Exploring the Starting Strong Program for Leader Success with Jenny Cole

Jenny Cole: 1:02

Hello, I'm Jenny Cole. I'm the CEO of Positively Beaming and the host of the podcast Positively Leading. I've been working in and around schools for 30 years now and I know that it is really not unusual for leaders in schools to be overwhelmed at the end of the year. By the end of term three and into term four, they are exhausted, they are wiped out and they are thinking we are not going to do this next year, I cannot do this again next year. Next year I want to start in a way that feels more sustainable than it does this year. And look, it's really not surprising that everyone is exhausted because not only are you doing business as usual so every day you're getting up and making sure that the school is running and that students are safe and the staff are supported and that you are working towards your business plan business as usual but you are also gearing up for all of the things that happen at the end of a school year exams, events, staffing, budgets and so forth and making sure that we finish off well. And besides business as usual and planning for term four and all the things that are happening in term four, we are also planning for the following year. So we're doing enrollments, we're doing staffing, we are also planning for the following year. So we're doing enrollments, we're doing staffing, we're doing budgets, doing all the things and allaying all the fears that everybody have that next year is going to be a disaster. So, as I said, is it any wonder that you are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted?

Jenny Cole: 2:41

And I was noticing this in my coaching clients. I've been coaching for almost a decade now, predominantly leaders in education, and I was coaching both veteran leaders, people who had been through this cycle many, many times, and others who were in their first cycle of leadership. So that could have just been a head of year, a head of department, a head of learning area, they could have been a deputy, but this was their first rodeo, this is their first time round and I was noticing some patterns. So some time ago I put together a little ebook called Starting Strong, just outlining the seven factors that I thought school leaders needed to consider personally to start their own career strongly, but also to start a year or a new project really strongly. So this starting strong is not just about the start of the year. It could be the start of a new committee, it could be the start of a term, it really doesn't matter. It's about who am I as a leader and how am I going to start in a way that means that the work gets done, relationships are intact, we're meeting our targets and we're getting that lovely balance of policy and people, head and heart, and that, hopefully, you can go home at the end of the day not feeling completely exhausted exhausted.

Jenny Cole: 4:06

It started as an ebook and then I began to run Starting Strong with teams in schools. So I worked quite a lot with leadership teams in high school so the heads of learning areas and their executive leadership team, so that I could upskill leaders in some of the strategies and the tools that are within Starting Strong. Then, by popular demand, I was asked if we could just do a one-day workshop at the beginning of the year, and we've run that in 2024. We're running it again in Perth in 2025. And it's such a lovely way to start, hopefully before leaders go back into their schools. We have a lovely day where people get together. Sometimes they come on their own, sometimes they bring members of their leadership team with them and we walk through the Starting Strong process so that people are thinking ahead strategically and personally about what it is that they need to do to ensure that they are starting the year well. And again I was asked by people in rural and remote areas and those who don't live in Perth what can you offer us? I always sort of said well, I train this, you can always book me and I will train this with your team. But we know that trying to get staff to release other staff and to do professional learning is really tricky in this environment. So I have taken everything that is in the e-book, is in my training, is in the one-day program and I've developed an online course that you can walk through at your own pace. It has all the PowerPoints, it has all the activities, it has some videos, it has six, eight, ten modules, ten modules that you can work through. Each of the seven factors plus an introduction and some things to consider at the end.

Jenny Cole: 6:05

So what is Starting Strong? Here are the elements that I think go into starting and staying strong. Firstly, it's about getting really clear on what matters. Maybe I'll read the seven factors out and then I'll come back to them one by one. Number one getting clear on what matters. Number two communicate, communicate, communicate making sure that you have ways of communicating effectively. Number three, setting expectations. Number four getting to know and listening to your people. Number five running great meetings. Number six setting wellbeing expectations. And number seven deciding the leader that you want to be in advance. Now, if I had my way, we would put number seven at number one deciding who you want to be. But I don't think people enroll if I spent the day talking about who is the leader that you want to be.

Jenny Cole: 7:02

So let me talk about that one really quickly. To start with. If you've got to term four and, as I said, you are overwhelmed and exhausted, you're sarcastic and nasty, maybe not out loud, but at least in your head. You are intolerant. You've become judgmental, maybe not all day, but if you felt your emotional intelligence has slipped over the year and instead of getting up and exercising in the morning, you're having four cups of coffee and a piece of toast in the car, is that the leader you want to be? So we go back a little bit to what's the life we want to be leading, what's the boundaries we want to have, how do we want people to see us, how do we want to show up in the world? And, as I said, if I had my way, that would be.

