How can school leaders help each other to grow professionally?

Introduction

School leaders, both within a single school and/or across many schools, can build the relationships needed to allow all those involved to grow professionally. Relationships that provide a basis for professional growth must have a foundation of trust – each person must be trusting of and trusted by the others in the relationship – and that trust can provide the basis for genuine shared leadership. And as Spry, S and Duignan, P (2003) argue, the building of a culture of shared leadership requires every member of the organisation, no matter what area or level, to be treated as a leader.

Trust is fundamental to the successful implementation of a variety of mechanisms by which school leaders can help other school leaders to grow professionally including giving and receiving feedback, mentoring, coaching and/or formal team development. Each of these can contribute to the development of a shared leadership culture within a school and can sustain the individual and group relationships needed for all members of the leadership team to continue to grow.

Giving and receiving feedback

For school leaders giving and receiving feedback can be facilitated in any number of ways, including: informal discussions, 360 degree reports, performance enhancement reviews, written questionnaires and formal observations and reflections.

According to David Boud (1997), in his work Enhancing learning through Self Assessment, effective feedback should be:

• realistic – addressing matters about which the person can do something
• specific - sufficiently informative to target specific issues
• sensitive to the goals of the person – linking comments to their intentions
• timely - responding promptly when feedback is appropriate and/or requested
• consciously non-judgemental - providing well considered, rational views
• diligent - accurately reflecting what has been observed
• direct – using clear and unambiguous language.

Boud also argues that in a professional relationship there is little point in asking others to give you feedback unless you are prepared to be open to it and to consider comments which differ from your own perceptions. He states that in asking for feedback you need to be:

• explicit - making clear what you are seeking (and possibly what you do not want)
• aware - noting your own reactions both intellectual and emotional
• silent - refraining from response until you have listened carefully to what has been said and have considered the implications.

Di Feldman has provided a model for giving feedback which she refers to as the GROW model (see appendix):

• Goal: start with the end in mind – what (behaviour and intention) + why = end result
• Reality: share /uncover facts – what’s the cause – how do they feel- connected issues – specific examples (avoid and check assumptions)
• Options: explore as many as possible – invite suggestions – help make choices
• Wrap-Up: agree on an action plan – option + end result + support (for example, feedback loop) – any obstacles?

Mentoring

Traditionally mentoring has involved a ‘wise older person’ advising a ‘less experienced younger person’. Typically mentors provide expertise to less experienced individuals in order to help them advance professionally. A mentor can be a sounding board, assist with the development of networks and/or provide counsel, insight and guidance.

More contemporary views have developed around mentoring as a voluntary relationship based on mutual respect, trust with a two-way communication process. It can be an opportunity for sharing skills and experiences so individuals can work towards their work related goals. The real value of a mentoring system remains the availability of an individual who really understands the various processes and/or issues that will confront a colleague and who can offer sound advice and guidance.

For a successful mentoring relationship there should be:

• trust
• honesty
• mutual respect and rapport
• clearly established goals and objectives
• open and constructive feedback
• confidentiality.

Coaching

Formal coaching provides another opportunity for professional growth. The current growth industry of executive coaching is based on the philosophy that you don’t have to struggle alone. It works on the principle of synergy: that the energy (ideas, focus, clarity) arising from a coach-client partnership is greater than the individual energy brought by the two individuals alone (International Federation of Coaching definition).

A coach needs to be able to:

• create a safe, supportive environment that produces mutual respect and trust
• show genuine concern for the other person's wellbeing and future
• continuously demonstrate personal integrity, honesty and sincerity
• establish clear agreements and keep promises
• demonstrate respect for the other person's perceptions and learning style
• provide ongoing support for and champion new behaviours and actions (including those involving risk taking and fear of failure).

For coaching to be effective, it needs to be:

• self directed learning – with the person being coached already an expert at his/her work the coach uses a questioning approach to help the person to think better and respond to challenges by finding his/her own answers
• solutions focused – being honest about where the person being coached is now, where s/he want to be and how s/he can get there (and not on what may be “wrong” and trying to fix it)
• positive – with genuine feedback that is encouraging and designed to help an individual move forward
• systematic – taking the time and making the commitment necessary (with an effective step by step approach) to achieving real behavioural change
• stretch – recognising that people perform best when they are appropriately challenged (too much causes stress, too little produces boredom) and empowering an individual to develop his/her own answers as to how to be the best s/he can be.

Team building

Formal team building can also help school leaders help each grow professionally. A number of programs and strategies are available to help people better understand team dynamics and the potential for developing team roles. For example there is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) survey and the Management Team Roles Indicator (MTR-i). See: http://www.profiles-r-us.com/samples/mtri-shortsample.pdf

The Myers & Briggs Foundation Website (2008) states that the purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by CG Jung understandable and useful in people’s lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in behaviours is actually quite orderly and consistent and due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to view things and make judgments.

The MBTI work provides the basis for eight identified (MTR-i) team roles that include: sculptor (action oriented), explorer (braking new ground), conductor (organising and planning), coach (building rapport), curator (asking questions), innovator (bringing new ideas), scientist (explaining how & why) and crusader (values driven). Recognising these various roles and understanding the strengths and weaknesses each provides for those employing them can really enhance team building particularly where team members are prepared to work at developing there “inferior” or less preferred roles.

Other tools available to provide individuals with an insight into brain function and thinking preferences include the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. It is based upon the premise that all people have access to four thinking modes. Individual profiles provide understanding of personal thinking preferences so that the individual and/or a team working in partnership can optimise the ability to adapt thinking patterns, decision making and/or communication styles. It certainly explains why it often seems easier to communicate with some people and not others.

360 Feedback Survey tools may also be used to help team members understand perceptions of each others strengths and opportunities for development. For example the Northern Territory Department of Employment, Education and Training (NT DEET) provides access to a 360 Degree Feedback online survey tool that requires responses across three broad categories: “self”, “results” and “future”. Sharing feedback allows for the development of a shared language and understanding and such mutual engagement may lead to the creation of a real ‘community of practice’ with genuine support for all team members to grow professionally.

Conclusion

As outlined in this paper, a variety of mechanisms and tools exist that may be utilised by school leaders to allow individuals and teams to experience effective professional growth. Each requires the school leaders involved to develop and maintain relationships underpinned by trust and a willingness to collaborate openly and honestly.

It has been the authors’ experience (as part of a Leadership and Team Development Project at Centralian Senior Secondary College in 2007-08) that each of the mechanisms outlined above is an effective means of allowing team members to be leaders and contributors to what Wenger (1998) calls a ‘community of practice’. Each tool has allowed individuals to better understand his/her own thinking, communicating and learning preferences and to appreciate the preferences of others. And in so doing to work more effectively together for the common purpose that underpins the team’s rationale for being.

Bibliography

Boud, D (1997). Enhancing learning through Self Assessment, Kogan Page, London.
Myers & Briggs Foundation Website, http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ accessed 9 July 2008.
Management Team Roles Indicator (MTR-i). See: http://www.profiles-r-us.com/samples/mtri-shortsample.pdf
Spry, G and Duignan, P (2003). Framing leadership in Queensland Catholic Schools, AARE Conference Paper, Auckland, http://www.aare.edu.au/03pap/spr03230.pdf
Wenger, E (1998). Communities of practice – learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Appendix

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ms Joanne Earle is Principal of Centralian Senior Secondary College, in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. Mr Eddie Fabijan is Assistant Principal, Teaching and Learning, at the same school.