The Role of Vulnerability in Effective Leadership

Leadership is often associated with strength, confidence, and decisiveness. While these qualities are important, they can also create a barrier that prevents leaders from connecting with their team and creating a sense of trust. This is where vulnerability comes in.

Vulnerability is often seen as a weakness, but in reality, it takes a great deal of courage to be vulnerable. It involves being open and honest about your weaknesses, fears, and insecurities. When leaders are able to embrace vulnerability, it can create a sense of authenticity and humanity that is essential for building trust and connection with others.

One of the key benefits of vulnerability in leadership is that it allows leaders to be more approachable and relatable. When leaders show that they are not perfect and are open to feedback and learning from their mistakes, it encourages team members to do the same. This creates a culture of continuous learning and improvement, rather than one of fear and perfectionism.

Vulnerability can also help leaders to be more empathetic and understanding towards their team. When leaders are able to share their own struggles and challenges, it can create a sense of solidarity and encourage team members to open up and share their own experiences. This can foster a sense of connection and support within the team, which can have a positive impact on morale and productivity.

With respect to the Ontario Leadership Framework, one of the key dispositions outlined in the framework is the ability to "build trusting relationships through honesty, transparency, and vulnerability." This suggests that vulnerability is seen as an important aspect of effective leadership within the context of the Ontario Leadership Framework. By being open and honest about their weaknesses and insecurities, leaders are able to build trust and connection with others, which is essential for creating a positive and collaborative team environment.

Of course, vulnerability is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It is important for leaders to find the right balance and to be mindful of the context in which they are sharing their vulnerabilities. For example, a leader may choose to be more vulnerable in a team meeting or one-on-one coaching session, rather than in a public presentation.

Vulnerability is an important aspect of effective leadership. It allows leaders to be more approachable, relatable, and empathetic, which can foster a sense of trust and connection with their team. By embracing vulnerability, leaders can create a culture of continuous learning and improvement, and build strong and supportive relationships with their team.

Leadership Portfolio: Reflect, Connect, Learn

When I started my teaching career way back in 2000, my professional portfolio was a big binder full of artifacts of my learning. It was a bunch of "stuff" that I used to show others what my learning journey looked like. That binder also included "leadership" artifacts. I combined the two at that time. 

A bunch of artifacts, but no reflections attached to them...until I participated in Part 2 of the Leadership development course in my school board. During this course, emphasis was placed on creating/revisiting/re-imagining a portfolio connected to our leadership journey. We were provided with ideas and emphasis was placed on engaging with an idea in a way that worked for each individual. That is when I decided to ditch the binder of artifacts and create what I have here today:

A blog where I reflect on leadership opportunities/experiences as they connect to the Catholic Leadership Framework and the goals of my school board. 

My participation in leading school/board/provincial initiatives is great and I can list all kinds of things I have done and been part of BUT thinking about what I learned from those experiences and how they help my leadership journey are the gold nuggets for me. 

Let me provide an example of  how I reflect on what I have done and how I learn more about my leadership style, capacity, and continued growth. 

Artifact of Leadership

After I completed the Part 2 leadership course, I was invited back to speak to Part 2 participants about my Leadership Portfolio - my blog and why I decided to use this format to track my leadership journey. The presentation I provided to the participants is a leadership artifact for me. I was invited to speak to a group of people about something I was doing - a great example of me stepping up to try something new, scaffold the process for others, to lead them to try something new, and a way to gain confidence in my leadership ability/skills. 

Connection to my Board's Goals and the Catholic Leadership Framework 

For me, it was pretty awesome to be invited to speak to participants of the Leadership course about my portfolio. Someone thought it would be great for me to do this and I did it!! I could now list this experience as an artifact of me "leading". Well, so what? 

"Leadership is the exercise of influence on organizational members and diverse stakeholders toward the identification and achievement of the organization’s vision and goals." - this is listed at the top of the Catholic Leadership Framework document. 

This is the part of my process where I reflect on what I did and how I was able to positively influence my colleagues towards my board's goals with respect to leadership development. Speaking to the course participants about my portfolio choice, my process, and the benefits to my leadership and learning provided them with "real life" application and one more option for them to consider as they journey toward leadership. My presentation to the participants of the course aligned with the goals of the district with respect to their leadership development strategy and provided me with an opportunity lead. 

I will get to my learning after I make a connection to the Catholic Leadership Framework.

