'We Are The People We've Been Waiting For'

I picked up a copy of 'We Are The People We've Been Waiting For' in the Guardian on Saturday. I managed to watch it this evening...

"The world is changing rapidly but our education system is not keeping pace."
The film is an independent documentary, inspired and guided by Lord Puttnam and Sir Michael Barber, which explores the education system in the UK. The film follows five young people and asks whether our current system provides young people with the opportunity to develop their talents and abilities. Sir Richard Branson, Professor Germaine Greer, Henry Winkler, Bill Bryson and Sir Ken Robinson share their personal experiences in this thought-provoking film which offers us all a unique insight and reveals a very inconvenient truth about education. Everyone who cares about education and learning should watch this film which you can find at http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/.

The film argues for a strong investment in teaching and learning where we respect and trust colleagues to inspire young people but also argues for a new pedagogy of learning that values flexibility, creativity and alternative ways of doing things. It argues that we need to re-imagine teaching and learning and to re-invent the curriculum to unlock the potential and magic in each and every learner. We need to consider what is possible and how we reach all our young people through more experimental approaches. We need a new generation of teachers to coach, guide and support our young learners and to make better use of technology to stretch and challenge and connect with young peoples interests.

This is the basis of the Dalton method and the Kunskapsskolan approach where we personalise and customise learning to meet the needs of each and everyone of our unique learners. We will always need great teachers to teach great lessons but these must be surrounded by a sea of opportunities which individual learners can access, adapt and use to reach their personal goals.
Happy to discuss.
Chris

We must continue to develop a clear shared vision and a 'can do' anything attitude. We must be proud, hopeful, positive and optimistic. We must nurture innovation, creativity and be constantly curious. We must be resilient in the face of the difficulties and setbacks we currently face and dig deep to ensure that while we are passionate, totally focused, determined, persistent and energetic. We don't need to work harder to build brilliant. We need to work smarter and better as a team. We need to communicate more, talk and listen more and most importantly we need to continue to think team. Let's also ensure that we continue to spend time together using the Annual Lecture, the ‘Evolve’, Harnessing Technology event and the Christmas Party as ways of celebrating the best of Leeds.

Education Leeds and RM would like to invite you to our first ‘Evolve’, Harnessing Technology event on 10th December 2009 at The Queen’s Hotel in Leeds City Centre to carry on the conversation; to release more butterflies and to build brilliant. This event is FREE, but places are limited so make sure you register as soon as possible. To find out more information about the event and to register your place, please visit http://evolve.leedsschools.org. And finally never doubt that a small group of talented, thoughtful and committed people can change the world… we are and we will continue to… because what we do is create magic, release potential and build the future.
Chris

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

The Seven Aspects of Emotional Leadership

Emotional leadership requires:

• Self-Awareness.
• Emotional Resilience.
• Motivation.
• Sensitivity.
• Influence.
• Intuition.
• Conscientiousness and integrity.

Chris

I know that there is a profound difference between leadership and management but I am not sure why everywhere I look there is such a lack of leadership...

"Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing"
Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion while managing means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for or to conduct. There are great managers everywhere but very few great leaders. In his book "Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a Leader" Warren Bennis, writer of leadership resources and business professor at the University of Southern California, identifies the differences between leaders and manager.

• The manager maintains; the leader develops.
• The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.
• The manager focuses on systems and structures; the leader focuses on people.
• The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
• The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
• The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
• The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon.
• The manager imitates; the leader originates.
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
• The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.

Times like this require us to think more in terms of leadership and as leaders we need to ask questions like...

• "What is really going on here?"
• "How do we remain relevant?"
• "How do we fulfil our goals in these changing times?"
• "How do we make colleagues understand that what we do is important?"

Chris

Leaders lead people. Manager manage tasks. There is a difference...

The old proverb says that leadership is doing the right thing; management is doing things right. Leadership is about getting people to abandon their their old habits and achieve new things, and therefore largely about change - about inspiring, helping, and sometimes enforcing change in people. "While there can be effective management absent ideas, there can be no true leadership."results. However, if your organization is not on a journey don't bother about leadership – just settle for management and see where it gets you.

