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Train of Thought I know a few things. I’ve always enjoyed reading, gathering information, research and evidence. I suppose I could say I love learning – figuring things out, learning new skills, taking courses and filling myself with facts, figures, models and theories. I’ve learned an immeasurable and often forgettable amount over the...The Beauty Inside I love Scotland. I’d forgotten how staggeringly beautiful it is. My memory and my passion were rekindled last week when I went on a mini tour of some of Scotland’s stunning countryside. I’d bought my husband a ‘Beach Landing on Barra’ as his Christmas present. I’d never been to the...Martini Learning I adore questions. I love taking my time to construct them and I especially love it when people ask me questions that really make me think, that make my eyes hunt and my brain hurt. I was on LinkedIn yesterday (I really should get out more) when a colleague’s ‘new...Creative Leadership Self-awareness is what Style J leadership is all about. I realised this when I was watching a You Tube video today. I’d gone on to LinkedIn as I do most mornings, to check for any interesting articles. I like to read posts I can relate to and one by Australian Coach Educator Stuart Lierich popped...Style J Prototyping Sometimes I don’t pay enough attention – to me. Yesterday I found I’d been prototyping part of my Style J leadership development process, and I wasn’t even aware of it. I’d driven for an hour, to meet a new connection, not really knowing exactly what she wanted from me. Our agenda...Style J Leadership I think I’m a facilitator. I call myself a facilitator of learning. I have the certificate, I’ve done the training, passed the assessment and been quality assured. And yet this week I wonder if I really am. I always believed a facilitator of learning helps others learn, supports them, makes...My Forbidden City A throw away comment can be worth saving. I learned that last week in Beijing, exploring one of the top sights in China with an old friend Sherry Chen. I’d already planned to visit The Forbidden City when Sherry sent me a message, “May we join you? Sightseeing in the...Stop Chasing Over the summer I heard a song on the radio that stuck in my mind. It popped back into my head again last week with the latest research about what makes an effective school leader. It was mid August. I remember it was an unusually sunny morning for a Scottish summer day. It...What leaders can learn from plants Plants have little in common with humans; they know the purpose of their life, they know the reason they exist and they do everything they can every day to fulfil their reason raison d’être. At least that’s what I’m led to believe by the expert gardeners on our long running...Map of Iceland Iceland has left me feeling curious. I spent last week on holiday there and came away full of questions. It was the first time I’d been to Iceland and I chose one of the best weeks of their summer. Reykjavik was full of blue skies and sunshine. It was warm...Hide and Seek If I wanted to hide I’d be a tree. In a forest. Straight, tall and green like all the rest. I’d be rooted, still, standing, never moving, one of thousands of trees, in thousands of forests all over the world. If I wanted to hide I’d follow the rules. Toe...3pm First rule about 3pm club is it’s not at 3pm. It’s a metaphorical 3pm and a real time in a woman’s life. A couple of weeks ago at the creative writing group I go to, our teacher Maggie asked us to write about 2 different times of the day, exactly...Travelling ‘Did it change your life?’ That was the question everybody asked when I got back from travelling. Nobody really wanted to see the pictures or videos, but they all wanted to know how 7 weeks backpacking in South East Asia had affected me. I wasn’t sure how to answer them....The Tour Guide The good thing about travelling to different countries it it’s taken me out of my familiar zone. It’s taken me to places I’ve never been before. I recently backpacked around South East Asia – Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. Amazing, countries, fantastic food and incredible people. In...This is me Some days I’m not sure who I am. Maybe that’s not as important as knowing what I do though. Today, I logged onto LinkedIn to catch up with what was going with my professional connections. Usually there’s a few interesting articles to read. I noticed a few colleagues’ ‘professional headline’...Picking Gooseberries The good thing about living in the countryside is I can climb a hill any day I choose. Today was one of those days. It wasn’t raining, I could see blue breaks in the sky, it wasn’t cold either; the perfect day for stomping about in nature. I set out...What Stephen King taught me Today I learned I’m not Stephen King. I’d like to be able to write as well as he does, and to earn the amount of money he’s earned, but that’s a different story. Over