Professional Learnings NSWPPA Educational Leadership

Creating a High-Trust School Environment with Terry Fisher

• NSW PPA Professional Learning • Season 1 • Episode 5

Share episode

Ever wondered how trust can transform your school community and elevate your leadership? Join me in an insightful conversation with recently retired principal Terry Fisher, as we unpack the crucial role of trust in today's fast-paced environment and explore the two-day Speed of Trust course facilitated by Terry for the NSW Primary Principals Association. Discover how this program can help foster and restore trust in relationships, organizations, markets, and society while benefiting not only principals, but also School Administrative Managers and other school executives.

In this episode, we also delve into the Professional Learnings for Educational Leaders initiative of the New South Wales Primary Principals Association (PPA). Learn how the PPA is dedicated to supporting and empowering principals in rural, remote, and metropolitan schools, and how the values of the PPA Professional Learning Suite can make a significant impact on your school community. Don't miss out on this enlightening discussion with Terry Fisher about the power of trust and the valuable resources available to help educational leaders thrive.

To view our Professional Learning Offerings visit:
https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning




Speaker 1:

Welcome to today's podcast, the NSW PPA Professional Learning. I'm your host, drew Janeski, on the NSW Professional Learning Officer, and in today's episode we're going to be discussing the speed of trust, or leading at the speed of trust, with Terry Fisher. The background about Terry Terry is a recently retired principal. Like member of the NSW primary principal's association. Terry first became a principal in 2002. He has made a principal in three schools in his career.

Speaker 1:

Apart from being a life member, terry has also secured a social justice and equity war for his work with refugees and non-English speaking families. Terry's received a directed generals war for improved literacy and numeracy results and was a leadership fellowship award winner when he got to work alongside Michael Fuller me in Canada. Terry's passion was always the welfare and improvement of students. So now he's retired, terry's doing consulting work for the NSW Department of Education and is also a facilitator for the speed of trust leadership program for the NSW primary principal's association.

Speaker 1:

Terry strongly believes the speed of trust is a great course because it establishes a case for trust, it explores self trust, relational trust, organisational trust and it also explores your legacies with market and societal trust. Terry states as we move through a rapidly changing society with 24 hour, four hour news cycles, fake news, health pandemics and increases in leadership pressures. Perhaps even the greatest leadership trait you can have develop first is trust. So in today's episode we discussed leading at the speed of trust with facilitator Terry Pischer. Enjoy, welcome to our podcast today, terry. Fantastic for you to join us to the NSW PPA podcast. Terry, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 2:

Oh well, yes, certainly, i'm recently retired principal from the NSW Department of Education. I also was deputy president of the PPA and I also was a my life member, so I bring all that experience and skills to the speed of trust and other things.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic, Terry. for those listeners who aren't informed about the speed of trust, could you give us a little bit of an insight of what to expect in the speed of trust?

Speaker 2:

Sure, it's a great training and development session open for principals. In fact I would recommend it for all executive staff because we're trying to create a high trust, engage culture in schools and teaching executive how to do that in a very what is becoming a more competitive workforce. It's a two day course. It's it goes through many part. It establishes for a case for trust and then it goes through relationship trust and organizational trust, which is really important in our, in our field.

Speaker 2:

It also talks about societal trust and market trust, and although those two don't seem as important as the other two or three sections of the course, they are important because it's amazing what how we function is in a society and what impact that has upon us as a school. And so it talks about the speed of trust, meaning that if you have got a lot of trust in your school, things get done at a greater rate. It also talks about restoring trust and how that can be done and establishing trust, which also can be done. So it's great for all types of executive. In fact, i've even done one course where the I've even done one course where the the same's come along as well, and that's a really good for a whole school environment.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. Is it just danger principles or who is the audience that can actually attend this And you alluded to that? it could be SAMs or Executive. Attend the course.

Speaker 2:

Well, originally it's originally started out for principles, obviously through the New South Wales Primary Principles Association, But I found that over the years that I've been doing this and I've done most of it by Zoom because of COVID, but I've done a few face-to-face as well that it's really good that a lot of schools are actually bringing their executive team with them, and some of them actually bring the SAMs and other people too, because they've got to work in that closed environment where trust is really important, and so it's a two-day course that builds up all those values of trust that are so important.

