The Art of Knowing Yourself with Jenny Cole

Jenny Cole: 1:02

Hello and welcome to Positively Leading the Podcast. Thank you for joining me again. If you've been here before, and for those of you who are new to Positively Leading, let me introduce myself. My name is Jenny Cole. My background is in education. I found myself accidentally in a leadership role mainly because I started in rural schools and found myself in a leadership position before I even realized that that's what I was doing and eventually went on to become a principal in three different schools and got to a point where I was burnt out and overwhelmed. I've spent the last 15 years supporting school leaders and schools to develop leadership capabilities in their teacher leaders, but also working with experienced and veteran leaders to grow and develop their leadership skills, and you've listened to and heard from a large number 50-odd people talking about predominantly women talking about their leadership careers, and there's been some themes about people like me who have found themselves accidentally in a leadership role and others who have a very clear career purpose and trajectory, who knew exactly where they were going and designed a career to get there, and so I'm hoping that you will have heard from my fabulous guests that there's no one right way to be a leader and there's no one clear path to leadership. In fact, I was looking at a Facebook post the other day from somebody who'd had leadership responsibilities in that other field but were in their first year as a graduate teacher. And this person posted in a Facebook group. They said I've had lots of experience in management and now I find myself in education and I really want to be a principal, just wondering what course I need to do to become a principal. And that lovely person got some fabulous feedback within that Facebook group. But I must admit that when I heard somebody say, where's the book, where's the course to be a leader, I'm not entirely sure what I felt. I felt like oh gosh, you've got to do your time. You've got to prove yourself as a classroom teacher. You need to work up through the ranks. This is about timing, not about some mythical career path that you can leap stages and go directly into principalship. And then I smiled at myself because that's essentially what had happened to me. I left all the career stages that I was supposed to have and found myself accidentally in leadership, and then went about trying to find the training to suit.

Jenny Cole: 3:38

So as I was talking to that person in my head and trying to formulate some advice. I came to the advice that, in order to be a leader, you really need to know yourself first. I guess it's emotional intelligence. You need to know what drives you. You need to know your values. You need to know what it is that you're trying to achieve. What's your purpose? You need to know what your strengths are. You need to know what your challenges or shadow side is. You need to know whether you're a more process oriented person or if you're more people focused. You need to know where it is that you're likely to slip up. So, for example, if you're not very good with boundaries and you're a bit of a yes person, you are more likely to find yourself overwhelmed because you say yes to everything and you try and fix it for everyone. And so, as I said, I'm trying to formulate a response to this person, and it was about know thyself.

Jenny Cole: 4:33

And I often say in my introductions to people I became burnt out and overwhelmed and left the education department and that I've developed a few key lessons and a few key aha moments in that time, and that is you can't change other people, you can only change yourself. Leadership is finding, as Brene Brown would say, the potential in people and processes and the ability to grow people, and so, in order to grow other people, we need to understand not only about ourselves, but about what motivates others what other people's. We need to understand not only about ourselves, but about what motivates others, what other people's strengths and styles are, and use our emotional intelligence to ensure that we get the best out of ourselves, but we get the best out of others. And, long story short, I directed this person back to the eight soul standards, which talks about self-leadership and know thyself, as I thought that was a concrete place to start. But where am I going with all of this?

Jenny Cole: 5:30

I'm actually going to take a little break from this podcast, because what I know about myself is that I can be tempted to work really hard and to bury myself in my work. My identity is very tied up in the work that I do, and when you run your own company, there's a lot of branding that goes into it. So there's a lot of posting on social media, there's lots of photos of me, there's a lot of me having to get in front of other people so that they can purchase my products and understand what it is that I do, and I take what I do very seriously. I really want to be generous with my time and expertise so that other people grow and develop in their leadership roles. But the danger of being so tied up in my work is that I know that sometimes I can lose myself in that I can forget what brings me joy, what keeps me alive, and key for that is always for me, about relationships, and when I get too busy, I let my friendships and relationships go, and I'm more than happy generally to potter around on the weekend doing what I need to do at home, and then I will sit down with my laptop and I will create and I will design, or I will offer a coaching session to someone, or I will build one of my online courses, or I will design a really good workshop to deliver in a school in a couple of days or weeks time. So 2025 started with an absolute bang for me. We spent January re-designing, looking at my Launching into Leadership course and redesigning it and updating the online program, and it will be out on May, the 1st the online version and that requires me re-recording a lot of the videos that goes in into the program and redesigning a lot of the worksheets. This is all stuff that I really love.

