The day started early. iO have kindly decided to support Interactive Fiction platform Quest and together with Andy Goff and Alex Warren we are hurriedly drafting an introduction competition for teachers and educator with some fantastic prizes. More of that later…. A short drive to the De Vere Grand Harbour for Core Day 1 ‘Taking First Steps’ of the Leadership Pathways programme. A warm welcome from Maggie Swinnerton, coffee and pastries and of course the usual house keeping notifications. Why ‘Leadership Pathways.’ So far its been a remote experience, a 360 diagnostic, a brief coaching conversation with our Principal and the first of many online learning units. (Knowing that our Principal is fully supportive and committed to the coaching process). From the NCSL’s point of view, the clear emphasis is on being an ‘effective self-directed learner’ and ‘leader.’
Expectations
- Next steps
- Inspiration (inspiring others)
- Recognition
- ‘Do we like Senior Leadership?’
- Networking and x phase, x subject, x setting
- Time for conversation with SLT
- Time for reflection and self-change
Concerns
An overview of the course, the year on Leadership Pathways, and conversation around the school impact study followed. Listening to our Primary colleagues, the size of the school, the infrastructure would appear more readily positioned to promote whole school impact, from ’International Partnerships,’ to numerous whole-school subject focused programmes, eg literacy and numeracy. Our Secondary colleagues appear to be more hemmed in by their subject commitments and the perception of the size of the task – in particular the perception of the size of the task in secondary schools.
After a short coffee break, we were back to the task of defining the conditions for effective self-directed learning.
- Modelling
- OMG moments
- Self awareness
- Time for reflection
- Security and trust
- Honesty
- Opportunities to try things out
- Rescuing – disaster or crisis management
- Resilience
- Underpinning theory
This list led to an introduction to Boyatzis – Intentional Change Theory, a critical segway to uncovering one’s motivations for this process or course.
Intentional change is hard work and often fails because of lack of sufficient drive and the proper intrinsic motivation for it. This model of the Ideal self creates a comprehensive context within which a person (or at other fractals, a group or system) can formulate why they want to adapt, evolve, or maintain their current desired state.
This was the broker to the first set of philosophical, leadership questions as we attempt to define our moral purpose.
Who do I want to be?
Interestingly, my ‘who’ is first and foremost role of husband, father and friend. That aside, in the workplace I aim to demonstrate
As a teacher – to challenge and inspire young people, to role model a love of learning, to encourage and value risk-taking and the resilience to manage failure, to demonstrate a level of consistency that enables students to accurately describe me
As a leader – to demonstrate integrity, decisiveness, an analytical ability, approachable, imaginative, a willingness to give of oneself, an ability to face adversity, to evolve from a ‘doer’ to an ‘empowerer’, to demonstrate a level of consistency that enables staff to accurately describe me (a might need to manage the order, and accept that the order will change.)
That’s sufficient self reflection for now thought the importance of that task is to measure the distance between my ideal self and my real self?
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