Having a courageous conversation

It’s a scenario with which all Deputy Principals or school leads are familiar. A situation comes to your attention regarding a complaint and it lands on your desk for action. It may have passed through other layers of the school — but it’s now your responsibility to have what we might call a ‘courageous conversation’. […]

Workhorses of education | An article for DPs and APs

Have you ever tracked each moment of your day? From the 6am start to the 6.30am check of emails. Teacher relief organised by 7.00. A check-in chat with a colleague before lead team meeting at 8.15 and all staff briefing at 8.30. By the time most office workers are cranking up their laptops, most DPS […]

Moving on …

After twelve years as a consultant, facilitator, project leader, director…., I am going back to school. At a time when it is common to hear of educators leaving the profession or moving out of school into other kinds of roles and careers, I’m heading upstream, back the other way. I’m excited to have been appointed to […]

Keep the fear off the set

Do you remember the actor/director John Cusack? He of ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Being John Malkovich’ fame? I recently heard about ‘The John Cusack Rule’. When asked in an interview how he saw his role as film producer, he said his main job was, ”To keep the set free from fear.” This ‘rule’ was offered to […]

Change management is people

This post is a summary of resources that I am referring to as part of a virtual Emerging e-Leaders’ session today. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” — Leo Tolstoy Point 1: He tangata! He tangata! He tangata! It is the people. We talk a lot about ‘managing change’, ‘change management’, ‘change leadership’. It […]