With respect to the Leadership Framework, I could make a number of connections but for the purposes of this blog post, I am going to focus on the 'Building Relationships and Developing People' pillar. 

When I look at the leadership indicators under the 'building relationships' pillar, my presentation connects with the following:

• encourage staff to reflect on what they are trying to achieve and how they are doing it 
• lead discussion about the merits of current and alternative practices
• facilitate an opportunity for staff to learn from each other 
• suggest new ideas for learning 
• encourage staff to develop and review their own goals for professional growth and the relationship of those goals to board goals and priorities 
• encourage staff to try new practices that are consistent with both their interests and board goals
• demonstrate the importance of continuous learning through visible engagement in my own professional learning
• exemplify, through my actions, the board’s core values and its desired practices  

For me, making connections to the Framework provides an awareness of how my experiences align with the what is expected from Catholic leaders in Ontario. As I make connections to the Framework I also become more familiar with the indicators so I can consider incorporating them in the work that I do.  

The Learning

I've identified a leadership activity that I lead/engaged in and reflected on how it connects to Board goals and the Catholic Leadership Framework. So, what have I learned from reflecting on my experience??

• I can present my work to others and the more I do, the greater my confidence to speak to groups will grow. This is important for me because I believe it is an important skill as I work on positively influencing the people I work with to do great work.
• Leaders in my school board value my work and believe others can benefit from it. The relationships I establish with people in my district are important for my learning and hopefully for their learning as well. 
• I am in alignment with my Board's goals and the indicators listed in the Catholic Leadership Framework. It is important for me to innovate and take risks by trying new things but it is also important that I am working towards a collective goal to improve staff and student achievement. 
• I have things to work on. I need to continue to engage in leadership activities, reflect on what I did well and what I need to improve on. I speak about my lived experience but how can I improve on my communication skills to better deliver my message??

This is it, folks. This blog is how I process my leadership experiences. It's all about reflecting, connecting, and learning. The artifacts are just a small part for me. I mean, it is important to refer to the ACTIVITIES I engage in to demonstrate that I am putting in the work BUT the real work for me involves the REFLECTION on the ACTIVITIES and the LEARNING that comes from them.

Do you have a leadership portfolio? How are you learning more about you as a leader? I'd love to hear from you about your process!

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!

Connect and Work Together

I see my leadership journey as a marathon, not a sprint. My thoughts and actions are geared towards a long term goal but because of this fact I don't always give it the time it deserves. I am fortunate to have a colleague in the same building that has a similar goal but I feel like more is needed to keep me engaged and aware of my thoughts and actions and how they can be viewed through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the people I know in my school board who are interested in formal leadership. I took some time today to think about why I haven't reached out to them to talk leadership and engage in discussions that can benefit all of us with respect to our work and development as leaders. This thought led to action as I contacted several colleagues and asked them if they wanted to participate in discussions around leadership by examining leadership literature (articles/readings), the use 21st Century tools to connect and grow our professional learning community, and examining our portfolios to prompt further discussion and growth.  

I believe that participating in this type of learning community can benefit my practice, the practice of my colleagues, and our school board by meeting the following Catholic Leadership Framework expectations:

• establish, in collaboration with staff and other stakeholders, a commitment to purpose and vision which is embedded in the Gospel and energizes our work
• help staff and diverse stakeholders understand the relationship between the school’s vision and board and provincial policy initiatives and priorities
• regularly encourage staff to evaluate their progress toward achieving the school’s goals (sipsa/bipsa)
• encourage staff to develop and periodically review individual goals for professional growth, as well as the relationship between their individual goals and the school’s goals (sipsa/bipsa)
• model collaboration in our work
• help staff (colleagues) make connections between school goals and ministry goals in order to strengthen commitment to school improvement efforts

The above expectations will provide us with a great start! I am excited to see what comes from our learning as we start our leadership learning experience.

Innovation in Education Conference

In cooperation with OECTA, the Board hosted its second annual Education Innovation Conference on April 7 at St. Mary’s (OECTA PD Day - AM). I facilitated a hands-on, open spaces session on the use of Social Media 1) in the classroom to benefit student engagement/achievement, and 2) to assist educators in creating an online professional learning network. 

It was a great experience! I enjoyed connecting with people in the school board that I wouldn't normally get to interact with. I ran two sessions and both were full of questions that affirmed the use of social media in education and pushed back against its use. Great conversation ensued and people left feeling like they had a better understanding of how the use of social media can assist them in their work and growth as educators. 