the last few months I’ve been going to a creative writing group. When people ask me...The Leadership Catwalk Every day is a fashion show; at least when I’m working with school principals in Brunei it feels that way. When they arrive one by one in the morning, it’s like a catwalk, a parade of fabulous outfits in the most brilliant of colours. In Brunei the female ‘uniform’ is...The well read book AQ is another measure of success – apparently. I logged on to WeChat this week (the Chinese mobile messaging app), to see what my friends in China had been up to over the Chinese New Year, only to find Sherry Chen, my trusty interpreter, had posted this link to calculating...Thinking differently about leadership Pilates for the mind. I’d never thought of what I do as some kind of mind stretching exercise until my hairdresser called it that as she snipped away at my hair the other day. I’d been paying my usual six weekly visit to get my haircut and we were discussing...Come to the edge Sometimes we need a bit of a push to help us fly. We might seem outwardly confident, knowledgeable and experienced. We might even believe that ‘we’re worth it”, but many of us falter when it comes to taking the first step to realizing our dreams. My colleague Peter Smith often...“I am the greatest” I was 6 when I decided I wanted to be a PE teacher. A lively child, I loved taking part in any kind of sporting activity. It was 1971 when I set eyes on our new track suited next-door neighbour. I was hooked. I wanted to be like her. I...How to cope with change; we all have to move at some point Write a blog about moving. That’s what my friend Helen said when I recently moved to Scotland. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t decide what to write about. Should I write about moving back to my home country after 28...Don’t envy my job; create your own “I want your job”; that’s the comment I hear most frequently in schools. What is it I do? I teach teachers from other countries leadership skills, traveling all over the world to do it. Sound glamorous? Too good to be true? Exactly what you want? To be honest, I...3 Ways to Identify Your Strengths The X files hold the key; the truth is out there, especially when it comes to discovering your own strengths. Identify your strengths; it’s that what everybody needs to be able to do these days? It’s all over LinkedIn, in articles, self-help books and every leadership course you’ll ever...The Wizard of Oz, leadership development and you The Witch of the North was right; you have to learn it for yourself, especially when it comes to being a leader. Remember the story of The Wizard of Oz? After a tornado hits Kansas, Dorothy gets lost. She knows where she really wants to be so she asks for...I am Spartacus Spartacus wasn’t an accredited leader. He hadn’t read any leadership books. He hadn’t been on a leadership development programme. He didn’t even have a leadership qualification. But that didn’t stop him from being one of the greatest leaders ever depicted in a film. Slavery repulsed him Spartacus believed men...3 ways to your heart’s desire Everybody loves success. And it’s easy to achieve when you are on the right road with the right motivation. Nobody likes to fail We all know too well what it’s like when we don’t achieve what we’d hoped to. Remember those resolutions? The times you tried to stop something,...Take the test for goal success Take the test for goal success here with this free personal leadership resource...8 questions to reveal what you stand for Mitsui know where they are going. After trading for 4 centuries, the worldwide company recently took a long hard look at itself to find out where it wanted to go in the future. Mitsui isn’t well known outside of Japan. So when Mitsui Chairman Masami Iijima found global business analysts...Where are you going? What if you were to find out right now with this free resource?...How to think like a leader To lead, you have to know where you are going. Which isn’t always easy. For some people it’s easier to work out where you don’t want to be first. When Richard Branson found himself ‘bumped’ from his flight to the British Virgin Islands, he didn’t want to be stuck...How Richard Branson’s blackboard can make you a better leader Richard Branson is a successful and inspirational leader; as founder of the Virgin Group he leads more than 400 different companies. He started Virgin Airlines over thirty years ago when he was ‘bumped’ from his expected flight to the British Virgin Islands. He had to get there because a beautiful...How to identify 21st century leaders Identifying leaders is easy; once you know what to look for. Selecting leaders was so much easier thousands of years ago. It was the biggest, strongest and fittest human who was chosen as the leader. Height, muscles and a healthy body are easy to see, so it was easy to...The secret of inspirational leaders Who wouldn’t want to be a ‘inspirational’ leader? It’s an