school where you can be open, honest and vulnerable. Love that fact that the leader responded appropriately and together you have achieved the desired outcomes.
I currently lead a high-functioning team that works incredibly well together, collaborating and being innovative in the Junior Secondary space of our school. I have two new leaders in my team, that after reading the quote from the educational leadership capabilities framework, and listening to Viviane Robinson speak, I think that one of the things I am going to add next term is taking my leaders through the leadership capabilities: Building and sustaining high trust relationships so as to build their leadership capacity, and their relational trust within the team. I have had to have a few ‘courageous conversations’ regarding the value of relationship and how some actions can undermine this within our team already, so my hope in doing this is that they will grow as leaders, that the culture of my team will continue to be one of trust, respect and openness and that through this, more collaboration and innovation will take place.
Well done Liezl in having courageous conversations around the importance of building positive relationships. Great idea sharing the leadership capabilities with your new leaders.
After reading “Trust in educational leadership settings”, one action I could take to improve my team’s function is to implement regular, structured check-ins to build trust and open communication. This would involve a brief weekly team meeting to share successes, discuss priorities, and address any concerns in a safe and supportive environment. I feel like these meetings are often scheduled, but are the 1st thing to go when school gets busy.
By implementing these meetings, I would be modelling transparency, consistency, and respect, all key elements of high-trust leadership. I would expect this to strengthen relationships within the team and encourage more open, honest dialogue. Over time, this would enhance collaboration, boost morale, and foster a more united and effective team. Ultimately, fostering trust in this way would support both staff wellbeing and improved outcomes for our learners, which is always the goal!
Amy, the strategies you have suggested to increase and maintain trust among your team are excellent and will over time have the desired outcomes that you have outlined.
Kia ora whānau!
In my team, my team leader is undecided about whether they will leave or stay on the staff team due to personal reasons. Because of this, they have tapped out of extra efforts in their teaching and leading, and it has created an apathetic culture for our planning and teaching engagement. One challenge in the team, as a result, is that it can end up being the student’s fault for not learning, and so John Hattie’s words “It is us that causes learning, not the students…” really stuck out. Although I respect my team leader and I have a great working relationship with them, my challenge is to raise our expectations of what we expect of each other in the way we teach. We have a good level of trust in the team, so I want to try not to undermine their authority, but still have the hard conversation about raising our standards of teaching. I want to have a planning meeting to establish expectations for our team in the way we function, and to encourage my team leader to take personal accountability for their teaching, rather than focusing on external reasons why students are not learning. I will use a lot of “we” and “us” language, not to target, and will try and offer a perspective of wanting to be responsible for what we can control in our teaching.
The end goal or impact I want from this is to keep each other accountable when we start blaming external factors for lack of teaching, promoting a reflection about what we could have done better. I expect that this will be very difficult to achieve based on small interactions about this with my team leader. I would love any feedback on what has worked!
Tom, thank you for sharing the challenges that your team is facing. I would like the opportunity to discuss this with you at our Term 3 coaching sessions.
For me, trust is a major factor in how our team works together. I started at a time where trust in our unit and staff were significantly low so it was crucial to gain the trust of the team, whanau, students and all other stakeholders within the school. Honesty, transparency and fairness is crucial to build trust and I have made this a priority. Taking on challenges and working together through difficult times and decisions have been hard, yet rewarding when I reflect on how far the team has come. One thing that stood out to me in these readings was that it is often harder to maintain trust than to build it, and I see that regularly. I try to remain committed to deal with uncomfortable situations as they arise and not “wait for a better time to confront someone” and to deal with issues that come up within the team, leadership and whanau.
I am like you and try to remain committed to deal with uncomfortable situations asap rather than procrastinating with them, it is better for everyone and saves stressing over something and putting it off.
Sanet, well done on building and maintaining trust in your team through honesty, transparency, fairness, working together and dealing with uncomfrtable situations as they arise. – a mark of an excellent leader.
I know I bring my capabilities to the table in the space with my fellow dean colleagues and I work really hard in this space, frequently offering up my knowledge and ways to use data and where this data comes from, and I have trust with the whānau and students I work with. My area of work on is 2-fold as there are many relational trust issues further up the food chain that erodes trust among all colleagues and learning how to manage this accordingly without further eroding the trust that does exist. This was really summed up for me reading the TKI reading on High trust relationships, as outlined in the BES framework in that reading it highlighted that there are certain key elements of this trust are not consistently evident in the leadership above me. This can make the middle leadership role particularly complex and, at times, isolating.