From a leadership perspective, it was great to present timely and valuable information to my colleagues. With respect to the Catholic Leadership Framework, the work I was engaged in falls under the pillars of Building Relationships and Developing People, Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices, and Improving the Instructional Program. As I meet new people and connect with them I am always encouraging them to step outside of their comfort zone to stretch their thinking and learning.

I look forward to more leadership opportunities where I can connect with people outside of my school in order to positively impact the system.

What Do You Want Leaders to Do With Technology?

As the PQP2 course comes to an end, our 10 day challenge wraps up with a reflection on the following question: What do you want leaders to do with technology? As I reflect on this question, I can't help but connect the following Catholic Leadership Framework pillars:

• Setting Directions
• Building Relationships and Developing People
• Developing Organization to Support Desired Practices
• Improving the Instructional Program
• Securing Accountability

For me, technology has has allowed me to be more efficient, become a global citizen, connect with others to grow as an educator, and to reach students who seemed to be unreachable. Over the last 9 challenges I have enjoyed reflecting on how I use technology as a teacher, but more importantly, how it can be used as a leader.

I want leaders to use technology for the same reasons I stated above. We live in a time where digital is the norm. Mobile devices run rampant and access to the Internet is becoming a right rather than a privilege. Leaders need to have a general idea of what is out there and be open to how the technology can be used to assist all stakeholder in order to benefit the learning of the students entrusted in our care.

As the playing field levels out with respect to access to the Internet and relatively affordable technology, leaders who are connected and using social media to tell their stories and expand their professional learning network, for example, will be in a good position to model the ethical/effective use of technology to their students and community.

The world we live in today is much smaller than it used to be thanks to technology and the Internet. Leaders need to lead digitally as well as face-to-face. As I move into Day 11 and beyond, I believe that I will continue to use technology to grow as a professional and discover new ways to learn from others, share my learning, reach people who were once deemed unreachable, and find new ways to positively impact the the students under my care.

Evolution in Education: Building Capacity among Educators

This school year I am fortunate to be part of a core team of educators who are working on 'connecting' kids and classrooms. Part of our work involves building the capacity of teachers in our system around the use of a variety of platforms/tools to help classrooms and students connect.

The Core 6 engaged in preparation and discussion before our mini conference on Connecting Classrooms. Photo taken by Jess Weber.

Each member of the team is responsible for a particular tool. My responsibility is to assist/support teachers with the use of Twitter to share their learning (and that of their students), gain new ideas with respect to their practice, and connect with other educators and classes.

Core 6 preparing for their work with other teachers. 

As I prepared a slide presentation to help guide the people I would be working with, I made a conscious effort to reflect on the Catholic Leadership Framework as I was getting ready for these particular sessions at the mini conference.

As I reflected, I quickly realised that the work that I would be engaged in melded well with the following Leadership Framework expectations:

1) Building Relationships and Developing People

• acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of individuals and teams
• consider opinions when initiating actions that affect their work
• build upon and respond to individuals unique needs and expertise
• encourage teachers to reflect on what they are trying to achieve with students and how they are doing it
• lead discussions about the relative merits of current and alternative practices
• challenge educators to continually re-examine the extent to which their practices support the learning of all their students
• facilitate opportunities for staff to learn from each others
• suggest new ideas for learning
• encourage individuals to develop and review their own goals for professional growth and the relationship of those goals to school goals and priorities
• encourage educators to try new practices that are consistent with both their interests and school goals

Working with a group of teachers about how to use Twitter to leverage this particular tool to connect classrooms and kids. Photo taken by Jess Weber.

2) Developing the Organisation to Support Desired Practices

• model collaboration in our work
• foster mutual respect and trust among those involved in collaboration
• encourage the collaborative development of group processes and outcomes
• help develop clarity about goals and roles related to collaborative work
• encourage a willingness to compromise among collaborators
• foster open and fluent communication among collaborators toward building and sustaining a Catholic professional learning community
• provide adequate and consistently available resources to support collaborative work
• provide people with leadership opportunities and support them as they take on these opportunities

The above mentioned expectations were not the only ones that were addressed in the work I was engaged in at the mini conference but the Building Relationships and Developing People and Developing the Organisation to Support Desired Practices pillars were the two major ones.

