Workplace Culture – Teachers Who Know Me

“Change management is important but change leadership is essential” (Pennington, n.d.). Leadership versus Management:

Have a clear understanding about the difference between leadership and management, because if something turbulent happens that means an organisation or school is required to implement change and we are stuck in management tasks, we can’t lead (Kotter, 2013).

Therefore, leadership (leading) is: creating a strategy and vision for the future and creating an environment that motivates others to join the vision and strategy; whereas management (functional) is: planning, budgeting, organising, staffing controlling and problem solving (Kotter, 2013).

[I won’t write too much more about management versus leadership because I think I’ve written loads about this in my blog posts for ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum]

Nick Skillcom's (2019) definition of innovation — Nick Skillcom’s (2019) definition of innovation (Permission to use image granted by Nick Skillcom)

Innovation versus change:

I think we also need to have a clear definition as to what is innovation versus change. The two seem to be being used interchangeably in this course, and in some ways that could be dangerous, particularly given the ‘change fatigue’ discussed in my previous post(s). Innovation is change that is adding value for both the company and the customer [as detailed by Nick Skillcom from Idea to Value (2019)], but change doesn’t necessarily do this and promoting a ‘change culture’ frightens me. We need to remember to match innovation (and subsequent change) to goals. Perhaps a ‘change culture’ is an innovative culture that is open to change, but not necessarily constantly changing?

Innovation by Nick Skillcom (2019) (Permission to use image granted by Nick Skillcom).

These are interesting, given the wording of the principal standards from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL): “Identify the need for innovation and improvement; Develop a process and common language for change; Maintain their values whilst adapting flexibly and strategically to changes in the environment; Embed a culture of continuous improvement (AITSL, 2015).

Innovation: In order to recognise necessary innovations, I need to identify my passion. What’s my passion? Literacy. Quality literature. Education of children. Helping others find their passion. Encouraging colleagues to promote the social and emotional learning of students.

Professional Goals: 1. linking my practices to research; 2. linking my practices to the ASLA librarian standards.

Leading from the middle:

The whole premise behind this is to build capacity in others, which is what we do as teachers every day (Gottlieb, 2012). First we must lead by doing, and must get to know our team at a personal level. Gottlieb (2012) has many ideas about how to run a meeting or series of meetings to achieve this.

Morning meetings that build personal connections link to the teacher/students’ ‘morning meeting’ idea in the new wave of positive behaviour for learning and trauma informed practice pedagogy promoted by the Berry Street Educational Model (BSEM) or the Responsive Classroom.

Gottlieb (2012) also suggest we create a website page of our team ‘biographies’ to help team members get to know each other and reinforce such things as: What are your values or strengths? What excites you about our strategic plan or mission? Why are the things we do in our library important? What is your personal journey that has brought you here, or what is your personal teaching and learning philosophy?

Well hell’s bells, I thought of this ‘Spotlight’ idea too about two years ago and my supervisor at the time thought it was a great idea! Unfortunately, his son fell ill and he had to move away before the idea came to fruition (and his replacement did not renew my contract). Time to dust off the idea and utilise it in my future library!

Implementing an innovation culture (not a change culture!):

Opinion based on my own experience: Changing the work culture in a school is a really big deal. Some might even say, insurmountable. When inundated with ‘top down’ policies, budget constraints, and a ‘to be run like a business’ mantra (influenced by a employment policy for administration staff that literally advocates for nepotism; ‘local schools local decisions;’ promotion on ‘merit’ being rorted – particularly for leadership positions; the bullying of bureaucrats and top-level executives resulting in the bullying of leaders; resulting in bullying of teachers, resulting in bullying of students, resulting in bullying on the playground; the oversupply of teachers (particularly new scheme teachers) in primary and the undersupply in secondary; the push to employ more (new scheme) temporary contract teachers (who struggle with building relationships with students – one of the main indicators of academic success) in primary over offering permanent positions – pitting the temps’ against each other in competition for the few permanent positions that arise; laying off temps in favour of ‘free trial’ teachers in from the city on incentive schemes, etc) trying to change a school culture from the bottom up, (or ‘the middle’ as per Gottlieb, 2012) at this stage is all but futile.

And while I agree that we need to develop as teachers, I am struck by Lortie’s (1975 in Oberg, 2011) terms “presentism, conservatism; and individualism” as being hinders to the change process. When I read this, I saw it as the bureaucratic level trends in society and global political trends rather than or in addition to the trends in teacher attitudes towards ‘change’ / innovation.

