Learning to Lead

How does one learn to lead?

This question has been on my mind over the past few days. A conversation with my Principal and a chance meeting with the former director of my School Board have me thinking about learning to lead.

As a child I listened to and watched my father in a variety of situations. When I take the time to really consider leadership and my interest in it, I think of my father. He had an entrepreneurial spirit and seemed to enjoy problem solving. He was also charismatic and had a great sense of humor. People seemed to like him. I watched him navigate all kinds of situations and even had a backstage pass to what he looked like outside of the public eye.

As I got older and entered my teens he provided me with advice regarding relationships and how the world works. When I was finishing up my Masters degree I got my first "real" job and he continued to offer me advice around leadership and relationships and how the two intersect. Sadly, he passed away before he could see me become a teacher and act as a sounding board for the journey I would experience over the last 17 years.

Since then, I have relied on the art of observation to get a better idea of what leadership is and means. Early on in my career it meant watching the leaders around me (great teachers, principals, and consultants) - listening to what they said, watched them as they dealt with people and situations, and paying attention to what came after they made a decision or helped in solving a problem.

With time came opportunities to work in different schools, participate in Board and Provincial committees/initiatives, formal leadership training, readings, and mentorship. All of which have provided me with the chance to learn - about myself, leadership, and how the two come together in an organic way to make me the leader that I am today.

The power of the internet has allowed me to observe from afar. Email, YouTube, and Twitter are examples of platforms and modes of communication that allow me to learn from people and situations that I would never be able to connect with in a face to face fashion.

So what have I learned? Connection and mindset are key ingredients to learning anything. With respect to my leadership journey, I use my experiences and make connections to the Catholic Leadership Framework in Ontario. The expectations of what leadership looks like are outlined in the framework. This leaves the ball in my court. It is up to me to seek out and/or create opportunities that will allow me to learn about and practice leadership and to connect my experiences to the expectations in the framework.

With an open, curious, and creative mindset, I am able to have some fun with the work I do and the connections I make to the framework. At the end of the day, the learning is mine so I try to make the best of it. My mindset has not always been this way. It has evolved over time and experiences - both good and bad. There is room for new knowledge and growth all around me.

This is how I am learning to lead.   

Small "l" and Big "L" Leadership

I've been thinking about formal leadership lately.

I've been reflecting on the situations I have put myself in - and the experiences that have come from those situations - and how they have assisted me with the leadership skills and attitudes that I have and that I am working on. I have had some great conversations with my Principal and Vice Principal as of late and they have got me thinking more about leadership and what it currently looks like for me. The valuable conversations that I have been engaging in are helping facilitate my thinking, particularly around my strengths and what I need to work on.

I've landed on a couple of things that I want to work through in this blog post.

1) You don't always have to take on a huge initiative as the "leader" in order to be a "leader".
2) Real collaboration will allow you to "lead" with your strengths and allow you to learn new things (what you don't know or what you need to work on) from other "leaders".

I'm going to use a fairly recent school experience that will help me illustrate the two points I have stated above.

My school recently purchased a home reading program for our primary students. We purchased close to 700 texts that needed to be stamped, organized, and tracked. We needed to figure out and prepare a presentation for an evening information session for families to introduce and explain the program. There were a lot of pieces to this puzzle and someone had to take the lead.

No one jumped at the opportunity - like me - many were happy to help but no one wanted to be responsible to "lead" this initiative. At a primary division meeting the team talked about it and a couple of people chimed in and stated what they would be willing to take on. This was all that was needed in order for others to step up and take on a piece of this 'project'.

I spoke up and explained what I was going to do. I was very clear about the role I would play, when I would start, and when my portion would be done. I also let everyone know that I was happy to help out in any other ways where I could be of use. With respect to the first point I made above, I didn't feel like I had to take on the entire initiative as the leader of it in order to actually provide leadership. I also stated that because we were all together talking about the initiative that we should take the opportunity to define who would do what. Fortunately, enough people volunteered to help and the work was divvied up. Each person who took on a piece of the initiative would "lead" in their particular area in order for the parts to be put together into an awesome whole that would get this initiative off the ground. We didn't have anyone take on the initiative as "leader" but each person who volunteered to help would "lead" in their own way with their part of the program preparation.

