Toxic Leadership. What is it? Toxic leadership is brought about by lack of self-awareness, lack of self-control and confidence, all of which are seeded by self-interest. As a result, a toxic leader’s subordinates don’t like him or her. Toxic leaders care all about themselves. They only think of their own feelings and disregard those of others. Somehow, toxic leadership is related to autocratic leadership style. Such leaders act aggressively and treat others terribly. Characteristics Of A Toxic Leader: Self-destructive He only thinks that his own ideas are right. Irritable A toxic leader is always irritable. Arrogant Toxic leaders are arrogant. Incompetent Toxic leaders are incompetent, even though they always put in their mind that they are the best.
Maladjusted They are maladjusted and afraid of change. Lack of confidence Toxic leaders are not confident with themselves. Tools of a toxic leadership Organizational Structures Toxic leaders have the ability to destroy organizational structures. Workload. Thoughts on Will Richardson’s fine 19 Bold Ideas for Change in Education. Enjoy the short video above- it is very much worth the six minutes. It is the time of year when many are looking ahead to opening of the school year faculty and departmental meetings, so it is a good time to start sharing valuable short videos which can be used for inspiration and illumination at these meetings.
This six minute video is a great candidate (and I intend to share a list soon); it is a very current (ISTE 2012) talk in which author and provocateur Will Richardson lays out his challenge to us: Bold Ideas for Change in Education. (Another alternative would be Will’s TEDx talk.) Consider the opportunities: ask educators in groups to identify their bold ideas first, and compare; ask them to watch and discuss which bold ideas make sense and how might they apply them, which don’t and why not, and what original ideas do they have. From Lisa Nielsen’s blog I’ve copied at bottom of this post the list of 19 bold ideas for easy reference. A few comments: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. B. C. Like this: So What? As the new school year approaches, many principals around the country will be implementing a new teacher evaluation instrument. As you visit teacher classrooms looking for specific indicators, I encourage you to ask the simple question, “So What?”
These two words can cause you to go beyond the surface and get a deeper understanding of what is really taking place in any classroom. For instance: So what if you recently joined twitter! So what if you implemented Edmodo! So what if you give formative assessments! So what if you plan and prepare every lesson! So what if you give a number or letter (grade) to a student! So what if you listen and respond to active parents who have strong opinions on the issues that particularly affect their children! I could go on and on and on…. So… What could you add to this list? The 6 People You Need in Your Corner.
The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness) The Do's and Don'ts of Supporting the Reluctant Teacher. I want to talk about a mythical creature – the Reluctant Teacher. This teacher has no desire to try anything new – it either does not interest them, or they do not see how it can possibly improve the way they teach. Despite the whole school, and even the whole profession heading in a particular direction, the Reluctant Teacher does their bit in holding back the tide.
After all, they know best. Eventually, though, the impossible happens, and they yield, cautiously embracing change. But how does this happen? Generally speaking, there are some things you can do that will help, and some things that most certainly won’t help. Here are some of the best do’s and don’ts I have experienced to support the reluctant teacher. Don’t pair up your “strong” teacher with your Reluctant Teacher. Do let teachers know that this is training – that is, they are allowed to try new things and fail, without any concerns of being judged. Don’t set up templates for your Reluctant Teacher. ARTICLES: 21 Solution-Focused Techniques. © 2011, Coert Visser Several informal surveys have given an impression of the relative popularity of different solution-focused techniques.
The following 21 techniques seem to belong to the most well-known and popular solution-focused techniques: scaling questions, the past success question, the preferred future question, the platform question, the exception seeking question, reframing, indirect compliments, the miracle question, summarizing in the words of the client, the what-is-better question, normalizing, the usefulness question, the observation question, the perspective change question, the coping question, the continuation question, the prediction suggestion, leapfrogging, and mutualizing. Below is a description of these techniques. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. What keeps you going under such difficult circumstances?
