Week 10a - Reflections of Dunedin leadership course

"It's a very intensive week" they said.

They did not lie!

My first thoughts regarding any learnings about myself as a leader are that there were no major surprises. I am given to a fair degree of introspection at the best (and worst) of times! I have completed MBTI tests in the past, although interestingly I seem to have shifted from INTJ to INTP - of course true MBT believers would say that you don't really change type, so the apparent change is more due to the fact that I have several traits that are VERY strongly 'out of type' - but then "not wanting to fit into other people's categories" seems pretty typical for an INTP personality, so I guess I can live with it. I did have to chuckle when I searched online for information on MBTI tests and one of the top results was a site discussing whether MBTI or astrology were more reliable...

On "Character Strengths" tests I usually show "honesty" and "appreciation of beauty" as my main strengths (although I think that is in part a reflection of what I find "beautiful", which probably doesn't align terribly well with dictionary definitions or general stereotypes). Flexibility/ adaptability also often scores pretty highly on tests that look for it. I think my main issue with all of these tests is that they are self-review tools - highly subjective, and highly susceptible to telling you what YOU think of yourself, rather than how others see you. For that reason I found the Leadership Practices Inventory feedback more interesting. It was reassuring that there was pretty good agreement between my self-appraisal and the views of others. It was also interesting to note that my principal scored me higher than my colleagues and in most cases my self-view was between that of my principal and those of my colleagues.

The strengths highlighted by the PLI were mostly in the 'ENABLE others to act' group. This may well be in no small part due to the fact that in my present role, I do not take on a great deal of 'leadership' - rather I collaborate with others or work independently to achieve desired outcomes. I interpret much of this feedback as me being a good collaborator/ team member, developing relationships and supporting colleagues - behaviours that I will most certainly need if I am to get 'buy-in' from the other Science teachers when return to school.

The behaviours that I specifically intend to address as part of my Leadership Development Plan are from my 'second tier' practices:

- giving people choice about how to do their work: I will be sharing ideas from the STLP, but Ao Tawhiti teachers operate with a high degree of autonomy (and often do not respond well to being told what/ how to teach). I will be co-constructing curriculum developments and be very explicit in encouraging other staff to choose their own ways of implementing ideas.

- Setting a personal example of what is expected: I feel like this one is pretty self-explanatory! I will be role modelling the changes that we discuss as a department

- Searching outside organisations for innovative ways to improve: the STLP! I am a little surprised that I scored lower on this behaviour - I think enrolling in a 6 month external PLD programme is a pretty good personal example of searching outside organisations for innovative ways to improve!

Some of the largest discrepancies between my own rating and those of my colleagues were in areas where there are frequently limited opportunities to act in specific ways or display "leadership behaviours". These included asking for feedback on how my actions affect people's performance and creatively rewarding people for their contributions. While not the primary focus of my leadership development plan (we were advised to focus on 'making the good great' rather than 'making the awful OK') I am hopeful that by taking on a more explicit leadership role when I return to school, several of these behaviours will also become more frequent and more apparent to my colleagues.