The mini conference was a great opportunity to help move educators in a direction that will assist them with their professional learning/growth and the achievement of their students. I look forward to continuing to grow as a leader as I assist others in improving their practice. 

The Connected Principal (Digital Leader) and the Evolution of Educational Leadership

Tomorrow I am spending the day learning with my Principal Qualification Program Part #2 colleagues. We have been provided with a release day to gather and continue to learn about the role of a Principal. On top of learning from and with my colleagues, I will be sharing my understanding of the importance of, and what it means to be, a digitally connected Vice Principal/Principal/Leader.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind putting the presentation together but I am looking forward to sharing my learning with my colleagues in the course and my social media PLN - some of which have been integral in the preparation of my presentation.

Looking at this experience through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework I believe that my presentation will assist in Building Relationships and Developing People, Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices, and Improving the Instructional Program. 

There are a lot of benefits to being a connected digital leader that fit very nicely with the expectations of the Leadership Framework. Connected leaders can leverage digital technologies/tools to help establish (or be part of) collaborative cultures, building productive relationships with families and the community, connecting the school to a wider environment, stimulate growth in the professional capacities of staff, modelling the school's values and practices, and providing instructional support. 

With this in mind, I hope that my colleagues will see that being a digitally connected leader is not an "extra" but that it fits in nicely with the society we are currently living in and the work that we do in Education. 

I'm an NTIP Mentor...Finally!

Seven years ago I felt like it was time to take a risk and put myself "out there" by making it known that I wanted to be a mentor to newer teachers. I remember finishing up my teacher performance appraisal and telling my Vice Principal that I was feeling good about my development and that I wanted to be considered as a potential mentor for new teachers. My VP agreed and let me know that he would make some calls about my interest.

Unfortunately, he was told that they didn't require any mentors at that time. I never stopped looking into it. A couple of years later I asked about it again and was told that mentees got to choose their mentor so if I wasn't contacted then I wouldn't be a mentor. Last year I found myself having a conversation with a consultant working within the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) who told me that the system for recruiting mentors would be changing. She was correct, a few months later there was a call for mentors and I put my name forward to be considered.

It took seven years but I am really happy (and feel privileged) to say that I am now an NTIP Mentor! A list was put together and I was contacted by two teachers who will be going through the NTIP this school year. I am excited to have the opportunity to build a positive relationship with other colleagues and offer them advice/guidance about the awesome work we engage in on a daily basis.

Looking through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework, the opportunity to participate in the NTIP allows me to assist in building relationships and developing people, developing the organization to support desired practises, and improving the instructional program. The opportunity to work on a variety of leadership expectations while formally supporting the growth of others who are relatively new to the profession is welcome.

Aside from offering my perspective and experience to other teachers, I am looking forward to learning from them and seeing/hearing about the awesome things they do to improve their practise and the learning of their students. I look forward to blogging more about my experience as a mentor with respect to the Leadership Framework. This is only the beginning - I look forward to the journey that I am embarking on and the positive changes that come with/from it.

My New Students and their FAMILIES are all Welcome!

It has been a busy summer of reflecting, learning, and planning. With the start of the new school year a little over a week away, my focus is on my classroom and the students that will be inhabiting it for the next 10 months.

Just the other day, I came across a great blog post by +Sue Dunlop entitled "How Do You Want Families to Feel on the First Day of School?". Her post got me thinking - wondering why I have not ever really considered the 'family' on the first day (or week for that matter) of school.

Coincidentally, I found myself chatting with +Stephen Hurley that day or the next, about this very topic. Stephen was kind enough to connect with me to be on my podcast to talk about his work in education and what motivates and inspires him to do the work that he does. During our conversation we talked about School and the family context within it. Stephen offered up some ideas on how we could create a more welcoming environment for the families that belong to our school communities. Our conversation led him to write his own blog post, "Back to School: The Family Context", where he writes about some of the ideas he spoke about on the podcast around some ways that the school context could overlap with the family context. After reading his post, I started thinking about how I could help overlap the contexts in my school community. The next day I spoke to my Principal about the conversation that Stephen and I had. I told her about the idea of being more deliberate about overlapping the family context at school and sent her the link to Stephen's blog post.

