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Sustaining yourself as a school leader

• Forbairt Post Primary. • Module 4, 2016/17

• Sheila McManamly/Tom Moore, Thu Feb 2nd 2017

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‘If you care about education…take care of yourself…

• Taking care of yourself is not self-indulgence. • The world needs you to be at the top of your game.You cannot be at the top of your game if you have not had a good night’s sleep, eaten well, had some exercise and, yes,

received the love and affection of family and friends to feel like a whole person.’

Leading and Managing Schools, 2011 (Edited by O’ Sullivan, H. and West-Burnham, J.)

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Exercise 1

• Personality Questionnaire

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‘Repetitive-change

Injury!’ The

tyranny of

Meetings!

Energy eaters!

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• Leadership ‘growth’ requires regular ‘nurture’

• Nurture for the body- health and vitality

• For the mind- clarity, brightness, decisiveness, enthusiasm

• Emotional Fitness- empathy, humility, awareness

BODY,MIND,SPIRIT

www.pdst.ie

The PDST is funded by the Teacher Education Section (TES) of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and is managed

by Dublin West Education Centre

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This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ie/. You may use and re-use this material (not including images and logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Licence.

© PDST 2016

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Steve Mumby (CEO of NCSL) maintains that leaders are in danger of making two big mistakes:

• Believing in themselves too much as leaders (exaggerated self-efficacy)

• Not believing enough in themselves as leaders (low confidence/indecision)

A fine balance for sustainability

www.pdst.ie

The PDST is funded by the Teacher Education Section (TES) of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and is managed

by Dublin West Education Centre

Fís

Fo

ghla

im

For

bair

t

This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ie/. You may use and re-use this material (not including images and logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Licence.

© PDST 2016

Energy-reserve sappers!!

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• C-Complaining• C-Competing• C-Comparing• C-Contending• C-Criticising• C –CATASTROPHISING!

• Major risk factor for disease!

Emotional Toxins The 5 C’s (Plus 1)

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• True leadership is a talent that makes people believe that they have it within them to face down the most demanding of problems wherever they exist

• More recent research has this to say:- One of the most reliable indicators and predictors

of true leadership is an individual’s ability to find meaning in negative events and to learn from the most trying of circumstances...

True leadership

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A sense of belief in the rightness of what we are doing:

• “You don’t have to be Mother Teresa to have moral purpose” (Fullan 2001)

• “whatever it is that gives individuals their foundations of ethical behaviours and bases of belief” (Flintham 2003)

• “…to me the most key element of leadership is moral leadership because it is about justice and fairness.” (Mary Robinson, 2013)

Moral Purpose-

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“...is about having confidence in your aims, but also being comfortable and receptive to the input of others. It is about positively encouraging constructive and considered challenge from within and outside you own school or organisation.

Having critical friends doesn’t diminish our strength as leaders. It enhances it”.

(Munby 2009)QUESTION: Have you a trusted critical friend?Discuss with your colleagues.

Good Leadership...

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“The majority of those who detailed that they relish the challenges and enjoy the variety of the role, and achieve a positive work-life balance, were more often those who had effectively distributed leadership

across and within the school”(‘A life in the day of a head teacher’ NCSL 2007)

- charismatic leaders are a liability for sustained improvement (Fullan 2002)

Distributed Leadership

Forbairt Sept 2016 PPR Document

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• Suggest 3 strategies for empowering others and

distributing leadership throughout the school.

Exercise 2.

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Successful leaders need:• An individual personal value system underpinning

their approach to leadership

• An internal reservoir of hope – the calm centre at the heart of the individual leader from which vision and values flow

Alan Flintham - Reservoirs of Hope

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More recent research has this to say:- One of the most reliable indicators and

predictors of true leadership is an individual’s ability to find meaning in negative events and to learn from the most trying of circumstances...

What Kind of Leadership?

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Authentic leaders have been described as those who:

• demonstrate a ‘passion’ for their purpose• practice their values consistently• lead with ‘hearts’ as well as ‘heads’

[George et al, Discovering your Authentic Leadership, (2012), Boston]

What does it mean to be Authentic?

www.pdst.ie

The PDST is funded by the Teacher Education Section (TES) of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and is managed

by Dublin West Education Centre

Fís

Fo

ghla

im

For

bair

t

This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ie/. You may use and re-use this material (not including images and logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Licence.

© PDST 2016

• Strategic Planning/Vision• Building

'Connectedness’/Team• Scheduled, focused meetings• One to one Coaching• Professional development• Engaging with Staff/Parents

"I am always ready to learn. I am not always ready to be taught.“ Winston Churchill

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Recent research is encouraging:

‘hundreds of people have struggled under the weight of the myth of the ‘complete’ leader! It is now becoming clear that an ‘incomplete leader’

who is authentic is likely to be more effective’

Ancona, Malone & Senge ‘In Praise of the Incomplete Leader (2011) HBR

The ‘Myth’ of the Complete Leader

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• Outer order=inner calm

• Comfort yourself-photo/smell....

• Generate energy-• 15 mins- commune with nature• 15mins- inspirational reading• 15mins-list of 10 things you love to do and reintroduce them one by one

The Space.....

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• ‘That was then, this is now’(let it go!)-the quality of our ‘home time’ is determined by the residue we bring with us.

• The thought- buses

• Little box of positives

The residue

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• What do you enjoy about the LEADERSHIP role? What energises you? What do you feel passionate about? What’s close to your heart? What gives you most satisfaction?

( What sustains you?)

• Where is it a struggle for you? What do you find hard? Where is LEADERSHIP challenging ?

(What drains you?)

Exercise 3.

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“Even when your family is grown up they still need you around and you can get energy being with those you love. ……….

I also think that as a more mature principal I need to make sure I spend time on interests and things I enjoy like going to the theatre and getting involved with friends and their lives.

Your staff need to see that you are a well rounded human being and not just a work machine.”

Helen Healy, Principal, St. Mary’s School , Chadstone.

Work – Life Balance