overused and highly coveted adjective when it comes to describe great leaders, memorable leaders; leaders who have a positive impact in peoples lives. How do they do it? Everybody wants to know, and every aspiring leader wants to learn. What...The one superpower every great leader has “The bottom line is this: if you want to engage your employees at a whole new level, if you want to become a person of greater influence, and if you want to discover a new kind of power — listen”. Greg McKeowan We’ve all heard of active listening. It’s what we...Stop failing the next generation of leaders “75% of Leadership Development programs are not very effective” That means 3 out of 4 leadership programmes don’t provide leaders with the skills they need to lead. We all know the leadership development programmes which have been a waste of money, don’t we? You know the ones; your staff have...How Maya Angelou makes you a better leader Maya Angelou was right; “people will never forget how you made them feel”. When was the last time you read something and felt really worried or annoyed by it? Maybe it was a text, or an email? Perhaps a post on Facebook or a Tweet? Or even a blog? And...Don’t hold back your blog “If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position hire the best writer. It doesn’t matter if the person is marketer, salesperson, designer, programmer, or whatever, their writing skills will pay off. That’s because being a good writer is about more than writing clear writing....Free resources for Facilitators of Leadership Development If you facilitate leadership development you might find these resources useful. Keep watching this site for more downloads and resources to save you time and energy and give you what you need to deliver your own world class leadership development programmes. Facilitators of Leadership Development – Designing Effective Professional Learning How...Why The Imitation Game is the Secret Ingredient “The Imitation Game’ is a great film. It’s been nominated for 8 Oscars. It gives you an insight into the pioneering work of Alan Turing, the father of modern computers. Obsessed with artificial intelligence he wanted to create a machine to copy human thinking. Can machines copy humans? I...The Jim Carrey Guide to Success Jim Carrey plans for success. He was on UK television, The Graham Norton Show just before Christmas time, talking about how he does this and promoting his latest film Dumb and Dumber To (2014). As well as being a talented actor, a great mimic, and an outstanding comedian,...3 essentials for teacher professional development Teachers want professional development to be relevant, personalised and inspiring. If you ask teachers form all around the world what they think professional development should be they pretty much agree on three things. It should be relevant, personalised and inspiring. There were lots of other words thrown into the...The Secret of Success in Shanghai Shanghai keeps me awake at night. The beautiful architecture of The Bund, the haggling in the fake markets, the exquisite silk and cashmere at the tailors, the vibrant streets where you have to run for your life even when the traffic lights are on red, the historical Old Town,...Learn how to say no Ever been in a position where you feel you can’t say no? Maybe when your boss has asked you to do something extra, or a friend has asked for a favour, or a colleague has asked for some help? You don’t want to say yes, but you don’t know how...Leadership: the difference that makes the difference Leader or a manager – which one are you? What would your staff say? Which title would your colleagues choose for you? What do you want to be remembered as? We’ve all seen the pictures and infographics listing the differences between the roles and the jobs, highlighting the contrasts, stressing...The Magnificent 7; how to write like a Thought Leader What is a thought leader? How do you get to be one? Do you just give yourself the title or do you have to do something to earn it? Sounds a bit Orwellian, doesn’t it, as if it might have come straight from the pages of Nineteen Eighty Four? So is...Inside the Ice Bucket Challenge Ice bucket challenge – have you done it? Are you thinking about doing it? It’s everywhere you look on social media – Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Vine, Snap Chat, Instagram – anywhere you can post and share videos. The world is saturated by icy water and nominations. You’ve probably been...Read this if you think you are a thought leader Blogs are great, aren’t they? They give you direct access to the thinking of people you might never ever meet. They can be informative, thought provoking, reassuring or inspiring. They can help you to learn something new, rekindle an old interest, or even spark a new craze. They can fire...Email like a leader When was the last time you sent an email? Yesterday, today, 5 minutes ago? It might be the summer holidays, but I bet you’re