Leading Challenging Conversations

1. Leading Challenging Conversations For Professional Learning Team Leaders Northern Metropolitan Region DEECD Joe Corbett

2. The context for your work • Effective Schools Model, DEECD • Pre-conditions for school improvement; Zbar, Kimber and Marshall • From ‘Powerful Learning’ by Hopkins, Munro and Craig, 2011 Two handouts; Core beliefs and a theory of action( Fraser & Petch) Features of a highly effective education system (Hopkins, Munro and Craig)

3. Reflection • Activity Spend some time reflecting on your role and make some notes on the form provided Share at your table the challenges you each experience Are there any common themes? Discuss these as a whole group

4. Leadership and leading • To lead is to live dangerously because when leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear; their daily habits , tools, loyalties, and ways of thinking....with nothing more to offer perhaps than a possibility From; Leadership on the Line, Heifetz and Linsky,2002.

5. Leading is about • Challenging the status quo • Influencing people to do things in new ways, to modify how they are doing some things, to get them to stop doing some things • Supporting people to cope with ongoing change with a focus on continuous improvement in student outcomes • Assisting people to understand the reasons for change and helping them to move forward

6. What makes a good leader? • Brainstorm your thoughts at your table • See if you can prioritise them • Some sharing

7. Different models of leadership capabilities • DEECDs framework based on the work of Sergiovanni; handout and discussion • Duigan,s framework of leadership capabilities Personal capabilities Relational capabilities Professional capabilities Organisational capabilities handout/comments

8. The 5 demands of management • Clarity of role, contributions, systems and processes • Adequate resourcing, information and equipment • Commitment to quality and excellence • Feedback on performance • Accountability Roger Collins, 2012

9. The 5 demands of leadership • Setting and communicating direction • Aligning key groups of people • Developing an effective temperament • Living and communicating the agreed values • Self development and growing others Roger Collins, 2012

10. Ethical Leadership • To improve the outcomes for every student • If we know something works better than current practice then we are obligated to do it • If we know something is not working then we are obligated to change it • We must be determined to make powerful learning a reality for every student • Change needs to be evidence based

11. Leaders are agents of change Coping with change; People and organisations can experience a wide range of difficulties when faced with the prospect of change • Fear, frustration, anxiety or discomfort as the status quo is threatened • Feelings of embarrassment or intimidation during the learning stage • Uncertainty regarding the impact of change

12. continued • Varying levels of tolerance to stress • Lack of information about why things are changing • Feelings of a loss of control • Poor communication

13. Why people resist change? • They have a different set of values • Their education and training has given them a different understanding of the issues involved • The organisational hierarchy may prevent them from saying or doing anything that indicates resistance to change, so they become ‘silent saboteurs’ • They may have experienced failure or problems in the past, therefore they may adopt a negative attitude, anticipating further problems

14. continued • They may have become ‘change weary’ • They have already seen new ideas come and go, with limited success, and they have lost their belief in the power of change • Implementation has been sub-standard, leaving people unsure of what is happening, or feeling excluded • They aren’t given the opportunity to learn the skills needed to adapt, nor is there adequate mentoring and support

15. continued • Some people find it had to change old habits • The change is too big of a leap for them • They may fear they do not have the capabilities to execute the change • They have not grasped/understood what is expected • Some people are scared to ‘take a risk’ and fear doing things in new ways

16. A Harvard University study of 2005 found that; • 25% of people were against change • 25% of people were in favour of change • 50% of people were in favour of change provided two conditions were met; 1. They received timely and accurate information. 2. The process was, and was perceived to be, fair and transparent. From; How to make good people great leaders, Nowak,2007

17. Change savvy ideas from Michael Fullan in Motion Leadership; 2011 • Relationships first • Honour the implementation dip • Beware of fat plans • Behaviours before beliefs • Communication during implementation is paramount

18. continued • Learn about implementation during implementation • Excitement prior to implementation is fragile • Take risks and learn • It is okay to be assertive

19. Working with the team • As Professional Learning Team Leader you want to build the most effective professional learning team you can so that team members learn to do things in new ways that result in better outcomes for all students

20. Activity Discuss at your table • What are the characteristics of a high performing team? • List them • Try to rank them in order of importance • Share the top 2 with the whole group

21. Characteristics of high performing teams • Shared vision, common purpose • Agreed values which influence behaviours • Effective communication and collaboration • Clear decision making processes • Leadership capacity is evident • Responsibilities and duties are shared • Solution focus to problem solving • Members are valued and their strengths utilised • Achievements and milestones are recognised and celebrated • Reflection and review processes are in place

22. A team protocol Activity • Do you have existing team protocols? • What are the most important features of them? • Discuss the pro-forma provided and consider its usefulness Handouts; ‘Guidelines for productive meetings’ ‘Reflection and review questions’

23. Effective communication • Ability to engage and interact with different people/audiences in various contexts for a range of purposes resulting in positive outcomes • Various contexts; one to one, small group, large group, presentations, formal and informal settings • A range of purposes; professional learning, providing feedback, problem solving, providing information, mediation, ......