Speaker 2:

In fact, kobe says in his opening statement that it's probably the most important leadership skill that you can have into today's society, and if you look around, that's what's happening with fake news and how we don't trust people and people want instant fame. It's really important to get that trust going, and so, therefore, i think it's a great course and that's why I got involved, and so far, the feedback I've got is fantastic. In the course itself, you get a guidebook, you get action card, there's a weekly trust huddle guide, there's a speed of trust book, there's a digital coaching app, there's a diagnostic 360 survey to do So it's a very, very complete course over the two days.

Speaker 1:

So true with those words, with particularly what's going on in society, terry, with deep fakes and all of those things. And you know, i guess, like you alluded to, you know when you've got trust but you also know when you don't. And it's important through the PPA offerings that you have said that a lot of people think that this offering is exclusive just for principles, but the emphasis is certainly is through the New South Wales PPA membership, but it's definitely going to benefit SAMS as well as all people part of that school setting.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because you know, as a principal, that the property of the person that you work closest with overall is actually the SAM and the office stuff, because you're right next to them all day. I mean, yes, you go out to the classrooms in the school and you deal with parents etc, and the kids of course, but it's you know, you're there every day with that. So to build up that trust between you is really good. To build up the trust with you and the fellow executive is also a really important tool And I know that you know some school settings that doesn't happen And this is a great program to help restore that trust and how to do that across a professional in a professional organization.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's great. So you, there is skills and to be learned about how to build back trust. If there are trust issues currently in the in the climate that school leaders or or people in that environment are working through, okay, Yes, And not only do.

Speaker 2:

not only is that the skills that you learn from the course. there's actually physical things that you can do, like the trust action cards, for example. there's 13 of them and they give you some really great tips And if you've got to go into a really difficult conversation with a parent or a difficult situation with a staff member, it gives you some really great ideas that you can that learn, obviously, but you've got them here in front of you when you're doing it, So it's a really great tool for leadership in in in this decade and beyond.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely So. So relevant indeed, terry. You obviously you're a facilitator through our ultimate program, but if, if networks are after speed, of trust in their networks and cannot travel, i presume that is an option that members could undertake.

Speaker 2:

Well, yes, certainly is true, because the very first course I ever did was face to face. It was an entire executive team of a very large primary school. And then, of course, covid hit and all of it was by Zoom. So some of them were individual principals, some of them were just the individual principal and a deputy, some of them had a couple of APs. But as it got bigger and as it got more well known, i got more and more of the whole executive staff. Now that's not to say that it can't be the executive staff, of course it can be. So I can come to a school, i can. I'm mobile, i certainly can, certainly can travel, and if primary principal councils get together maybe there's two or three of them are close together and they would like to join together I can do a group as well. So I'm very flexible, i certainly can travel and I'm certainly available.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic. That's great, Terry. Terry, is there any other last things or advice you'd like to share with our listeners today about the speed of trust?

Speaker 2:

Well, i got involved in it simply because I thought it was a great opportunity to continue the skill set that I've grown over the last 39 years with the department. But as I've got into the course I realise how great it is And I didn't realise that, how important it is in our society today And that's thought of the message I'll get across to these guys That if they that it's such an important skill that we actually don't think a lot about And this gives the executive staff really great skills to be able to move forward and to build professionalism and trust and leadership within their schools Fantastic.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for your time today, terry Fisher, everyone Great to be with us today.

Speaker 2:

Thanks very much.

Speaker 1:

Professional learnings for educational leaders is an initiative to support and inform New South Wales PPA members of the New South Wales PPA Professional Learning Suite offerings. Our Professional Learning Suite is aligned to our values of principal wellbeing, principals as lead learners, as well as supporting principals to lead school operations. Our values are wrapped around support, empowerment, advocating and leading. The New South Wales Primary Principals Association is committed to supporting and empowering principals to effectively lead and manage school communities from a diverse range of contexts. The association responds to and supports school leaders as they address different challenges in rural, remote as well as metropolitan schools. Further information about our professional learning can be found at our website NewSouthWalesPPAorgau forward slash professional learning.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Drew Janetzki

Host