Moving from Relaunch to Renewal

Teaming is the essence of the work. In listening to Amy Edmundson, it reaffirmed the needs for teams to by dynamic, strength based, and, in the case of us at FSD, focused around collective efficacy & purpose. To align our purpose, collective efficacy and teaming in FSD, we need to reach out to all stakeholders in our division. All employees of FSD have a very important role to play in the successful relaunch and renewal process of FSD, especially during COVID.

I agree that teaming is critical to our organization, our CoPs, and our individual schools. We are all facing similar or the same challenges and, because we are not in competition with each other, we will be stronger collectively as we team together.

"Model these behaviours [curiosity, empathy, passion] - ask genuine questions and listen intently to the responses, display deep enthusiasm for achieving team goals, and show they're attuned to everyone's diverse perspectives no matter their position in the hierarchy, curiosity, passion and empathy start to take root in a culture."

I believe that COVID has brought out many aspects of teaming that seem to "naturally" occur when faced with battling the forces of the unknown. Looking at leadership, there have been many leaders who have emerged from within grade cohorts or staff cohorts. Probably even more could evolve if we could more often meet face to face. The human connection is so important. Touch is so important, whether it is the pat on the back, the handshake, high five or hug. So many students come up to supervisors and say "I sure wish I could hug you!". This shows us that trust that is there and is the missing piece of the Psychological Safety which is one of three things that are part of Teaming. (Humility and Curiosity are the other two)

I would relate the video and the article to our start up of this year. We laid out the structure, the blueprint, to what we thought would work best for the students coming into the school. What we did after was to meet with our staff after each day of our opening week and ask what was needing change. What modifications to the blueprint would work best. Each day teachers were adding input that made the school flow in a better way. We went into each meeting with a curiosity about what would work better. We were empathetic to the needs and concerns of the teachers. After the week of end of day discussions, we, as a school community, were able to build a strong structure for our students.

Several staff members have asked if they can have flexibility to work with multiple PLTs this year. The genuine curiosity over competition to learn from each other is appreciated. We cannot be too busy telling our own story to learn from others. Clarity of purpose and direction are the guides, not the plan. The plan is something we impose on others to comply. Teaming seems to be a about self-motivation and internal drive rather then about compliance.

Leads to my Wonder: After 15 years, how is design for understanding still a much needed focus? To take from Stoicism, are we the barrier that is in the way of true design for understanding?

I see the three teaming traits of Curiosity, Passion and Empathy as being the core of servant leadership. We need to live it together, we need to embrace these concepts, and once we do, they will start to take root in the culture of the building with those around us.

"fast moving environments need people who know how to team, people who have the skills and flexibility to act in moments of potential collaboration when and where they appear"...true shared leadership

Empathy is essential in building trust, and understanding complexity.

When thinking about the basketball analogy from the video it seems to me that we are the established, stable team as opposed to the pick up team that needs to learn to play together on the fly. Outside of specific contextual variables that is.

I like the idea of engaging people in areas that they are most passionate about.

Relational trust is paramount to effective teaming. Coming together around a shared vision, using that common objective as a driver can help to solidify and strengthen the purpose. When people understand the vision and feel invested in the process, commitment is much more likely. Commitment is also directly related to the value people feel in both the "work" of the team but also in terms of their own personal contribution towards the mission and vision. As we shift towards renewal rather than relaunch, we must be able to revisit our "reason for being" - and perhaps we need to be intentional about starting small while we are also being mindful of the wellness of our team.

The following Quote really hit home for me. "I really don't like that man very much. I need to get to know him better." to me this addresses the leadership qualities of empathy, Wellness, Relationships and Curiosity. Thanks.

Teams are still an important part of our organization. That said, sometimes unique situations need a different approach to analyzing and supporting new processes. Leaders must give their staff the opportunity to team and encourage ongoing and collaborative dialogue.

I loved the balance of seeing teaming as a verb, along with good old fashioned fundamentals of practices of a team.
Being humble with humility, curious with curiosity, and taking risks within psychological safety is critical. Love it!

Pschological safety or trust continues to be needed in order to achieve the greatest gains. In reading and listening to this information, I beleive if we truly want to impact our students and greater community that there needs to be a heightened focus on ensuring trust is truly established and not just spoken about in the notion that it does

I fully believe our students will do better if they can and our staff will do better if they can. The challenge is the motivation. I do start with purpose, energy, commitment and service that routinely lands on those that cannot see the forest for the trees. Carrying onto an new metaphor, they have their heads in the sand. "Leave me to my own devices, or I might crack" is what I see/hear/sense in the staffroom. We will get to better teaming and no I am not going to stop reflecting on my actions and being as positive force as I can every day. In the meantime, security and wellness has become the buzzword preventing some from reflecting carefully on their practice and seeking opportunities to contribute beyond the four walls of their classrooms. Those who do have, what I perceive as wellness challenges (anxiety, family worries, COVID-fear) have a case and I will continue to remove barriers to drive wellness.
Renewal will take time; I am ready, my teams are not.

"Curiosity drives people to find out what others know, what they bring to the table, what they can add. Passion fuels enthusiasm and effort. It makes people care enough to stretch, to go all out. Empathy is the ability to see another’s perspective, which is absolutely critical to effective collaboration under pressure." Seek to understand, shift judgement to curiosity. Be humble, we do NOT have al the answers. Trust your TEAM.

Importance of being curious about what strengths, talents, skills others can bring to the table.

Asking questions is Key. We CAN'T always have the answers. Only by staying curious and asking the questions, as they arise, can we remain passionate about our work and empathetic to the viewpoints and circumstances of others. We must do this as an FAA team, and also as leaders in our schools.

Stay curious. The connection can be made back to the ideas of generative dialogue we worked on a few years back. Although I find that is not my 'default setting', and would argue that many people in leadership positions are experts as 'answer specialists'. Working as a team to use questions, or work to explicitly define the problem, is an important step that has been said often, and always needs to be worked on.

Teamwork on the fly... work with different people at different times to get the work done...
Be Humble, Be Curious, Take Risks
Responsive, flexible, authentic

"It's hard to learn if we already know" ...Leader as apprentice?

Quick prototyping to determine if we are moving towards a viable solution (or are we even solving the right problem?)