The division leader would be the one that we would report to with respect to what we were responsible for but she wasn't going to micro manage the project and chase us for our parts. This is where I would like to address the second point I made above. Each of the people involved were going to work on their part in order for this program to be ready for the students and the parent presentation to be ready for the information session.

The division leader's part of the project involved putting together a slide deck for the information session. Once she started working on her portion of the initiative she realized that she didn't know how to do some of the things that she wanted done for the slide deck. She came to me and asked for help with something that she knows I am fluent with. Not a problem - I used my strengths in that particular area to help her get her portion of the work done. I took the lead there and she learned something from me. I found myself struggling with the portion of the work that I took on so I leaned on another staff member to teach me how to be more effective and efficient and she was happy to do so. She "lead" me with her strengths and I learned from her.

Those are just two examples of how a group of us truly collaborated in order to get this home reading program ready. We leaned on each other's strengths in order to learn from each other and get things done. It is something I won't soon forget - especially now that I have decided to blog about it. :)

Leadership doesn't always mean big "L" leadership. Sometimes, and I am willing to generalize that most of the time, small "l" leadership is what is needed to get things done. Of course big "L" leadership is required to ensure that things are happening and that people and situations are moving in the right direction - but - without the small "l" leadership work things (details) won't be taken care of. From my perspective, I believe that people preparing for formal leadership positions need to have big "L" leadership and small "l" leadership experiences. I believe it is important to see things from a macro level and to be part of the inner working micro level. I also believe that I have been walking the walk and talking the talk of when it comes to the balancing act of taking on small "l" and big "L" leadership opportunities.

With respect to the Ontario Catholic Leadership Framework, what I wrote about easily fits under the 'Building Relationships and Developing People' and the 'Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices' pillars.

Building Relationships and Developing People
As we worked together we were supporting and demonstrating consideration to each other. We acknowledged and celebrated our accomplishment(s), took each others opinions into consideration, built upon and responded to each others unique needs and expertise, and did all of the above in a caring way.

Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices
Our work was collaborative and involved a distribution of leadership. Collaboration was modeled in our work, mutual respect and trust was involved, we developed clear goals and roles related to our work, and it culminated with an event where parents were welcomed, respected, and valued as partners in their children's learning.

I was not "leading" this initiative but my role was integral in its success. In fact, each of us played a pivotal role in getting the program ready for the students and putting together a quality presentation for the families when they came in to learn more about how we are helping their children and what they can do to help as well.

Now that this blog post is complete, I need to get to my email to send a quick message to each of the teachers that took a "lead" with this project to thank them and tell them how grateful I am to be able to work and learn with them!

Dare to Lead Collaboration - In and Out of the Classroom

I recently discovered one of Brene Brown's Dare to Lead resources for educators, Daring Classrooms - a free resource that is built around the Dare to Lead book. There are lesson plans, videos, and a leadership assessment that you can take to learn more about your strengths and opportunities for growth with respect to the ideas presented in the book.

I visited the site and took a closer look. I was really pleased with the ideas there and decided that I would like to implement some of them in my classroom this year, as well as work with other educators in a collaborative fashion with the goal of improving the leadership of all involved. To this end, I asked if anyone wanted to collaborate with me this school year.

Lots of people responded and said that they were interested so I started a Google Document titled Daring Classrooms Collaboration with some ideas about how we could connect and work together. If you haven't checked out the document, please do so. If you like what you see, put your name down and let's work together!

In addition to the opportunity of building a safer space for my students, work with other educators and their students, I get to learn about myself and put into action what Brene writes about in Dare to Lead. At first, I was apprehensive about tweeting an invitation to collaborate with others. I sat with the feelings that came to me - I acknowledged them and worked with them for a bit. I realized that this was a growth opportunity for me and that I needed to take action.