Jenny Cole: 7:22

As I said, we did a lot of this in January. Also in January, I pre-recorded a lot of podcast interviews with my guests from the previous term. I think we did 10 recordings. And as much as I love a podcast, it is very time consuming. So for the hour that it takes to record everybody, there are the many hours before and after trying to make sure that we source guests, that we can find a time where we can meet and talk together. My guests have to spend a little bit of time thinking about some questions and what it is that they would like to say. My fabulous assistant, Clare, makes sure that my guests have everything they need and that I'm where I'm supposed to be on time. We record the podcasts, and then I have wonderful Madison, who edits the podcast, and Jess, my long-term, long-suffering assistant, who makes sure that everything is put together, everything is uploaded. My guests know when they are going to go live, that the social media is all done. So there's a little bit of effort like a lot of effort, and so that was January. We started that process, and then I started working in schools in mid-January across Australia. So my first gig was in Adelaide in mid-January and then, of course, always really busy on the pupil free days in January, working with leadership teams and then whole staff, and then, for all sorts of fabulous reasons, I have continued to work in schools for all of first term and second term.

Jenny Cole: 8:58

2025, is looking exactly the same. I have lots of travel to regional and country areas, which absolutely fills me with joy, but it does mean a lot of time away from home. It does mean a lot of time traveling. It does mean sometimes that I don't get to the business side of my business because I'm working in the business and not on the business, and so for that reason, we are going to take a little bit of a break from the podcast. Because, coming back to what I know about myself after I burnt out from education is that if I don't give myself time to spend time on those relationships both personal relationships, but also with the fabulous coaching clients and colleagues I have made along the way then I am not a very happy person. And it's not that I'm unhappy at the moment, it's just that I know that if I don't step back a little bit in my business, I'm going to be all work and no play, and that makes Jenny, a very dull person, so something had to give.

Jenny Cole: 9:59

Basically, and it's probably been going to be for the next couple of weeks, the guest episodes on my podcast. However, there are 56 fabulous episodes for you to go back and listen to Some incredible guests who share their amazing insights into what it means to be a school leader and tips that they have for aspiring and new leaders who are looking to get into roles but also stay in a role, and then also some really experienced folk who've shared their wisdom about the challenges of school leadership and how to enjoy a very difficult, busy, complex role. So thank you so much. If you've been listening up until now, I want you to go back and listen to some of those previous episodes. There is some absolute gold in there and please, if there's something that you like, rate and review so that other people can also have access to Positively Leading the podcast. But also make contact with the fabulous guests because they said yes to the podcast, because they are very happy to share, and if there's one thing I know, we don't have time to reinvent the wheel. These folk have experience and insights and wisdom that you can use in your leadership journey If there's something that they particularly are expert in and you'd like some advice. Please reach out to them. Their links are in the podcast episode descriptors and, in the meantime, what that's going to allow me to do is to not only finish some of the online programs and projects that I have, but also to create some new ones.

Jenny Cole: 11:47

The landscape of education is constantly changing and the demands are bigger than ever before, and so the last couple of episodes have been around productivity, but I'm becoming really aware that it's not just productivity. We just literally cannot ring another second out of our 24-hour day. Instead, we need to look at education and the way that we work with a different lens. I've also got a couple of projects that I would like to work on. I may have already shared with you that I am writing a book about what do I want to do when I grow up? Looking at educators and trying to help them to either stay in teaching, stay in leading or step up into roles that give them a bit more growth and opportunity, or if, in fact, trying to work out whether education and staying in the teaching professional or in leading is exactly what they want to do, and I think this book is going to be super useful as we grapple with the notion of I'm not sure how much longer I can do this, or is this what I still want to do? Or you know, I've got to a certain point in my career and now what? So I'm going to take a little bit of a break from the podcasting to give myself time to write that book and some resources that go with it. That will really help people to get clear about where they want to be in the next part of their career.

