Sage Introduction
To plant trees under whose shade we do not expect to sit.
Teaching is a gift given to some lucky people made up of passion, understanding, empathy, drive, commitment, resilience, generosity, and hard work. Many people try their hand at becoming a teacher – not very many succeed. The ability to create something while knowingly understanding that you will never be able to see the outcome of that creation is teaching.
Much of our teaching is to set children up for success now and into the future. That success could look like many things – emotional stability, resilience, courage, making educated choices, finding individual pathways to careers or taking care of each other. These, amongst
many others take an entire life to realise, yet the unfathomable trait of teaching and
teachers is that they continue to plant endless trees knowing that they will never be able to
enjoy the shade of those trees into the future. Great teachers are truly altruistic.
The following are my ‘big picture’ thoughts about many things but importantly they are the
culmination of 50 years of passionate experience and a developed understanding of the
differences between Leadership and Management which guided me through my entire
career and is imbedded into Woodlands.
Fay Woodland - Chapter 1
What does Woodland’s success look like?
Get the concept of Leadership correct and everything else will follow. There is no secret to success – the difference between most people and those who succeed
is that the ones who make it put the effort in. Don’t fake it till you make it. That’s nonsense
advice. Face it till you make it. Get up. Work hard. Fail. Stand back up. Face it again. Do a
little better. Fail Again. Get back up. Repeat.
The measure of Woodland’s leaders is the measure of success. Everything rises or falls on
leadership.
Staff determine the potential of Woodlands,
Relationships determine the morale of Woodlands.
Structure determines the size of Woodlands.
Vision determines the direction of Woodlands
Leadership determines the success of Woodlands.
The sign of a good leader is not how many followers you have but how many
leaders you create. Ghandi
Manage things – Lead people
The underlying and fundamental tenet to Woodlands is the difference between leaders and
managers. That is why we have leaders and not managers. Saying this I believe that both
managers and Leaders are critical to any organisation’s success. Imagine a company with no
monitoring or systems. Or a company with no mentoring and guiding.
Leaders will get themselves into the habit of contrasting what it feels like to be “managed”
verses what it feels like to be “lead”.
Are our staff overmanaged and under led?
I am a huge believer in great management. I also believe we need great leadership. Whilst
both management and leadership are vitally needed, we are in a profession that is
overmanaged and under led. In fact, in most teams, families and organisations today are
overmanaged and under led. Our profession is a people-based profession not a “widget”
based industry. The success of our profession lies in the commitment of people serving
parents, children, the community and is in many ways immeasurable, not in the number of
widgets turned out at the end of a day. Why then is our profession over managed? The
answer is the dimension that lies in the contrast between people and things.
Many things need to be managed, even handled with skill. Leaders are not challenged by
firstly understanding they may not have all these management skills, and secondly
surrounding themselves with managers who do have these skills.
One example is technology, to be used effectively to help us solve problems and improve
efficiencies. Schedules need to be managed to be coordinated and aligned to help things get
done. Finances to be managed so revenue, taxes, expenses, payroll, and investments are
tracked and in line. Inventories, processes, systems, structures supply chains all need to be
managed. Those are all resources, tools, objects – things. Things serve a purpose and are
generally some form of tool for accomplishing a task. But because things have no autonomy
or choice, they need to be managed well in order to be effective or valuable.
Many people in leadership positions try to solve problems by using systems. Or they pay
others to try to solve problems for them. But the truth is, leaders cannot delegate the
solving of problems to someone else. They must be active in facing challenges, breaking
through obstacles, putting out fires, correcting mistakes, and directing people. And once
their effectiveness and credibility, becomes contagious and spreads throughout the team,
productivity begins to solve many problems – many more than management or consultants
ever will.
Leadership and serving people through tough times – adversity and change.
Leaders understand that adversity and challenges are actually opportunities to rise up in
leadership. Adversity gets our attention. We can’t ignore it. It causes us to stop and look at
our situation and gives us the opportunity for self-discovery.
Adversity is a much better teacher than success. The “teacher” will come in adversity
whether the pupil is ready or not and turn wounds into wisdom if the pupil has the right
mind-set. Adversity opens doors to opportunity. Leaders treat adversity as a stepping stone.
They see a failure as an opportunity to learn and get better not as a mortal blow.
One of the most challenging tasks any leader faces is being a change agent and leading
people through tough times. During a tough time most people want their problems to be
fixed without their having to face them, and that is an impossibility. As a leader, as a mentor,
as a catalyst for change, you need to help people solve problems, take responsibility and
work to make things better. They need help which you can give them in the form of advice,
encouragement, and positive reinforcement.
The leader helps by defining the new reality. Roots author Alex Haley observed, “ either you
deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you .”
Leaders are the keepers and communicators of the vision. They see and can communicate
the big picture and help others to see it. People need to be reassured that their leader is
passionate about the big picture.
It is all about choices. People’s choices define who they are and determine where they go. It
is true that we do not choose everything we get in life, but much of what we get comes from
what we’ve chosen. The more “happy” choices we make in life, the better positioned to help
others through accumulated wisdom, success and greater options. The leader puts this to
good use by helping others navigate difficult times of change.