16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 10 Things in School That Should Be Obsolete. Flickr: Corey Leopold By Greg Stack So much about how and where kids learn has changed over the years, but the physical structure of schools has not. Looking around most school facilities — even those that aren’t old and crumbling — it’s obvious that so much of it is obsolete today, and yet still in wide use. 1. COMPUTER LABS. At Northern Beaches Christian School students learn everywhere. 2. 3. 4. 5. Corridors at Machias Elementary are used for informal learning 6. 7. 8. Learner Centered Classroom at Riverview Elementary School. 9. 10. Greg Stack is an architect for NAC Architecture and specializes in developing best practices for the planning and design of educational environments. Brief Thoughts On Leadership And Connectedness... My friend Kristina said this today: What's wrong with "the box"? It confines & doesn't make you stretch your own abilities.
#getoutofyourbox #MALT15 — Kristina Peters (@Mrskmpeters) July 19, 2012 Strikes to the heart of things doesn't it? I have spent today and will spend the next few days talking leadership with folks from around the country. Leading from the box doesn't really get us anywhere. If we stay in our silo and live in our own world can we say we really lead? So it bothers me when I hear people, powerful people, people in positions that could really drive change, say educators need to be connected, but in the same breath discount the validity of Twitter or other social networking tools. Professional development, and personal/professional learning and growth is so different now as apposed to the traditional. Being connected challenges me, everyday. Being connected pushes me, everyday. Being connected helps me grow, everyday. photo credit: stevendepolo via photo pin cc.
What Schools Can Learn from Marissa Mayer. Marissa Mayer‘s move to Chief Executive at Yahoo from Google has made its way across the news, but just who is this creative spirit that led Google in so many areas and what can schools striving to be innovative cultures learn from her? What if showing your best is a state of constant evolving, risk-taking, ideating, iterating, and course correcting instead of seeking a state of completion? – Ryan Bretag Let’s take a little quiz based upon her nine principles for innovation to find out what we can learn: Does your culture foster innovation not instant perfection? Does your culture believe ideas come from everywhereDoes your culture provide a license to pursue your dreamsDoes your culture morph projects instead of killing them?
How many “yes” answers? While I don’t have a score card that would identify what your score represents, I do know 9 answers of “Yes” doesn’t guarantee an innovative culture. Where are we strong? If I Had to Guess If I had to guess, number one is a “no” for many. No! Lead from the Middle: The 9 New, New Leadership Principles | Thin Difference. There are several solid leadership chats and discussions that happen through social media. Tuesday nights, there are two tweet chats that bring people together — #leadershipchat and #leadfromwithin. Earlier this week, I participated in both. It was leadership conversations in stereo, streaming continuously in 140 characters! Perseverance was the topic in one, and next generation CEOs was the topic in the other.
Coming out of this was a thought that stuck with me afterwards. Lead from the middle. Here are the key 9 principles of leading from the middle: Direct Debates: It is about facilitating open and honest discussions, putting reality on the table and actively working through it. Leading from the middle is what leaders need to do today. Note: A PDF containing these 9 New, New Leadership Principles is now available! What middle principles would you add to being a new, new leader?
What is Ethical Leadership and Six Steps to Ethical Decision Making @ Nick Burnett. Ethical Leadership – What is it? This is a follow on from my previous blog post in relation to Ethical Leadership and Physical Restraint and explores the concept of Ethical Leadership in more detail. I believe that leaders have a particular responsibility in the creation of an ethical culture within their organisations and displaying Ethical Leadership through walking the walk as well as talking the talk is vital.
I would recommend Dr Simon Longstaff as someone to read and listen to for a very grounded and articulate view of the issues around ethics and leadership. ‘Ethical leadership involves both acting and leading ethically over time all the time’. What is Ethics? Justin Baeder via Compfight Ethics refers to two things: – to well based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness or specific virtues – to the study and development of one’s ethical standards Thinking Ethically Like this:
18 Steps to Better Educational Innovation Leadership: Advice from Christensen’s Innovator’s DNA. Heidi Hayes Jacobs: ”If you’re not updating your curriculum, you are saying that nothing is changing.” “Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of school administrators who responded to a recent survey said 1:1 computing classrooms where teachers act as a coach for students are the future of education.” ( T.H.E Journal) “Innovative teaching supports students’ development of the skills that will help them thrive in future life and work.” ( ITL Research) One of the most exciting books of the year for those of us seeking to become ever more effective as innovative school-leaders and leaders of innovative schools, and, even more importantly, seeking to facilitate our students’ development of more innovative mindsets, is the new book from Clayton Christensen (et.al), The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators .
(Bill Ferriter has written brilliantly about this book here , here , and here ). Associating, Questioning, Observing, Networking, Experimenting. 1. Christensen: 2. 3. 4 . 2011 Lesson #1 – Vision has to trump administration. The Zone, a renovated workspace at NBCS 2011 2011 has been an amazing year for me professionally – a year of great change at NBCS and a year of outstanding opportunities, travel and thinking for me. It has also been a year of new connections. I am going to try and capture some of the main insights during 2011 gained in a sequence of blogs. 2011 Lesson #1 – Vision has to trump administration One of my recent trips was to speak at and attend the Virtual School Symposium in Indianapolis.
As I always seek to do, I took the opportunity to visit a few additional schools with some of my team. As I listened to a range of speakers at the conference and as we visited a range of schools, a number of new lights gradually went on in my mind. In any organisation, vision has to be the driver. Stop for a second: Who do you think is visionary? Be bold. Vision needs to be led by school leaders. I have seen situations this year where visionary people seem to be literally ‘kept in a box’. End Note. Connected Principals | Sharing. Learning. Leading. The Leadership Dangers of Confusing Introversion with Shyness. The July 8, 2012 edition of the New York Times included an article entitled, “The Spotlight Dims and Shyness Sets In” which states: The terms “shy” and “introvert” are used almost interchangeably and without distinction in the common parlance.
“Psychologists debate about the overlap,” said Susan Cain, author of the recent book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking,” which extols the power of those who prefer listening to speaking, or reading to socializing. “Shyness is fear of social judgment, a consuming worry about how people view you. Introversion is more about a preference for environments that are less stimulating: someone who’d rather have a glass of wine with a close friend than go to a cocktail party.”
I was unhappy to see this paragraph because I believe it leads readers to believe it’s OK to use the terms “shy” and “introvert” interchangeably. Why the danger? So why am I worried about the subtlety here? Click here to DOWNLOAD in PDF format. The Odyssey Initiative. GBE03486USEN.PDF (application/pdf Object) Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic] Leading Student Achievement. In the August 2006 Symposium, principals were involved in an interactive presentation by Carmel Crévola.
She discussed the principles from her book, Breakthrough, a collaborative project with Michael Fullan and Peter Hill. She noted that preliminary results of the project show growth toward understanding of PLCs and their impact on student achievement; increasing use of meaningful data; moving from surface collegiality to a more intense culture focused on student outcomes; understanding the role of the principal as an instructional leader; and applying S.M.A.R.T. goals. One of the key note speakers, Patricia Manson, a Director at the Durham Catholic District School Board, spoke about the impact of the LSA project on the principals and staff on her board.
Sandra Pupatello, the former Minister of Education, stated that her government aims to reach every student, raise student achievement, lower the drop out rate, and reduce class size to 20 or less in the primary grades. Video Segments: Centre for Public Education. Michael Fullan on What Doesn't Work in School Reform. Nick Burnett. The final white paper in the Solution Focused Special Education (SFSE) project has the topic of Family and Community as its focus as these are important elements within the overall implementation of SFSE. The family element is hopefully clear as to its importance and whilst the community may seem less clear cut, I believe effective SFSE involves the community to the extent it has benefit to the individual student. The overall aims of SFSE Family and Community are: Building more effective collaboration between: StudentFamilySchoolOther ProfessionalsCommunityBuilding and recognizing the capacity of carers to support ChildChild’s siblingsEstablishing and sustaining a future focused relationshipExtending engagement for the student SchoolCommunity It is not intended to cover all of these in significant depth in this white paper but the hope is to meet these aims in the book/chapter that flows from this white paper.
Please email me nickburnett@me.com if you would like a copy of the final version. Vision. 10 ways to keep your teachers happy. 10 Terrible Traits of Lousy Leaders. Leadership: 10 Ways to Prevent Becoming a Cautionary Tale | Brian Kibby | If Not Now…When?