A Google dictionary search defines the terms as: “Presentism: uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts.”…”Conservatism: commitment to traditional values and ideas with opposition to change or innovation; (or) the holding of political views that favour free enterprise, private ownership, and socially conservative ideas.”…”Individualism: the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant; (or) a social theory favouring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control.”

Wealth doesn’t ‘trickle down,’ but leadership attitudes seem to, as supported by Harvard Business Review (Zenger & Folkman, 2016).

The trick is to try to stop the ‘trickle down’ effect from reaching the students – and in that, the buck stops with me! I’m reminded of the social emotional lesson (learned from BSEM trauma informed practice teacher training) that I teach to students about things they can control. (I can’t control the bureaucrats or political arena, but I can control myself!)

Thus, to combat anti-innovative mindsets, I will aim to address my personal presentism, conservatism and individualism mindset(s) through: professional development, personal reflection, collaboration, questioning the validity of top-down changes (such as data collection, standardised testing, and mandatory curriculum), as well as battling the conservative practices of social inequity and lack of cohesion that trickle down to school inequities–further disadvantaging marginalised students (Oberg, 2011).

Regarding ‘top down’ changes and conservative practices: I will confidently ask my team(s) the question: ‘How can this innovation (such as a behaviour peg chart or stoplight ‘welfare’ policy), which is intended to improve teaching and learning, contribute to making a difference for all stakeholders and all students, or will it make a difference only for those already advantaged (such as those who are meeting outcomes, have social capital, or who come from economically stable, privileged backgrounds)?’ (Oberg, 2011 p.2).

I will get to know the teaching and learning philosophies influencing teaching practices, the school’s attitudes towards innovation (or if it is simply ‘change’), how the teachers interact (in isolation or collaboratively), the executive team roles and goals, and the methods for determining success – both professionally and academically (Pratt, 2017; Oberg, 2011, p.2; Green 2011).

I will proactively start in ‘my’ library by being patient with the innovation process (Pratt, 2017; Oberg, 2011), working flexibly and collaboratively with all stakeholders, setting SMART goals that are based on both the school mission/strategic plan/library mission/strategic plan of improving teaching and learning as well as based on evidence/research based innovations of 21st century teaching practices such as differentiation (Oberg, 2011; Green 2011).

Things I currently lack but need in a future teacher librarian role (according to Green (2011, p.23)): “established authoritative position, credibility amongst peers, a vision that is based on best practice and, importantly, a mandate to implement or produce change (innovation).”

I need to utilise my skills in linking practice to researched evidence, marketing, ICT and QTR (as well as from training and experience received from BSEM, L3, AL and TEN, etc) in my library and collaborate with teachers, offering professional development in these areas, in order to help them utilise evidence-based practices, helpful computer technologies, effective lesson structures or to professionally and collaboratively evaluate their lessons or units of work (Green 2011).

References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). (2015). Interactive leadership profiles. In AITSL.Retrieved from https://legacy.aitsl.edu.au/leadership-profiles/interactive-profiles/leading-improvement-innovation-and-change

Gottlieb, H. (2012, October 30). Leading from the middle: Bringing out the best in everyone [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://creatingthefuture.org/leading-from-the-middle-bringing-out-the-best-in-everyone/

Green, G. (2011). Learning leadership through the school library. Access, 25(4), 22-26. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/publications/access.aspx

Kotter, J. (2013, August 15). The key differences between leading and managing [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEfgCqnMl5E [4.23 mins].

Oberg, D. (2011). Teacher librarians as cultural change agents. SCIS Connections, 79. Retrieved from https://www.scisdata.com/media/1353/connections-79.pdf

Pennington, R. (n.d.). How to make change work. In Educational leaders: Leading and managing change. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-change/Leading-and-managing-change

Pratt, A. (2017). The challenge of implementing change. SCIS Connections, 103. Retrieved from https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-103/the-challenge-of-implementing-change

Skillcom, N. (2019). What is innovation? 15 experts share their innovation definition. Retrieved from https://www.ideatovalue.com/inno/nickskillicorn/2016/03/innovation-15-experts-share-innovation-definition/

Zenger, J. & Folkman, J. (2016). The trickle down effect of good and bad leadership. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/01/the-trickle-down-effect-of-good-and-bad-leadership

The background of case study 1 from CSU Interact2 ETL504 Module 1 (Downloaded on 17/7/19)

Case study 1 from CSU Interact2 ETL504 Module 1 (Downloaded on 17/7/19)

Firstly, it must be said that I am vastly under-qualified for the leadership position at the facility in this case study.

