How to Handle New Enrolments
We live and work in a transient society. This brings many enriching experiences for us but can also increase stress and anxiety for both staff and students in schools. Whilst this is now more consistency in the curriculum across schools there are other factors that also affect how smoothly these transitions take place. Acknowledging the inevitability of ever-changing school populations and addressing the challenges these present, can improve the outcomes for everyone involved, especially if a collaborative and systematic approach is used. For students, research shows that not only can moving schools be detrimental for them socially, it can also have an adverse effect on their academic achievement. This means it is doubly important that schools do everything within their…
ABOVE or BELOW the Line?
I get really frustrated when I find myself surrounded by negative people, who appear to be filled with doom and gloom. I feel at risk of being buried in their negativity. You know the people, they light up a room….when they leave! Recently I was made aware of the concept of operating ABOVE or BELOW the line of life. Below the line all we hear are denial, excuses or blame. “We’re doing pretty well, considering!” “These students are from low socio-economic families; they aren’t real bright!” “Communication at this school is terrible, I never know what’s going on around here!” “We’d get better results if we had more money for teacher aide time or resources.” Whilst these statements might be…
Getting MORE Satisfaction From Your Work
Working in schools can be demanding. More is expected of us than ever before and we are often expected to do MORE, with LESS. Increases in accountability, the accelerating pace of change, high expectations from busy working parents and the challenges of working with people all add to life in a busy school. It is therefore not surprising that staff morale can suffer. This leads to a lower sense of job satisfaction. However, according to Herzberg, “the factors that lead to producing job satisfaction (and motivation) are separate and distinct from the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction.” Harvard Business Review, Sept 2007 According to Herzberg the opposite of job satisfaction is NOT job dissatisfaction but, rather, NO job satisfaction.…
Stress and Your Locus of Control
The school year has well and truly kicked off and it’s probably about now that our intentions of taking better care of ourselves and not letting work overwhelm us are flying out the window. But before we throw in the towel and succumb to the ever-increasing pressure of work demands, let’s try reframing how we think about and deal with stress. Historically, stress was useful because it helped us survive (fight, flight or freeze), in response to a threat to our physical well-being. However, our bodies can’t distinguish between real and perceived threats and a stress response can be psychologically or physically detrimental to our health and wellbeing. It’s important that we commit to tackling this problem and use a…
What Resilient Teams Do (Part 2)
Helpful attitudes: Behind every helpful behaviour in teams lies a helpful thought or attitude. If we can get the right attitudes to be practised, the necessary behaviours tend to follow. Some of the great attitudes I see in resilient teams are listed left. When such attitudes are evident in teams, you see behaviours like people stepping outside of their role to help out other team members, thinking more creatively and embracing change rather than resisting it. Yes, we are all allowed to have a whinge from time to time, but we need to limit the amount of time we spend doing so and appreciate the impact continued negativity can have on those around us. What attitudes are you personally modelling?…
What Resilient Teams Do (Part 1)
There is no doubt that many workplaces go through periods of significant and ongoing stress. Your school might be in the middle of major stress at present. Yes, there are the day-to-day challenges – high workloads, challenging students, and difficult personalities. But there are also major challenges like restructures, major changes initiated by Central Office or school boards, new computer systems and the pressure of people being expected to do more work with less staff and resources. In some teams, I see the pressures coming out in very human ways – increased sick leave, staff becoming quite sensitive and less tolerant, people taking shortcuts with how they speak to each other and some people withdrawing into their work. I also…
Smart Systems to make You Smile
How is your workload going? The end of the first term is looming already and it’s time to assess whether you and your systems have been working effectively… or if you’ve only just been keeping your head above water, perhaps you’re ready to begin establishing some new systems! Systems can actually make us happier. When you start working towards a goal, you get an initial burst of energy that motivates you to act. It is this that drives you to wake up earlier each day, get to the gym regularly or finish your marking each weekend… for a few days or weeks, anyway. Unfortunately, this energy is limited and is reduced every time you exert effort towards your goal. It…
Using the KonMari Method in Schools
Author and Netflix star, Marie Kondo’s drive to declutter and simplify our lives is currently very popular. With life being busier than ever, working out what to do with all the ‘stuff’ is difficult and time-consuming. A cluttered workspace adds to our stress by distracting us, wasting our time finding things and polluting our subconscious by making us feel guilty about everything we have yet to do. Author and Netflix star, Marie Kondo’s drive to declutter and simplify our lives is currently very popular. With life being busier than ever, working out what to do with all the ‘stuff’ is difficult and time-consuming. A cluttered workspace adds to our stress by distracting us, wasting our time finding things and polluting…
Developing Self-Control
Helping students develop self-control is important, not only for their behaviour but also for their ability to stay on task and complete things. Developing intrinsic motivation (the internal drive to focus and remain on task) is far more helpful than constantly trying to motivate them through extrinsic means – carrot and stick! The following are suggested strategies to help develop self control. Praise Effort Instead of Intelligence Stanford Professor Carol Dweck has researched and written a great deal about the importance of praising hard work and persistence in overcoming challenges and helping people identify the strategies they used. This reinforces a ‘growth mindset’ – one where people feel energised and knowledgeable about how to overcome barriers. Dweck contrasts this with…
Prepare Now for Happy Reporting Later
Reporting periods for many school staff are a time of tension and stress, where tempers are tested and a good night’s sleep becomes a distant memory. Instead of dreading its approach and using weak coping strategies like counting down the days till the holidays, try planning early (read, super-early – like, now!) to make reporting time much calmer. Preparing for reporting well in advance is not only an investment in your wellbeing, it also keeps you more focused on the goals you want your students to achieve. Think about why reporting occurs. Do you participate out of compliance? Or do you genuinely wish to communicate with students and their families on learning progress? If you take the time to clarify…
Moments of Truth – Keeping parents on our Side
A Moment of Truth is any interaction in which the client or customer comes into contact with our services and forms an impression of our school. The concept originated in Scandinavian Airlines by President and CEO Jan Carlson. In the case of Scandinavian Airlines, Moments of Truth for passengers are the times when they come into contact with the staff of the airline. This used to commence with the reservation stage (often this is now completed on the internet), followed by the check-in counter, the boarding call, entering the aircraft, the safety briefing and serving the meal. Each of these are Moments of Truth, times when passengers come into direct contact with the airline and form an opinion of the…
Eight Principles of exceptional Productivity (part 2)
In part 1 we highlighted that time is the most precious resource we will ever get to manage. The more productive we are at work, the more precious time we can allocate to the other important areas of our lives. The first four Principles:- ENERGISE, EMPOWER, EDUCATE and ENGAGE were emphasised. Here are powerful principles five to eight for creating greater work-life balance through enhanced productivity. EXPEL – to expel – to get rid of, in this context it’s to outsource those tasks and roles that are either too cheap for you to be doing or that do not fall within your strengths, your enjoyment of doing them or your expertise. It is important that we optimise the…