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.
7 Responses
I have found some good truths, and good reminders, in the second reading about trust. It raised a number of examples where trust was integral to the well being and functioning of the team in a school, and I was able to reflect on the last couple of months and how the many ups and downs have revealed the trust that is (or isn’t) holding the members of the school community together. It discussed how strong relational trust will determine the quality of the outcome – or at least the perception of the attempt to come to an outcome. Do parents trust me? How am I building trust with them? Do my highly able students trust me? Do my struggling students trust me? Does my team trust me, and do I trust my team? Do I trust leadership to the extent that I can see through disagreement to the big picture? Perhaps this reading has raised more questions for me than answers, but it is such a good reminder to seek to build trust so the hard things can be done – and survived.
I believe that vulnerability and sharing responsibility will be my main area of focus. What I really need to work on is allowing my team to have input into things I currently believe are solely my responsibility, like term plans and overviews.
It’s not that I think of them as incompetent or lacking abiliy, not at all. It’s more that I sometimes get into this mindset of ‘this is my responsibility, so I’ll just do it all myself.’ Whereas, I’m realising that by genuinely sharing that responsibility and being a bit vulnerable, I actually create the space and opportunity for others to step in and grow but also have the opprortunity to lead. This lets them use their specific skills and talents, offering expertise or direction that I might not even have considered, which can only make our plans stronger. I believe that this will create a shared responsibility and team efficacy and ownership.
Good reflection Freddy, there is real power in letting people contribute and the sum of their skills and talents has to be greater than any one individual.
In the first reading, a quote that resonated with me was “the problem of how to balance being honest about issues and maintaining trust is never easy.” I believe myself to be a very open and honest person, my face gives away my thoughts and feelings before I can say something at times. This is something I need to continue to work on. I need to continue working on keeping my opinions to myself unless they are asked for in order to maintain not only the trust of my team but also the trust of my senior leadership team. I am working on pausing for 5 seconds to consider my answer before speaking as well as leaving space for others to speak and share. I do not always need to be the one that speaks.
Being the active listener and maintaining neutrality (of expression as well as tone) is a very useful skill to develop in managing team dynamics. The silent pause before responding is also powerful in that others will step into the gap and reveal their thinking.
Great reflection Charlotte, and strategy for catching up with team members. Active listening is one of the hardest skills to acquire, and also one of the most powerful
In the third reading by Stephen Covey provided a list of behaviours of a high-trust leader model. I reflected on all of them and recognised several things that I could improve at. If I were to only focus on one, I would choose to listen first. I often feel I am quick to give advice, even if it wasn’t asked for. Or I have a conversation and end up talking more about my problems than listening to those on my team. I would like to take 5 minutes a week to have a meaningful catch-up with my team members. Whether it be walking to our classrooms or having a cup of tea in the staff room, there is space for me to listen more.