Author: janine

The end of week 5 of the school year has just ended. You are half way through the first term in your new role. How do you feel? Is it going smoothly? 90 days into any new job, the hope is that you have hit the break-even point where you are consuming the same amount of resources and energy as you are giving back to the organisation.  Right now, you are just over a third of the way along that journey, however, you should be seeing some successes and feeling as if your work is making a positive difference on the organization and the people around you. If not, it is time to secure some early wins. If you can’t see them happening, then it is timely to return to the notes you made from your early meetings with your line manager where you discussed your role and the aspects that are to be your key areas of focus.  Look over that list and identify one, or maybe two, that can be covered off more quickly and identify some steps towards achieving them that can be secured in the next few weeks and get going on them, remembering of course not to drop the bigger things you have been consistently working on over the last 5 weeks.

This week the focus of my article is on something I see many teachers do far too often and it’s not wise and more importantly it’s not healthy. It can also set up poor habits and a mindset that is difficult to shift once these habits become ingrained.  I want to remind you that in your work, whether it is in a school or any organization, you don’t work alone nor do you have to nor is it expected. Just because you teach inside a classroom does not mean that all your work, your thinking and your planning, has to be done on your own. The old proverb holds true ‘no man is an island’ and I’m going to add to this proverb that no woman is an island either.  In your leadership role, there are times when you will need to make the decision, but his doesn’t mean that the decision needs to be made without consultation or the gathering of advice or the opinion and attitude of your team members. And just because you seek the advice and input of others does not mean that you don’t necessarily know how to make the decision or know how to address a problem. Nor does it mean you are a poor leader. So please remove these negative mindsets from your thinking right now before they creep into permanent thought.

When you started this role you formulated goals and a vision for your year ahead and what you wanted to do in your work.. A good leader shares that vision with their team and excites them about the journey ahead. The leader inspires the team to see the benefits of achieving the goals and of living the vision and ideally keeps reinforcing this message with the necessary enthusiasm and support and with some regularity so as to keep the group moving forward and enjoying the ride along the way. In effect, keeping the vision buoyant on the sea even when the weather changes or the wind direction shifts. It is worth checking in with yourself, are you doing this? Is your team still aware of the direction they are heading and do they feel supported along the journey? Have you been recognising their efforts to move in this new direction and in that recognition having you been acknowledging them, their attitude and celebrating the small steps forward individually and as a team? If not, add this to your ‘To Do’ this for this week.

It is too easy to think that the only person to get something done and done well is to do it yourself. Sure the task will get done but at the expense of what? If you are travelling a lone journey towards your team’s vision, it is not your team’s vision at all. It is just yours.  You cannot share the success with anyone. You have not united your team and built strong collegiate relationships. Nor have you developed and empowered your team members to take on new challenges and learn new skills. Oh and what’s more there has definitely been no delegation! But there has been lots of control. So that’s a good thing, right? Wrong! Time to regroup.

Through delegating tasks you develop skills and leadership in others. Through sharing your vision and helping your team to see the benefits of the direction you are taking, they will be more likely and be more willing to join you on the journey. Giving them tasks to get involved and through encouraging them to come up with suggestions and ideas to help achieve the vision and allowing them to carry out these actions empowers them to be a part of the direction and to take ownership of the results. Now there is excitement across the group and together you can share in the challenges, difficulties and successes that you make together. Sure you have less direct control but in the long term you are developing a stronger more capable team that are move forward together. The time you gain through delegating to others you can use to encourage your team, recognize their successes, even meet with your colleagues in other areas of the organization to learn what they are doing and to plan the next steps towards achieving your vision.  You are not an island! Remember to bring your team along with you on the journey and enjoy it together.

• The Leading Edge: Women in Education Conference – October 2022

  Tuesday, 18 October,6:30 pm–Sunday, 23 October,2:30 pm

• Coach Certification Program – Term 4 2022 – Module 3 of Elevating Leadership Program

  Friday, 28 October,9:00 am–3:30 pm

• Leadership and the DISC – Term 4 2022 – Module 1 Elevating Leadership Program

  Monday, 7 November,9:00 am–3:30 pm

• Managing Conflict – Term 4 2022 – Module 2 of Elevating Leadership Program

  Friday, 11 November,9:00 am–3:30 pm

• The Leading Edge: Women in Education Conference – October 2022

  Tuesday, 18 October,6:30 pm–Sunday, 23 October,2:30 pm

• Coach Certification Program – Term 4 2022 – Module 3 of Elevating Leadership Program

  Friday, 28 October,9:00 am–3:30 pm

• Leadership and the DISC – Term 4 2022 – Module 1 Elevating Leadership Program

  Monday, 7 November,9:00 am–3:30 pm

• Managing Conflict – Term 4 2022 – Module 2 of Elevating Leadership Program

  Friday, 11 November,9:00 am–3:30 pm

This is the third article in my series written for the teacher stepping into a new role.  My hope is that this series of articles will help you smoothly transition into your new role and start kicking goals quickly. Leadership is still leadership, so if you are not a teacher, what I have written here will equally apply to you.

