Mar 29

From the Desk of the Superintendent- April 2019

Usually, I begin my monthly message a couple of days before the end of the month. However, my ideas began to percolate after listening to Sarah Hart at our annual Spiritual Development Day and continued while attending the Religious Education Congress. Therefore, most of this blog post was written much earlier than usual and can be sent out today.

As I said in my brief comments, I didn’t always appreciate these types of days. Part of the reason was that my faith journey was fairly new or maybe more truthfully, my own faith was pretty immature. Now, truly knowing the gift that we have in Catholic Education, I’ve begun to really look forward to these days, in which gather us as one large faith community. I also feel most blessed  when we all come together to celebrate mass at the conclusion of the day. The entire day from opening comments to our closing mass allows all of us to grow a little more in our own faith. This one was probably a little more special as I realized it is my last Spiritual Development Day as Superintendent of Schools.

But there are a couple more reasons why I often came away from any professional development largely disappointed. The first and I’m sure you’ll find this hard to believe (HA! HA!), was my own ego. Being pretty successful in most endeavours throughout my youth and early adulthood, I think the saying might have been something like, “I already know that! or What is he/she going to teach me?” When you believe you won’t learn anything at a session, guess what, you won’t! The second reason I often came away feeling indifferent was that I put a higher value on entertainment compared to the key messages. Now don’t get me wrong, speakers should certainly be engaging but, sometimes entertainment and learning value may not necessarily align. So while I still desire someone who can touch my heart and mind, I’m more apt to be open to hearing the nuggets that I can apply to my own practice. There are very few speakers who don’t have at least something to offer regardless of the delivery.

And so I’ll circle back to our Spiritual Development Day and Sarah Hart. The quick feedback I received throughout the day was extremely positive. It is not easy to find speakers and plan days like this for the wide scope of employees we have. But I want to commend Joann Bartley, Lorelie Lenaour and Michelle MacKinnon (and their supports) who typically are largely responsible for our division days for trying to always find the right fit. The resources allocated and the high quality of professional learning offered in Holy Spirit has little to do with me. If you didn’t get anything out of one of our division days, I would challenge you (nicely) to be reflective on your own mindset. Is it your ego or attitude or something else that is holding you back from finding the learning?

Well, it is election time and together with our ATA locals, Holy Spirit and Lethbridge School Division are hosting two election forums focusing on education. The first for Lethbridge West will be held on April 2nd at Chinook High School. St. Francis will be hosting the forum for Lethbridge East on April 8th. Both forums are scheduled for 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM. Education is and always should be a high priority for any government and so I would invite all who are able to attend, to come out and hear candidates’ thoughts and party platforms. In my role as Superintendent, I need to be apolitical. However, Alberta Education officials know me well enough that I’m their biggest supporter when they make good decisions and their toughest critic when they make poor ones. Let’s hope that I can be supportive after the votes are counted!

The paperwork is in for the new superintendent but, with the election being called, it is unlikely that the individual will be publicly named until a new government is formed. Given that, and in consultation with the Learning Leadership Team, I made the suggestion to the Board of Trustees (and they’ve agreed) that rather than initiate a new three-year education plan under my direction, the Board extend our current plan an additional year and allow the new superintendent to guide the process beginning in 2020. We will implement our new 3 Year Faith Plan but continue with the priorities of literacy, numeracy and First Nations, Metis and Inuit learning. The beauty is that these priorities still align well with new curriculum and the Leadership/Teacher Quality Standards being implemented in September 2019.

For the past two years we’ve partnered with the U of L (thanks Valerie) to offer some phenomenal STEM/STEAM opportunities for students and staff. We are formalizing this partnership for next year again as it is evident that many of our classrooms/schools are taking advantage of this PD and providing some great learning experiences. One such experience, at St. Patrick School in Taber was provided to the Board of Trustees at the regular meeting in March. Associate Principal Sean Ethier and grade 2/3 teacher Nicole Caputo demonstrated their work with technology integration. For complete highlights of the board meeting please click here.