I took the first step and now I am looking forward to what comes next. After the tweet and creation of the document, I started to reflect on the Ontario Catholic Leadership Framework and how the idea of Daring Classrooms Collaboration fits with the expectations of the Leadership Framework. Many of the expectations in the Leadership Framework connect well with my vision of the Daring Classrooms Collaboration.

One of the pillars of the framework focuses on developing people and building relationships. The idea behind the collaboration project is to help people (teachers and students) grow and develop - to understand themselves better, and to take action that will hopefully lead to continuous improvement.

Another pillar of the framework focuses on developing the organization to support desired practices. Several of the educators who have indicated an interest in participating in the collaboration are from my school board which means that the work we do will align with our Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement. The Board's plan prioritizes nurturing our Catholic community, building capacity to lead, learn, and live authentically, and student engagement, achievement, and innovation. My vision of the collaboration project, along with the content of Dare to Lead, fit nicely with the priorities of the my School Board.

Last but not least, collaboration is a key ingredient of the Leadership Framework and the Board's plan for student achievement. I will do what I can to continue to work with others and offer them opportunities to work with me with the goal of growth and improvement for all involved. I don't know how this will play out but I do know that I will dare to lead!

I Almost Quit

I have been taking an additional qualification (AQ) course over the last few months. We are in the last week of the course. I almost quit with the course, three times.

When I was provided with the opportunity to take the course I was quite excited. I enjoy learning, especially when it is self directed and can have positive implications on my teaching practice. I started off great, like most people do. As I moved through the modules I found that I was bumping up against assignments where I wasn't sure how to answer them and sometimes I didn't even know where to start. The feelings I experienced were interesting - fear, confusion, excitement - all at the same time.

When I would feel the emotions I listed above, I would step away from the assignment and come back to it at a later time. I found that the time away  gave me the opportunity to let the task sink in and have some time to process what was being asked and the concept that was being examined.

When it came time to deal with the "big" assignments, I would feel the same emotions but there was an added thought that would manifest itself. It involved thinking and self talk that I would just not do the assignment and forfeit the course. I did that three times throughout the course. That was the fear talking. I would walk away and give my heart the chance to defend itself from my brain.

After some time away from the course I would do two things. I would tell myself that I could quit after I finish the assignment, and that I needed to start the assignment - whether it put me on the right path or not - I needed to act rather than think. These two things got be back in the game and have led me to completing the course.

More importantly, I am much more aware of how the two things I decided to do can be applied to almost any issue I encounter in life. If I am doing something that I just want to give up on, I can tell myself that I can quit after I complete the task at hand. If that doesn't work (or even if it does work) I can do something rather than do nothing. If I am going to quit, it isn't going to be due to inaction. I am going to do something rather than nothing.

When I compare my experience with the Catholic Leadership Framework I see the importance of personal leadership resources - a section that don't often look at when examining the expectations that make up the document. The reason I didn't end up quitting is because of the strategies I used and the some of the social and psychological resources that the document refers to. Being able to manage my emotions, be optimistic, and resilient helped me get through this experience - like it will for almost any difficult experience.

I almost quit. I suspect I will feel like this again, especially when I am in a tough position. From a leadership perspective, it will be important for me to look back on this reflection to help me regroup and activate my social and psychological resources in order to act and save quitting for another day.

Mentorship Up Close

I've been talking a lot about mentorship lately. I consider myself fortunate to be a mentor in a variety of settings/circumstances. I am a formal NTIP mentor with my school board, I am a mentor for Google for Education through their certified innovator program, and I am a mentor through OnEdMentors Connect (my reflection on Phase 1 of the OnEdMentors Connect experience below).

Around 10 years ago I expressed interest in becoming a formal mentor with my school board. I contacted the person responsible for mentorship in my board and was told that they had all the mentors they needed. I ended up working with a Vice Principal who had been a formal mentor before becoming an administrator. I asked him if he would be willing to speak to the mentorship gatekeepers on my behalf, thinking that the word of someone they knew would help, no luck.

