Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction (John Crosby)

As part of my teacher inquiry I'll continue to analyse some key words/ concepts:

• Strategic leadership of the CP
• Line-management of the CP
• Mentoring the CP
• Coaching the CP
• Supporting the CP

Today - mentoring.

During my career, I've had a few mentors. Three, actually. These have mostly been older males who I've turned to for advice and guidance. One was a teacher (who remains a mentor after fifty years), another a Principal (who remained a mentor until he passed away), and the third a colleague - a fellow Principal (who was a mentor until he left our school).

A couple of things guided my choice of mentor. One is that I have to have trust in the person to give me that advice and secondly, they need to have that essential experience to be able to provide me with that advice.

In my own experience, it's a great way to learn from the other's experience if the relationship is there, but I'm not sure it can be imposed on people. I chose my mentors is my point.

A mentor's role, as I've seen it defined, is to use their experience 'to help a (usually) junior employee by supporting them in their work and career, providing comments on their work, and, most crucially, offering direction to mentees as they work through problems and circumstances at work.'

Mentoring has an informal aspect to it, and is usually face-to-face. It's more personal, long-term and relationship focused. That doesn't sound like it applies too neatly to the District Principal/ Campus Principal roles. 

Bottom line, I'd be wary of having a mentor assigned to me that I didn't have a relationship with, and so, I'd be wary of being imposed on someone else.

Coaching is what I'll explore next.

 

A manager sets objectives, organizes, motivates, and communicates, sets yardsticks, and measures to develop people (Peter Drucker)

Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash

As part of my teacher inquiry I'll continue to analyse some key words/ concepts:

• Strategic leadership of the CP
• Line management of the CP
• Mentoring the CP
• Coaching the CP
• Supporting the CP

Today - line management

Line managers directly manage other employees and day-to-day operations while reporting to a higher ranking manager.

The operative word here is 'directly'. Heads of departments directly manage their teachers, my Primary Lead Teacher directly manages her team, and, as CP, I directly manage the staff at my campus.

Each of my three CP's is directly responsible for:

• Following the recruitment process with HR and selecting the appropriate candidates. 
• Professional development and coaching of their staff. 
• Completing the performance appraisal for their staff. 
• The day to day running of their campus which includes running Lean meetings, motivating their staff, monitoring their well-being and building the team culture. 
• The campus goals are also their responsibility. 
• Adopting (with the support of senior management) any type of organisational culture change.

In summary: I don't have the ability (or the desire) to directly micro-manage my district's CPs. In short - they are line managers of their own campus teams. I do have an interest in helping the CP's build a positive campus culture, but I think that falls more in the coaching area than direct line-management.

I can see how the term applies to the UK situation as their District Principals do not have a home campus to lead, but in OSG NZ's case this term has a very limited application to the work of District Principals. 

Next up: Mentoring

I’m here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction (Mark Zuckerberg)

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

As part of my teacher inquiry I'll continue to analyse some key words/ concepts:

• Strategic leadership of the CP
• Line-management of the CP
• Mentoring the CP
• Coaching the CP
• Supporting the CP

Today - strategic leadership.

This is a tricky one because a) the organisation's leadership, comprising various directors of studies/ HR/ operations and so on, provides the overall strategic direction and b) when it is devolved to the CPs it focuses on their individual leadership at a campus level (i.e. they are responsible for following that strategic direction with their staff and other stakeholders).

Having said that, there is an area of overview regarding the analytical and human dimensions for each campus' strategic direction that is relevant to the District Principal role. This would dovetail with the monitoring of the Campus Culture rubric.

 

The variable is how strategic overview translates into action as it varies from leader to leader. It's possible the District Principal can advise and coach on the strategic leadership they witness and gauge how CPs develop and adjust their strategy in terms of the human dimension and the analytical dimension. This would also be a natural part of an appraisal process but DPs are not currently appraising CPs.

Rather than providing 'bold, clear leadership that elicits confidence in their personal capabilities', District Principals will need to serve as a 'coach and guide who enables others to perform and stand in the limelight'.  In this way the focus is on guiding and responding 'while building commitment and empowerment among those building the strategy'.

That's a good place to stop.

Next up: Line-management considered.

It's hard to build momentum if you're dividing your attention (James Clear)

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James' comment above fits nicely with my feeling of receiving email messages during my study break.

Unfortunately admin people are not on the same holiday wavelength as teachers and staff in campuses so they keep firing emails out every day during the break.

That certainly divides attention, because each one is requiring different things. 

During my study break I triage them into essential (we're looking to make an appointment as soon as possible so that one fits), and everything else.

Unfortunately that means those inessential ones pile up, waiting until Monday, when I'm back in harness.

So be it. That's the price I pay for enjoying a stress free study break.

Plus, today is our 39th wedding anniversary, so things can certainly wait.

When your headlights aren’t on, the best rearview mirror available isn’t likely to improve your driving (Marth Rogers)

Photo by Yosef Futsum on Unsplash

Post a holiday weekend in Taupo, and still on my study break - my mind has turned towards my Teacher Inquiry.

I'm a big fan of the self-directed Teacher Inquiry method of professional development.

As an Edutopia article indicates: Adults have fully developed interests and methods through which they like to learn or obtain new information. Training in which the individual is allowed to explore a topic on their own time, and with their own methods, results in better information retention and application.

My particular topic is around exploring the purpose of the District Principal model that OneSchool Global has adopted as it relates to NZ.

According to the one-size-fits-all broad policy document:

• The primary objective is to strategically and operationally lead the work of Campus Principals (this fits for the UK version, but doesn't wholly apply to NZ as the Campus Principals are individually responsible for operational leadership of their individual campuses)
• Provide line management, mentoring and coaching to Campus Principals that is individualized, value-adding and fully aligned to the OSG vision, values and strategy (this appears to be the main purpose for the NZ version, although appraisal is not part of the line-management)
• Support the Campus Principal in all critical incidents (also part of the NZ purpose).

So. Where to from here?

Next - I think I need to spend some time analysing key words/ concepts like:

• Strategic leadership of the CP
• Line-management of the CP
• Mentoring the CP
• Coaching the CP
• Supporting the CP

The loveliest things in life are but shadows; they come and go, and change and fade away… (Charles Dickens, in Martin Chuzzlewit)

 

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

It's term break time, finally!!

I'd like to be sitting on that bench, reading, taking in the view, meditating. 

We're heading to Taupo for the weekend, so maybe that scene will play out.

In the meantime, my recent post on Wozza's Place touches on education, so I'll leave you with that until I get back.

Baby, you can drive my car (The Beatles)

Photo by Mars Williams on Unsplash

James Clear's quote about ambition and entitlement rang a bell last week. As I travelled between a few of my campuses I heard his wise words echoing in my brain.

"Ambition is when you expect yourself to close the gap between what you have and what you want.

Entitlement is when you expect others to close the gap between what you have and what you want."

Although it's a binary construction and I freely acknowledge that this is a generalization, in every school I have worked in there are students and staff who are working diligently to make a difference and there are those who expect others to do the work for them.

 

The solution to that situation is to reward ambition and help lead the entitled towards self-realization, and not leap in and solve the issue for them (the natural inclination). 

The sense of accomplishment needs to be fostered, otherwise the entitled just get stronger.