We are about to begin the fourth week of Lent. I hope that your Lenten journey has been spiritually fulfilling. It is not easy to be committed to increased prayer, fasting and almsgiving for any amount of time, let alone 40 days. However, I do pray that you make each day an opportunity to invest in your own spiritual growth as we all prepare for the Easter Season and the ultimate resurrection of Jesus Christ.

May God Bless you throughout this Lenten Season and into the season of the risen Lord.

Mar 24

3 tips for becoming a more relational leader

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a fairly harsh blog post entitled, “If you can’t get along with people…don’t be a leader!” Demonstrating honesty, integrity and trust are all key characteristics for getting along with people. But what else? No matter where you are in your leadership journey, improvement or honing your skills should always be at the forefront of your development. Even if you are well-known as a relational leader, these snippets of advice are still great reminders.

  • Listen:
    • There is good reason why God gave us two ears and only one mouth.
    • Matthew Kelly provides this powerful quote, “To be a great listener requires patience, focus, awareness, and most of all it requires us to set aside our own agenda.”
    • Please don’t interrupt even though you may have the right answer. People need to be heard and if you are constantly interrupting, when they tell their story and you won’t know it.
  • Lead with questions:
    • The person doing the thinking is likely the person doing the learning. Start with questions that ask them to think about the situation to provide you perspective. “What do you think you know about…?
    • Advice should only be given when there is no other option or someone is going to get hurt without the advice.
    • Use pluralistic questions. “What might be some ways…?” This gives options to the person not to get stuck on only one answer.
  • Show you care and are interested:
    • This really begins with simply listening but you can’t be relational without showing an interest in the other person.
    • Please don’t pull out your phone when they are talking to anything else that distracts you. They deserve your full attention not partial!
    • There is always a story…find out what it is!

Being a relational leader is never easy. It calls us to go beyond the superficial but then again, what great leadership doesn’t require that!

Mar 08

If you can’t get along with people…don’t be a leader!

I’ve always been a strong believer in the importance of fostering effective relationships in the workplace. There is good reason why it is the first competency stated in all three standards; Superintendent, Leadership and Teacher. But some of the best lessons regarding the importance of relationship building have come from the business world. In other words, the importance of effective relationships are not “siloed” in education only. Effective organizations anywhere, are only as effective as the relationships contained within and those relationships must always begin from the leader out. So, if you can’t get along with people, please don’t take on a leadership role!

Maybe it is because I’m approaching retirement and getting a little “cranky in my old age” but leaders need to be relationally focused. This is especially true in education where our bottom line is students and our business is people. You would think that is such a common sense statement and yet, we still have leaders within the education world who “just don’t get it.” Don’t laugh business world, because you have them too!

There is an old saying that goes something like this, “Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?” Non-relational leaders typically just want to be right! It is good for their ego- they get to prove to others how smart, etc they are! Being right is not necessarily evil, it is just that it can’t be used as the only leverage as a leader. “Right” leaders make excuses and point fingers. Sadly, I’m not sure whether “right leaders’ even know what happiness is, since it truly comes from serving others and helping people find the right solutions.

The expectations of our leaders to get along with people has to be higher than it currently is in society. Just because you are good at “X” doesn’t mean you have leadership capacity. Leaders need to be relational and not just with the people who have similar personalities or like them. You see it is up to the leader to try to forge relationships with all…even the ones you don’t really like! And sometimes that’s extremely difficult because there are some miserable people out there and even in your own organization. Don’t get hung up on the relationships that are sour (you won’t please everybody), but also don’t quit trying to build better ones with those individuals. That’s part of the responsibility of a leader, to foster effective relationships with all not just some!

Leaders set the tone for their organization or department. Without the ability to build high quality relationships, compliance rather than commitment breeds. Compliance has never served innovation well and quite simply it is unhealthy for any organization. Commitment to an organization will always start with leaders who value their people and strive to foster effective relationships throughout the organization.

Coming soon… Tips for relational leadership.

Mar 01

From the Desk of the Superintendent- March 2019

February is the shortest month of the year…right? Given this nonstop cold snap, it has felt like the longest month of the year. I know that when Donna and I eventually move to Red Deer, I’ll expect a longer and colder winter but until then, I’m still looking for the break that comes from a good old chinook! Hopefully warmer weather is right around the corner.

