Principal Wellbeing - Connection - Vice President, Bob Willetts:

The Theme of Leadership and Principal Support this week is "Connection"

"Schools have optimised for efficiency and accidentally optimised out humanity”

At the recent APPA Conference one of the best keynote sessions was by Dr Justin Coulson who reminded us of the value and importance of connection and relatedness in our roles as school leaders. He said everything flows from the relational foundation and challenged us to monitor every policy decision through the lens of relatedness to enhance belonging, motivation and performance in our schools.

I thought about the “You can’t pour from an empty cup” mantra, and visualised that connection, relatedness and belonging starts with us as Principals in our PPCs and cascades into our schools like a champagne waterfall as our full cups of connection and relatedness optimise the performance of our teams.

The Flourish Movement Podcast – Connection

Stronger Together

As principals the strength of our relationships determines the effectiveness and sustainability of our leadership performance. In this fantastic podcast our colleague Wayne Farquar unpacks the four pillars of his relationships that sustain him in his role.

Contextual Leadership – Connecting with your community

Moving to a new context? This episode is for you. Skye Davis has a Masters in contextual leadership and the experience across contexts to back up her learnings. We are grateful for her taking the time to share with us.

Connection workshop: “The whole presentation was insightful and inspiring”

“Can you come and do something about wellbeing?” is a question I regularly field in my role as Exec Liaison for Principal Support. I create sessions to support and empower PPCs with behaviour changes that genuinely move the dial on wellbeing.

The latest workshop  “A DOSE of Connection” has a strong research evidence base and creates the conditions that are protective factors and mitigate the risk of harm for staff.

Wellbeing indicators: Data from almost 100 Survey responses of participants in 3 PPCs so far:

86% have increased sense of belonging

86% have increased Psychological Safety and Trust.

91% have enhanced mood and positivity

85% felt less stress

85% felt less anxious

92% felt less tension

Reach out if you want a session delivered in your PPC.

RUOK Day

RUOK Day was on Thursday but the key message is “ASK RUOK ANY DAY”

The RUOK site has excellent resources to enhance connection and increase capabilities to provide meaningful and effective support when someone is NOT OK.

When we come together for PPC meetings, connect and pay attention to your colleagues, notice changes in their behaviours and ask…. “RUOK”.