I’ve recently read Daniel Coyle’s ‘The Culture Code‘ and it really gets you thinking about ‘belonging’, which is the special sauce that a lot of schools are looking for. Here is my take on the book and how it can be potentially applied to schools.
According to Coyle all successful groups develop three “skills” or attributes:
Skill 1 – Build Safety – signals of connection generate bonds of belonging and identity.
Skill 2 – Share Vulnerability – habits of mutual risk drive co-operation (it is ok to make mistakes, I make them too…)
Skill 3 – Establish purpose – shared narratives create shared goals and values
THE CULTURE CODE applied to schools:
- How do you ‘create collisions’ to make staff connect? Meetings and CPDs are when staff come together but how much of that time is given up with ‘collisions’ and how much is just delivery, where people sit and listen and then go home? Lunch and breaks are opportune times for ‘collisions’ but how do you get staff out of their classrooms/departmental staff rooms? When schools are being built or adapted, how much thought is given to the architecture of the school in terms of creating an environment where staff can ‘collide’ rather than being in silos?
- How can you hear from everyone? At staff briefings/meetings – get staff to answer three questions out loud – 1. Why did they become a teacher? 2. What do they like about the school? 3. What one thing would they change at this school or about teaching in general? Or alternatively…
- Vulnerability sessions – answering 3 questions out loud at a meeting/briefing. 1. What’s the worst lesson you have delivered? 2. What have you dreamed of doing and why haven’t you done it yet? 3. What’s your greatest accomplishment in your teaching career?
- School history assembly – tell a better story of the school’s history, especially if the school is really old. Use the jumper/jacket/badge as a symbol that’s been passed down through the years and will be passed on by them in the future. Link to the All Black’s idea of ‘leave the jersey in a better place’. They are the custodians right now – make them proud of that legacy. Show clips of old students to connect to their past/present/future. Explain how they were sitting in the same seat/school – show a future them.
- ‘Thank-you weeks’ – can we have particular times in the year when we encourage thanking staff/students? Can we get old students in to talk to staff to thank the school for the role it has played in what they have achieved? Often schools get old students in to talk to current students but why not get them to speak to staff as well to remind them of their ‘purpose’ as a teacher?
- Reconsider the overall expectations of the school and how they are continually embedded? And is there buy-in? What phrases are used in the classroom that show students/staff what we expect? Should there be a list of phrases that should be continually heard in classroom observations? The book suggests that you should embrace catchphrases! They might sound cheesy but eventually it creates belonging. What is being used? And what are the priorities of a school – should they be ranked so everyone knows?
- Every year results meetings take place – what can be learned from them? What is shared across departments? Can successful strategies from one department be scaled up or is there an obvious time trade-off for students.
On Teaching... 