1. What will be your Leadership Legacy?
Shirley Kavanagh NAPD Conference 2014

2. What is Leadership?
"Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth." Burns 1970.
“Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those
who choose to follow” Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner 1990
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do things you want done because they want to do it” Dwight D Eisenhower
“Leadership is about influence, nothing more nothing less” John Maxwell
“If your actions inspire others to learn more, dream more, do more and become more, you are a leader” John Quincy Adams

3. What you say about Leadership
“Leadership is about having a calmness about you, it reassures others that you are in control”
“Leadership is about coping with change”
“It’s about being a good listener. You might not like all you hear but your staff somebody who will to listen”
“It’s about being adaptable, about taking charge and about communicating to staff, students and parents”
“It’s about staying calm. Shut the door and in your office let out that roar!”
It’s about having an ability to cope with Pressure.
Don’t Panic Everyone!

4. Some Assumptions about Leadership
There is no single, “right” leadership style
The ability to lead others is underpinned by a thorough and honest understanding of your own strengths and limitations
Leadership is a life-long learning journey – what got you here may not get you to the next step in that journey
Leadership requires the mobilisation of creativity and innovation, it does not mean that all new ideas must come from the leader
Relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow
Leadership is grounded on the ability to engage and encourage the hearts of others -- to help them to derive a sense of purpose in and from their work
Today relies more upon the ability to connect, than upon the exercise of command and control
Leaders must be clear about the imprint they wish to leave on their organisations and then frame their action and behaviours with that legacy in mind

5. And some key assumptions about behaviour
Leadership is a fishbowl
Performance is contractual -- Effort Is personal
Intent is not action
Relationships Matter,
Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast
People have to trust the messenger before they will trust the message
Data may guide the head and the hands but stories move the heart
Everything’s a theory until you try it

6. The Principals Dilemma - Leadership and Management
Coping with complexity
Coping with Change
Both necessary for success and must be balanced
Management
Leadership

7. Knowing what you don’t know
What is a good Leader?
Build Trust
Forward Looking
Integrity
Knowing what you don’t know
Engage People
Being able to Inspire
Resilient
Courage

8. Some thoughts from Leaders

9. So what can we say now about Leadership
Communicate Effectively
Authentic
Self Aware
“Emotionally
Intelligent”
Resilient
Influencing
Recognise and develop their people
Role model desired behaviours
Inspire and Engage
People
Improve and change things and look for a better way
Leave a Footprint

11. Earning the Right to Lead
A critical factor impacting peoples’ decision to follow is your authenticity as a leader:
It is the alignment of your actions and objectives with your beliefs and values
It is the ability to be resilient and take the roles very seriously – but not oneself
It is the willingness – as much as the ability- to help others to use their talent and capability to succeed
It is the willingness to lead with and from the heart

12. The Foundations of Authenticity
Authentic Leaders
Display a consistency between their words and their deeds
They practice what they preach
Demonstrate coherence in their performance of the different roles and duties and what’s expected of them
Are comfortable with their styles and the actions they take
They display confidence and optimism even when facing new and difficult situations or issues
Are eager to learn about themselves and able to use that learning to enhance effectiveness
They are reflective about their actions and proactive in seeking out feedback.

13. Questions to ask “The Person in The Mirror”
Personal values and motivational drivers
What really matters to me?
What gives me a true sense of purpose in my work as a leader?
Leadership focus and priorities
Do my commitments match my values?
Does how I spend my time and energy reflect my priorities?
Balance and perspective
Can I look at situations from multiple viewpoints, including those quite different from my own?
Am I open to challenge? Can I effectively challenge and influence the thinking of others?
Resilience and self-confidence
Can I accept who I am in order to use my strengths to best advantage?
Am I willing to acknowledge and to address my weaknesses in order to drive my continuous personal growth?
Genuine humility
Do I always remember to not take myself too seriously, but to take the job very seriously?
Do I truly value the contribution of others and treat them with genuine respect?

14. What is a Leadership Legacy?
….to one another
….to problems & opportunities
….to successes & set backs
….to change & the unknown
….to the next new thing
How your colleagues, your staff, your partners
Think, Feel and Behave
As a result of the time they spent working with you
It is the model you create and ‘live’ for how people should
React
Relate
Respond
Your legacy is not about image it is about effect
It is about you becoming a role model for others

15. Let’s try it! - Your Legacy Statement
Before you start to think about your legacy statement, a few hints and tips:
Not as easy as it looks!
Focus on behaviours!
This is an aspirational statement
Be challenging and Stretching
Be as clear and specific as you can but don’t seek perfection!
Don’t worry if this seems difficult – IT IS! But it is really worth the effort.
Focus on behaviours that you would most like to role model and have your people live, even after you have moved on.
This is an aspirational statement – don’t worry about sounding too idealistic (it is neither a To Do list or scorecard for judging your performance
Be challenging and Stretching
Be as clear and specific as you can but don’t seek perfection!

16. One Final Thought! “One Child, one teacher, one pen and one book can
change the world”

17. Some Tips and Tools

18. Why should anyone be led by you?
What drives you to want to be a Leader?
What special capabilities do you offer?
How do those capabilities provide value to the people with whom you work?
How do those capabilities add value to your school?

19. Learning Lessons Conducting an After Action Review
Requirements
Four Questions, One flip chart, People Involved and someone to facilitate
What was supposed to happen?
What actually happened?
Why was there a difference?
What have we learned?

20. Guidelines for difficult conversations or feedback
Some Do’s
Be certain that you know what you really want out of the conversation
Consider how you will manage your own emotions -- before you begin the exchange
Identify the parts of the discussion that are safe to talk about and will not produce ‘fight or flight’
Be specific
Give immediate and direct feedback
Accept responsibility for your perception and emotion – use ‘I’ statements
Check to make sure you are understood
Give the recipient time to react/reflect
Play the ball not the player – it’s about behaviour and actions not personality
Some Don'ts
Don’t evaluate or judge - describe
Don’t end without drawing out the implications and action plans.
Don’t feel obliges to fill up silences.
Don’t exhibit behaviours that may be perceived as boredom!

21. The Difficult Conversations
Don’t avoid the
Elephant in the room!
Apply the 5 / 5 / 5 Test
What do you think will be remembered in 5 minutes?
How will the conversation be remembered in 5 hours?
How will your message be remembered in 5 days?

22. Organising and Chairing a Super Productive Meeting
Prepare and Circulate an agenda in advance – let people know the objective of the meeting .
Keep things moving rapidly along.
Cover each point on the agenda in order and in the alotted time
Involve each of the participants, ask for input.
Bring things to a clear conclusion and get the necessary decisions
Only organise a meeting when it is necessary to do so.
Assign responsibility for topic discussions in the agenda
Start and end the meeting meeting on time
If a problem cannot be resolved, appoint someone to conduct further investigations and put it on agenda for the next meeting.
Don’t be afraid to ask for written reports instead of calling meetings
Appoint someone to create action points with target dates and circulate these quickly following the meeting. Make sure you follow up progress.
Always end on a positive stimulating note.

23. Effective Presentations
Clarify the message you want to get across
Consider your audience
Practise and rehearse
Assert Yourself
Posture
Presence – Don’t apologise!
Make contact with your audience
Use your voice – Volume, Pace, Pitch
Breathe – make a conscious effort to pause and establish comfortable breathing patterns
Drink – warm water, don’t gulp ice cold water this will constrict your voice
Finally, a note about humour – only use it if you know it will work!