My journey with faculty leadership and management.

The end of week 1.  So much has happened its hard to believe its only been one week.  I’ve enjoyed a productive week, and feel contented with my revised productivity strategy.

I needed to perform a delicate balance this week.  Some of my staff I believe are getting a little impatient with the amount of extra responsibilities I assume, which takes my attention from management of them and the department. This has caused me to focus on visible task completion.  Obvious things like covering classes to allow staff to take care of personal issues, distributing information, producing assessment tasks etc.  As I have done this, I realise that at times some of my roles could cross over.  This does mean some promotion of my online life, of which my staff are generally unaware.  This hasn’t been purposeful, simply a point of me not self promoting.  If they had attended one of my PD sessions, they would be aware but this has not happened as yet.  They tend to receive the PD on demand anyway.

I’ve had a couple of moments this week I’ve remembered important jobs when in a position unable to note them down, for example as driving home.  I am aware that one of my real weaknesses is retaining this in memory.  If I don’t make a note somewhere, I will generally forget it.  I do have the phone and iPod Touch with me at most times, which means I do have access to text and voice entry.  I need to develop the habits of getting the thoughts stored somewhere, and then accessing that storage to process the task.  An obvious choice should be Evernote, as this is on the iPod Touch.  If driving, I can add a voice note.  Something to consider.

Looking forward to week 2, where my other responsibilities begin to appear.  Thursday is annual conference for State Review Panel and District Review Panel Chairs for Health Education.  I am hoping to convince the group to adopt a different approach to the distribution of information in an effort to assist teachers of the subject.

There is so much on the go.  I really need to sort my daily routine out so I can be much more productive and effective than I was in term 2.  Particularly towards the end of term 2 I would spend large portions of time looking at my endlessly growing To do list, but not knowing where to start. Currently there is about 80 job on the list, some of which are small tasks that will take 30 minutes or less to complete, others are large projects running over weeks.  Problem was I could not find a place to start work and would get distracted by solving computer issues or re-arranging my desk.  Neither fit in the formula for effective work.

I am also critically aware of my large periods of absence from my faculty and staff.  To me this means I need to be visibly involved in faculty leadership and management work whilst I am there.  If I spend large amounts of time achieving little, then am absent on regular occasions there is a real possibility of developing the perception that the faculty is of reduced importance in the range of roles I work within.  I needed to develop a planned work flow to enable enhance productivity.

To do this I’ve gone back to the age old advice from the first Deputy Principal I worked with.  I was only in the same school as her for a semester but she has had a profound impact on my professional life.  My favourite catch phrase of hers is “Just make sure your own world buzzes, the rest doesn’t matter.”  This is something I have kept in my mind consistently, and in reality is probably on reason I continue to put my hand up for projects that come my way – simply because I enjoy being involved and working within a range of teams.

Another catch phrase she used to say was “Always clean your desk before you go home.”  Now until recently I took that literally, as her desk was always pristeen.  But I am now thinking about it a little more metaphorically.  My desktop includes the actual desktop, my intray, email inbox, thoughts, notes in diary and default evernote notebook and my whiteboard.  If the desktop is clean but the rest still cluttered, then organisation of the following workday is a challenge.  So this term I am focused on cleaning my entire desk before I go home.  To achieve this I will need to revisit a theory I have blogged about before – “Zen to Done.”  Specifically the ubiquitous and complete capture.  I need to devote an hour at the end of each day to “process” and plan for the following day.  I believe if I can come into work with an achievable list of tasks written on my diary then my stress and procrastination may reduce.

Why written notes?  I put a lot of information on my computer and in the cloud.  I think I need to list the working goals separately to reduce distraction.  And I need to realise my achievable list may have few, or even single items on it.  I will never get all the hours allocated to me to complete work. As a leader and manager I need to plan for interaction and problem solving with staff.

So wish me luck, hopefully I leave term 3 under a deal less stress than I did term 2.

I am in the throes of developing my own performance development plan.  It is more difficult than I expected.  I began by attempting to sit down with the templates provided to us by our administration.  A couple of entries appeared, then writers block.  I could not specify what development I saw as potential viable and achievable in each of the sections.  I think a major influence on this is the recent expansion of possibilities for my professional involvement in a range of activities.  Last year I could not have predicted or expected that I would be invited to assist in the range of professional development activities and curriculum projects that I currently have running.  In 2009, I believe I am the epitome of grabbing opportunity when it presents itself.  These opportunities have a significant impact on my primary role as a teacher and secondary role as a Head of Department, but ignoring the opportunities would be disadvantageous to my personal development.  There is no doubt in my mind that my involvement in all of these projects has improved my capability and performance as an educator.