Jenny Cole: 7:49

First, the good thing is because this is an online program and the modules are all available to you straight up. If that's the one you want to do, first knock your socks off, off you go. Who's the leader I want to be? What do I want people to be saying about me when I leave the room? How do I want to be seen? Let's go back to the first one, number one, which is what's the one thing this module's all about getting clear on your vision, on your moral purpose, on your direction, yours and the team you lead, so that we are consistent and clear in where we're heading and there's no ambiguity and everyone can be on the same page, because we all know what the page is that we're on. So module one is probably the largest.

Jenny Cole: 8:33

We go into some detail about how we might set our one thing for our school and for our team, and then that rolls nicely into number two, which is communicate. And this is how am I, as a leader, going to ensure that my communication over the year is also clear, consistent, unambiguous and is always coming back to the things that we say are most important, and so we are not wasting time communicating about things that aren't important and that the communication that we have with our students, with our teachers, with our parent community, with our stakeholders. While the language might change and the ways that we modes through which we communicate might change, the message stays exactly the same. So number one is establishing what the message is, and number two is communicating it relentlessly. Number three is about setting up expectations, and if you've been around me for a while, you know I'm pretty clear that people feel safe when they know what success looks like for them. How can I be the most successful person I can be in this team, and so that includes what are the non-negotiables, what's the bottom line, what's the safety net, what can't we drop below? And then what does success look like? So how can I fit in and how can I stand out, and what does good look like?

Jenny Cole: 10:01

Number five is about running good meetings, and everyone thinks they run a good meeting, and I've never been in a meeting that has been run as well as I think it could be, with a couple of good exceptions. This is about having very clear processes for making sure that we cover the range of topics that need to be covered, both the proactive, day-to-day, but also the strategic, but also professional learning and how to build that in really tightly into a meeting so that we get through all the stuff and we don't waste time. There is so much time wasted in schools and probably in organisations as well in meetings and everybody hates it. So your ability as a leader to facilitate and run good meeting, or to have a process where everybody in that team can facilitate and run the meeting more importantly, is absolutely crucial, and there's some more about meetings. That's in the module Setting wellbeing expectations. It's okay to just say this is where we're going and we're on this journey to wherever and this is the leader that I want to be and off we go. But we know that well-being is so important. So, as a leader, you need to have a stance on well-being, and that might be as simple as setting your own boundaries and communicating those, or it could be about discussions that you have with your, or it could be about, again, expectations non-negotiables about when we open emails and how much time we spend at school. Whatever, it is about being really clear about the wellbeing expectations. That is a very quick run through of starting strong.

Jenny Cole: 11:44

Inside the modules, as I said, there are activities that you can do on your own. There are activities that would lend themselves to doing them with your team, your leadership team or the curriculum team that you're running. There are also self-reflective activities and there are some suggestions for readings, some suggestions for podcasts, there are some suggestions for videos and other things that you can do. So face-to-face. It is a good full seven-hour day. I reckon there's probably about as much learning in the module probably even more and the benefit is you can stop and start at any point. You can begin at the end, as I said, with about who's the leader that you want to be, or you can delve into particular parts of the program as it makes sense to you.

Jenny Cole: 12:36

The other really useful thing in the program is that you can listen to it in audio. So if you've got a commute or if you like to listen to podcasts on your walk, you can download the Simplero app, which is the platform that hosts the program. You download the Simplero app and push go and you will listen to the entire program as it goes through. So I've recorded it in a way that you can watch the video, you can see the slides, but you can also listen to it. So, as I said, I've been a coach for a long time I've worked with aspiring new and veteran leaders, and my training is always based on what it is that they are telling me that they need and the gaps that I can see in their professional learning.

Jenny Cole: 13:29

So sometimes it's about attributes, sometimes it's about knowledge, sometimes it's about skills, and Starting Strong is a combination of all of those things. So dive in. I hope you can join us, either face to face in Perth that would be sensational but if you can't, we would love you to download the program and get started, because starting strong means that you can finish strong, and if I can be of any help at any point, please shout out. I'd love to help.

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