Principal Conversations

Strategic Conversations

(The second of the two core methodologies of Principal Conversations)

It is through the human process of conversation that we communicate, understand, relate, cooperate and learn from each other. However, not all conversations are created equal. While some can be as trivial as social chatter or even gossip, some conversations change lives. They do this by changing your thinking, your perspective, your understanding, your decisions and ultimately your actions. Different kinds of conversations stimulate different kinds of thinking.

Principal Conversations uses the main elements of a powerful approach known as Strategic Conversation, a highly practical approach to developing the leadership thinking of any senior team. Strategic Conversations are Leadership Conversations, and in the case of Schools, Principal Conversations.
And this is your leverage point for cultural, systemic and behavioural change with a view to achieving your long term goals.

Principal Conversations utilises Focus Questions, carefully designed for each DVD edition to stimulate these Strategic Conversations, both within a School's Leadership Team and/or amongst colleagues through the Subscriber's Only Forum.

Sample Focus Question from Issue 1

1. Being a true leader begins more with your spychology than it does your official title or position. Subsequently, personal motivation is essential for stepping into a true leadership role with all of its responsibilities. For Brian Rogers, a major part of his motivation to lead the transformation of a school was his sense of a higher purpose. He saw his role as contributing to the larger state educational system.

a. What are your personal motivations for taking on a leadership role in your school?

b. What is your 'higher purpose' that goes beyond just your job, title and official position?

c. What is the larger identity that you feel part of? What is the larger system/group/community
that you contribute to?

d. What are the wider impacts to the larger system from your school performing well and not performing well? How do you see your role and responsibility as a leader of your school accordingly?

Sample Focus Question from Issue 2

1. For Anne, the quality of relationships and connection is fundamental to everything she does, and consequently everything she is able to achieve. It is the basis from which she is able to engage high levels of participation from students, staff, parents and the wider community, It also enables her to work through any difficult conversations to a collaborative resolution.

a. Are relationships truly valued at your school? Whatever your answer, why do you think that?

b. What relationships could be improved that would make a significant difference at your school? (between students, parents, staff and the wider community?)

c. If you were to look through the filters of 'inclusion/exclusion' what do you see at your school? Who (individuals or groups) are being included in what? Who is being excluded from what? What could become possible if they became included? How could that happen?

d. If you were to look through the filters of 'task/maintenance' how do you assess the quality of how you work together as a leadership team? How do you relate with your staff? Your students? With parents? With the wider community? What balance of 'task/maintenance' would work better in specific situations? Are you too 'task' or too 'maintenance' in certain relationships?

Sample Focus Question from Issue 3

Thinking about Dialogue:

a. Can the level of dialogue be improved within your leadership team?

b. How would you rate your leadership team's current level of dialogue?
(use a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being the highest)

c. What level would you like it to be?

d. If there is a gap, how can you raise the level of dialogue in your leadership team meetings as well as one-to-one informal conversations?