The St Paul’s Leadership and Management Programme Pilot (Draft)
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The St Paul’s Leadership and Management Programme (Pilot) is designed for managers and aspiring managers across the community of SPS and SPJ teaching and non-teaching staff. Its purpose is to give participants a chance both to reflect on aspects of leadership and the management of teams, and to provide training in commonly needed generic skills such that participants’ levels of experience, confidence and competence are raised. The full programme lasts one academic year and is independently recognised by the Chartered Management Institute. Those who complete the full programme will receive a certificate issued jointly by the Institute and by the School. Any SPS and SPJ teaching and non-teaching colleague is welcome, subject to numbers, to attend any seminar session. Before the programme, full-time participants will undertake a self-assessment of existing skills, which will focus on their experience and confidence. The programme is delivered in a one half-day keynote session, followed by 6 twilight (4.30 - 6pm) training sessions over the three terms, and participants will be asked to undertake four (out of a possible 7) tasks to demonstrate reflection on and engagement with the areas covered in each session. They will also complete an online reflective log throughout the year to demonstrate outcomes, behaviours and application of learning. At the end of the programme, participants will complete a self-assessment to gauge progress in the areas covered. A short bibliography of reading is given, and the vast resource bank of the CMI is available to participants. Each participant will have a mentor and have access to the school’s coaching team.
Opening Afternoon – Early Autumn Term (approx 3 hours) Group lunch with Andrew Trotman and members of the Programme Team Keynote Presentation - Andrew Trotman Andrew began his teaching career at Radley College, before moving to Abingdon School as a housemaster, to the Edinburgh Academy as Deputy Rector and to St Peter’s School, York for nine years as Head Master. In 2011, he retired from St Edward’s School, Oxford where he was Warden for seven years. He led two large schools since then as acting head. He has a Master’s degree in Coaching and Mentoring, which included a research project into the development of head teachers beyond appraisal. He has conducted the appraisals of heads and leadership teams in HMC, IAPS, and Society of Heads schools, and for the CEO of a large charity. He has also coached heads in HMC and IAPS, run training days on coaching and appraisal and, with colleagues from Aspirance, developed bespoke away days for leadership teams] Andrew opens the programme with a talk on features of a good leader, on modelling leadership behaviour, getting the best out of your team and on the differences between leadership and management. Activity Session - Jayne Gordon, Director of Studies at SPJ, Simon Hollands, Director of Teaching & Learning at SPS of Teaching and Learning at SPS and James Gazet, Deputy Head (Academic) at SPS A few activities following Andrew’s address designed to provoke some personal reflection on perceptions of leadership, and perceptions of oneself in leadership. Practical Session - Sophie Rees, Head of HR Right at the start it is critical to be clear on the job description, on professional expectations of a leader or manager, on nuts and bolts: procedures, policies, ensuring compliance (including in H&S), protocols and work with the HR department. Choice of tasks Literature review - leadership in schools (1500 words) Reflective writing
Twilight Session – Autumn Term (First Half) Either (depending on availability)
Presentation skills for leaders and managers - Meg Harrington Meg has worked with several global businesses. She has designed and delivered bespoke management and leadership training across the business- from Team Leaders to board level to support development of staff and succession planning for a large car dealership group in SW England. This has been a 4-year project Meg has also designed, developed and delivered leadership/management training and has managed leadership and culture change projects for a variety of public and private sector companies in the UK. Meg used her Teaching Qualification to move from education into the commercial world. In the mid-1990s she worked as a Technical Trainer for Aegon Insurance, and Head of Internal Recruitment at British Airways. Her time at Leicester University studying Economics stood her in good stead for both. Meg has also gained ILM coaching qualifications, through the Institute of Leadership and Management. She frequently gives training on HMC courses. Focusing on how to deliver effective, well-planned and structured presentations. The session will cover: participants’ own communication style to enable us to communicate with greater understanding to the audience we are presenting to creating a credible and confident first impression by looking at body language, tone and pace of voice and general personal projection ensuring that we deliver clear messages that engage and ‘land’ with our audience methods to help plan and structure each presentation to keep on track and focused a couple of techniques to help overcome nerves and ‘stage-fright’ an Introduction to Reflective Diaries to encourage continuous improvement in our presentation skills
Running (and participating in) good meetings - Anne Barton Anne is a Director Sol Consulting Ltd, and A regional Director for London Future Leaders. An experienced trainer in the education sector, she has given training to SPS before and to Hammersmith Academy. There are good meetings and there are bad meetings. Effective ones leave you energized and feeling that you've really accomplished something. The session focuses on planning objectives of the meeting clearly, managing participation effectively and finding common ground such that objectives are reached, the meeting takes up a minimum amount of time, and participants feeling that a sensible and clear process has been followed, their contribution valued and recognisable progress has been made towards the objectives. A proportion of the session will focus, too, on how most positively to contribute to meetings when not in the chair. Recorded practical task Either: Define a topic and audience and record a presentation on that topic to the audience. Write a short critique of it. Or: Define an agenda for your departmental meeting (with real or roleplaying staff). Record the meeting you subsequently hold and write a short critique of it.