So how does one develop a performance plan when they cannot necessarily predict the immediate future?  I need to be careful of how I phrase this plan as I don’t want commit to anything that may not be realistic or achievable.  If I can’t achieve it then it seems an ineffective use of time and resources to work towards it.

And then it hits me, like a wet rag in the face.  While I am thinking this and reflecting on my own position, I suddenly realise my management of staff may also significantly impact on their ability and motivation to develop a performance plan.  We all understand the formation of curriculum teams, and as a Head of Department I have allocated classes based on teacher competence and ability, with some consideration to their desires.  With the number of teachers I have, it is impossible to give everyone their “dream” subject or class.

So have I subconsciously pigeonholed certain staff members?  Has my choice of class allocation resulted in them similar feelings that I am now experiencing.  Has my management made them feel like their future is not something they can control?

Of cource the development of a performance plan should be generic and not rely on the type of classes and students they teach, but surely a teacher who is not completely happy with the classes they are allocated will not feel the desire to develop performance.  Surely it is possible if they believe they are not being challenged by the students or classes they have been allocated, that they feel they do not need to develop.  Or even worse – it is possible they feel that development of a performance plan this far out from timetabling for 2010 that allocation of classes may in fact interrupt their performance development.

I can think of at least four staff who may feel this way.  Four staff that I have inadvertently over the last couple of years subconsciously pigeonholed towards certain groups of students and certain curriculum areas.

And then there is the thought that when I expand a team within what is considered a “dream” subject, that others who were not included in the expansion but desired their own inclusion may also feel a motivational drain.  This is something I need to consider critically.  To initiate, I have asked each of my staff to consider the six (6) curriculum teams within the department and where they would like to be considered part of that team.  From this I will develop a concept map which will show me any gaps between staff desires and department requirements.  Its at this point I will need to make some decisions however this year they will be in consultation with my staff.

Now, back to my own performance plan.  I have come across a section of the EQ site that deals with performance development, and provides a range of templates to assist in reflection and planning.  I have not read in depth these materials as yet, but hope to do so over the next week or through the holidays.  If you are interested, here is the link – http://education.qld.gov.au/staff/development/performance/

Soon my school will venture down the path of performance planning for all staff.  It begins with a faculty review process conducted by the upline deputy principal in consultation with the Head of Department.  Following from that will be the development of a performance plan for the Heads of Department, then performance plans for teaching staff.  This has identified as critical the need for me to provide feedback to staff on performance.

This realises a fear I have held for a long time – providing corrective feedback where required.   I have had no problems doing this for pre-service teachers, yet when it comes to providing such feedback to practising teachers (and teachers I need to maintain a working relationship with) then I have been fearful to the extent that I withhold my professional opinions.  I generally attempt to modify practice by implementing various department strategies and expectations, but this is a roundabout method of achieving what I desire, and generally does not result in the change I see as reasonable.

So, its time to suck it up and do the hard yards.  Think back to those university lectures – feedback sandwich, congratulate before you criticise, correction over critical etc etc.

My plan is to begin with the teachers in my department who identify as beginning teachers.  They are keen for feedback and they will allow me to “practice” my provision of critical feedback.  At least I have the expectations and standards I’ve worked hard to promote to fall back on when basing feedback on a framework.  This should be no different when providing feedback on the performance of my teachers who identify themselves as established.

I think at its base, the fear is about disagreeing with a teacher on the perceived quality of their practice.  In other words they believe they are a better educator than I believe they are.  Confidence is a key ingredient in teaching, and my disruption of one’s confidence may ultimately impact heavily on their performance.  However, if I don’t disrupt them will they improve?  Don’t we all need some disruption to push us to improve?

A single moment within a single discussion caused me serious reflection on my performance as a Head of Department recently.  In a conversation with a few of my staff regarding the “extra” work that I do, one staff member essentially commented that at times it seems like I have forgotten my main priority, which is management of of department.  The fact that this comment was made is not a concern to me, I often engage in open discussion with my staff about what I choose to do, and they readily acknowledge that I am busy.