I recall feeling frustrated. I felt like I was doing a good job in the classroom and was on top of my game (as much as one can be). My Principals were supportive and said that they thought it would be a good idea to be a mentor. It seemed like I had the prerequisites - just wasn't the right time.

Fast forward to the birth of the NTIP program. In our Board the system put out a request for teachers to put their name forward to be added to a list so that new teachers could connect with a mentor of their choice. Prior to this, it seemed like the people running the program would decide who to put together.

Since the roster of mentor teachers was created I have been lucky enough to work with three teachers in my system, one of which decided to make it formal as we had started working together through the digital OnEdMentors Connect initiative. I have to say that I am enjoying the mentor/mentee process and look forward to continuing to assist teachers if and when the opportunity arises.

From the perspective of the Catholic Leadership Framework, being a mentor allows me to work with others in order to set direction, build relationships and develop people, develop the organization to support desired practices, improve instructional programs, and secure accountability.

Setting Direction
The opportunity to work with a new teacher to set a a shared vision - one that includes what our schools and our system value, that energizes our work, and is embedded in the Gospel values - is  beneficial to all stakeholders in education.

Building Relationships and Developing People
The mentor/mentee experience also allows both parties to create a strong professional relationship with room for both parties to grow and develop as educators.

Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices
From the perspective of a mentor I see my role as one that involves developing the organization by sharing my knowledge and practices to support desired practices that connect to our board's mission, vision, priorities, and improvement plan.

Improving the Instructional Program
From my experience, the time and work that is done around the organization's priorities ends up leading to improving the instructional program. As a mentor my role involves guidance/support on matters involving assessment/evaluation, pedagogy, classroom management, innovation, and anything else that the mentee would like to ask about/work on.

Securing Accountability
Last but not least, discussions about accountability are critical. How are we sharing what we are accountable for and why is it important to do so? Building a sense of internal accountability is important for us as it supports our professional learning and practice. A big one for me lately has been self reflection and how I document my thinking in order to track my development. This is something I share with my mentees, that is if they are interested in the topic.

Can you see why I am so pumped about being a mentor? I really enjoy it. I also enjoy being a mentee. Hopefully I can put together a blog post about being a mentee from afar. It's now been added to the list of things I would like to reflect on!

The RIGHT People (in my opinion)

For the past several years (based on what I can recall) my school board has posted their call for VP pool applications a month or two after the school year gets underway. The same thing happens every year after the posting comes out - emails start getting bounced around between colleagues about whether to apply or not. Part of it is fun and part of it is stressful, but it always gets me thinking about whether I am ready and/or willing to put my name forward to be considered for a formal leadership position in Education.

I recently heard about some of the people that have been successful in making it into the leadership pool. I was ecstatic to hear that some of the people I have been learning with over the last few years were successful in their applications. All of us differ in how we run our classrooms and operate at our school sites but we are all the same with respect to our core beliefs about leadership, particularly in Catholic education.

I feel very good about the time I have spent learning with them and look forward to learning from them as formal leaders in our system. When I think about the experiences I have had with them, and connect those experiences to the Catholic Leadership Framework, I clearly recall the conversations we had and the work we did around building relationships & developing people, improving instructional programs, and developing the organization to support desired practices.

Sean Kritz (Head of Guidance at RCSS) and I moments before recording a webinar about deep learning.
Working to develop the organization and support desired practices.

I feel like they are the RIGHT people for the job and, selfishly, I consider myself fortunate to be connected to them. It makes me think that the work I have been doing and the way I have been thinking are good for the system and that there may be a place for me in formal leadership if I decide to pursue it in my school board.

Don't get me wrong, I have some thoughts and ideas of my own around innovation and disruption that I believe would benefit student learning and achievement but so do my colleagues! It will be fun to see them grow and change as they move out of their current roles and into the main office of a school.

Before I hit "publish" on this post, I want to say thanks to Brian Aspinall for the unintentional nudge on Twitter this morning that led to this post.