I don't really know anyone who isn't on a journey!
Chris

I visited the Innovation Unit website and found the Radical Efficiency Model which has four principles; new information, new customers, new suppliers and new resources...
The model is intended to provoke us to think in different ways about the design and delivery of public services. The aim of Radical Efficiency is to prove that this approach can lead to the design of public services that are better, cheaper and more efficient. The idea of better, cheaper and more efficient is often described as the holy grail of public services – as something unique but everyone needs to ask themselves these questions. If you want to find out more visit the Innovation Unit website at http://innovationunit.wordpress.com/.
Chris

I picked up a brilliant little booklet at the 'Innovation in Education' Conference earlier this week...

It's called 'What's Next? 21 Ideas for 21st Century Learning' by Charles Leadbeater and showcases some schools working in challenging contexts and achieving great results. The 21 ideas are:

• There should be individual budgets and self-directed support plans for families at risk;
• We should develop emotional resilience programmes;
• We should develop learning concierge services;
• We should break up large schools;
• We should develop peer learner programme;
• We should develop personal challenge;
• WE should develop personal learning plans and portfolios;
• Every young person should have a right to intensive mentoring;
• We should provide personal budgets for young people in danger of becoming NEET;
• We should develop an investors in learning programme;
• Schools should develop as productive enterprises;
• We should scrap the six week summer holiday;
• We should create the school of everything for our schools;
• We should appoint community based teachers;
• We should create third spaces for learning;
• We should develop whole school projects for the community;
• We should develop participatory budgeting;
• We should work to develop leadership teams not headteachers;
• We should develop wider measures of progress and outcomes;
• We should develop a National Curriculum of capabilities.

Everyone who is interested in the future of learning, in innovation and achieving brilliant results should read this booklet. You can download a copy of the publication from the Innovation Unit's website at www.innovation-unit.co.uk.
Chris

We have had an interesting and somewhat challenging start to the new academic year and I fully understand the pressures colleagues are facing across the company...

However tough the going gets we need to stay positive and optimistic, and critically, we need to support colleagues across the company who may be feeling uncertain during this period of significant change. We must never doubt that the work that we are doing is important and makes a difference. I know that it’s a very tough journey but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't a train coming the other way!

As a team, we have achieved so much together over the years and made such a difference. We are ultimately responsible for the health, the well-being and successes of all the young people who live here in Leeds and our legacy is the real difference we are making every day, every week, every term and every year and don't let anyone tell you anything different.

I know that you are all working hard to respond to the increased pressures and the wicked issues. I appreciate the efforts that each of you have made and are continuing to make to manage budget and staffing resources more effectively against our priorities. Unfortunately, the budget is one particular wicked issue that won't go away, but this just means that we have to be even more creative and innovative to continue to deliver what matters most.

The council's review of the children's trust arrangements is an opportunity to examine the structures and systems that support the work we are doing. Please take time to reassure colleagues that whatever the outcome of the review, the core purpose that we are all engaged in - improving outcomes for children and young people - remains a priority for Leeds.

The inspection is another opportunity for us to demonstrate that we know what needs to be done to improve outcomes for our children and young people; and more importantly, that we can deliver. With our knowledge, expertise and strong track record in working through inspections we are in a good position to support our colleagues across the children's services partnership at this time. Thank you to all the colleagues who are already leading key pieces of work for the inspection.

Remember, as leaders we all need to 'Keep Calm and Carry On' and demonstrate the confidence and sense of purpose that marks Education Leeds out as a strong, dynamic learning organisation. This will take us through the next few weeks when the inspectors arrive in Leeds. We must continue to have a clear shared vision and a 'can do' attitude. We must be proud, hopeful, positive and optimistic. We must nurture innovation, creativity and be constantly curious. In these trying times we must be totally committed to our colleagues; recognising, celebrating and developing our strengths, while understanding and supporting our weaknesses and mistakes. We must be resilient in the face of the difficulties and setbacks we currently face and dig deep to ensure that while we are passionate, totally focused, determined, persistent and energetic, we work hard to make sure that we all enjoy what we are doing and wherever possible have fun together.

