TL Under Construction

A culture comes to exist and is passed on when the people within a group understand their group’s purposes and ‘live their values’ on a daily basis. School cultures are no different. So if leadership is action as discussed in my last journal entry then leaders must be the ones to live the values the ‘loudest’ or as others call it ‘walk the talk’.

Fullan (2004) lists three vital personal characteristics that  when practised by leaders are infectious: Hope, Energy and Enthusiasm. Sergiovanni (2005) suggests there are four leadership virtues that when embodied will give a leader leverage to transform a school culture: Hope, Trust, Piety and Civility. Both recommended cultivating them in order to be more effective.

Hope can seem a bit ‘pie in the sky’ in the face of all the change in the world of education and especially in the current climate of uncertainty in the TL’s world. But I liked the definition Sergiovanni turned to in his fourth chapter– it was termed realistic hope.

… is based on the attempt to understand the concrete conditions of reality, to see one’s own role in it realistically, and to engage in such efforts of thoughtful action as might be expected to bring about the hoped for change (Menninger, Mayman and Pruyser, as cited in Sergiovanni, 2005, p. 78).

I see examples of this every day from Teacher-Librarians through discussions on  the OZTL_Net listserv forum and through the efforts of advocacy groups like The Hub, ALIA and SLAV.  It definitely doesn’t look like ‘pie’; its hard work, like writing to politicians, it’s getting the message out to the media and to busy parents and new parents who don’t yet know the importance of TLs to their children’s futures.  Its true– hope is infectious. These efforts have affected me and I must do my best to create a similar feeling in my school community.

Hope implies action, here’s what I’ve done so far:

• write a fortnightly piece in the school newsletter – always included is something about educational benefits of the library program
• feedback to parents when their child takes up a new interest/topic in their reading or gains some new insight through a book. I encourage them to talk to their child about it.
• started and maintain our school Hotspots site which is a pathfinder for each of the classes’ themes on a blog fully accessible from their homes. I mention the URL frequently in the newsletter and remind the kids to use it at home.
• organised an author event that included parents – what a success this was in bringing the whole community together over quality children’s literature.

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Picture from: http://www.morguefile.com/archive/?display=21586&

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Fullan, M. (2004). Leading in a culture of change: Personal action guide and workbook. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Sergiovanni, T. (2005). Hope, Trust, Community, Other Virtues. In Strengthening the heartbeat: Leading and learning together in schools (pp. 75-100). San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.

Everybody loves a rebel with heart. And reading Sergiovanni’s book Strengthening the Heartbeat: Leading and Learning Together in Schools, reinforces for me something I’ve always believed and is so succinctly summed up by the author — “[there is] doing things right and doing right things (Sergiovanni, 2005, p. 19). Sergiovanni talks of how systems can sometimes lose the point of leading and leaders — focussing too much on the managerial, authority role of leaders. He suggests that in order for schools to thrive, leadership must be re-examined, redefined and re-distributed so communities can be formed that lead and learn together. His definition of leadership has further clarified for me how TLs (and other teachers) can truly be leaders, ‘leading from the middle’  –

… thinking about leadership as a practice makes more sense than thinking about leadership as an expression of individual agency. Practices may be singular or group. Regarding leadership as a practice helps us to see teachers and principals as members of communities of practice within which knowledge is used  and exchanged to achieve goals with little regard for roles and positions. Within communities of practice, for example, leadership activity takes place at the level of the community rather than at the level of individuals. (Sergiovanni, 2005, p. 49)

As a faculty member of an alternative, democratically aligned school, this definition interests me greatly. It fits very well with what happens in the classes and amongst the students. However this is not practised amongst the staff and wider community. (At times it becomes obvious where we have not applied the philosophy of the school beyond the students and it always hits me hard. Q. How can this be? A. No time to consciously examine this issue, complete focus by teachers on student/class day-to-day issues.)