Leaders value, promote, mentor and live the concept of teamwork. It is not just a trendy
word to be thrown around and used loosely to gain some form of acknowledgement or
empathy – it is a survival skill. The cold hard facts of teams is that we are only as strong as
our weakest link. The leader understands this and is constantly mentoring to make secure
this weakest link. The Law of Mount Everest in “The 17 Indisputable laws of Teamwork”
states, “as the challenge escalates the need for teamwork elevates.” No team can win and
keep winning unless everyone works together it is the responsibility of leaders to promote
teamwork and get team members cooperating and working together.
Hope is the foundation of change. If we continue to hold hope high, and we help others to
do the same, there is always a chance to move forward and succeed.
Leaders trust and inspire Not command and control
People have a greatness inside them…..so my job as a leader is to unleash their potential,
not control them.
People are whole people…. so my job as a leader is to inspire, not merely motivate.
There is enough for everyone …. so my job as a leader is to elevate caring above competing.
Leadership is stewardship………..so my job as a leader it to put service above self-interest.
To know and not to do is not to know (Goethe)
There are kilometers and Kilometers between “I get it” and I’m doing it”.
Just to Ponder.
Many years ago whilst I came to the end of a very challenging interview to become Head of
the oldest Independent School in Australia, surrounded in the magnificent Board Room by
10 wryly “Old Boys” I was asked to describe my Leadership style as a metaphor. In my heart
already I knew “On eagles wings”. I explained the story of a mother eagle understanding
when her eaglets were ready to learn to fly. At this moment she would push the eaglet out
of the nest. As the eaglet fell she would circle beneath it ready for the eaglet to drop onto
her back and be taken back up to the nest. This would repeat at a later stage when the
mother eagle sensed the strength returning to her eaglet. Eventually the eaglet would fly.
To me this is my style of leadership. What is yours?
● Eagles Have Vision. ...
● Eagles are fearless. ...
● Eagles are Tenacious. ...
● Eagles are High Flyers. ...
● Eagles Never Eat Dead Meat. ...
● Eagles posses Vitality. ...
● Eagles Nurture their younger ones
Chapter 2
Heart and life blood
The heart of Woodlands is Leadership. The life blood of Woodlands is the staff.
Without the two working together, Woodlands will not succeed.
My heart rested in authentic leadership - being credible to staff, parents, children and the
community. The capability of Woodland’s leaders to be believed, worthy of confidence,
reliable and most of all, worthy of other people’s trust. This credibility begins with staff at
the interview, with parents at first meeting, with children every day and in the community at
every opportunity.
Staff – Woodlands Life Blood
“Never be ashamed” he said.
“Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted;
some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.”
(response)“How will I know which is which?”
(he said)“By the taste. You can only know a good wine if you have first tasted a bad one.”
Hiring is never about finding someone with the right experience. More often it is about
finding someone with the right attitude and mindset. The candidate for a position at
Woodlands is looking for that all important credibility in the interviewer. This is the time for
the Woodlands interviewer to be seen and believed and to break down the barriers.
- Can the interviewer be trusted?
- Has the interviewer credible background to be running the interview
- Is the interviewer a Leader or a Manager?
- The interview is a time to get to know the candidate as well as ticking some of the
important mandated boxes.
It is time to understand
- what is important to the candidate,
- what life skills has the candidate
- has the candidate had ‘another life’ before choosing Education?
- the passions of the candidate,
- their vision of their future,
- and importantly what they can tell me, clearly and confidently, exactly what they will be
bringing to Woodlands –
- what impact they will have on Woodlands,
- what they can do that nobody else can – then they have my full attention.
- Never underestimate someone with a strong work ethic and a willingness to learn.
Experience does not make a great employee – their attitude and work ethic does.
- Is there a ‘best fit” for this candidate in the Woodlands team.
The best fit, teams/groups and critical mass.
We tend to use the word ‘teams’ loosely every day. It has become the trendy yet quite
misunderstood and overused word in most workplaces.
Realistically we start as a group of people – not a team. Groups are a collection of individuals
who coordinate their efforts. Groups are easily “managed”. In founding new centres
Woodlands unashamedly hired groups of people.
With Leadership these groups began to share a common goal and became a team. Teams
need this leadership to share goals, visions, values and mission. It does not happen
randomly. It does not happen by imposing systems. It happens with continuous mentorship
and guidance.
As we employ new staff into our groups/teams we need to ensure they are the ‘best fit’ for
Woodlands.
- Are the applicants beliefs and behaviours in alignment with Woodlands core values
- Are the applicants’ skills and knowledge able to be shared in an existing team?
- As an English language-based education facility, are the applicant’s language skills
acceptable.