My hope is that we can establish a new tradition/norm in my school community that will further assist us in building trusting and productive relationships with parents. Looking at this through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework, overlapping the family context and the school context would allow us to do the following:

• demonstrate respect for parents by listening to their ideas, being open to those ideas, and genuinely considering their value
• demonstrate respect, care and personal regard for parents 
• create a school environment in which parents are welcomed, respected and valued as partners in their children’s learning
• demonstrate the type of leadership that parents can trust - confident, systematic and attentive 
• help develop staff commitment to engaging parents in the school
• encourage staff to adopt a broad view of parental engagement and encourage more parents to be involved

We say that our Catholic Schools are the heart of the community - I think that this would be one more way to strengthen the school community by acknowledging and celebrating the family context. I look forward to revisiting this topic to blog about what my school does towards making families feel like they are truly welcome once they pass the main office.

Tough Conversations - Revisited

Our most recent in-class leadership session was all about having difficult conversations and the tools needed (rapport, listening set asides, and pause/paraphrase) to assist with those conversations. We were assigned a "homework" activity that involved engaging in a difficult/necessary/courageous conversation at home or at work. After having our tough conversation, we were to communicate our experience to our course instructor by providing 5 sentences/keywords/mind map (or whatever we wish) to express ourselves.

I took some time to think about any situations at work that I needed to deal with. It didn't take very long before I decided who I needed to talk to and the topic of the conversation. After my tough conversation I emailed my course instructor with the following message:
______________________________________________________

Here are my 5 points with respect to a difficult/necessary conversation I had:

Anxiety provoking

Reflection

Action

Prepared for negative

Listened

One of the teachers at our school is new and I share lunch duty with her. It was around a duty issue. We get along and I would say that I have a good rapport with her. So when I talked to her about the issue I told her that I wanted to ask her something and perhaps provide some advice for future reference. I know she is sensitive so I didn't want to upset her - my intention was to inform her and let her know how her decisions were impacting me. It turned out to be good.
______________________________________________________________

My 5 words (I know that I used more than 5) reflect my experience. I felt anxious, I spent time reflecting on the situation and my feelings about what was going on, I acted by speaking to my colleague, I prepared myself for a negative reaction on her part (worst case scenario), and when she spoke I actually listened to her. From MY perspective, I think things went well. My next step is to figure out if things are ok on her end as well. This is something I am currently thinking about. Sometimes when you have tough conversations things go they way you planned but how is the other person feeling? I am going to look further into that aspect of these tough conversations. 

As I think about the tools needed to have difficult conversations, I have to say that the one that stands out for me the most is the one about rapport. The leadership framework for principals has a pillar (1/5th of the document) about building relationships and developing people. Upon further investigation, the pillar is all about the practices that build rapport and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will make the practices useful and authentic.

Here is a closer look at the pillar and its expectations:

I look forward to continuing to work on the expectations in this pillar with the people I work with everyday. Moreover, I look forward to looking into the other side of tough conversations and examine what it means for things to "good" on both sides of the conversation.  

Instructional Rounds = Instructional and Leadership Opportunities

My colleagues and I recently experienced what is known as instructional rounds, which is a process adapted from the medical rounds model that doctors use in hospitals. Instructional Rounds help educators look closely at what is happening in classrooms in a systematic, purposeful, and focused way. The classroom observation is viewed through the lens of the school's problem of practice and is often framed as a question around which a site wants to gather some data. 

Almost all of the teachers, as well as the administrator, participate in the rounds. In small groups, teachers visit their colleague's classrooms for 30 minutes each, looking for evidence related to the problem of practice. One of the most challenging aspects with Rounds is that evidence being collected must be observational and non-judgmental. When visiting classes, we took notes on what the students and teacher were doing with respect to the information provided in the lesson plan posted in and out of the room for our reference. Below is an example of what my teaching partner and I provided to the team that observed our classes.

Can Observers speak to students (during the task)?     Yes     

Big Idea/Inquiry Questions	Making Connections
Learning Goal and Success Criteria	Learning Goal:  Students will provide evidence from the text to support their connection Success Criteria: Identify key words/phrases from the text that help make their connection. Orally communicate their connection to peer/teacher Integrate evidence from the text and their own experience.
Learning Task	Make deep connections to non-fiction text using evidence from the text and their schema.
Assessment (For, As, Of Learning)	“Of Learning” -  Examine how well the students were able to meet the success criteria by reviewing their graphic organizer and conferencing with them.

At the end of the day, the observation team gathered to talk about our observations with the ultimate goal of recommending what we believe should continue to occur at our school, what should stop occurring, and what we could start doing as a school in order to address our problem of practice.