still accessing and sending emails aren’t you? Still checking every now and again, just to make sure that nothing important is passing you by? And why...Shortest blog post in the history of the world My last two blog posts “Why should I follow you?” “And Fish where the Fish are”, gave tips on how to gain followers, and plan a strategy for Twitter. They prompted the following comment from fellow blogger Beata Rosinska-Raju “I think you could run a “how to be a successful...Fish where the fish are I don’t know what to say on Twitter? What should I Tweet? Who should I follow? Who should I talk to? What should I say to get people to follow me? I just don’t get it – what’s it all about? Sound familiar? Everyone on Twitter has asked themselves these...Why should I follow you? Teachers that Tweet – they’re everywhere, aren’t they? They’re Tweeting before they get to school in the morning, they’re Tweeting when they get home in the afternoon, and they’re discussing, debating, developing and planning on Twitter in the evenings. They’re sharing resources and coaching each other, even organizing professional development...Teacher, preacher or learner? Ever joined in a Twitter conversation? You know the ones; they normally start with hashtag # and happen at the same time every week – ones like #ukedchat or #edchat or #sltchat. There are lots of them about for teachers, all over the world. In fact, you could probably take...Captain Kirk or Doctor Spock? Hypothetical question, but who would you rather be – Captain Kirk or Spock? You know, the Star Trek characters? And it doesn’t matter if you’re thinking of one of them from the old, old series from the 70s, or one from the latest franchise with the young versions of Kirk...Small and perfectly formed Is there ever a time when a ‘but’ is useful for a leader? You bet, when it’s a small ‘but’. What does that look like? For all those people reading this with clean minds it’s a ‘but’ without a capital letter, and it’s usually placed more than two words into...I don’t like big “Buts” and I cannot lie Unlike the infamous song, I don’t like big ‘Buts’ and I cannot lie. Unless you are Kim Kardashian, then as a school leader there are not many ways that big “Buts” can work in your favour. What’s my definition of a big ‘But’? One that has a capital letter and...School Leaders get what they ask for Questions are a great tool in any school leaders’ toolbox, aren’t they? Using questions in a conversation or meeting can show you are interested in hearing someone’s opinion, or keen to hear their solutions and ideas, or you just want to find out more about them and their lives and...School Leadership is an elephant When was the last time you went on holiday? Half-term, Christmas, last summer? Where was it to? Somewhere hot and sunny, or cold and snowy or a lively city break, or maybe just a relaxing countryside retreat? Wherever it was, I bet you knew where you were going before you...#unschoolleaders #Unschoolleaders – what’s that all about then? Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a typo, just another Twitter hashtag? #Unschoolleaders is a new conversation about leaders in schools. It’s a different perspective on leadership development in schools; from the point of view of the followers, the...7 steps to walking the leadership talk How many school leaders plan how they are going to lead? What they will do or say to get the results that will make a difference, make an impact on pupil outcomes? They often know all about different leadership styles and bout how EI contributes to effective leadership, but how...I’ve got a feeling… Are you a leader in a school? Have you ever been a leader in a school? Maybe you hope to be a school leader one day? That’s the expectation isn’t it? Good teachers will rise up the ladder and eventually become the Headteacher, or Principal or Rector or Administrator, or...8 ways coaching teachers is like playing volleyball Teachers being ‘coached’ for professional development – what’s that all about then? Is it like executive coaching or life coaching? Or is it coaching for compliance? Is it to make teachers perform better so that they can receive their ‘performance related pay’? Or is it to help them to ‘toe...Teachers Are Superheroes PE funding for Primary Schools – you can’t have failed to notice that everyone and their dog wants to get their hands on the money. Independent sports coaches, Premiership football clubs, sports foundations, CPD providers, local authorities, sports development units and the last remnants of what was the School Sport...The end of the one day PE course for teachers. What do primary teachers do when they get stuck with PE? Call in an external specialist sports coach or attend a one day training course with glitzy free resources? Resources that end up mostly unread, with ideas largely unimplemented and often gathering dust on a shelf in the staffroom?...Blogger’s Block ...All wrapped up yet? It’s that time