We don't need to work harder to build brilliant. We need to work smarter and better as a team. We need to communicate more, talk and listen more and most importantly we need to continue to think team. Let's also ensure that we have fun together using Children In Need, the Annual Lecture and the Christmas Party as ways of celebrating the best of Leeds.... see you there!
Keep the faith!
Chris

We are 'painting by numbers' in a world monitored, policed and controlled by the 'bean' counters and the 'keep within the line' checkers and the 'weigh the pig' consultants and we are trapped in a viscious spiral of negativity, of it's not good enough so let's do something else, of let's create another intiative, of let's get more consultants and of let's make sure that we find someone to blame. ...

These are dangerous times for those of us who understand the learning process. I have said it so many times, 'command and control doesn't work' and sadly all you get as aresult is mediocre outcomes and millions wasted on initiatives that make little or no real long term difference to outcomes for our children and young people. What really, really matters is the quality of the leadership and quality of the learning teams in our schools and the quality of the local services supporting our brilliant learning places. To achieve transformational outcomes and to release the magic we need colleagues in schools facing the greatest challenges to feel trusted, empowered and supported!

We really need to reflect, think and get back to basics... vision, discipline, focus, passion, engagement, relationships and leadership. Let us nurture and support our learning teams to ensure that they deliver for our children and young people and let's take the best of what we do here in Leeds and learn from the best practice nationally, from Reggio Emilia, from Sweden and Finland and Denmark and from anywhere else that will help us to build brilliant local provision.
Chris

We are challenged all the time to do better, and to do it faster and more efficiently and more effectively...

I have been working on school improvement for over thirty years and I know some people will ask why haven't we cracked it and already delivered brilliant learning and fantastic outcomes everywhere. I wish it were that easy. What we haven't tackled or cracked is poverty, deprivation, worklessness and the common factors that conspire against us and prevent young people achieving good outcomes however hard we work. I have also learned from countless school visits over the years that talented colleagues here in Leeds and amazing colleagues up and down the country are releasing the magic and driving up standards and outcomes in some of the most challenging contexts. We have the passion, the discipline, the intellectual rigour, the materials and more importantly we have the people to deliver real magic and to achieve world class outcomes consistently across individual schools and across all schools.

I am not in any way complacent about the challenges we face here in this wonderfully rich, diverse and incredibly challenging city. It's never easy but like you, I am constantly looking for the answers and constantly asking myself how much more I can do, how much more we can do and how much more our schools can do. I am also constantly asking myself about my effectiveness and how I can continue to develop and do better tomorrow than I am doing today.
Welcome your thoughts and ideas.
Chris

A friend sent me the Storyteller's Creed in case I had forgotten...

"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge, That myth is more potent than history, That dreams are more powerful than facts, That hope always triumphs over experience, That laughter is the only cure for grief, And I believe that love is stronger than death."
Robert Fulghum

Always keep the faith!
Chris

I read the Hay Group publication 'Make or break' this evening...

The little booklet highlights the fact that to be successful we must ensure that our organisations have the capacity to keep our promises. It stresses my view that it is not the execution capabilities that make all the difference. Programme management, performance management and measurement systems matter but they are not enough. We need to understand the three major tools we have for turning strategy into reality:

• translate the strategy into a structure that allows the organisation to best serve its customers, clients and stakeholders;
• constantly and publicly reward the way things are done as well as the results achieved;
• consistently repeat the message through stories and check that the message arrives.

We all need to understand that there is a risk within organisations that our body language and our tone contradict the content of our message. We must think very carefully about rewards and structures to ensure that they match our strategy. Content still matters and we still need a vision and a strategy but we should reserve words for what they do best - telling stories that inspire and inform.
Chris

Colleagues gave me a copy of our new 'The Education Leeds Learning and Development Guide' which I read over the weekend...

