I was supposed to be in Stockholm today...

I was due to be speaking at The Stockholm Summit 'Leaders in School Education' 2010 about our work and what we have achieved here in Leeds but the ash cloud cometh again and I wasn't able to get there. It's a shame because the speakers also included Andy Hargreaves, Brian Annan, John Mann and David Hopkins who are all inspirational. Still I suppose as always it is better to be safe than sorry!
Chris

Be your brilliant best!

How often do you have coaching conversations that help and encourage colleagues to improve their performance and how many of these conversations really made a difference?

Leaders need to coach and encourage their colleagues. Being a great coach challenges us to engage in a different kind of conversation; ones that deal with passion, performance, aspiration, values, successes and failures – topics that are often uncomfortable, difficult and emotionally charged. Great coaching means that we must engage in these tricky and difficult conversations.

We must ask each other the questions that need to be asked:

• How do you think you are performing?
• Are you passionate about what you are doing?
• What would you do if you could choose to do anything?
• Are you doing your very best work?,
• What stopping you being outstanding?

These are dangerous questions because they raise issues that are uncomfortable for even the most experienced leaders. However, if we want to release the magic and be our brilliant best we need to all develop the habit of having these important conversations every day.
Chris

Tell it like it is!

Whether we like it or not, your colleagues know what you think of them and we all know that children, young people, colleagues and friends live up to, or down to, our expectations of them. ...

When we think of our colleagues as unique, talented, creative and developing, they know and as a result will like working with us. They will like how they feel about themselves. They will want to work with us, and will go beyond the call of duty for us. They will allow us to make mistakes, get things wrong and be human because we have gained their trust, their loyalty and their commitment – rare commodities in today's dog eat dog world. That is the real strength of Education Leeds; the coaching culture we have developed; a culture that is constantly, relentlessly and uncompromisingly asking us to stretch and develop to be our brilliant best.

So if we want to coach colleagues for brilliant performance, we must begin by thinking the best of them. Only then can we raise and stretch their awareness of their uniqueness, their strength, and their potential. By being appreciative, supportive and caring we help our colleagues overcome the limitations they have imposed upon themselves, and significantly develop the possibilities and opportunities available to them. Great coaches leaves a legacy of people who know their strengths, know their abilities and, as a result, reach beyond what they believed was possible. Great coaching is a relationship that sees colleagues at their very best; challenges them to examine their own gifts, talents and aspirations and, ultimately, holds them accountable to become their brilliant best.
Chris