Leading and managing people to produce a high performing department

Leading and managing people to produce a high performing department Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better. Bill Bradley

The quality of middle leadership is fundamental to school improvement, effectiveness, high performance and bringing about change and innovation.

Leadership in education is concerned with the three P’s: Principle– the moral basis of the school/team Purpose – the core business of the school/team, the sense of direction People– social relationships in the school/team and engagement THE THREE P’s

Principle People Purpose

Clear purpose and good with people – but lack principle Good with people and principled – but you have no sense of purpose Principled and purposeful – clear purpose and principles but unable to engage with people Have you encountered leaders who would fit one of these? What was the impact on the people they led? When the balance isn’t right…..

TaskWork in groups of three Think of some different leaders who you have worked with. Who has had most impact on your development? What did they do? How did they do it? What did it feel like? Where do your leaders fit on this model? Be prepared to illustrate your discussion with examples at feedback.

Where do you fit? Where do you currently fit on this model as a middle leader? Reflect on where you fit. What can you do differently? What are your area/s for development? People Principle Purpose

Knowing you, knowing me • Middle leaders have a responsibility for developing the members of their team. • Key to this process is knowing the people in your team. • So, listening matters.

Active Listening • Active listening shows the speaker that their message is being both received and fully understood. • It enables you to better understand your team members, the team issues and their responses to your leadership. • It strengthens your credibility as a leader and relationships with team members.

Active listening strategies • Decode all of the language. • Listen for hidden messages. • Maintain attention. • Use positive body language.

Active listening Active listening has five components: • testing understanding • questioning • building • feedback • summarising

Listening The objectives of this task are: • To demonstrate active listening in a conversation. • To deepen understanding of the elements of active listening.

The task • Form groups of six. • Identify one person who will talk about a particular issue they are currently dealing with. • The others will each get a card with a description of one of the components of active listening. DO NOT SHOW THIS TO ANYONE. • The talker begins, the others have to demonstrate the active listening component they have been given.

Task review • In your group reflect on the experience. • How did the talker feel? • Can you identify who had which component? • How did the strategies improve the quality of the conversation? • Was it easy to identify when to use a component? • Was it easy to apply the components ? • FEEDBACK: identify three learning points to feedback to the rest of the group.

Relationship management • Effective listening supports effective relationship management. • Effective relationship management supports high performance. • Effective relationship management is a key aspect of emotional intelligence. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJhfKYzKc0s&feature=related

Remember………. The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. Harvey S. Firestone “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” Ronald Reagan

Leading and managing people to produce a high performing department