I’m finishing up this message from my hotel room in Vancouver where I’ve been the past couple of days attending my C21 Canada winter meetings. Surrey Schools hosted the event and as always the ability to visit schools and meet with superintendents from across Canada is a tremendous learning experience. I know our senior team at the board office often fears when I return from these meetings rubbing my hands together with always some great ideas to be shared.

We finished off the afternoon yesterday with a presentation on social and emotional learning and the impact on student achievement. Wanting to reflect on that information and given the temperature of 6 degrees Celsius, I decided to go for a run along the ocean. I was pretty impressed with my pace as I was even passing a few of my fellow joggers on the boardwalk. However, that didn’t last long and my running ego was crushed as a race walker passed me, not once but twice!!!  So if you hear me say that I’m going for a run, it is probably a much better visual to think of a plodder and not an actual runner…more Clydesdale than Thoroughbred!

One of the bright lights this past February was some tremendous professional learning. Teachers’ Convention had keynote presentations from Michael Landsberg and Sarah Prevette and our support staff had the pleasure of hearing a no-nonsense full day presentation from Dr. Jody Carrington. Additionally, many staff, students, parents and community members heard a very powerful talk from Holocaust survivor, Dr. Eva Olsson. When we are immersed in the education system, we sometimes take for granted all the wonderful learning opportunities provided compared to the non-educational world. It truly is a blessing to be within a learning community.

Superintendent interviews were held by the Board earlier this week and a motion was made at Wednesday meeting. The process will now be offering the position to the successful candidate and negotiating a contract within the new compensation regulations and then sending the request to appoint a superintendent to the Minister of Education. As I’ve stated in various communications, the timeline for Ministerial approval can take up to 4 weeks once submitted. A public announcement cannot occur until this approval is received. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a quick turnaround.

The February Board meeting had information provided on brain research, enrolment projections and a report on the status of our Board Continuous Improvement Plan. Planning also occurred for the upcoming Council of School Council Chairs meeting and discussion on the upcoming election. The board brief is available here.

Finally, we begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday which is March 6th. Joann Bartley has provided all staff some great resources to assist in making your Lenten journey one of great significance. Please take advantage of these resources not only from a personal but also a family and community basis to make the season of Lent a focal point in your life. May God guide you along your Lenten journey!

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Feb 20

Transitioning to a New Superintendent

This is the first Lethbridge Herald article I’ve written since I officially announced my retirement for the end of December 2019. The new Superintendent of Schools for Holy Spirit Catholic School Division will take over the reins on January 5, 2020. It may seem odd to many that my announcement has come so early in the year, and even more strange that the advertisement for the position closed on February 15th with interviews to be held on February 25th. However, the reasoning is quite sound given that there are two additional senior administrative staff, Deputy Superintendent Brian Macauley and Director of Learning Lorelie Lenaour, retiring at the end of June.

One of my great advantages coming into my position almost 10 years ago was the ability to choose my own people early in my tenure. As people retired or left for other opportunities, I was able to select my own team to lead the school division. I believe there are less than six individuals in the system that I didn’t have the responsibility of hiring into their current administrative positions. I’m hopeful that the new superintendent will have the same advantage, and so the sooner she/he is named the sooner those senior positions can be filled. We are also about to embark on our next three year education plan and, while I have some great ideas about where we can go as a division, it is important that the new superintendent is well involved in the process.

How often have you heard that timing is everything? Since the superintendent is the Board of Trustees’ only employee, the selection of a new superintendent is clearly one of the Board’s most important responsibilities. Nonetheless, once the Board makes their selection and outlines contract, terms and conditions, it is the Minister of Education who provides final approval for the appointment. The review process by the Ministry can take up to four weeks and so this is why I say timing is everything. The Board is hopeful that this can occur prior to the calling of an election because, once called, the public naming of the new superintendent will be significantly delayed.

