Your First 90-Days
I enter this school year with very mixed emotions. I am so grateful for the time my family has had with relatives and the freedoms we’ve enjoyed this past few months. In the past few months I have never embraced life so much or been more appreciative of personal liberty. However, I also feel a tremendous amount of guilt. For instance, I wonder if my family’s Summer holiday stories will be welcome by those working in China that felt they couldn't leave.
My family’s experience of the past 4 months has been very different to that of many international educators, but the questions we are struggling with as a family will resonate with many of the people I will begin working with and coaching in the coming weeks. I am incredibly conflicted on how to start building rapport and trust to ensure a strong foundation to pursue transformative goals amongst the backdrop of geopolitical and economic forces at play.
Like most people, I want to start these relationships on a positive footing and explore our personal histories and recent experiences. But experience tells me, we will probably connect most quickly by sharing our concerns on the day’s most pressing issues, both professionally and personally. I know that many educators will be entering their schools this year with a lot of unpacked baggage. The baggage will vary greatly for everyone, both in size and type.
Knowing that everyone will be returning to school with vastly different experiences over the past few months and that many may have unresolved personal matters distracting them: How can you help your team develop trusting and collaborative relationships? This challenge is not only due to the incredibly inequitable world we are living in, but also because many team members will be new. But, rest assured, despite having many different experiences and challenges, what you do share in common with your team members is far greater than what divides you.
As a leader, you influence the tone and the culture in your team. The first 90-days of the school year will provide you the best opportunity to develop a genuine, positive, and caring culture. Tuckman’s model of high performing teams refers to this first stage as the Forming Stage. But this model only applies when your team is working interdependently to achieve a shared goal. To get your team working interdependently towards a shared goal you will need to focus more on the people, and less on the tasks.
Initially, team members are going to be curious, anxious or excited to get on with things. Nurturing teams through this phase is vital for eventually reaching the high performance we want to see in our teams. So, my advice for you at the start of this school year is to:
Spend a lot more time than you are currently considering to get to know each team member;
Use that time to find opportunities to surface ideas, beliefs and experiences that will help connect team members; and
Use your meetings to spotlight shared experiences and explore common concerns.
Here are some additional reading resources that you can glean some inspiration and ideas from:
Why Gratitude Makes Leaders More Effective – Start demonstrating for your team the power of appreciation from day 1.
Assuming the Best and use the 2x10 strategy worksheet to help your colleagues foster a more positive working environment. Just because the article is about the classroom, doesn’t mean the lessons don’t apply to the meeting room.
8 Simple Ways to Make Teachers Feel Appreciated – I can’t stress this enough. Your team doesn’t need a task manager this year, they need to be heard and acknowledged.
Five Ways that Time Can Support Teachers’ Well-being – 4 great ideas are in this article for how you can use a portion of your team meetings.
In addition to these resources I have provided a demonstration of a powerful goal-setting tool in the next section of this newsletter. Use this tool with a colleague to find a focus for professional growth that will help you and your team get off to a good start this year.
Lastly, I am really excited about the Peer Learning Networks I am launching this year for ACAMIS. I am taking a measured approach by only having 8 Strands, so please scroll down to learn more about Peer Learning Networks and check to see if there is one planned that either you or your colleagues will find merit in joining.
