Redefining Education: Leadership Sprints and Staff Wellbeing Insights with Steve Francis

Ever feel like we're all sprinting in the world of education but not getting anywhere? Steve Francis, the genius behind School Leadership Sprints, is here to change that perception. Join us for a deep-dive into Steve's innovative program, designed to help busy educational leaders enhance their skills and align their teams efficiently. We'll uncover the core objectives, benefits, and best practices of implementing this ground-breaking program, a must-listen for principals, executives, or aspiring educators aiming to make a notable difference in their schools.

However, leadership improvement is just one piece of the puzzle. A positive school culture and staff wellbeing are equally vital. Our conversation takes a turn into the well-being aspect, focusing on Steve's eye-opening Happy School articles and his latest initiative, Happy Teacher Early Career Teachers. Packed with bite-sized advice for educators to improve their well-being and essential guidance for new educators about setting boundaries, this discussion is a goldmine of advice for any school aiming to create a supportive environment for its staff. So, stay tuned and transform your leadership approach and school culture one sprint at a time.
 
SPECIAL OFFER to NSWPPA members

School Leadership Sprints to NSWPPA members.
https://www.nswppa.org.au/school-leadership-sprints

12 months of access (extended to January 2025 for NSWPPA members)

INVESTMENT IN PROFESSIONAL LEARNING (free for the remainder of 2023)

$1190 + gst per school
Half price for small schools =$595 + gst per school (less than 100 students)

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Transcript

Drew: 0:03

Welcome to today's podcast. My name is Drew Janetzki, new South Wales PPA Professional Learning Officer, and it gives me great pleasure to discuss the very inspiring Steve Francis. Now Steve is the designer of school leadership sprints, which are a short, sharp, 10 minute videos designed specifically for leaders in schools and they provide practical and actionable strategies to increase the alignment and clarity of the for the school leadership team. They are only 10 minutes, they have standalone topics, they're for individual leaders, your leadership team as well as aspiring leaders, and we do. At the end we'll discuss the investment for in professional learning per school.

Drew: 0:49

There's actually Steve has offered for the New South Wales PPA free until the end of the year, colleagues, so if you're interested in that, little details will be in our notes, but he's very humorous, very inspiring and he also does some work with PPC groups as well, if colleagues are interested in that. He has over 25 sprints at this point in time. He also has the happy school, so it gives me great pleasure to introduce Steve Francis to today's podcast. Enjoy, steve Francis. That was very good Steve.

Steve: 1:34

Drew says Oh, you've been practicing your name, that's good. You said like a voice ma'am message. You know you change your voice.

Drew: 1:42

Steve to Drew

Steve: 1:43

Thanks for calling Steve Francis.

Drew: 1:47

Okay, welcome Steve. Steve, can you begin by telling us about the school leadership sprints and what is, or the school leadership sprint and what inspired you to create this program?

Steve: 1:59

Hey Drew, I'm great to be with you today. School leadership sprints are intended for busy school leaders. We've certainly been under the pump in the last few years. We're time poor, I've got a lot to do and I just think it's vitally important that we have leadership teams working on the same page and aligned together. But the challenge is that they're so busy they can't get to much of a professional learning that's on offer and we want to spread that depth of experience and capability across the whole school. So I developed the school leadership sprints as really short, really sharp, maximum of 10 minute videos just on one leadership topic, and I'm encouraging school leadership teams to add them into their meetings and not have a separate meeting or a separate leadership day. That's fine, that's got a different purpose, but just on a fortnightly basis, just add in one video on one leadership topic to make sure your leadership team or your APs and principal deputies are on the same page.

Drew: 3:02

So, steve, the school leadership sprints is designed to, as you said, to help school leaders improve their leadership skills. Could you explain the core objectives and the key benefits of participating in this program?

Steve: 3:19

The idea is the whole of the leadership team watch the up to 10 minute video together and then they will be some prompts and discussions that come from that, so that they'll have a conversation and get on the same page together. So being clear and being aligned is just so important in busy schools these days.

Drew: 3:40

Yeah, you mentioned about the time component. How does the school leadership sprint differ from other professional development opportunities?

