We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by and tall grass waves in the wind (Don Henley)

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

End of the year, and that means a wrap up of staff appraisals, preparation for prizegiving (Recognition of Excellence in our case), staff functions, farewells, welcomes, final student reports and parent/teacher meetings, class excursions, final assessments, teacher only days, conclusion to NCEA external exams, junior market days, timetable decisions for next year, and a few other things I've probably forgotten about.

The academic year has to end sometime and so there's always a frenzy of activity before it. All part of the deal in schools the world over.

Huge thanks to everyone who stopped off and read a post of two during 2022. And, as always, huge kudos to the staff at the Hastings' campus in New Zealand - an extraordinary bunch of people doing exceptional work on a daily basis. They make my job a privilege and a pleasure every day. Really!

After my next post (my prizegiving speech), I'm going to take a break from Baggy Trousers until the new year. I'll aim to include some links and quotes before then, but that's probably it until we gear up again for the new school year in January.

See you then, inshallah.

Lessons from football leadership

I measure my life in four year FIFA World Cup cycles. As billions around the world know, it's currently on again in Qatar (Kuh-tar with the accent on the first syllable). I say billions because an estimated 5 billion people around Planet Earth will watch the games this month and next.

There is a lot to learn from how the teams perform. This can easily be applied to schools. BTW - I'm only concentrating on the football here, rather than the swirling controversies that the media love to exploit.

The team and individuals within the team, the role of the manager, body language, dealing with a loss and adversity, dealing with sudden success, strength of character, stamina and so on.

This applies to many sports teams and competitions, I realise that, but the biggest month in football, the world's most popular game, is particularly ripe for analysis and application.

Like many, I was predicting Argentina would win this year's version, and they still might despite the loss to Saudi Arabia - it will depend on many factors if they do ultimately succeed. Leadership will undoubtably feature.

We are currently in the group stages. This is always fascinating. Some teams immediately standout with statement wins (France, Spain and England as I write this) and some have chastening losses (Argentina and Germany so far) but who knows what may happen next. Maybe teams flatter to deceive, and it's always dodgy to read too much into England's group form.

I love watching how the managers go about their man management and support. I love watching how the referees go about their business. Everyone has a different style.

More games tomorrow. Anything can happen. Therein lies the beauty of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day, you fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way (Pink Floyd)

Photo by ADESH SRIVASTAVA on Unsplash

The four day working week has been the subject of an experiment in the UK with 73 companies and the results are looking promising. You can read the article here but I want to concentrate on how it might be applied to my workplace.

OneSchool Global is ideally positioned to use a four day week.

Currently we allow Year 11 to 13 students to have a day of 'Enrichment' - meaning they work from home for a set day each week (the day is up to them and they have to qualify for this privilege by meeting certain criteria - the old Ts and Cs idea). In practice all of the Year 11 to 13 students at my campus have been approved for Enrichment.

So, effectively, they already do a four day week at school and then a day off site doing study.

Their self-directedness has improved as a result of this, and, as that UK study indicates - 'One big finding was that people who work fewer hours in the week tend to get more sleep, which almost everyone in the scientific community agrees is key to productivity'.

A further bold OSG step would be to shorten the week for all students and staff. Say on a Wednesday.

Could happen. Self-directness could increase, and a mid week sleep catch up could help us all. 

Be here now.

 

I love this.

And, yes - everyone is doing the best they can. Especially important to keep that one in mind.

Won't you listen to what the man said (Paul McCartney)

Photo by Astrid Schaffner on Unsplash

Leadership is not easy. 

Actually, I'll rephrase: strong, effective leadership is not easy.

I guess, if it was - everyone would be doing it, right?

Dan Rockwell makes a great point about this when he says that leaders need to exude strength and be gentle enough to give in. In his words:

Fight for things you believe AND listen to others…AND change your mind when appropriate.

The trick is knowing when to fight, when to listen, when to reconsider.

A great fear for leaders is appearing weak and vulnerable - hence the urge when cornered to box on, not listen, and not rethink something.

Elon Musk is a good example, with his take over of Twitter becoming a case study in what not to do. Clearly, I am not privy to his mind and inner circle of advisors (does he even have any?) but on the surface he's made a right pig's ear of the takeover.

From outside, he looks like he acted quickly - far too quickly. I suspect he didn't listen to others and so he is needing to walk back some of his firings of  crucial Twitter staff. 

Thus, from the outside he looks weak, ineffectual, and even stupid. But clearly he's not amassed a huge fortune and gained weasel cunning over the years through being stupid.

But he sure looks like it now. Strong and effective leadership it sure isn't.

I pity the poor Twitter staff who he fired but now needs back desperately.

I am also really considering ending my Twitter account because of my low confidence in him as a leader. 

Twitter won't miss me, and I won't miss Twitter necessarily.

Camera, action, do it again (Boz Scaggs)

Photo by visuals on Unsplash

"Cameras on please!"

A familiar statement by me and many other teachers on zoom. If the camera is off and students are on mute there is no way to see if they are engaged or even in the vicinity. 

It's a must do for us at OSG but it seems to be a message that needs constant reinforcement.

There are some punitive approaches to this that I've tried before (back to the waiting room, warning then a lock out) but it just annoyed people (including a fellow Campus Principal). I'm keen to adopt more positive approaches.

So, here are some ideas to encourage cameras on.