Quiet Leadership Page 50-65

Key points in the reading:

• the fastest way to transform performance is to ask about solutions
• change is challenging because it requires changing who a person is and not just their habits, hence the notion of creating new wiring
• people often give up easily when they try something new as it normally leads to failure- providing lots of feedback and encouragement can be a big help
• a difficulty in stretching ourselves is that we tend to see ourselves as limitations and not as potential
• not sure if I agree with "after 5 years we're not likely to see potential walking into the work place, we're going to see problems to solve and dramas, meetings" but- in saying that there are times in the year that you do sway towards the workload activities such as meetings, dealing with kids, organisational things rather than enjoying the teaching itself
• "we're cynical about their fresh-faced enthusiasm"
• having others stretch us is a way to grow faster than we would on our own(this happens in teaching all the time, where having colleagues challenge us and challenge the way we do things allows us to be open to change)- think about the purpose of observations- are they there to focus on competency of a teacher or are they more for "stretching" or developing us as teachers?
• leaders being comfortable making people uncomfortable though good support systems(I see this more a chance for leaders to challenge or questions what teachers are doing and how we can help support or add to their teaching pedagogy)
• leadership understands the importance of positive feedback, there is a difference between people having self esteem or mental issues that require a pat on the back and successful people requiring a pat on the back (for understanding that we all are different as teachers and people and even more importantly understanding the people in your team- some require positive feedback some require acknowledgment) This is an area that I have focussed on and do need to continue to develop- understanding that it is our job to make sure staff are happy!

Quiet Leadership Page 29-49

• Conversations have a limited number of possible directions to go in. (Diagram on Page 30)
• The 6 steps describe new ways to interact, provide feedback, influence, and grow people, and also bring the best out in others.
• Step 1- learning to think about thinking
• Step 2- listen for potential- Clarity of Distance
• Step 3- speak with intent
• Step 4- dance towards insight
• Step 5- create new thinking
• Step 6 Follow up

Step 1

• improving not what people are thinking about, but the way they think.
• first step is to let people think through their own issue rather than telling them what to do
• focus on positives to develop people's strengths (and also provide praise)
• facilitated self-directed learning