Steve: 3:50

Yeah, so a professional development opportunity might be an hour and a half or a half day or a whole day, and so we'll send one or two participants off to do that and then we've got a cover for their release if they're an AP, for example and then they're intended to come back to school and to share their knowledge with the rest of the team. But I find that we get stuck in operational things and don't get to the strategic level drew so by having the school leadership sprints embedded in regular conversations that we have. My advice is, on a fortnightly basis, just plan one of those topics, watch the video together as an exact team and have that conversation together. It'll take 10 or 15 minutes, but you'll find the outcomes are people are aligned together and have that shared common experience and common understanding, rather than one on person going off and experiencing a professional learning and then trying to come back and share with everybody else.

Drew: 4:44

Yeah, it's such a common theme so this is such a unique aspect to the school leadership spreading. And, steve, you said your recommendation or the feedback has been once a fortnight for the implementation. Has that been the best practice you've seen so far? Yeah, that's been the best practice that we've seen.

Steve: 5:02

We try and prompt or remind school leaders who are busy and we send out an email each fortnight promoting one topic, but people that subscribe get access to all 25 topics. So if the topic that we're promoting as a reminder isn't what your team needs at that stage, that's fine. Choose from the smallest four to the 25 topics what you think your team needs at that particular stage, because often we've got people in acting roles in leadership teams as well, so being clear about what their roles are and having that conversation so they know what their remit is vitally important. So it's a short dosage rather than a massive event. We just find that trickle effect works best in the revolving door that we've got in leadership teams at this stage and the challenges that we have been time for.

Drew: 5:55

So you mentioned about. Is it just specifically aimed at school principals and school executive, or there are components that aspiring teachers, for example, could actually undertake this?

Steve: 6:10

work. Sure, they are specific to leadership in schools, so ideally, principal and executive team, but lots of schools are also using it for their aspiring leader program. So they've got people that are aspiring to take on a leadership role or looking at acting positions and want to grow and develop their leadership Instead of finding the 10 minute leadership sprints a great resource for that target group as well. As we have people step up and take on acting roles, it's important that we grow and develop them. Traditionally, I think we promote great teachers into leadership roles through, but don't necessarily provide them with the support they need. They need to be great teachers, they need to understand the pedagogy and the curriculum, but often in leadership roles they're working with other adults and it's a different school set that's required in that space. So anything that we can do to grow and develop their capabilities is going to make them more impactful within our schools as well.

Drew: 7:03

So your recommendation is for the group to watch it together. Is that the sort of framework, or is there a bit of flexibility in terms of thinking around having that done as an individual level?

Steve: 7:18

Absolutely flexibility, and I can be done as an individual and therefore it's a self-paced learning program. But the prompt is about having a conversation with the leadership team so that we're talking about the same topics and we're on the same page together. But the flexibility is there with these resources. It's on demand, when you need it and where you need it.

Drew: 7:38

Yeah, so, steve, can you tell us about any successful stories or things from educators or school leaders and the impact that the school leadership sprint has has had on schools in your experience?

Steve: 7:52

Yeah, do. I'm getting great feedback from schools that have subscribed. The program's been into its nearly third year now and we've got a 90% repeat takeout rate. So people that subscribed 90% of those schools have renewed in a subsequent year to continue to access the sprints because they're acknowledging that the the English government is an ongoing process and they have now changed the leadership team. They want to revisit the topic and make sure people on that page together and they're just finding it to be time efficient because they're not having to release people to go to off-site professional learning that they can do that together as a team and and get that consistent message across. So that's been the common theme of the feedback that we've had from subscribers that took up our subscription and they've renewed at a 90% rate, which I think is a great time.

Drew: 8:48

Yeah, congratulations on that fantastic Steve. 90% is a terrific retention rate and speaks to the quality level of your professional learning, steve. Moving into more broader across Australia, what do you see as the biggest issues that educators face at the moment?

Steve: 9:07

Yeah, staff shortages are a pressing issue around Australia, in just about all the states. But also then attracting people onto leadership roles and having good people take up those leadership roles and if we don't grow and develop and nurture those, then you know it falls back on the principle then. And then even candidates for principal positions the pool there is is thinning out, and so we've got to grow and develop capable people that are passionate about education. Education is tough through, isn't it? It's not easy working in schools. It's demanding and important work, but it's it really is important work. We have the opportunity to change lives every single day, but that's not easy. But if we don't have people in front of classes and we don't have people aspiring to leadership roles, then I'm a bit worried about society in the direction we're heading in the future.