Sergiovanni’s definition of leadership I find strengthening. It is not about someone giving you permission to lead. It’s not about getting out in front and saying, “I’m going to lead you.” Its not about roles and positions or positioning at all, it’s about action. I can relate to this, I have quietly taken action this year and begun to lead by walking the talk, and by saying, “I’d like to [do] … ”

What would our school be like if we all adopted a leadership of practice? Well it would improve, it has already. This year I’ve won a literacy grant, I’ve got parents now raising money for the library, I’ve got library sessions for the classes on a weekly basis, … things are changing and for the better. How to encourage the others? Well it always seems to come back to building relationships. Sergiovanni quotes Lambert as suggesting that leadership is a ‘pattern of relationships’.

Leadership is a reciprocal process that enables participants in an educational community to construct meaning that leads toward a shared purpose of schooling’ (Lambert as cited in Sergiovanni, 2005, p. 51)

Building trusting relationships and sharing, acting with moral purpose always …all very hopeful business. =)

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Photo from: http://www.morguefile.com

Sergiovanni, T. (2005). Leadership as entitlement. In Strengthening the heartbeat: Leading and learning together in schools (pp. 41-54). San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.

What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

That old truth that actions speak louder than words. It is an idea I am considering again within the leadership unit of my TL course. In the case of leadership within a school, stakeholders will react more to the leader’s behaviours than they will to what that leader has to say. This is very important to understand in the communication within a school. Parents often complain about the lack of communication or the quality of communication from schools. Yet you can publish pages of reports and updates in the school newsletter and they don’t read them. This has always perplexed me. Perhaps without being able to express it, what parents are looking for is the behavioural communication not the written words.

We’ve been asked to read an article by W. Savage entitled “Communication: Process and problems” from Human Resource Management in Education. There was a paragraph that caught my eye in particular.

A school administrator’s demonstrated concern for the welfare of his staff and the pupils enrolled in a school will communicate his beliefs far more eloquently than any written or oral statement that he may provide concerning his belief in the dignity and worth of the individual. As a matter of fact, many persons express the conviction that effective human relationships improve communication far more than communication improves relationships. (Savage, 1989, p. 109)

I’m thinking this means then that a leader’s moral purpose is communicated through his actions far better than through speeches, articles or documents. It is of ultimate importance to ‘walk the talk’ and to constantly monitor one’s behaviour for consistency in communication.

The second important message within that quote is that of effective relationships building communication not the other way around. This may go a long way to answering why so many communication strategies (including a very detailed one developed at our school) never get off the ground. Without the relationships, it just can’t happen. So the question then is how to develop the relationships with school stakeholders — obviously it will involve some self-reflection on current behaviours on the part of the leaders (principal, TL, teachers).

I want to stop and think about my moral purpose and my relationship-building behaviours right now. I blogged about my moral purpose here — and looking back, strangely enough, I said I didn’t communicate this directly but hoped it would show through my actions. I was on the right track without knowing it, but conscious effort will, obviously, be more effective.

At this point my relationship-building behaviours are:

• I consciously stop and speak to parents I pass at school. I try to make a positive comment about their child’s use of the library or their reading habits. I want the parents to know that their child’s reading and use of information is important and important to me.
• I sometimes go out to the car-park and speak to parents about upcoming events or pass on information I think they might appreciate
• I quickly follow through on any requests for information/books from parents and also follow through on anything I say I will do in the school newsletter. I want to be seen as highly reliable.
• author events that invite and include parents

Are there other opportunities for the TL to build effective relationships with the parents?

• some computer tutoring sessions showing  parents how to use and access ICT’s the children are using
• sessions involving the children showing the parents how to use the ICTs!
• Reading challenges that involve adults as well as children
• attending some of the home group class meetings especially the lower primary groups

Parents do not habitually seek out school leaders (teachers, principals, TLs) to communicate with them unless they are dissatisfied. It is up to us to go beyond half-way, to get in amongst the parents, demonstrate our concerns and moral purpose and build some better relationships.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahe/2563154869/

Savage, W. (1989). Communication: Process and problems. In C. Riches & C. Morgan (Eds.), Human resource management in education (pp. 103-119). Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

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A pause to reflect on the decision-making process our school working party has embarked on. Meeting on a weekly basis means it is easy for the week to slip by and not get any thoughts down.

