Note from our meeting 10/28/10

BATDC 10.28.10

Fran Scoble session on leadership

Many roles in career: Westridge Head of School; division head; English teacher; now certified as a leadership coach; someone who embodies on-going learning

Introductions and common themes from group: need for more reflective time; time to focus on what’s important vs. what is urgent; how to build relationships with challenging decisions; hybrid positions and ability to work with teachers and administrators; loneliness as an administrator; challenges when we think about being a head of school; challenges around change; challenges around teaching vs. administration—which is the direction to take in our career?; paradigm shift on how administrators are perceived; how to build coalitions and alliances with all constituents in a school

Fran’s reflections:

Ø  Most of us did not start out with certain jobs in mind. How many of us knew where we would be now 10 years ago? In a way, leadership can be accidental.

Ø  How do we learn to grow and change with the career arc—and what about when you feel that it’s not as rewarding. When your mind starts to shop around about changing your life, pay attention to it.

Ø  Pay attention to the voices in our lives, in our heads—what is our whole self? Need to pay attention to that and to ability to be “authentic self”

Ø  Like the concept of overall internal balance—need to balance parts of internal self not balance work vs. personal life.

Ø  Three big ideas to share for today:

1. Mission and alignment: What’s my personal mission statement? Core commitments are the path for finding alignment every day with our work. Work will be more rewarding with this in frong of mind-- ask self: What have I done today that reflects my core values?

2. Self-awareness: most of mistakes in leadership come from lack of self-awareness

3. Sustaining self as leader

Ø  Mission and alignment: Write about five core values that are at the center of the work I do.

Ø  Notes from the group on mission areas—stewardship of school; moral and ethical conduct; time to breathe, reflect, and find joy; ability to create a culture of curiosity, compassion, hard work, respect; supporting teachers with dignity, time, honest feedback; on-going learner; authentic relationships

•We need to put those who are most irritating at the heart of our work—these are moments that are most challenging. If we do not profoundly respect people, they know it.

•Are these core principles really part of who I am??? How can we make sure that our work is centered in our mission and alignment?

•What about if we have to work with people whose core values are not aligned with ours or the school’s? Need to resolve that tension.

•Power of a collective decision with people who are in alignment

•How do we not “fix” every problem, but rather allow the wisdom of the group emerge?