Just finished watching Tracey Ezard’s 2015 lecture on Building Trust and Collaboration. My understanding of my strengths and weaknesses as a leader are becoming clearer. Ezard suggests five strategies for building trust and collaboration and I want to document my progress in developing these skills.
The two I think I am naturally good at are vulnerability and authenticity. I have no issues with being imperfect. In fact, I think I need to improve on shouting out when I actually get something right. But I always own up when I get something wrong. My program annotations show this clearly and Wednesday’s classes do not get the same lesson as Monday’s classes – there is always room for improvement. I also received praise from my boss when she overheard me on the phone to a parent apologising for being angry with her child after he embedded about 20 velcro balls into the ponytail of a fellow student. He was only in Kindy and could not have predicted as I could that after much conditioner, brushing and tears the girl’s mother would have to use scissors to cut the final few out.
Authenticity goes hand in hand with vulnerability. However, Ezard insists that your authenticity must be consistent. So there is still room for me to improve here. I realise already after two years in a TL position that I have to choose my battles. But, once chosen, I must persist and communicate my goals clearly and consistently.
The next two also go hand in hand: Being curious about your work colleagues and taking the time to appreciate them. I have been aware of leaders in my school using these techniques to improve their trust and collaboration with the teachers they supervise. I am not naturally good at this but not because I don’t care. It’s because my brain always feels so busy that I leave no room for these things as they take time. I also need to be careful not to act superior to my work colleagues. This doesn’t happen often but last year during lockdown when staff were asked to share their favourite books during book week, I openly scoffed and judged them all because the books they chose were all from their childhoods – had they not read anything since? I genuinely believe that poor reading habits is an issue among my work colleagues but judging them from on high is not the way to fix this problem.
I saved the strategy that is my weakest for last. “Accept and take responsibility for your role in relationships”. Ouch. That one actually hurt. I am really bad at this in both my personal and professional life and I didn’t know it. I didn’t know it until Ezard said it. I have high expectations of my school leaders and if they don’t perform their duties with utmost competence I tend to give up on them. I also use this as an excuse to give up on myself, my work, my goals – for awhile anyway. Once the anger subsides, I try again but my behaviour now appears quite petulant to me. And more importantly it is unhelpful. Nothing will change and nothing will improve. The only remaining problem I have with this is that I still hold a grudge that even when I step up and behave like a leader in my role as a teacher librarian, I will not be remunerated for it. I’ll be lucky if I’m even recognised as a leader in my community. This is an issue that I have not yet seen addressed by any academic or school leader. This degree is asking me to be a leader, ASLA is asking me to be a leader but the NSW Department of Education is not.
Be First to Comment