The two and a half days that we spent working on this was time well spent. My favourite part has been the time spent after school debriefing teachers after the days observations and all the rich talk and action that has come from the two and a half days of instructional rounds. 

Throughout this process, I have been paying attention to the instructional and leadership perspectives that have presented themselves. From an instructional perspective, I have been paying attention to and focusing on the amazing things my colleagues are doing with their students and what I can take from my observations to improve my practice. From a leadership perspective, I am aware of the Catholic Leadership Framework and expectations that connect to what I am doing as a member of my school community. 

Upon reflection of my role in the instructional rounds process, and its aftermath, here are the some expectations that I find myself engaged in:

• building understanding of the specific implications of the school’s vision for its programs and the nature of classroom instruction (Setting Directions)
• regularly encouraging staff (and them encouraging me) to evaluate their progress toward achieving the school’s goals (Setting Directions)
• encouraging staff to be innovative in helping students meet those expectations (Setting Directions)
• encouraging staff to reflect on what they are trying to achieve with students and how they are doing it (Building Relationships and Developing People)
•  suggesting new ideas for staff learning (Building Relationships and Developing People)
•  encouraging staff to try new practices that are consistent with both their interests and school goals (Building Relationships and Developing People)
• model collaboration in my own work (Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices)
• collecting and using data about the status of those classroom and school conditions that are the focus of the school improvement efforts (Improving the Instructional Program)

From my perspective, my colleagues are as engaged in the leadership expectations listed above as I am. Perhaps they don't see it the same way that I do but due to the nature of the instructional rounds the culture is changing at the school and people seem to have a heightened awareness around collaboration and innovation in order to positively impact teaching and learning. 

I enjoy engaging my colleagues in dialogue around the purpose of the work we are doing, suggesting new and exciting ways to do the work (e.g. technology integration), and to get things done in a safe and collaborative fashion. The instructional rounds experience has helped put me on a path where the discussions and work I find myself having and doing comes from a common goal that my colleagues and I are working toward. As we continue to work toward our school's vision/goals I will continue to look for and engage in instructional and leadership opportunities that will assist in my personal and professional development.  

Cultivating a Servant's Habits and Sharing our Catholic Vision

After our last leadership session, I took the time to reflect upon the two following expectations from the Catholic Leadership Framework:

Building Relationships and Developing People
Building trusting relationships with and among staff, students and parents Catholic school leaders:
• create and sustain a caring Catholic school culture

Setting Directions
Communicating the vision and goals Catholic school leaders:
• ensure that a Catholic vision is clearly articulated, shared, understood, and acted upon

One of our readings for the session was highlighted in a reflective activity about 'cultivating a servant's habits'. The activity proved to be quite thought provoking for me. We have no better model than Jesus Christ when it comes to servant leadership and living a life that is God-centered. I may never be as focused and selfless as Jesus but I can certainly work towards moving closer to the ideal He gave to us. In our course text, Phelps provides us with nine habits that will help us refocus, recalibrate, and recommit ourselves on a daily basis in order to move closer to the ideal that Jesus provided us with:

• Practice solitude.
• Pray daily.
• Read Scripture.
• Worship and receive the sacraments regularly.
• Explore the lives and reflections of saints and Christian scholars.
• Consider sacramentals and devotions that flourish in the Church.
• Accept and model unconditional love.
• Serve others.
• Build community. 

For me, the nine habits mentioned above provide wonderful opportunities to create and sustain a caring Catholic school and ensure that our Catholic vision is clearly articulated, shared, understood and acted upon. As Catholic educators, we weave in and out of the habits that Phelps refers to. The key, as I understand it, is to make them part of our everyday lives. This is no small task, but like any other habit it takes time and commitment to build in routines.

Now that I have a good grip on what the habits are and why they are useful/powerful in helping me cultivate a servant's habits, I reflect on what I am currently doing and what I could start doing in order to benefit my school community. How can I further assist (because there are many amazing things in place already) my school community (staff, students, parents) in sustaining a caring environment with a Catholic vision that is understood and acted upon?

The first thing I think of is the Pastoral team at my school. I can check in with them to see if I can assist - if I can serve in a way that will encourage others to participate and possibly serve as well. For many years, at different schools, I have been a member of the Pastoral team. I feel like the experience I am going through right now is a call to return to that type of service in my current school.

