2020 in review

1661409362000

NEW CEO APPOINTED TO AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF APPLIED MANAGEMENT

The Australian School of Applied Management (ASAM), which sits alongside the National Excellence in School Leadership Institute (NESLI), has announced the appointment of Karen Taylor as Chief Executive Officer.Ms Taylor is a highly skilled CEO with extensive experience in strategic planning, change management and business growth and development in the education sector. As former CEO of Government Skills Australia, Executive Director of GOTAFE, Executive Advisor to Bendigo Kangan Institute and Deputy CEO of the Australian Institute of Management, she brings to the role a deep understanding of the education and training landscape in Australia. Ms Taylor is a graduate of the AICD Company Directors Course and has successfully led large teams in complex business environments, been accountable for strategic planning, financial strategy and sustainability, and consulted to CEOs and Boards across AustraliaImportantly, as a successful woman leader, Ms Taylor is acutely aware of the obstacles and challenges facing women leaders and is passionate about advancing gender equity.The appointment also sees Ms Taylor take up the CEO role for Women & Leadership Australia (WLA) and Women & Leadership New Zealand (WLNZ), which sit alongside ASAM.“I am delighted and honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead and work with the outstanding team at ASAM. ASAM is an exciting business that represents unique and diverse opportunities for learning and professional development in Australia.“ASAM as an organisation believes that visionary leadership, which is inclusive and embraces the power of diversity, is key to solving the complex challenges we face as a global community. I look forward to joining the organisation and continuing to drive leadership development for all Australians.”The Australian School of Applied Management (ASAM) is one of the country’s most highly regarded providers of leadership education. Working with approximately 8,000 learners each year, they provide innovative development solutions for individual leaders and leadership teams across all sectors and industries.About ASAMThe Australian School of Applied Management (ASAM) is one of the country’s most highly regarded providers of leadership education. Working with approximately 8,000 learners each year, we provide innovative development solutions for individual leaders and leadership teams across all sectors and industries.Focused on improving the way people work together, our world class learning solutions support organisations of all sizes to accelerate their leadership capability and achieve their unique goals. We also provide specialised leadership development and networking opportunities through Women & Leadership Australia (WLA), Women & Leadership New Zealand (WLNZ) and the National Excellence in School Leadership Initiative (NESLI).Part of Navitas, a leading global education provider, our vision is to be Australia’s best leadership education provider by supporting organisations and individuals in the continuous pursuit and application of leadership excellence. WE NEED MORE LEADERS LIKE YOUYou’re here because you know that great leadership enables better teaching and learning. We’re here to help you be a great leader within your school community. For more leadership news, plus event updates and expert tips, subscribe to our mailing list. SUBSCRIBE NOW

1661256000000

How to replenish your surge capacity

The coronavirus pandemic – and the response that has been required by the education system, is truly one of the most pressing challenges schools have ever faced. Many school leaders are experiencing serious ‘carers’ load’ and ‘vicarious trauma’ as a result of their staff and students’ challenges.This series of ‘recharge’ blogs explores themes and models that school leaders, teachers and staff can come to in times of stress, or to replenish their leadership capacity. In this blog, we look at the phenomenon of ‘surge capacity’ and how the application of constant ‘surge’ conditions has impacted school leaders during the COVID pandemic, and caused an increase in vicarious trauma and carers load for leaders.What is surge capacity?Have you ever scaled up your efforts – whether increasing your work hours, donating more to charity, or squeezing more tasks into your day - in times of crisis? If you have, then you have used your surge capacity. Surge capacity is a collection of adaptive leadership qualities that leaders draw on in times of crisis, change or trauma to survive – whether figuratively, or literally. While these qualities can be used over a short period of time, they lead to burnout if we operate at that heightened level for too long.The most tangible example is the extra resources that people pour into natural disasters – firefighters work around the clock to put out fires, SES volunteers go days without a break to rescue people from flood waters, and governments, private organisations and individuals donate large amounts of funds and goods to support the survival of the people affected. All these things have one common theme – they are unsustainable over time.As a leader, you activate your surge capacity to protect your school community in times of crisis or rapid, unpredictable change. The usual timeline of these situations would see you have an immediate surge response, and then soon after turn to rest, reset and rebuild, using more normal energy and resource levels.Why has my surge capacity disappeared?The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significantly drawn out timeline of a ‘disaster’ meaning that leaders’ surge capacity has been on heightened alert for the better part of two years. Without the usual timeline that allows for rest soon after the disaster, you are left feeling burnt out, depleted and wholly uninspired or motivated to lead your school community. This contributes to poor wellbeing for you, your teachers and the broader school community.How to support yourself:Luckily, there are some things you can do to support yourself in times of crisis, to better cope with your heightened leadership responsibilities. These include:Going easy on yourself. Giving yourself some extra time and space to get things done, leaving things that aren’t urgent and having more rest time aren’t selfish, they’re important for your health and wellbeing.Acknowledging that things are different. There is a lot of commentary at the moment about things going ‘back to normal’, but the reality is that things really are different now. While it’s okay to miss things that are different now, there are a lot of positives to think about, too.Recognising that you may be experiencing grief-like symptoms. As mentioned above, you will miss some ‘pre-covid’ things, and that is okay. Taking the time to grieve for those things is an important step to letting go and moving forward. Focussing on maintaining and strengthening important relationships. COVID was a big ‘reset’ for a lot of personal and professional relationships. Take the time to identify the relationships that might need to be reset or renewed, and focus energy into these.Finding new activities and hobbies that offer some relaxation and reprieve. Now that things are opening up, there are new opportunities to try new things, or to continue hobbies that we picked up during lockdowns. It is important to take time away from the ‘crisis’ and do something that is enjoyable and good for you. Dealing with elongated periods of distress and change is challenging for everyone. Understanding what surge capacity is, and taking steps to replenish your surge capacity, will help you lead productively and positively for your school community. WE NEED MORE LEADERS LIKE YOUYou’re here because you know that great leadership enables better teaching and learning. We’re here to help you be a great leader within your school community. For more leadership news, plus event updates and expert tips, subscribe to our mailing list. SUBSCRIBE NOW