Probably the most important factor in my early announcement and quick search process is to ensure an effective transition for the school division. In a perfect world, the incoming superintendent will take on the role of deputy superintendent by August 1st, and I would be able to work with the individual for five months. The deputy role in the school division is highly concentrated in human resources. This initial placement would enable the successful candidate to better understand division practices and procedures and, more importantly, get to know the people. Since all systems have a resident culture, those five months will also allow the individual to become fully immersed before taking over in 2020.

There have only been three superintendents since Holy Spirit became a regional division in 1995. It is not a common occurrence for boards to hire superintendents, but ensuring the right one is chosen is essential. I’ve had a great run during these past 10 years, but it is now time for another person to take on this exciting leadership role. Fingers crossed, the transition plan established will empower the new leader to, not only build on the division’s current strengths, but to enhance and bring new life into the system, as required.

Feb 03

Know your people and let them know you!

It still amazes me there are leaders who don’t believe in the importance of fostering effective relationships with their people. And when I say people, I just don’t mean their direct reports but as many as possible within the organization. While I understand that may be impossible in larger corporations or school divisions, it should always be a priority.

Michael Fullan talks about “loving your employees” and I think that in order to love them, you must know them and they must know you. Let’s begin with the second part of that equation, “and they must know you!” Wait, wait, here comes that word…VULNERABILITY! Oh, Brene Brown would be so proud! In order to get to a point where you can really know someone, their hopes and their dreams, they need to know your authentic self. They need to know who you really are and what you stand for. I’m not talking about sharing your inner most secrets or your personal demons but quite honestly, they need to know you! While I may hold the leadership position of Superintendent of Schools, I’m also a son, husband, father and very proud grandpa of two amazing grandchildren. My staff and I would suggest a good portion of my network knows more about me than just simply being a superintendent. And that is where it must start, the beginning of an effective relationship, with trust and vulnerability extended from the leader!

For the past six years I’ve held future plan meetings with every administrator (central office and school) in our division. In someone who believes in moving people around, it provides me with some great insights for possible transfers and so it is extremely helpful for the organization. Getting people not only on the right bus but the right seat on the bus is essential. But the power of the exercise is the knowledge of your people’s plans and then seeing how you as a leader might assist them in fulfilling those plans. Simple questions that ask about future plans, growth areas, opportunities and barriers and successes and challenges all allow the leader to know their employees better. While my meetings are fairly structured, the idea is to portray the conversations as simply “fireside chats.” The more honest they are with you, the more you are able to support their development and sometimes, just get them “unstuck.”

I’m reminded that these types of chats don’t arise without a significant investment in trust building by the leader. You can’t get to that rawness without it! It is the rawness that you need in order to truly know your people and assist them in their own growth. And please don’t confuse “rawness” with the need to become a counsellor. You are coaching at best and listening at the very least, which is often what is just required.

The vulnerability scale for your people is on a continuum. Sometimes, employees are so tight-lipped (and for many reasons) that your ability to coach and sometimes just listen are limited. Sad and very frustrating but the building of trusting relationships is unique for every person, with some it requires a little more flexibility and a lot more skill. No matter, keep trying to know your people…they deserve it!

Feb 01

From the Desk of the Superintendent- February 2019

Last week, principals and senior administrators travelled to Mount St. Francis for a retreat. The focus of the retreat was on the 5 Marks of a Catholic Leader. The marks were developed by the Council of Catholic School Superintendents of Alberta. An Excellent Catholic Leader:

  1. Embraces the dignity of all as created in the image of God.
  2. Advocates for Catholic Education within and beyond the school community and makes decisions rooted in Catholic teachings.
  3. Intentionally directs and fosters the development of Catholic Education through faith permeation.
  4. Is called to be a witness and an agent of hope, proclaiming the Gospel message to all people, everywhere and at all times.
  5. Ensures a communal vision; recognizing that God will be found with and in each other. 

It has been 6 years since this group has gone offsite for some spiritual nourishment and while I know how difficult it is to get away from our schools and offices, I was again reminded of the importance of doing just that! Earlier this month, trustees participated in their yearly retreat at the Martha Retreat Centre. Like in our schools and for our students, spiritual retreats are an essential part of what we do in Catholic Education and going forward, we must continue the commitment to nourish our souls just like we nourish our minds in professional development.

