Leadership with strategic thinking (part 1)

It has been some time since I have written a blog. I have continued to use twitter and facebook to connect and spread my thoughts and feelings about education.

This weekend though, I was inspired to write a blog again. I had a very productive learning and collaborative time whilst attending a workshop (#thinkstrategicworkshop #cihosts) by Maxine Driscoll. You can follow her on twitter @maxinedriscoll.

I chose to go on this workshop because I want to grow as a leader. I am currently the Head of Physical & Health Education in my school. It is a role I enjoy and want to continue. I am also an IB workshop leader. This is a role which enables me to teach other educators who are already teaching or who may be interested in teaching in the IB world.

​Having an opportunity to meet and be guided by a leader such as Maxine was an opportunity not to be missed.

Maxine has been in education internationally for many years. She has held many leadership positions in a variety of schools. She has recently developed the 21st century think strategic idea. From this a website has been developed with a blog, resources, links for workshops and more. 

There is a need for a new way of thinking in many schools. This has been apparent for some time but there are still many educators out there who fail to see this and are stuck in the past. Now is the time to open your eyes and keep learning about the future of education and see the path upon which it will lead.

My two goals this weekend were to have good discussions about leadership and push my own thinking. I also wanted to meet Maxine as I have admired her work for a while.

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I think it is important to realize your limitations but also realize that you can grow in your role. You can learn from your mistakes and from others. You can also learn from what you have done well. We must remember that we are capable of doing great things if we put our minds to it. Therefore, if we do something well, we should also learn that we can do those things and build upon that understanding.

Carol Dweck talks about the growth mindset which points to thinking in a positive way when growing as a person. an example of this type of growth can be seen in the diagram by Sylvia Duckworth.

The first day really focussed on us as leaders and trying to understand who we are and what we need to do for ourselves.

When I became the dept. head at the school i'm at, I knew I could do a good job. I have had leadership roles before in previous schools, this was a bit different. Sometimes though people have doubt. You may doubt whether you can be that person who can lead others or that people might think you are a fraud. This is called 'The Imposter Syndrome'