Jenny Cole: 13:22

If there is something that you would really like me to do a podcast on, please let me know, because I can always get on and do a one-off episode for you on a variety of subjects and topics. I have access to my amazing clients and past clients across Australia and past clients across Australia often veteran leaders, who the only person they have to talk to honestly is their coach, and so I have access to the wisdom of your elders. I have access to their stories, I have access to their advice and, after thousands and thousands of hours coaching leaders in education, I'm pretty well versed to know what's going on, what works, what people are struggling with, how people manage to get through their days and their weeks and stay thriving and not just surviving. So, as I said, if there is something in particular you would like me to talk about and I can pop on and record a quick episode, please let me know. So this is not the end of the podcast. I don't want you to go away and say, oh, she stopped doing the podcast. What I've stopped doing for the time being and I'm going to ramp it up a little bit later on is guest interviews. I will still do one-on-one interviews. What I will still do is me talking to the microphone giving you advice and support about how to make it through the next challenge that you have. I'd also encourage you to head to my website, positivelybeamingcomau, and have a look at the work with me page. There are lots and lots and lots of ways that you can work with me. Sure, you can book a professional learning session for you and your team, but there's also lots of online courses, free downloads, there's coaching, there's team coaching, there's disc profiles. There's a whole range of ways that I work with my clients. So take a look there and if there's anything there that feels like it's suitable, please click the link and see where it takes you, because, even though I won't be in your ears. There's always plenty of ways to access support and advice. So I'm looking forward to not only a really busy term, too, but the opportunity to be more creative.

Jenny Cole: 15:48

I said earlier, I'm very conscious, after once already burning out, that I need to make sure that I don't let go of my relationships. But I am just like the rest of you. I need to make sure that I am exercising, fueling my body appropriately and just keeping myself happy and well. And one of the ways I know how to do that is to use my strengths and my top strengths creativity, humour, gratitude, kindness and zest. And I'm going to spend a little bit of time on creativity, and creativity is not necessarily artistic. Creativity is me designing and redesigning and having ideas and coming up with new and exciting ways to support the people that support me, with new and exciting ways to support the people that support me.

Jenny Cole: 16:39

I also love humour and I really appreciate it when people read my Sunday love note, which will continue to come out, when people read my Sunday love note and say, oh gosh, that made me laugh, and nothing makes me happier than giving you a little bit of a giggle, a little bit of inspiration, every Sunday morning, and so if you're not already on the Sunday Love Note newsletter list gosh, that's harder to say than I thought Then on the front page of my website there is a space for you to sign up. You can unsign up anytime that you like, but my Sunday Love Note is again another way that I like to give back. It's something that makes me smile, but in these times when I've been super busy, it's become a bit of a chore, and I don't want it to be a chore. So, as I said, something had to give and I think it's temporarily going to be my guest interviews on the podcast, having said all of that. So if you have someone in your team, a middle leader, a senior leader, somebody who you think would be really great to hear from because they have something interesting or uplifting or inspiring that they could share with the audience, then please, I would love to know their name and I'm going to put them on my list and we're going to interview them, but we probably won't do it for a little while, but I would like recommendations, because I know a lot of people, but I don't know everybody and I certainly don't know the young, newbie leaders in our systems who are coming through and who are doing things a little bit differently or in a particularly amazing way. So send those names through to me.

Jenny Cole: 18:12

But in the meantime, I hope you also look after your wellbeing and I want you to think about the role that you do and think how can I get rid of the things that at the moment aren't necessarily serving me, or how can I do it in a way that has the least amount of impact on my productivity or on my mental health? I want you to get rid of the things that aren't serving you anymore and then I want you to think what is it that brings me joy? So I spoke this morning to a principal who said she had to take a teacher's class during the week because the teacher was out temporarily just doing a project. And the leader said I ran the whole lesson and was relatively simple. She said they were building Lego towers but I had to introduce them to some of the vocab and some of the structures that they were using. And she said at the end of that lesson I thought, oh my gosh, I absolutely love this. She said she has no intention of going back to teaching full time, but that little one hour session in that classroom filled her full of joy and it really topped up her bucket for the rest of the term.

Jenny Cole: 19:19

So get rid of what's not serving you. Find what brings you joy and do more of it. Don't forget your relationships. Don't forget to eat good, nourishing food to make sure that you're getting plenty of sleep, to really restore in ways that are restorative, so not just collapsing on the weekend or on the holidays, but actually finding things that give you meaning or accomplishment. So that's all from me for just a little while. It's a bit rambly, but I will definitely be back in your ears and I've not gone anywhere. You will find me on Facebook. You will find me on Instagram. You will find me on the Sunday Love Note. You'll be able to see my new programs as they come through, so please stay in touch. I'm just disappointed we're not going to have any of my fabulous guests just for a little while. So go back and listen to them 50 amazing women with great insights to share. Thank you, see you soon.

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