It's a powerful little statement about the support for talent management and highlights three golden threads:

• equalities and diversity in everything we do;
• working in collaboration - in teams, within Education Leeds and with our partners;
• Leaders and people managers - developing a culture, inspiring and managing colleagues.

The booklet covers induction, personal development, enabling programme, aspiring programme, inspiring programme, health, safety and well-being, child protection and information technology. The document sets out our commitment to our colleagues and their professional and personal development. We need to help colleagues with their own progression pathways to ensure that each and every one achieves their potential and releases their magic.
Chris

Exceptional people in exceptional organisations refuse to choose between
performance and people...

If we want to be outstanding we must do five things to promote both people and performance:
• Get colleagues to trust us;
• Engage directly with colleagues;
• Maintain our focus and consistency of purpose;
• Build our collective leadership;
• Foster and nurture our shared purpose.

It's as always about ownership, engagement, passion and belief. Simple really.
Chris

Change is with us: perhaps it always has been and perhaps it always will be...

We need to recognise that social, economic, end environmental issues all impact on what we are doing. Schools, 21st Century Schools, lie at the heart of Children's Services and the relationships between learners, their families and our colleagues are vitally important if we want to tackle disadvantage and underachievement and release the potential and magic. We need to continue on the journey to excellence with passion, commitment, energy, belief and determination.
Chris

I read a copy of the new Education Leeds Strategy 'Brilliant Learning, Brilliant Learning Places' over the weekend...

It sets out our vision for the next three years. That all our children and young people will be engaged in learning that:

• challenges their expectations;
• rases their aspirations; and
  
• enables them to fulfil their potential and their ambitions.

It's a great document full of wonderful photographs of our children and young people and expresses our ambitions for 2012:

• we will ensure that children will have a good start and thrive in learning;
• we will ensure that young people will be engaged and thrive in learning;
• we will narrow the achievement gap for vulnerable children and young people;
• we will work to support the continuation of learning into adulthood;
• we will ensure a 21st century learning experience for Leeds children and young people;
• we will ensure that we develop and support the leadership and governance needed to deliver 21st century learning;
• we will promote learning that supports children and young people to make informed choices;
• we will ensure that schools and services provide integrated support to safeguard children, young people and their families;
• we will ensure that schools are at the heart of strong communities with places to go and things to do;
• we will ensure that Education Leeds is a strong and successful learning organisation where people are trusted, valued, respected and enabled to release their potential.

Thanks to those colleagues who produced such a wonderful statement which will drive our efforts here in Leeds over the next three years.
Chris

The mind is similar to the muscles of the body: if you do not use it and give it a good workout every day, it will become flabby...

Too many people are neglecting their brains and the world is in serious danger of becoming flabby. What are you reading and doing to keep your brain engaged and active.
Chris

You’ve done all the right things; provided leadership and direction to your colleagues, rewarded courageous risk-taking, encouraged innovation, honored diversity, demanded personal accountability, put children and young people first but it all just went to the dogs in an OFSTED inspection report...

It’s 3:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and you’re at the fridge again because you can't sleep. You find yourself breaking into a rage every time some well-meaning and over-paid consultant who has never managed anything tells you he has all the answers, to “play to your strengths,” and “enlist everyone in a positive change effort.” So what do we do?

However tough the going gets, there is always hope especially when some of us have travelled this road before. There is a light at the end of the tunnel which isn't a train coming the other way. We all know that it’s a very tough journey but they all are aren't they when you work in the big cities. There are clearly no guarantees of success, but pressing on is our best hope.

This is our business and we are ultimately responsible for the health, the well-being and successes of all the young people who live here in Leeds. So let's all list the five things that will make the biggest difference for our young people. Take a moment to recognize how difficult these things will be and then do them anyway. Our job is to convince enough people to join in the pursuit of a better and more sustainable tomorrow; a tomorrow that delivers better schools and better outcomes for our children and young people than we are achieving today... whatever it takes!
Chris