The Education Department commissioned a report into Understanding and Reducing the Workload of Teachers and Leaders in Western Australian Public Schools
The report revealed seven recommendations. And it was number Seven that caught my eye as something that is doable with a bit of education and training.
Number Seven recommendation under the heading of Consultation, suggests that senior and middle leaders should have improved capacity to running purposeful and efficient meetings and consultations.
Now that meetings have now returned to mainstream schooling, I am sure you would be interested in a litmus test I did during a recent culture workshop. The staff were shown the following metaphor, “Attending a meeting is like investing in the share market, you exit with either disappointment or dividends.”
In groups of three, the educators then drew a list of what actions or non-actions creates disappointments and dividends from meetings. Here are a sample of the 60 responses:
Disappointments -
Nobody listening
No resolutions
Time wasters
Off topic
Long winded
Dividends –
Decisions made
People listened to me
Action list created
Resolutions
Progress made
These comments paint a grim picture for educators who are required to have meetings to discuss student learning and they are leaving with feelings of disappointment.
It is nobody’s fault that this occurs. However, it is reiterated by the finding in the report. We need to have productive and engaging meetings. In a time poor industry, it is insulting and disrespectful to ask educators to waste their time in meetings they would rather avoid.
What are you doing to ensure meetings are relevant, engaging, productive and pay dividends? I have looked into this deficiency and have created a structure for leaders (middle and senior) to follow so they can feel comfortable knowing the outcomes are positive.
Welcome to “Happy Meetings – How to Lead meetings that make a difference” We are creating an unfair advantage in the share market and improving educator dividends. If you would like to know more, then please contact me for more information.
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