1659009600000

How to overcome complex decision fatigue

The coronavirus pandemic – and the response that has been required by the education system – is truly one of the most pressing challenges schools have faced in our time. Many school leaders are experiencing serious ‘carers’ load’ and ‘vicarious trauma’ as a result of their staff and students’ challenges.

1653313456000

How to be a trauma informed leader

1653310053000

Leading through disruption and into the future

...

2020 in review

It’s funny to think about the start of 2020 now, isn’t it?

After one of the hottest summers on record, Australian teachers went back to the classroom with lesson plans, camps booked in and a few excursions and incursions to look forward to. After the black summer we had endured, we welcomed our students, parents and the wider school community back through the gates for another year of learning, growing, laughing and developing as a whole, relieved that the worst seemed to be over.

Here at NESLI, we were excitedly planning events, developing new programs for school leaders across the globe, and looking forward to continuing to support school leaders at all stages of their career, as they in turn supported the school community.

However, by March, students (and teachers) were being sent home across the country, and the around the globe. Some only for a couple of weeks, some for a month, and for students and teachers in Victoria, for almost half the year. Lesson plans designed for face-to-face lessons went out the window, excursions and incursions got put on hold and camps were cancelled in a year I think we can all be truly grateful is a ‘once in a lifetime’ event.

Teachers were working in unprecedented circumstances and having to adapt so quickly from face-to-face to online instruction, a pivot that was nothing short of heroic on their part. There was more pressure on teachers’ time, energy and resources than ever before. Something we noticed at NESLI while facilitating leadership development programs during this time was the importance of ensuring that teachers had peer-to-peer and wellbeing support. While this could be found in their own school environment, having contact and support from people outside of their school community was often also beneficial. Despite the extra support we were able to provide, our surveys confirmed what we had observed; teacher wellbeing declined during this time.

However, one bright light in this time was the calls from many different groups in society to finally recognise, appreciate and celebrate the role of teachers, school staff and school leaders. It was long overdue, but finally, it seems that the crucial role that teachers play is finally being recognised.

Post lockdown, things began to get back to something resembling normal for some states and territories, much quicker than others. We noticed a marked sense of relief from teachers, school leaders and school staff at NESLI, as one by one, people got back to school. For Victoria, the reprieve was brief, before they went into a hard second lockdown. While teacher wellbeing is gradually increasing to pre-pandemic levels, there is still a long way to go. The leaders we have the privilege of developing and supporting have done a magnificent job of supporting their school community, and we are proud to support them in turn.

As always, we looked for opportunities to support teachers, school leaders, school staff and school communities across the globe. A bright light for NESLI this year is the opportunity to partner with the Association of International Schools Africa, who are giving 80 of their member schools the opportunity to undertake the Staff Wellbeing Toolkit with NESLI. Locally, we have continued to work with many long time partners to support their staff internally.

Looking forward to 2021, we are crossing our fingers that everyone was right when they labelled COVID-19 a ‘once in a lifetime’ event. We are hoping that people will continue to remember the incredible work and sacrifice that school communities made to ensure that kids were able to continue learning, growing and developing during a pandemic. We look forward to having the opportunity to support more teachers and school leaders to improve their wellbeing and develop their leadership skills. And we trust that we will get to see you all, in person, at some point during the course of the year.

A very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all.