Does this mean I am performing poorly?  That depends on how I am assessing myself.  There are certainly tasks that I performed last year that I have either not done well this year or not done at all.  I believe my support for my staff has not reduced, and when they want advice or assistance that is always my priority – and quite often the source of my stress as this results in others planning my day and hence me not completing my jobs.  But this is the balance of a Head of Department.  I think that this encourages some subconscious desire of mine to be involved in other projects (eg. running ICT PD, University partnership projects) in order to establish some control over my working life.

This has been exasperated towards the end of term due to a loarge number of absences from school due to normal sickness and other responsibilities.  If this is often enough it would seem that I am not available to support my staff when needed.  In this circumstance I am very fortunate as there are three other Heads of Department that teach HPE, and one Year Level Coordinator.  At these times, their support is invaluable.

So how do I correct this perception, because as our boss has often said “Perception is Reality”.  First and foremost I need to get back to basics – toodledo, google calendar and zen to done.  I tend to forget these management tools when the jobs pile up.  This leads to me being and working disorganised.  Clutter builds up, both physical and digital.  My focus is lost.  Generally after a couple of days break from thinking and doing work I revert back to the practices that have served me well, and get all my tasks onto a task list and calendar.  The result – effective work practices.

The most significant aspect of cponcern is the perception that I may be prioritising other responsibilities over department management.  I think this is the result of the simple things not being done, things that I would not have left undone last year.  Now that I am on holidays, I’ll need to find time to fix them.

Its the end of the term again, and for me this generally means little sleep, much stress, headaches and crankiness.  I love being involved, but I sometimes drive myself to exhaustion for no reason.  At this point in time I am building a presentation for a twilight series conference, building a PD session for the South Coast eLearning conference, contributing to the Health Education syllabus revision and rewrite, contributing to a significant project with Griffith University that will see direct entry and study credit for Health Education students, mentoring 17 teachers at my school through their portfolio creation and dealing with the increase in student misbehaviour across my department (the honeymoon period is definitely over). On top of this I want to work with my beginning teachers to continue their development.

So how am I going to manage?  I am not getting through my job / task list, I need to get some movement on the major projects.  Hopefully I will feel a little more at ease after Wednesday once the presentations are completed.

But to the point of this post – stress management.  Mismanagement of stress ultimately leads to poorer relationships with the people who do matter.  Its important that I maintain some sort of physical activity, and appropriate nutrition.  I also find that spending time with those that can make you laugh is precious in these times.  But I’ve realised over the years,I am going to continue to want to get involved in projects I see as significant, therefore stress management needs tobe developed and implemented.  Wish me luck!

A critical factor in successfully managing others is efficient management of self.  Over the years I have tried quite a few models of personal management, but am quite happy with the process I have working at the moment.  I have followed the “Getting Things Done” methodology but found it too verbose and time consuming to actually categorise all my tasks.  In my reading I have come across “Zen to Done” which although built on the same principles is a lot easier to implement.

Every leader / manager has a “pile of work” that is waiting to be completed.  Some may have more than one pile.  To me the most important step of Zen to Done, and my personal management, is to capture everything I need to do into a single list. That means getting all the paper notes, voice mail messages, calendar reminders, email inbox, physical inbox etc, and creating a single list.  When you do this for the first time, don’t worry about sorting.  I like digital lists, and have become a fan of Toodledo.com which I sync with Ultimate ToDos on my iPod Touch and through a toodledo widget on my iGoogle.  The advantage to Toodledo for me is its calendar view of tasks.

Having a single list of tasks allows me to plan for task completion more effectively.  However this plan also relies on me being realistic about my time.   I have come to learn that as a leader / manager you don’t own all of your time.  Even though I have 630 minutes of lesson time where I am not teaching during the week, that does not mean I get 630 minutes to work on my tasks.  There will always be interruptions, questions to answer and problems to solve.  This is why I like ZTD’s idea of most important tasks.  Have categorised in your task list a number of mot important tasks you know you can complete in the week.  I limit myself to two (2).  If I finish them and get to work on others, then that is a bomus.  This also provides some perspectve and allows you to decline some requests for extra work, and provides a chance to be able to agree to that extra work you are actually interested in.

In order to effectively complete my MITs, I need to have a routine for work completion.  For me this means developing a calendar of personal and work committments, and seeing where there is space to work relatively uninterrupted.  I tend to stay at school after 3pm a couple days a week to get that uninterrupted time.  However if doing this, its important to have a cut-off time.  For me this is easy, as its important to be home for dinner with the family.  To do this I have to leave by 5:30pm.