Twilight session – Autumn Term (Second Half) Appraisal and Performance Management; Capability; Observation - Simon Hollands, Sophie Rees, SPJ trainer Recognising and affirming the strengths and contribution of members of your team, encouraging innovation as well as providing learning opportunities and supporting colleagues to grow are all part of appraisal, and conducting an appraisal discussion is a key skill. The first part of the session looks at the SPS Appraisal systems and (for teachers) observation, and focuses on how to frame the discussion and the document. The second part gives guidance for what to do when things go wrong - how to manage capability issues appropriately. Task Either Observe a colleague teach, make notes and give a feedback session. Then reflect with colleague on how your framing of the discussion helped, and how it might have helped more. Write a brief reflection. Or Role play. A colleague in your department is not doing a bad job, but nonetheless is rather disengaged. In an end-of-year review examine motivation, and attempt to reengage the colleague.
Twilight session – (Spring Term – First Half) Group Reflection and discussion - Paul Collinson (Coaching Team Leader at St Paul’s) An opportunity to reflect with and in the group about what you have learnt in the previous term, about yourself as a leader/manager and about the areas and competencies feel you have been developing in and those you want to develop further, and a presentation of the ways in which working with a coach over a time can help. Task Coaching task. Take an area of your leadership you have identified as one which you particularly want to develop, and using the GROW coaching model, discuss it over two or three sessions with a personal coach.
Twilight session - Spring Term (First Half) Managing stress - yours’ and others’- Sam Madden (Head of Wellbeing at St Paul’s) There are inevitably periods which are stressful and this session aims to promote resilience and offer the tools and techniques to help manage stress. You will learn about the causes and impact of stress in organisations, symptoms of stress in others and how and when to provide advice, mentoring or counselling to support individuals in the workplace. Task tbc
Twilight session – Spring Term (Second Half) ‘Courageous Conversations’ - Emma Gleadhill Emma Gleadhill is an experienced speaker, trainer and coach, and a frequent contributor to the IStip NQT training programme. She is a practising teacher, and has been Head of Department and Principal Deputy Head in a leading Girls’ School. Her website is at http://www.emmagleadhill.com/index.php.
There will be times when you need to discuss difficult issues with a colleague - where you might have concerns for them, or for their performance. This session explores the tensions there are between your role as a line manager and as a mentor to members of your department, on how to create safe space for ‘courageous conversations’ and how to prepare for them. Emma uses a number of specific scenarios to work through, and highlights both traits and learnable skills which you can employ to get the best results from such discussions.
Task: A worksheet with a case study, and questions to consider and answer.
Twilight session 7 – Summer Term (Second Half) Arguably the area where you will have to lead most, rather than manage, is where you want to change something. The session looks looks at avoiding ‘initiative fatigue’ by creating the conditions for change, making the strongest possible case for it , considering the stake others have in it, responding to resistance and planning and embedding it. We talk through some case studies, identified by participants themselves.
Task: Identify an area of change, and map out a strategy. Identify the need for it, how to create the conditions for it to succeed, what you department members will be asking themselves about it, resistance, planning and embedding.
Throughout the year there are :  drop-in sessions with the Finance Team available for advice on budgeting, and sessions open to all staff on the use of the Concur budgeting software;  Safer Recruitment training sessions.
The four responses to the tasks will be assessed at the end of the year, after which participants will receive a certificate