Leading Together:
- strengthening relational trust in schools
Building relational trust
In the context of a school, gaining significant shifts in student achievement and wellbeing requires the collective efforts of all members of the school community. Building relational trust is critical to harnessing the collective will, energy and skill of the school community.
Excerpt from MOE website Education Counts:
In the context of a school, gaining significant shifts in student achievement and wellbeing requires the collective efforts of all members of the school community. Building relational trust is critical to harnessing the collective will, energy and skill of the school community.
Excerpt from MOE website Education Counts:
Leading Together is an evidence-based program that supports whole school change by strengthening shared leadership, personal development and relational trust in the adult community.
It is designed to help school leadership teams build the capacity to facilitate positive, trusting relationships among the adults in their school community, to enable them to work together more collaboratively to improve student outcomes.
It is not a curriculum-driven program, but more of a mentored training that aims to develop leadership dispositions and skills among the members of a school team, to enable them to implement a trust-building and culture-shifting program within their school.
Leading Together focuses on shifting school culture by:
It is designed to help school leadership teams build the capacity to facilitate positive, trusting relationships among the adults in their school community, to enable them to work together more collaboratively to improve student outcomes.
It is not a curriculum-driven program, but more of a mentored training that aims to develop leadership dispositions and skills among the members of a school team, to enable them to implement a trust-building and culture-shifting program within their school.
Leading Together focuses on shifting school culture by:
- cultivating self-awareness and internal accountability
- improving communication
- building connection and community
- fostering collaboration
- strengthening listening and reflecting
- sharpening focus and attention
- addressing conflict constructively
Leading Together: Recommended program structure
- The school leadership team attends 7 professional development days over 2 years where they learn Leading Together principles and practices that focus on relationships, reflection, and personal and professional renewal.
- A two-year implementation program is recommended, but flexible, depending on school needs: Year One: Term 1 (2 days) Term 2 (1 day) Term 3 (1 day) Year Two: Term 1 (1 day) Term 2 (1 day) Term 3 (1 day)
- The school leadership team implements LT protocols within their school structures, meetings and social interactions. The way they choose to do this will reflect their particular school culture and context. In this way, Leading Together does not seek to impose change from without, but rather inspires sustainable change from within the school community.
- The leadership team has the ongoing support of LT facilitators as needed to adapt and stabilise LT applications in the school (on-site or by Skype/phone).
- The team are equipped with a comprehensive guidebook which outlines many possible practices they can use for a variety of purposes, including reflective and mindfulness activities, creating safe social space, different ways of listening, speaking and knowing, a variety of protocols for constructive adult discussion and conducting difficult conversations.
- Leading Together can be successfully implemented within the context of another school improvement agenda, such as the introduction of a new academic or social/emotional education program for students, as building trust is vital to the success of any school change initiative that requires the support and buy-in of all teachers.
Leading Together: Program evaluation
As a two-year pilot intervention, Leading Together was found to demonstrate considerable results. Fully-implementing schools experienced significant changes in professional capacity, relational trust, and academic optimism - variables that indicate positive community functioning. (Bond, 2016)
Evaluated by researchers at the University of Virginia, it was found to meet an important need by placing effective communication, listening, and relationships in the foreground in schools, and may be particularly useful to facilitate uptake of social and emotional learning programs because adults are developing, enhancing, and modelling the social and emotional skills that they teach to students in their classrooms. (Rimm-Kaufman, Leis, & Paxton, 2014)
Bibliography:
Bond, N. (2016). Leading Together Program Evaluation. Medford, MA: Tufts University.
Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Leis, M. & Paxton, C. (2014). Innovating Together to Improve the Adult Community in Schools: Results from a Two-Year Study of the Initial Implementation of Leading Together. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
Evaluated by researchers at the University of Virginia, it was found to meet an important need by placing effective communication, listening, and relationships in the foreground in schools, and may be particularly useful to facilitate uptake of social and emotional learning programs because adults are developing, enhancing, and modelling the social and emotional skills that they teach to students in their classrooms. (Rimm-Kaufman, Leis, & Paxton, 2014)
Bibliography:
Bond, N. (2016). Leading Together Program Evaluation. Medford, MA: Tufts University.
Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Leis, M. & Paxton, C. (2014). Innovating Together to Improve the Adult Community in Schools: Results from a Two-Year Study of the Initial Implementation of Leading Together. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