Luckily, it is a hypothetical situation or I might have to have a nervous breakdown as the first thing I would do on Monday morning’s diary entry. Thus, my first reaction is that I need to use something like the graph from Skills You Need to start managing my time more analytically and prioritising tasks more effectively. For example, am I trying to chair too many committees when my staff are falling apart? Am I too busy trying to make myself look good to bond with employees who are running the library, possibly inefficiently?
Perhaps delegating the sorting of my correspondence, reports, memos and emails into ‘now, soon, later’ by a secretary, who could then create my schedule for the week, would be a good idea. If this isn’t in the budget then I will need to allocate time specifically in each day to organise myself.
After reading the background of the case study, I am similarly overwhelmed. In my work experience in marketing, I was at a corporation of similar size to this school and it required a Human Resources (HR) team to support the smooth running of the management and staff. We had a vibrant HR manager who, following a corporate restructure, ran a series of ‘meetings’ where we worked together to improve the workplace culture, and I believe this workplace is in serious need of these HR intervention ideas.
The video from the Bastow Institute’s Tracey Ezard on ‘Building Trust and Collaboration’ (2015) supports this view, offering helpful tips on how to improve the quality of relationships and build trust and risk taking through: discovering each person’s potential and capabilities, admitting my own failings as a leader, appreciating each other and being authentic in what we say and do.
Some ideas on how to achieve an improved workplace culture specifically would be to: do the VIA character traits survey and discuss the results; Build individual and communal philosophies via the GoogleDocs survey that I created; Then collate the results of these into the school library website or intranet to encourage pride and unity.
I would also seek to enhance the external support for those staff members who have challenges at home with childcare and children with disability, possibly through a crèche or respite care. (Not sure what to do about the bloke sleeping at his computer in sight of students. Maybe a having a friendly, helpful and private chat about his health and some options for improving his engagement at work would solve the issue?)
It is clear that some training is necessary and I would look to provide opportunities for the Berry Street Educational Model (BSEM) training for the whole team, but particularly for Liam, Peta, Dani, Victoria, Shelley and Bobbi, who (for various reasons) are not connecting appropriately with students and/or teachers and library staff. While the BSEM training was created to help educators support students with trauma backgrounds, it has the simultaneous effect of building skills in educators like empathy and understanding and the ability to form connections, as well as opening us up to changing our environments, responses and attitudes to better suit the students.
Similarly, the whole team would benefit from a visit from Keynote Speaker: Rachel Robertson, who explains her ‘No Triangles’ strategy as well as many other useful ideas for improving workplace culture.
Further training in relevant technology used by the library and possible ideas for additional technology is also needed, particularly for Shelley, Allison, Bobbi & Melissa. This could be achieved in house by training sessions by Lydia, Liam, Derek & Malia. In support of the staff, I should also have an understanding of the relevant technology and use it daily.
Marlia & Liam could also be trained in the ‘LANS & Networking configurations’ by Derek, who is likely to leave and take his knowledge with him. (And what’s up with that Derek? Do you need to feel more valued or has that ship already sailed?)
The issue of lack of student and teacher engagement in the library needs a whole team approach. Data needs to be collected, possibly through surveys or programs like Oliver to determine the severity or areas of disengagement. Once the data has been collected and collated, it will need to be analysed by the whole staff and ideas for improving engagement need to be shared with everyone based on and supported by recent information science and educational practise research. One aspect of this would be the whole staff having more input and contributions during the actual teaching of student lessons.
Finally, due to the constant staff turnover, a lack of clear direction or goals, and a lack of unity, everyone has ambiguous roles and responsibilities-including me. While I see from the diary that I am meeting with them one-on-one, this needs to be formalised into a performance and review schedule where I first meet with everyone around the same time to determine the specific roles and detailed responsibilities of the respective jobs within the sub-groups of the library, e.g. my roles, the TL’s roles, the tech’s roles, the assistant’s roles and the IT department’s roles. Atlassian has a great structure for a team meeting activity to help achieve this. Some 6-12 months afterwards, I could meet with individuals to review their performance and determine their success or needs relating to their roles and responsibilities.

The task at hand is large. I’m glad it is just hypothetical and am looking forward to hearing input from others in this subject on how they would handle it on Monday…

References

BastowInstitute. (2015, July 27). Building Trust and Collaboration – Tracey Ezard [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/kUkseAdKyek

Tag: Workplace Culture

Reflection on Module 3.3 Change Leader – SO MANY IDEAS!

Innovation versus change:

Leading from the middle:

Implementing an innovation culture (not a change culture!):

Case Study 1 – Reflection and Ideas