Drew: 10:02

Yeah, yeah, absolutely so, steve. What advice would you offer educators and school leaders who may be considering to participate in the school leadership sprint to make the most of their experience and drive the lasting and you come through as such a positive leader, steve, that drives the lasting, positive changes in their school.

Steve: 10:24

Yeah, it needs to be sustainable, doesn't it, drew? I think attitudes are contagious and other people catch your attitude, and I think it's a key message for for leaders is that we've got to make sure our attitude is worth catching. We're ultimately in the people business. We need knowledge to optimise our schools and we need knowledge of the curriculum and pedagogy, but we need to be relatable and and work well with people. So growing and developing the executive team, for example, and empowering them makes our life a lot easier as principals within schools, but it's about value and connecting with people. It's just so important.

Steve: 11:01

I'm also worried about our early career teachers. So my current project, drew, is I'm working on trying to provide resources to help retain our early career teachers. The burnout rate we've read about that in the press for the last few years is horrendous, and they've gone through a lot of training to become teachers, and then if we lose them in those first three, four, five years, then that's a detriment to our school as well. So we need to be able to recruit, but we also need to be able to retain bright, capable people that are passionate about education and the difference we can make in schools.

Drew: 11:36

Yeah, look, it's sad to hear that, isn't it? I mean, it's such a rewarding profession and can give back. But just thinking of the strategies to avoid burnout, does school leadership sprints address this issue or is that part of some other work that you deliver, steve?

Steve: 11:59

Yeah, I sort of take a multi-pronged approach to that. I don't believe it's the principal's job to fix staff well-being. Staff has to make decisions about what works for them. It can't be a one-size-fits-all approach in that regard. Yeah, I don't believe it's the principal's job to fix staff well-being. The staff need to take responsibility for their own well-being and the choices that they take.

Steve: 12:21

My strategy there is to try and support staff to make good decisions through my happy school articles. So in my happy school articles we provide weekly one-page articles for a key contact in the school whether that's a principal or an AP who's leading the staff well-being to share with their staff. And so we find in lots of schools they share that on the back of a staff newsletter, if they have one. Lots of schools just email them to staff. Let's print them and put them on the fridge or the microwave in the staff room and they're just tips on improving your own well-being. So if you're not sleeping well, here's one page of advice to get into good sleep habits. If you've got parent-teacher interviews next week and you're a bit worried about the stress that that brings, here's some tips for dealing with a difficult parent. So we try and make them timely for the challenges that we face in schools. But it's about upskilling staff with the skills and knowledge to improve their own well-being.

Steve: 13:18

I believe the work of a leadership team is to build a positive school culture where staff can have a good day at work, and we have to manage both the leadership and the management. My favourite definition of the difference between leadership and management is that people need leadership. Everything else needs to be managed. We have to manage budgets and finances and facilities and resources so that the schools are well oiled machine. But people need leadership, they need passion, they need support, they need backup, they need motivation, they need direction and that's our remit as school leaders is to build that positive school culture. But people can come to work and have a great day at school, because in a classroom where the magic happens ultimately short us.

Drew: 14:02

It short us. Look great, fantastic, great advice to Steve, particularly around. You know the the concept that that you don't own the other person, the other, another person's well-being they are. They are essentially in control of that, but you can make be that bright light in that and making sure that the environment is very positive, but it's it. Ultimately it is up to the individual to ensure that their well-being, they maintain their own well-being. You, you can build that foundation but it's ultimately up to them and you can do that through that, through the happy school Work that you're leading.

Steve: 14:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's helping them, that's right. That's helping them to to make informed choices. Because it can't be one size fits all you. You can sort of Dictate that everyone must leave the school at four o'clock or whatever. Some people you know need to leave early and some people need to stay late, and then what that's going to mean for different people, it's different solutions. But people need to be aware of what their boundaries are and what works for them To get a well-being that makes it sustainable for them as well. And that's where my new project happy teacher early career teachers is looking at taking key messages or First-year teachers and then in the subsequent second and third years, what, what other messages that they need to set those boundaries in place to look after their well-being. So that's my new projects launching at the end of this term brief and XG. So if any were a new South Wales PPA principles, I would like to get on board with that. Send me an email. It's the happy school.

