Can you imagine, if as teachers, we didn’t actively improve our children’s behaviour?
That our job was just about learning and not behaviour.
Bonkers, right?!
It might be a nice idea, but the reality is we’re always developing our children’s behaviour in so many ways. And we certainly catch it when it’s not as it needs to be.
But as leaders, we often don’t do the same with the adults in our team.
We’ll invest in growing specific skills and training, but not in how we’re going to create great behaviour in them. That’s what culture is: behaviour over time.
In a non-patronising way, think about your adult team as a class of children. Would you be happy with everyone’s behaviour? How would it compare to a class you’ve taught?
So what can we do with this?
Well, we can add it to your school development plan.
You see, something I rarely see on a school development plan is a specific objective about improving adult behaviour, which is what culture is.
Something that really brings the team into alignment.
There will be targets about developing skills but not about improving adult behaviour and attitude.
Why is this important?
Because it doesn’t matter what your plans are, they won’t make the impact on your school that you want them to if everyone doesn’t do them with 100% commitment.
This is about will or won’t (conduct) more than can or can’t (skill).
The more people deliver your plans well, and ideally improve them further, the greater the impact your plans will have.
In September I created my ‘School success or stress test’ so that school leaders could quickly see how high performing (or how high maintenance) their team was in three areas of culture:
- Addressing issues
- Aligning the team
- Accelerating excellence
The results are illuminating and show where a school’s culture is strong, and where it can improve.
So as you’re working on your school development plan, which I know will be packed, can you squeeze in one line which will help you to improve your adult’s behaviour? Not in a patronising way, but in an empowering way.
Wondering what that might be? Let me help with this week’s…
Spotlight Resource
Take the test! You’ll get your results and that will help you find a quick win that will help develop your team’s behaviour and therefore culture. It’ll be a win, and it can be a lot easier than it might seem.