Our first meeting involved only Step One – Mind-Setting (which needs to occur before the situation can be properly defined). It was very enlightening to get everyone’s perception of the problem/situation on to the table. Like the story of the blind men describing the elephant, it was important for everyone to see what everyone else assumed they were talking about. There was recognition of the complexity of the issue and that many were only considering one aspect of it. There was recognition that perhaps only symptoms of the actual situation had been dealt with in the past and so the actions were not successful. The picture became clearer as each member spoke around the circle and the the situation gained a seriousness it hadn’t had before; it became obvious that quick answers would not ‘fix it’ but that good decisions were possible.

The idea of information under-girding each step is one that I will have to further reinforce. We have talked about our feelings but now will need facts to base decisions on.

The most difficult aspect of the first meeting was for members to keep solutions out of the conversation when talking of their perceptions. I must be more strict about them not being verbalised at this point. I don’t want shortcuts to bias any definitions or criteria.

Just an interesting observation, but one I will address at the next meeting, is that of eye contact. I was surprised to see each member of the group when sharing their perceptions did not look at the group but spent the majority of the time making eye contact with me, the facilitator. I wonder if this is a hangover from ‘old school days’ when the student always addressed the teacher not the class’. Even the teachers in the working party did it. I tried to non-verbally encourage people to address the group by looking round at the group myself as each spoke, but that didn’t work. I’ll have to say directly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/super_g/1671855523/

OK, I confess. When I was a uni student in the 1980’s I used to race home from my final lecture (just like the rest of the dorm students) to catch the “Days of Our Lives”. My lasting impressions are: the drapes always seemed to be drawn in the houses and the Lawry organ music  gave it a silent movie atmosphere.  But there was one very important lesson in all the soapy episodes if you were paying attention. It had to do with communication. Most of the problems the characters found themselves in had to do with NOT saying something rather than what they did say.

If only Rachel had told John that she was pregnant ..

If only Thorn said he had seen Ashley being comforted by Dallas (and jumped to a terrible conclusion) …

Anyways you get the drift. Not being open and honest can lead to drama but not to good teams or to good decisions. And I am very interested in having good decisions made.

I am preparing to facilitate a decision-making working party at school. It is my first time facilitating at school and the Situation-that-needs-attention (SITNA) is complex. I gave a presentation to the working group a fortnight ago about the 6 Step Core Decision Making Model as outlined by Harvey, Bearley and Corkrum in The Practical Decision-Maker. (This model was part of our course studies). The group has agreed to working through this model. In the first step, Mind-Set, the group is asked to address the circumstances and state of the situation. Getting the context right is my priority at this first meeting. The The Practical Decision-Maker authors state:

Often, you must deal with concerns about conflict, openness, trust, and communication as part of establishing a mind-set that is supportive of problem solving. (Harvey, Bearley and Corkrum, 2001, 21)

And I know this will be true so I am re-readng everything I own about effective communication and conflict management.

The soaps provided a good lesson about honest communication, other communication/conflict resolution gems I’ve revisited are from (a great book with an unfortunate title) Dealing with People You Can’t Stand: How to Bring out the Best in People at Their Worst –

• Poor communication/negative remarks often have positive intent – look for the underlying good purpose that was meant and acknowledge it ( don’t know what it is? make one up – communicator will either agree or make their good intent clear) Egs. want to get something done right, want acknowledgement for something done, want support.
• State your own positive intent. Tell people why you are telling them something before telling them. Directs more positive attention to your message.
• Whenever a discussion starts to degenerate into conflict, try to ascertain the reasons why people are for or against something.

I read on …

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Brinkman, R. and Kirschner, Rick. (1994). Dealing with people you can’t stand: How to bring out the best in people at their worst. McGraw Hill: New York.

Harvey, TR, Bearley, Wl & Corkrum, SM. (2001) “Core steps in decision making”, in The practical decision maker: A handbook for decision making and problem solving in organizations, The Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD and London, pp. 17-34.

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