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We regularly talk of schools becoming businesses or working as corporations, but we forget that poor raw material in business is rejected at once, but not so in schools. Poor Schoolmasters! No doubt, schools and schoolmasters must be as organised with systems and a sense of order—and predictability—as a corporate house. These balances have to be kept.” says AN Dar, former Principal of The Scindia School.
Thank you, Mr Dar, for mentoring students, teachers, and management. My focus in this post is on how Staff Meetings at the School can become effective, and this is where we have lessons to learn from corporate culture and sectors that deliver professional services.
Some essential points to start with:
- Use an Agenda
- Keep Minutes and Logs
- Punctuality is the key
- Appropriate facilities
- Have a chairperson or a leader
“school leadership matters. During the past decade, there has been a growing recognition among educators and policymakers that school principals must be instructional leaders who ensure that high-quality teaching occurs in every classroom. This view is backed up by a solid body of evidence showing that leadership places second only to teaching among school-related influences on learning”. ~ The Principal Story, Learning Guide
It all starts with the Leader; thus, explaining the role is best. The chairperson’s role is not just important; it’s crucial for running meetings with practical outcomes. Avoid common mistakes and learn how to run more effective meetings. The chairperson’s role is not just time-consuming; it’s a privilege that comes with work between sessions, external representation of the organisation, and work with staff. Chairing any organisation requires diplomatic and leadership skills of a high level, and your role can make a significant difference. Your leadership is critical to the success of these meetings, and your guidance will empower the staff to contribute effectively.
Leaders Role
- Inform all members to prepare: The teachers, like their students, must come prepared for the meeting. They need to research and determine what they are going for; this is the essential starting point. Your preparation for the meeting is not just a task but a responsibility that will contribute to its effectiveness and the achievement of its goals.
- Start with the end in mind: the goal of any game is the key to winning. We may meet to find a solution for a discipline challenge at a school, such as why the students are not performing or even why the school administration is challenged to manage the finances. The end of the meeting or the goal is significant.
- Follow an Agenda: Time management is the key, and it can only happen when we follow an agenda. Items on the Agenda must be listed, and the group’s focus on one item at a time will lead to effective outcomes.
- Round-robin process: A round-robin is an arrangement of choosing all elements in a group equally in some rational order. This is often described as round-robin process scheduling. The Leader must identify and involve the members’ strengths in the deliberations; teachers inherently like being involved and are willing to take leadership when given true responsibility.
- Keep Discussion on target: Meetings can become a ‘talkathon’ or a prolonged discussion or debate, “a day-long talkathon on artistic freedom”.
- Build consensus: We must agree about something, an idea or opinion that everyone shares in a group. A staff meeting is advantageous for building action teams to deliver better.
- Resolve conflict: Reasoning, opinions, and personal egos often need to be considered, and when the time nears, we must work to resolve any dispute. The burden of conflict will frequently undermine the whole purpose of the meeting.
- Revisit Action Plans: The action plan is usually based on the school’s needs. To advance the plan with the team, we need to work on a principle of shared leadership and ensure that the student’s needs are kept in mind. Action plans will always work best with a good team and exemplary leadership.
- Emphasize the significance of the teachers’ input: Every teacher’s perspective is crucial and should be reflected in the meeting’s proceedings. This fosters their active involvement and ensures their effective participation, making them feel valued and respected.
- Clear communication of meeting outcomes: The meeting’s conclusion, including the decisions and action plan, should be communicated clearly. It’s crucial to consider all the teachers’ input at this stage. In a well-planned meeting, the concluding minutes are the most important and should always be carried out, ensuring everyone is on the same page and promoting practical follow-up actions.
“I love staff meetings because I try to go into each one as a student—a student of administration and leadership,” added Uwe C. Gordon, Principal at Hennessey (Oklahoma) High School. I don’t have many staff meetings, but I try to make the most of each. I try to keep an open mind and ears to my faculty’s messages.”
Here are some more ideas:
- Keep them as long as you have to.
- Do not tell them everything they need to do, but then give them more time to do it.
- Do focus on stories, design, and decision-making.
- Do encourage the staff to do anything creative.
- Do not single out “great teachers.” Good teaching should be celebrated. The best teachers either know they’re good or are happy to have their skills celebrated in 1-1 meetings.
- Remember to warn them of the impending trials that will challenge them like never before next year. Nothing is more putting off at the end of a long year than telling teachers how much worse next year will be!
- Do not force staff to watch inspirational videos. Instead, ask them to find and share their own in their networks.
- Focus on the people, not the positions.
- Let staff tell their personal stories.
- Focus on teaching and learning.
- Stick to a small handful of ideas.
- Let them brag about one another.
13 . Promote their capacity. Do something that initiates a process that will continue after the meeting. Connect people to networks. Show them what’s possible. Light a fire.
- Give them time to collaborate.
Finally, please don’t ruin it with many rules and regulations.
Sandeep Dutt is a School Improvement Coach; his opinions are his own. For more information about his work and life, visit www.sdutt.com. The Print Subscribers can book a meeting with him from his website.
Citations:
1. Boring School Staff Meeting? Here Are Some Ideas
2. Great staff meetings: Pointers from the principals who lead them
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.