24. It is not easy to really listen • Handout; How to listen actively • What gets in the way of effective listening? a poor relationship base a history of conflict one’s state of well-being time pressure/competing demands pre-conceptions/making assumptions clash of values/beliefs

25. As a leader you need highly developed listening and speaking skills • Listening skills; active listening, ability to empathise, ability to focus ,ability to process and integrate, skills at clarifying • Speaking skills; clarity of purpose/intention, ability to be clear and concise, responsiveness to one’s audience, skills at initiating conversation

26. Effective communication • INTENT=========IMPACT

27. Challenging conversations • What makes them so challenging? Is it the person/the people? Is it the content? Is it the setting? Is it the outcomes we expect? Is it the consequences we fear?

28. What are your challenging conversations? • From the past; why were they challenging and how did you handle it, outcomes • For the future; conversations you need to have

29. So many conversations • You will have conversations where it is your role to challenge people about how they are doing things in order to foster a focus on continuous improvement in outcomes for students Using data/handout • You will have conversations that are difficult to have because something has happened that is hard to talk about and some people are hard to talk to

30. Difficult conversations • A difficult conversation is anything you find hard to talk about • Anytime we feel vulnerable or our self esteem is implicated, when the issues at stake are important and the outcome uncertain, when we care deeply about what is being discussed or about the people with whom we are discussing it, there is potential for us to experience the conversation as difficult • Most of us have conversations we dread and find unpleasant, that we avoid or face up to

31. The dilemma Avoid or confront • If we avoid; feel taken advantage of, feelings will fester, miss opportunity to improve things • If we confront; things could get worse, may be rejected, attacked, hurt other person, damage relationship • Is it important enough to act; try to reframe it as a learning conversation • Need to manage fear and anxiety

32. Each difficult conversation has three features • The what happened; what I/you did and didn’t do Avoid truth assumption; I’m right, you’re wrong; difficult conversations are about differing perceptions, interpretations and values, different stories Avoid the blame game; how did we each contribute to the problem Intentions; we assume we know the other person’s intentions when we don’t, we use the impact on us to judge intentions

33. The feelings; often at the core of difficult conversations, you need to express them and tune into the other person’s feelings

34. The identity conversation; conversation with ourselves about what the situation means to us and its impact on our self-esteem and self image, its about who we are and how we see ourselves

35. Moving to a learning conversation • Instead of working to persuade and get your way, you want to understand what has happened from the other person’s point of view, explain your point of view, share and understand feelings, and work together to figure out a way to manage the problem going forward. In doing so, you make it more likely that the other person will be open to be persuaded and that you will learn something that significantly changes the way you understand the problem and see the solutions

36. Planning for a learning conversation • A model from Viviane Robinson ‘Open to learning conversations’ Handout and review

37. Planning for a strategic conversation • Handout; discussion A tool I use for preparing for a one to one conversation that may be difficult or challenging

38. Feedback • Acknowledgement and recognition • Positive feedback • Negative feedback • Constructive feedback

39. Constructive feedback • Constructive feedback is information that calls attention to a practice or a problem or a potential problem • Constructive feedback opens a door to learning, problem solving or other follow up action • The key to giving and receiving constructive feedback is maintaining a spirit of mutual respect and learning • It is all about supporting and promoting change/improvement

40. Purpose of giving constructive feedback • Two key purposes; To improve teaching practice and build teacher capacity To build high performing teams and positive working relationships

41. Constructive feedback • To encourage a person to do something differently • To modify some behaviours • To stop some behaviours • To encourage a person to try new behaviours/strategies • To support on going learning/risk taking • To foster teamwork

42. Activity • At your tables brainstorm what you think are the important characteristics of constructive feedback • Agree on the 3 most important of these • Share these with the whole group

43. Effective feedback • Is done in a way which is respectful and builds positive relationships • Is timely and put in context • Is private and confidential, unless agreed otherwise • Is solution focussed/ provides a way forward • Is clear and explicit • Is balanced with positive feedback • Is incremental in its expectations

44. Beliefs • People have a need to believe that they are okay • People have the capacity to learn from their experiences • Every person wants to contribute and to be acknowledged • Most people want to get better and better at what they do • People benefit from a values driven workplace • People thrive in an environment of high but achievable standards and expectations

45. Stages of skill development • Unconsciously unskilled; unaware of lack of skill or knowledge • Consciously unskilled; aware of need for learning of skill • Consciously skilled; practice, feedback, learning phase • Unconsciously skilled; mastery, part of skill repertoire

46. Giving constructive feedback • Guidelines and pro-forma A framework for planning a one to one conversation with the purpose of giving constructive feedback

47. Classroom observations/peer observations • Where are you at your school? • What are the issues? • What are the next steps? ‘A sample pro-forma’

48. Some principles for dealing with conflict • Handout and discussion

49. A model for negotiation • Handout and discussion

50. Concluding comments