The last point takes a considerable amount of consideration as Woodlands takes pride in the
ability to model clear and understandable English whilst recognising the importance of
English as another language to many of our children and families. Parents come to
Woodlands with the high hopes of their children learning English well and better than
themselves along with exposure to their own language. How better to achieve this through
modelling the sounds and use of the English Language from Educators whilst encouraging
multi lingual children and staff. Do we have a ‘Critical mass” of English speaking staff at our
centres who understand the foundations of English grammar and speech?
Seek to understand and embody staff circumstances in the management of the day.
Not one person will know all staff. The leader will seek to know and understand all staff
circumstances and stop the pressure at their level – not to deploy it elsewhere. They will
treat individuals not as they are but as they could be. They will communicate this to the
manager who will ensure this is taken into consideration at all levels of day-to-day
management.
Above all, great leadership of staff teams will recognise, appreciate, and build into the day to
day practices the gifts, talents and circumstances of all staff. They will treat individuals not as
they are but as they could be. This is often very difficult to achieve as staff may see this as
not being ‘equal’. It is indeed not equal. It is fair!.
Chapter 3
Once we have Leadership and Teams everything
else will follow
Woodlands acknowledge and imbed the First Nations People’s and Islander Stories whilst
celebrating Australia and Australian History
It is about courage and endurance, and duty, and love of country and mateship,
and good humour, and the survival of a sense of self-worth and decency in the
face of dreadful odds.
Our children deserve to understand these qualities.
A clear and accurate understanding of Australia and the values of being Australian is integral
to the teaching of Australian History at all Woodlands campuses. Woodlands Educational
Leaders should have a strong understanding of history and be able to teach and
communicate this history to all staff. Woodlands celebrates all cultures and have a rich
resource of many different cultures amongst our staff.
We need to be aware that many of our staff from other cultures do not have a detailed
knowledge of Australia. If no attention is given to ‘critical mass” there may be a struggle to
have enough staff to teach an accurate depiction of Australian History in our campuses.
We teach with humbleness and understanding and imbed into our every day , Australian
History covering at least the following:
- The relevance of Anzac Day
(not celebrating war but rather remembering those who keep Australia safe)
- The relevance of Remembrance Day
(remembering all those people who keep Australia safe)
- The relevance of the monarchy
(Australia is currently part of a Commonwealth of Nations)
- The relevance of reconciliation
- The relevance of NAIDOC
- The relevance of MAKARATTA
- The relevance of our coat of Arms
(wattle and the emu and Kangaroo)
- The relevance of our flora and fauna
- The aboriginal culture as the oldest culture in the world
- Acknowledgment to Country.
Just to ponder
The poppy(Remembrance Day)
Sent to me from a friend. I really needed to share this with my friends, followed by some
words I love, that, as a teacher, means so much. Lest we Forget.
“A lovely military man selling poppies told me that women should wear their poppy on
their right side; the red represents the blood of all those who gave their lives, the black
represents the mourning of those who didn't have their loved ones return home, and
the green leaf represents the grass and crops growing and future prosperity after the
war destroyed so much. The leaf should be positioned at 11 o'clock to represent the
eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time that World War One
formally ended. He was worried that younger generations wouldn't understand this and
his generation wouldn't be around for much longer to teach them. Thank you for your
service.” Lest We Forget.
Woodlands strives to pass on these wonderful values – courage, endurance, duty,
love of country, mateship, good humour, and the survival of a sense of self-worth
and decency in the face of dreadful odds.
Woodlands imbed in the every day acknowledgement of all cultures
We celebrate our diversity through the employment and empowerment of staff. Woodlands
celebrate language from other cultures in a real and relevant manner.
Woodlands
- Use language every day from other cultures.
- Sing songs and rhymes from other cultures led by multi lingual staff
- Celebrate other major cultural events and proudly display these celebrations
- We ensure that major Australian cultural events are celebrated also.
- We empower all staff to actively involve our Woodlands community in these cultural
events.
Our French programme
French was chosen as a language that used the same script as English. It was also the only
language not represented in our general family population.
Woodlands imbed a French language immersion programme at all campuses led by native
speaking French staff. These staff are not only French speaking but also full-time qualified
members of our teams. These staff teach French five hours per day, twice a week to our
over three year old children. This consists of planned activities, group story times, group
singing times and lots of French speaking. It is the Woodland method of teaching children
another language where French is primarily the language used during teaching. This means
that our children are spending time learning, hearing, and speaking in a language other
than English or their own home language. Our children develop cultural literacy as well as
enhanced cognitive skills.
Routine is about being disciplined.
Motivation ebbs and flows, but you can rely on your routine to push you through when
you’re lacking the energy and motivation to keep going. This applies to all aspects of life and
business. Find good habits and be disciplined enough to stick to them. The outcomes will be
very positive.
Woodlands are fortunate to have systems in place to help with routines. It is the small steps
done regularly – not the giant leaps, that bring about lasting results and outcomes.
Finally ….
From our Woodlands Values story
Getting into space is a hard thing to do.
But made so much easier now we have you.
You need to be respectful while taking care, because some places will be
Impossibly hard just to get there.
You see not everyone gets a ticket,
And only a few will go. So please
Communicate, there is no time for “I don’t know.”