When I feel I am in control of my working life, I feel more confident to lead and manage my staff, and less stressed generally.  I encourage you, read Zen to Done but most importantly develop a plan that works for you.

At my first meeting of the year with my staff, I explicitly expressed to them that I am aware communication is a weakness in my performance as a leader and a manager. Seeking guidance and inspiration on this, I returned to some favourite books and notes I keep.

The first of these is Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”. Within this book Covey refers to a circle of influence. This is at it’s simplest a recognition of what I have influence over when attempting to implement and maintain change. To successfully manage change I will need to identify aspects of my communication that fall within my circle of influence. Accompanying the circle of influence is the circle of concern. This represents factors that impact (in this case on my communication) yet I do not have direct influence over. A second book I take guidance from is John Maxwell’s “21 Laws of Leadership.”  One of these laws that I believe is pertinent to my goal of improved communication is #10: Connection.  Maxwell discussed that individual connections (even within team situations) is a key aspect of leadership.

There are a range of reasons that I have come to the conclusion that my communication requires attention, and what I need to do is determine what is within my circle of influence and which fall within the circle of concern.  A time for critical introspection.

But there is no change without defining the goal.  I have always used the SMART principle of goal setting.  So to more explicitly define my goal of improved communication –

Specific – I want to develop my ability to communicate the relevant information to those who believe they are relevant team members in an effective manner.  This is important as staff satisfaction is directly influenced by their relationship with me (amongst other things).  I plan to research and read information on communication methods within corporate teams to inform this.

Measurable – informal measures such as “are the task being completed” or “are the expectations being upheld” can be utilised.  Conversations required to “fix” misunderstandings is also a measure.  Ultimately I want to reduce staff dissatisfaction within the department.  I’ve also asked staff to report to me (can be anonymous) if my communications cause concern.

Attainable – I beleive so. There are not many dissatisfied currently, and this goal will assist in preventing any further problems.

Realistic – yes, I am after improvement.

Time Frame – a school year.

Throughout last year, I became concerned over the amount of paper my department consumed. Ignoring the financial cost to the department, the environmental cost of paper consumption within the school would be staggering.  In an attempt to reduce my personal and my department’s impact on this, I have set up a learning management system (LMS) to house general management items this year.  The LMS used is BlackBoard, however any LMS or php website could work.

Within the LMS, I have built separate (yet accessible by everyone) areas for each subject.  There is also a generic area for the whole department, plus a repository for circulars such as memos and other communications.  The LMS has an announcements section which will broadcast email all teachers within the department and my upline Deputy Principal whenever I enter an announcement.  This function will be used to send notification of updates to the LMS, and other pertinent information.  Its important to note my staff are spread across 5 staffrooms within the school, therefore digital communications will always exist as it is a method to ensure all people are advised.

To me the most exciting component of the LMS, is embedding multiple google calendars.  Each subject has its own calendar, plus there is a generic department calendar.  The generic department calendar houses information such as facility bookings, where the subject calendars house unit details.  However the functionality of google calendar does not stop there.  I can set staff as members of a specific calendar (for example, year 8 and 9 teachers are members of the Middle Years HPE calendar).  Then the calendar can be programmed to send out reminders at specific dates and times.  This would allow me to automate reminders of items or tasks that are due.

Already I can see the benefits of setting this system to assist management.  My staff are engaged and acessing the LMS to find the information they need, I am using much less paper and I feel more organised.

One unexpected bonus is how staff are now using this as a model to manage their classes, building google calendars for their lessons and using the LMS to house learning.  Exciting times.

Welcome to my blog describing my journey with faculty management. This blog will discuss experiences, and the thinking that maps my journey through these experiences.

I am entering my 7th year as a head of department in a secondary school. This year I have 22 staff teaching various subjects within my department. Of these teachers I would consider 9 of them as established practitioners, 3 are beginning teachers and the remainder are developing.  We currently have a suite of 8 subjects across years 8 to 12, catering for different student needs and capabilities.

This blog has been encouraged by the Deputy Principal responsible for performance planning within our school, however I have taken it outside the closed environment initially set for a variety of reasons.  My intent here is simply to share.  I am not claiming to be a leadership or managment expert, simply a reporter who will describe experiences and where applicable summarise readings and predict / recall how they apply to my interpretation of the role I am in.