of year again when the streets are thronging with shoppers. You know what it’s like – people everywhere, pushing and shoving, with a determination to get their Christmas shopping done. And have you come across the type of shopper who just stops suddenly in front of you?...You know what you should do…… How many times have you heard someone say, “What you should do is…”? Or maybe they said, “If I were you I would…..” Or even “you need to….” Or “You have to…….” Sounds familiar? Can you remember the context? You probably weren’t even asking for advice, but someone was very...Training v Facilitation Ever taken part in any professional development? Was it a course? A workshop? A seminar? Maybe a conference? You know the type of thing where a trainer or speaker stands on the stage, you watch their Power Point presentation and you listen to what they tell you – about how...3 Top Tips for Writing Effective Professional Recommendations Ever wonder what to write when someone asks you for a recommendation or reference? Where do you start? Do find an example or do you look at what other people have written? Or maybe you have your own template of how to write recommendations? Or do you just get stuck...Sports Coaches Game Plan Did you notice that we had the Olympics in our country this summer? Did you see the non-stop coverage on TV? And the endless Olympic ‘tat’ available in all the shops, from T-shirts to oven gloves, and pin badges to drinking cups? You probably heard the endless commentary and chatter...Olympic legacy – what if? Legacy – how many times over the last couple of weeks have you heard that word bandied about? I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it hard to keep up with all the different views on what the Olympic legacy should be – what it should look like and...Get On Board the ‘More PE & School’ Sport Bandwagon Are you old enough to remember the Double Decker’s song? “Get on board, get on board, come and join the Double Deckers”. This was the theme tune to a children’s show which was around in the 70s, and I find myself singing it a lot at the moment – every...Another gold medal for Team GB in ‘Knee Jerk Responses’ Who remembers Olga Korbut? I was inspired by her performance in the 1972 Olympics to become a gymnast, and for those of you who know anything about me, the word on your lips at the moment is probably an astonished ‘What?’ I’m not a gymnast and never managed to make...Final Clearance – all stock must go. Has anyone been to the sales yet? I don’t know about you, but I wonder if some of the shops have trawled through their depositories and put out all the old seasons clothes, shoes, electricals and furniture; all the stuff that hasn’t sold in previous years, re-packaged and put back...What are you giving for Christmas? It’s that time of year again, when most people feel they have to rush around spending ridiculous amounts of money to buy presents for all and sundry. Are you feeling the festive spirit or are you feeling the pressure? Can you remember what you gave your nearest and dearest last...Uniform Message Who else read the article in The Telegraph on Friday 25th November entitled ‘Getting tied up in knots over great school uniform debate’? Lots of different and valid arguments were put forward by parents, teachers, psychologists, pupils and Headteachers about the advantages and disadvantages of having a school uniform. I’m...What is the purpose of PE? Did you hear the report on the other day, or did you see it on the news? Sports Medicine specialists were proposing mandatory tests for PE, and all the resultant discussion got me thinking about PE in schools. What exactly is the function of PE in this day and age?...Can teachers learn from hairdressers? What’s your ‘customer service’ like? I was recently in a small secondary school for an event that they were hosting. And I was looking forward to it because I hadn’t been there in a while, knew that the facilities were superb, and wanted to see a school in action, instead...School v Business What’s the difference between a school and a business? I can already hear the sharp intake of breath and the loud tutting – “does she not know, schools are not businesses, we are here to educate pupils and that’s not about money.” It may not be about money, but I...Everybody’s doing it. Everybody and their dog (or cat) blogs these days, its the fashionable thing to do. So if you’re not blogging, what are you missing out on? Nothing, I can hear you cry. You’re not tied to a computer, slaving away at all hours of the day and night so...Set yourself free Last week I was fortunate to work with a variety of inspirational Headteachers, teachers, School Governors and Business Managers, and in the course of my encounters with them we discussed the parallels between schools and businesses. Many teachers have a moral objection to viewing schools as businesses, believing that the...
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