Drew: 15:41

In our website as well, steve. Look just to finish up. Lastly, how, if People are interested, or school principals are interested, in learning about the school leadership sprints and want to be involved, are there any opportunities or or any promotions, steve, that you may want to share this afternoon?

Steve: 16:00

Audrey, if you want to find out more, if you go to my happy school Dot com dot au website and click on the school leadership sprints, there's an introductory video that tells you all about it. You can also click on there and it outlines the 25 topics that are provided in the school leadership sprints, so it gives you a blurb about each one of those. Schools can purchase a one-off topic and do that as a taster or start a trial for just one term, or take out the membership for the year and we've got a special deal on for a new South Wales PPA principles that gives them access for the rest of this year For free and then they can start planning for for 2024 school year as well. So you might look at some of those as an introduction to the year and setting you up for success at the start of next year.

Drew: 16:48

That's what we want success for everyone, but Absolutely pleasure. It's great always talking to you, steve, and I know we'll put that on to our website Steve Francis, colleagues, such a positive leader and great to be part of the leading the work with the New South Wales PPA professional learning suite. And also, steve, last plug, you do other work as well, if can you elaborate on. I think you do some weekend Retreat work. Can you elaborate further? What, what that? What? What entails that?

Steve: 17:23

yeah, yeah, I've enjoyed doing working with lots of PPCs and often they do a professional learning retreat for a couple of days, often a Thursday or Friday, and we've done those at Hunts and Valley and at Woolloongong, where the PPC come together as leaders, engage in some professional learning, and then it's the social aspects that also happen in building that collegiality and network, because being a school principal can be a lonely role and we want people to be connected and being a member of the PPA is part of that.

Steve: 17:55

And coming together as a PPC, getting to know your colleagues I think if people know their colleagues they're more likely to get on the phone when they're experiencing something stressful and to solve those problems together. So I've worked with a number of PPCs on their retreats to engage them in some professional learning that's specific to school leaders, but they also have dinner together and some fun events as well to solve some of the problems that are facing their PPC. So I'd encourage people to take advantage of those opportunities. It's really important to grow our network and not isolate ourselves as school leaders. I promise not to mention state of origin during any of my presentations because I know that can be a sore point for some of you because I am a Queen Flandre, so apologies from that for getting you.

Steve: 18:39

Sorry about that, drew Look.

Drew: 18:41

I know you're a presenter too. Room arrestee, just quietly. I've almost had people over the line with the PPC until you mentioned that state of origin. But, colleagues, that's fair. I know I'm not sure if the line's being interfered here, but no, there we go. You got your back, yeah, yeah yeah, the line's gone, sorry bad connection.

Drew: 19:03

It's always a pleasure to talk to you, steve. Thanks for your time today and looking forward to working with you and promoting the work that you do and, most importantly, supporting our principles and leading in such a really interesting climate as well. So thank you again for your time.

Steve: 19:20

Fantastic, drew. Could I leave you a final message to finish strong, saying we're doing something done before the end of the year wipes out all of the good work that you've done this year. So if you are listening to this in term, paula, then my encouragement to you is to be patient, as patient as you were at the start of the term, even when things go crazy in the final weeks of term.

Drew: 19:44

Finish strong. Thanks, folks, that's great advice. Thanks, steve. So there we have a colleague, steve Francis very humorous Steve Francis, discussing all matters regarding school leadership with us through the school leadership sprints, as well as his happy school. And, as we said, there is a special for the New South Wales PPA membership. It is in our notes. Investment in professional learning through for the school leadership is 1190 plus GST per school per year and there's a hard price for small schools of 595 plus GST per school. That's a small school of less than 100 students and you get the on demand access to the 25 sprints and, as we said, for New South Wales PPA members, it is free until the end of 2023. So if you're listening to this in 2023, please make sure you take advantage of this offer and we look forward to our next podcast. Until then, stay safe and stay strong.