One of my closing comments to the group was that this would be the last time this entire group was together for another offsite retreat. With the retirements of Brian Macauley and Lorelie Lenaour at the end of June the group will not be the same next year. This will also be the case in many of our schools with those who have already participated in the voluntary retirement program or those who may be announcing at a later date. While I’ll speak more about our retirees at our banquet in June, I can’t say enough of the blessing I’ve had to work closely with both Brian and Lorelie. They are truly excellent Catholic leaders and both have served Holy Spirit exceptionally well in their time here.

Speaking of retirement, the closing date for the Superintendent of Schools position is February 15th. Interviews have been set up for February 25th and I’m hoping that the turnaround for the announcement is quite quick. It takes approximately 4 weeks for the Minister of Education to sign off on a superintendent appointment. The sooner the announcement is made, the sooner we can begin planning for 2019 and beyond. While I’m very interested in who will be applying for the position, the decision for the new superintendent rests with the Board of Trustees and I’m taking as much of a “hands off” approach as I can in this process.

I’m well involved in my annual future plan meetings with all leaders in the school. This is year six of this process and I’ve always found it to be beneficial for both myself and the Division. The benefits are largely due to the honesty (and sometimes vulnerability) provided to me by our leaders. While I’ll have next to no influence beyond 2019, the information of future goals should be extremely helpful for the incoming superintendent. While I schedule these meetings with all administration, my door is always open for any staff to book a time to come in and discuss future plans.

At the beginning of this school year, we began our partnership with Canadian Blood Services. Our initial pledge target was 15. I am very proud to say that we had a total of 78 donors last year of which, 14 were brand new donors and 10 were reinstated (not donated between 12-36 months). Congratulations to all who donated this past year. Our target this year is 80! Happy donating!

In closing this message, I want to sincerely thank all those who in person or via email sent congratulations on my retirement announcement. I am most grateful for all of the kind words. God bless!

Jan 27

Doing right not simply being right!

Most young leaders come into positions with the strong desire to be right. It makes good sense! Walking into a leadership position there is a need for your employees to gain confidence in your abilities and one of the quickest ways to do that is to be right. However, if being right becomes the only mantra for young leaders little development occurs. The world (unfortunately) is full of young leaders who have turned older and still want to be right! They tend to be toxic to any culture and want to rule rather than lead!

But it feels so good to be right! That is because it is our ego that is taking over and the truth is, ego has little to do with effective leadership. The shift that must occur for the leader is from being right to doing right! The need to be always right is often authoritarian. The desire to do right comes from wanting to influence and not dictate. The ability to influence is one of the true characteristics of effective leadership.

If you have any sort of power in your position, you have the ability to make decisions and cast your “rightness” on them. Power, does not necessarily bring you influence or respect! Power, in of itself, does not make you a successful leader. In most cases, ultimate power brings only fear and compliance not support and commitment.

With power comes much responsibility to do the right thing. But how? I would look to two of my favorites, Simon Sinek and Brene Brown for insights and suggest that both of these leaders’ works are read and studied. Sinek always asks the question about the “why?” Do you know your why? Do you know why you exist as a company and as an individual? It is about your own core being, your own mission. The farther you move away from your mission, the more often you want to be right instead of do right. Brown has some great work on vulnerability. Leaders must “shed their armour” in order to lead with vulnerability! You cannot be right all the time but you can strive to do right always. That means being authentic, open and transparent. It means parking your ego and doing what is right for those you serve.

Traditional leadership wants you to lead with power and authority. Unfortunately we have too many examples of this in our world from politics to large corporations to even small businesses. Intimidation is often seen as the way to be right. But we can’t afford to continually support traditional leadership in any organization. Doing right for others must always prevail over being right for yourself!

 

Jan 14

Change Required

The following article was published in the Lethbridge Herald on January 09, 2019.

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. They typically require far too much change and, as we know, change is very hard. I’m a little friendlier with “fresh starts” since they can occur at any time throughout the year. But I think all of us, whether in education or in general life, should be looking at slow and steady improvement. Massive change rarely happens overnight and without many casualties. In reality, massive change tends to occur when little steps are taken and repeated until they become the norm.

