More Less New Whilst working with our staff on our school’s strategic plan evaluation about three years ago, I became stuck on how we would move ahead. Our staff had spent a lot of time across the previous six months, pulling apart our data in every conceivable way trying to effectively evaluate our impact. They…
Tag: you should read this blog
If you only read one educational leadership book in 2017 make it this one
Leading Teaching and Learning Stephen Dinham If you are only going to read one educational leadership book in 2017, then make it Leading Teaching and Learning by Stephen Dinham (and then get your priorities in order and read more books!). This book is an excellent summary of the broad range of educational research and evidence,…
You should read this if you want to be a Superboss
Superbosses – Sydney Finkelstein Superbosses is an amazing piece of research, summarised into outstanding lessons for leaders of organisations and schools, that ultimately works better as a short article than a book. I came across this book in an HBR article (HBR – January-February 2016), which summarised the main findings of author Sydney Finkelstein’s research….
You should read this if you want to understand everything wrong with leadership
Leadership B.S. – Fixing Worplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time by Jeffrey Pfeffer – Stanford Graduate School of Business I have written often about the great work of Bob Sutton from Stanford University, and now his faculty colleague and sometimes writing partner Jeffrey Pfeffer has given us Leadership B.S. – Fixing Workplaces and…
Batfleck and Change Management
Batfleck and Change Management Dealing with change – The Ben Affleck as Batman case study Change is hard in schools, and it is ever present. Schools are constantly dealing with a moving educational and political landscape, classroom teachers are constantly dealing with dynamic classrooms and change initiatives within their schools and Principals are constantly dealing…
Closed loop classrooms – Tom’s Restaurant vs. Scotty’s Diner
Closed loop classrooms – Tom’s Restaurant vs. Scotty’s Diner A couple of questions have been tormenting me for a few weeks now, regarding teachers and leaders for whom things on the surface seem to be going well. We all know that there are teachers out there who seem to make things look easy. Their classes…
Three great books I haven’t blogged about yet – but that every educational leader should read!
Three great books I haven’t blogged about yet – but that every educational leader should read! We’ve recently started a new feature in our PLT’s, where each session a different member brings along an article, book or reading that has had an impact on them as a teacher. Last week a colleague brought along an…
Leadership Transitions
Earlier this week I co presented a workshop for aspiring leaders within my school and local school network. The workshop was the first of three for the year, and was designed to get participants to actively and honestly engage in self-reflection, as a foundation for leadership development. The workshops are designed to assist leaders at…
Leadership books you may have missed in 2014
Leadership books you might have missed in 2014 Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a sucker for a good list, and the New Year’s period always provides some worthy list fodder such as Top 5 Movies of 2014, Top social media fails of 2014 and other such nonsense. So I thought…
You should read this if you want to improve the organisational health of your school
The Advantage – How organisational health trumps everything Patrick Lencioni Staff opinion surveys are the bane of many a school leader. Many tend to see them more as an imposition, rather than a chance to really understand how their school is operating. Staff may realise the survey…
Collaboration for improved student learning
Collaboration for improved student learning Recently my school welcomed Dr. Ben Jensen from the Grattan Institute. Dr. Jensen presented a summary of his findings into top tier Asian schools, based on his 2012 report. One of the more revealing aspects of Dr. Jensen’s report (and a little reported on aspect) are the collaboration strategies employed…
You should read this if you are leading change
Switch – Chip and Dan Heath Chip and Dan Heaths excellent ‘Made to Stick’ has already been reviewed here, now their next major book, ‘Switch, How to Change Things When Change is Hard’ is a standout read in the ever growing canon of change management books. Drawing from a wide array of research in psychology…