There are aspects we are doing well. For example, I see a strong commitment to: Integrating the needs of adults with advancing the best interests of students AND prioritising the needs of students when those needs conflict with those of staff – ensuring students remain at the heart of our decision-making.
However, there are other areas where the leadership practice could be strengthened to build deeper relational trust among the entire community. In particular: Making critical decisions collectively, with a shared focus on what is best for students is often lacking. At times, it feels as though decisions are made in silos, with limited collaboration or a shared sense of direction – we are currently undertaking a Year 9 curriculum rewrite that has been nicely that we all need to get on board with… without concerns being listened to or acknowledged and providing transparent explanations for differential treatment of staff is another area of concern. Inconsistent responses and a lack of clear communication can lead to perceptions of unfairness and erode trust. These gaps are impacting the overall culture and make it harder for myself and other middle leaders.
Dionne thank you for sharing the difficulties that you are facing as a middle leader. As you rightly suggest, making decisions collectively with a shared focus on best outcomes for students will build deeper trust. I am looking forward to our next coaching seassion and discussing how it is progressing.
My understanding of effective leadership from the readings is that it involves fostering a genuine collaborative culture, focusing on transformative practices that yield improvements in both teaching and student learning outcomes. For me a focus engaging teachers in decision-making processes that directly impact their work, such as curriculum development, reporting, school policies, and professional development. Through this I would hope to foster a sense of ownership, trust and mutual respect. It’s also important to maintain a clear vision of the desired outcomes of collaboration—improved teaching and student achievement—rather than merely viewing collaboration as a trend or process (I felt this was a great point presented in the article, Ideas Into Action).
You are absolutely right Alastair, engaging teachers in decisiion making will assist in building trust, sense of ownership, shared vision and in improving teacher practice and student achievement. Also teachers will feel valued (their opions matter) and that decisions are made with them rather than done to them.
One thing I can do as a Team Leader to improve the function of the team is to facilitate more opportunities for staff to learn from each other. I plan to rejig our team meetings to focus more on shared learning instead of always admin! I plan on reshaping these meetings so that team members are given more time and space to learn from each other, have more open discussions about their practice and challenges they have, and then invite others in the team to share possible solutions to these problems. To also support this, I will encourage more peer observations which I will make happen by covering teacher’s classes on my own release day. This will give the team time to observe colleagues outside of their usual CRT allocation.
This will have a positive impact on both the individuals and the team as a whole. It will help build relational trust, grow individual capacity, and create a culture where curiosity, vulnerability become the norm.
Lindi, facilitating more time for staff to learn from each other is effective in strengthening team trust, team performance and better outcomes for students. Your strategies to achieve this are excellent. I admire you commitment to this by giving up some of your time to release your staff to observe each other.
To improve the functioning of my team, I am going to address a situation with a teacher who is underperforming in her role. Using the knowledge from the previous module I have confidence that I can effectively communicate with her, address the issues, find a collaborative direction forward and set clear measurable goals. The impact I expect to see is, improved performance, a positive relationship moving forward with our underperforming teacher, students needs being met and trust built with all staff. Viviane Robinson states ‘education is a team business’. Our underperforming teacher not only affects the students but the other teachers. By addressing the situation I am building trust with other staff by showing them I can address and find a way forward with challenging situations.
Your commitment to attending to an underperforming teacher and the strategies you outline as a way forward are excellent Beth. I look forward to hearing the outcome(s) at our coaching session. The Viviane quote is most appropriate for this situation.
With the disestablishment of Kāhui Ako, I believe that it is imperative that Networked Learning continues to occur. “Networked learning: occurs when people from different schools engage with one another to learn together, to innovate and to enquire into their collective practices.” (Ideas into Action Bulletin, https://www.arts.on.ca/oac/media/aire/Documents/IdeasIntoActionBulletin3.pdf ) I would use the connections that I already have to actively maintain meaningful collaboration with other schools, so that ideas and best practice are shared, critiqued and refined. I think that connecting with; colleagues and students from other schools, experts, mentors and coaches will have a powerful impact on morale and can only strengthen my team’s practice.
Networked Learning, to me, is about gaining insights and improving our team’s function by observing others and troubleshooting conversations outside my own school.
Nicola I love your commitment to networking and gaining outside perspectives. I agree that it is an important strategy in strengthening your teams morale, insights, function and practice.