Before I wrote this article, I took some time to review my superintendent colleagues’ musings over the past year. Virtually all of these articles spoke about change; things being initiated, practices being tweaked or improvements being made. Interesting when we know how difficult change is to accomplish. Douglas Reeves explains that, “Change of any sort is difficult and painful. Change represents a loss – a loss of prior practices and a loss of an established comfort zone.”

So what is the alternative? Do we really want to just maintain the status quo? Most people believe in change as long as it doesn’t impact them. There tends to be a fair amount of finger pointing when the topic of change comes up in any organization. Statements like, “They must be talking about him,” or “That never happened in the old days when she wasn’t here,” might be heard. The ever-increasing speed of change only seems to add to our resistance.

And what about leaders? They have seldom been hired to maintain the status quo. They are generally asked to build a better future, increase profits or get better results, all of which require improvements – and that means change. Being the best organization requires constant incremental shifts in policy, procedures and practice. That is part of the job description of any leader.

Change, whether from an organizational point of view or a personal perspective, begins with some uneasiness. Though no one likes to be uncomfortable, most of us know that being stuck in the same old routine is not overly healthy either. Improvement needs to come from honest reflection of one’s work and achievement of one’s goals. That in itself can be difficult, but it is a necessary step to begin the change process. Contextual data is far more important here than any individual’s opinion or judgment.

In the coming year, Holy Spirit will begin working on our next 3-Year Education Plan. Through a review of Alberta Education’s Accountability Pillar surveys and our annual ThoughtExchange data, trustees will begin to set the direction for the next three years and administrators will wrestle with how best to build on current successes and shift priorities to continually improve. We don’t want to lose the good work we’ve achieved through our focus on faith, literacy and numeracy or our commitment to First Nations, Metis and Inuit learning, but our priorities and efforts will need to be reevaluated and challenged to ultimately become better.  

That is the essence of change, to become better! School systems across the province have always been charged with that goal. We can’t do what we’ve always done and expect that the students in our schools will be better served or organizations will suddenly improve. Change is hard work; mostly because it is unpopular and creates uncertainty. Yet we can’t just wish for a better anything without making the necessary changes. Call it a New Year’s resolution, or a fresh start or simply building on your own successes, but engage in change this coming year to become the best version of yourself! As eloquently stated by Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Dec 27

Twitter Trolls!

I love Twitter! Since joining in May 2011 I have utilized it as a great source to share my own educational thoughts but more importantly learn from thousands of others in the Twittersphere. Virtually everything that I tweet out in regards to education, I include the hashtag #hs4 which is the school division where I serve as Superintendent of Schools. I also tend to include #abed which is the hashtag for Alberta Education. I think it is selfish not to share great information that can assist educators throughout the province.

While I love the power of Twitter from a professional standpoint and even a little bit personal, I’m becoming more frustrated with what I will call “Twitter Trolls.” While everyone is entitled to an opinion, it is disheartening when tweets are laced with hatred, foul language and rudeness. It is even worse when those tweets are coming from faceless accounts and the statements are made void of actual facts or misleading information for the sole purpose of “proving a point.”

Twitter and other social media platforms have some great benefits when used properly. Schools work hard to ensure that students are taught proper digital citizenship and leave an appropriate footprint. But when the adults can’t do the same…

As we approach a new year, I’m wondering whether all of us on social media might pause just a second before we hit send and…

  • Reflect on what message we are sending?
  • Reflect on what we are role modeling to others?
  • Reflect on the impact of our posts both positive and negative?
  • Think about who we might be helping or hurting?
  • Reflect on whether the content is leading or misleading?
  • Decide if we would really say what we want to say in person?

To me the last statement is essential and for most sets the bar. Could you really say the things you do on social media, with the same expression, to the person directly? If you can, maybe it is because you’re just not that nice or really vengeful and then in reality your bar is pretty darn low! So instead of being “Twitter Trolls” or just plain offside on other forms of social media,  let’s try to raise the bar in 2019!