In my first article, I wrote about getting clarity around your new role and setting you up for a meeting with your manager to make sure you are both on the same page. How did that meeting go? Last week I wrote about developing collegiate relationships with those around you, in your team, with your manager and most importantly with the people who are at the same level of the organisation. I am hoping you have started to make connections, had a few coffees and a few comfortable exchanges as you passed through offices. This week, the focus is on stepping up and out of your comfort zone, the safe space of tasks and areas that you know well. These articles are based on ideas expressed by Michael Watkins in his book, The First 90 Days. I encourage you to buy it, in hard copy, and read it from cover to cover and make yourself notes all over it.

In your application for your new role, you will have written about and talked to the projects you have managed, or the initiatives you have taken or how you have met the various interpersonal challenges when dealing with colleagues, parents and students. All of that got you the job. These are your strengths and usually the things that you like to do, because you know them and have practiced the necessary skills. You will know that in all the work that you do there are some aspects you really enjoy and get lost in, sometimes for hours, and then there are those aspects that you know need to be done, and you put them off for as long as you can. In your new role there will more tasks that are new and different, that you haven’t done before and may not know how to do and they push and test your skills and knowledge. Just as well, you have started to build those relationships with others in the same level as you in your organization as these people will be able to help you to get a handle on those tasks where some assistance is needed.

You got the job because of your strengths but relying too much on what made you successful in the past can be fatal, according to Michael Watkins in The First 90 Days. He has a good way of assessing your problem preferences, the kinds of problems toward which you naturally gravitate.  Your preferences have influenced you to move towards jobs where you can do more of what you like. And as result, those skills have been perfected and you feel most competent in those areas.  He uses the analogy that it is like exercising the right arm and ignoring the left. The strong arm gets stronger and the other atrophies. The risk is that an imbalance occurs and then you move into a role where you need to use both arms together.

Look at the table below, which I have modified from Watkins’ book to suit a teacher’s world, and use it to assess your intrinsic interest in solving problems in each of the areas on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means very little interest and 10 means a great deal of interest.

Now transfer your rankings from the table above to the table below into the corresponding cells. Then add the three columns and five rows.

The column totals represent your preferences among technical, political and cultural problems. Technical problems include strategies, marketing and processes. Political problems are about power, influence and alliances in the organization. Cultural problems are about the culture and climate in your organization which is influenced by values, norms, guiding assumptions and ‘the way things are done’ in your workplace.

If one column total is noticeably lower than the others, it represents a potential ‘blind spot’ for you. This means that you will steer clear of this area or worse, won’t see the need to take action. If you score high on technical aspects and low on culture and politics, you might not be seeing the people issues that need to be addressed.

The row totals represent your preferences for the various business functions. A low score in any row suggests that you prefer not to deal with problems in that functional area – more potential ‘blind spots’.

This exercise will help you to identify where you most like solving problems and where you are less eager to sit with problems. It will highlight potential weak spots in the way you work and therefore areas where you may not be seeing the issues clearly or acting quick enough.  To overcome or compensate for these vulnerabilities you can do some basic things:

1. Be stronger with your own self-discipline and push yourself outside your comfort zone to tackle some of the areas that you find less enjoyable,
2. Work on some of your less favourite activities with others in a team approach,
3. Get some help from others who have more experience in the areas that are less familiar. Look around your organization for people who you can see are strong in the areas where you would like to develop and set up a mentor arrangement. You can also reach out to people in your network that may be in similar roles to you in other schools and seek their support. I am sure there will be times where you can share your strengths with them in return.
4. Get yourself a coach and meet with them once a month so they gently push you out of your comfort zone and get you tackling those ‘blind spots’ with greater confidence.

So that leads me to tell you about The Leadership Exchange. This is a meeting group for educators in Melbourne, a network by any other name. We like to call it an ‘exchange’ because during the meeting two or three speakers share their knowledge about various topics pertinent to education and leadership and we also hear some good advice from a leadership coach; that would be me. The Exchange occurs once per term with the meeting starting at 6.00pm, ending at 8.30pm, with a break to eat and drink and connect with other educators. Too many educators in schools are not connecting enough. The internet is only one way to connect, but to know people because you have made a connection in person is worth so much more. I encourage you to attend and I also suggest that you pay the registration fee yourself. Don’t ask your school to pay it. This event is designed around building your own professional reputation. This is where you need to invest in yourself. The next Leadership Exchange is on Wednesday 8 March. Here is the link to book and get more information.

Please let me know how this problem preference exercise was for you. Remember, I am happy to assist you as your coach, meeting once a month, and helping to move you out of your comfort zone. Being a past school leader I know the world of a teacher very well.

About the author: Janine Stratford is an Executive Coach working with school leaders. She provides leadership coaching developing greater clarity, consistency and confidence in leadership, direction and workplace relationships. Janine’s company is Coaching Focus. www.coachingfocus.com.au