The second thing I thought of is our school's social networking website (Edmodo) that we use to communicate announcements to our staff and students. It would be a great way to provide scripture that is relevant to what we are doing and links to Christian scholars and Saints. It is a small step that I can build into my life while providing staff and students an opportunity to adopt into their lives.

The third thing I thought of is the use of Twitter as a tool used to communicate to the masses. With the proliferation of technology, specifically mobile technologies, many people have access to such a simple yet powerful software that can keep them informed of our caring and Catholic vision through the use of photos, video, and text. I currently use Twitter 1) personally and professionally for my own sharing and learning, 2) I have an account for my class to keep parents informed of the real time learning that their children are experiencing, and 3) I tweet food for thought to help staff and students reflect on their faith journey from @WCDSBFaith. Our Catholic school system is valuable and I have found Twitter to be an excellent way to spread our unique and amazing vision of inclusion and achievement.

I have spoken to my Principal about the creation of a school account in order to share the wonderful things happening in our school and to be a model for others who are weary to adopt this type of practice. I'm pleased that he is interested and has it on his radar as he moves forward on his personal journey at our school.

I am always appreciative of the spark provided by the leadership program that ignites my reflection around my journey as a leader. This blog post reflection has offered me some great insight about what I am doing and what I can do in order to in order to align my practice with the Catholic leadership expectations. As we enter into Holy Week I see no better time than to focus in on how I can be more like Jesus by serve the people around me and shining His light on them.

 

Tough Conversations

I recently reflected on conflict and ideas on how to whether its ill effects. By no means am I anywhere near comfortable with conflict, but I think that awareness provides me with an opportunity to learn more about what I can do to deal with it effectively when it pops up.

Our last leadership session focused on having hard coaching conversations - which can come from or lead to conflict. It's a heavy duty topic in my opinion but an important one to address and discuss. One of the first things that was established was a point of view that can provide clarity and comfort around having tough conversations. If tough conversations are perceived as opportunities to foster growth and develop cognitive capacity then who wouldn't want to engage in such practices? The trick to all of this (if I can call it that) is/are the relationships we have with our colleagues and our students. A good relationship will certainly allow for a tough conversation to be interpreted as a caring or 'tough love' conversation that is meant to assist. A weak relationship leaves people feeling defensive and hurt. Again, we are reminded that building positive relationships is a key ingredient to any of our pursuits in life.

The key learning I take away from this portion of the leadership program revolves around what are referred to as "Tools for Coaching" - four ingredients (purpose, presence, rapport, pausing-paraphrasing) that can assist with hard conversations by reminding us that 1) all people have dignity and giftedness that allow them to make valuable contributions to their community; 2) we are made to exist in relationship with one another and that relationships require learning and growth; 3) institutions should serve people and not the other way around; and 4) lasting change comes from encouraging growth in others.

With this new learning we were encouraged to seek out opportunities to practice the skills, notice the how our interactions begin to change, refine our skills based on our reflections, and extend our skills.

Through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework, the following expectations stand out to me as I engage in building trusting relationships where tough conversations would be perceived as beneficial rather than harmful:

• encourage staff to be innovative in helping students meet expectations (setting directions)
• acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of individuals and teams (building relationships and developing people) 
• build upon and respond to individual staff members’ unique needs and expertise (building relationships and developing people) 
• foster mutual respect and trust among those involved in collaboration (developing the organization to support desired practices)
• encourage the collaborative development of group processes and outcomes (developing the organization to support desired practices)
• provide advice to teachers about how to solve classroom problems by supporting a solution-focused learning environment based on Catholic values (improving the instructional program)
• assess their own contributions to school achievements and take into account feedback from others on their performance (securing accountability)

The "Tools for Coaching" and the above mentioned expectations have been at the forefront of many of my interactions with my close colleagues. There have been some tough conversations - initiated by me and initiated by others towards me. I have found that having an understanding and awareness around this topic to be quite valuable. Combined with good working relationships, there is a lot of growth that seems to be benefiting everyone involved.

I have also been involved in difficult interactions where I didn't feel valued as a colleague. In those circumstances I initially felt upset and defensive. I found myself engaged in self talk about what I could do to lessen the ill effects of a tough conversation where  rapport and presence did not seem to be part of the equation. Interestingly enough, I found myself falling back on the habits of a servant and how I could salvage the situation. Luckily, I haven't found myself in too many of these situations but I have spent time reflecting on them and the positive that I could extract from them.