Category: 7.1

Blog 7.1  Avisha

“Currently, I am working as a fundraiser for an international nonprofit organization (Sapra, 2018, para1). I have personal experience as a fundraiser too however, my fundraising experience was voluntary. I was the fundraising chair for our Electoral District Association which helped to re-elect our MP. I was also part of a fundraising committee at my daughter’s Christian school when she was in pre-school. At the moment I am trying to get a couple fundraising events started at our school to help the Make a Wish Foundation as well as the Toys For Kids Vancouver Fire Fighter Charity Organization. Our entire school will get involved to support these good causes leading up to Christmas.

“It should be the ideal environment to work. However, conflicts and difference of opinions still occur” (Sapra, 2018, para1). I know what you are saying and can totally relate. Conflict seems to come and go but when we are in the midst of it, it is not pleasant. In fact conflict in the work place is unhealthy and leads to anxiety issues and depression.  I’ve been at schools where there has been conflict, especially in the public system. There was a lot of conflict when I started teaching in Langley because the Langley Teachers Association (LTA) had just been on a lengthy strike so, when I started there were many disgruntled and stupefied teachers. They were especially critical of the huge loss of pay for the lengthy period of time they did not work. Being on the picket line did not justify their normally comfortable salary. Atha (2018) notes “conflict can destroy any momentum an organization hopes to accomplish” (p.1, para 2).

Another example of conflict that is happening right now in one of my departments is between two Korean Special Education Assistants (SEA). One does not like the other and has now taken a stress leave from work. She is on the verge of moving schools. It is really unfortunate that the ladies cannot overcome their differences because I like both of them very much. This has left my English Language Learner (ELL) Head of Department (HOD) with much added stress as there is a huge shortage of teachers and SEAs, especially SEAs for the ELL department (who need to know either Chinese or Korean or even better both languages). Unresolved conflict

“The communication policy of the organization is well-defined and effective in constantly reminding people of their purpose and values” (Sapra, 2018, para). I find your comment intriguing as I would not say that my employer (the public school) is constantly reminding me of my purpose or values. My employer reminds me of many other things pertaining to my job but never touches on my own personal purpose or values. Do you think this is helpful for you? If so, in what ways? Can you give an example?

“We have regular individual check-ins with the team leaders and manager. It is a half hour session once every week where we discuss the highlights of the previous days, touch base on what improvements are required and discuss our short-term and long-term goals as an employee of the organization” (Sapra, 2018, 3). In my school, staff have departmental meetings once a month then there are monthly staff meetings and monthly head of department (HOD) meetings as well. I like your weekly meetings approach because then everyone can meet more frequently to dialogue over pressing matters. Do you ever think you meet too frequently? Are your meetings happening during work hours or outside work hours? In public education, all of our meetings happen outside of our work day on our free time after school is out. This is one grey area that I do not feel is right. Teachers should get paid to attend meetings that go outside of our scheduled work hours.

“One size fits all theory does not work if you want to generate an effective work environment. It is important to build a one-on-one relationship with the members to help them increase their productivity and excel” (Sapra, 2018, para 4). This is also true in education. Relationships are key to helping students perform and do their best. Likewise, relationship building is equally fundamental for staff and for building school culture. If every student feels connected and part of the school culture they will flourish. Same is true for teachers who are connected and know the other staff. They will be more likely to get further involved and take risks. As mentioned above, a one-size-fits-all theory just does not work in school. Schools are by nature complex and diverse.

“The organization, therefore, wants us to be clear about the issues we are facing and what’s working best for us. It gives them a ground to work on and help us build on our strengths and act on our weaknesses” (Sapra, 2018, para 4). Avisha, could you give me an example of how your employer wants you to be “clear about the issues you are facing”?

“The fundraisers’ job is performance-based. Constantly being below target puts an employee on a performance improvement plan (PIP) in which the person works in close relation with an appointed team whose job is to work on the obstacles they are facing and help them yield better results in a set period” (Sapra, 2018, para 5). Wow, this sounds quite stressful. Being part of a union means there is no such thing as a PIP. I am not sure why this is the case, but I do know in the business world it is a lot more common to measure an employee’s performance. Perhaps, in terms of public education, public schools are not trying to raise their sales margin because there is none. Thus, measuring a teacher’s performance is not that useful. Is it possible that people get fired if they fail to reach their performance-goals after being on the PIP? According to Lepsinger (2010) there appears to be some merit to holding people accountable for their actions and consequences when we fail to live up to the expectations. He goes on to suggest that “solutions” should be sought out and it sounds like that is what your company has done by implementing the PIP (p.78). Lepsinger also notes “failing to hold others accountable reflects on you as a leader” (p.79). I think this is something noteworthy to ponder.

“Three days a week we have a briefing period where we talk about the new agendas and give shout-outs to the fundraisers who performed well in the previous week. It keeps people motivated and helps them in acknowledging the difference they are making in someone’s life” (Sapra, 2018, para 7). This sounds quite encouraging. In education we do not recognize teachers for their great performance in quite the same way. Our principal does write a weekly school newspaper called the Swamp News (because our school logo is the alligator). In this weekly newspaper he writes of all the wonderful events, activities, sports triumphs, drama, theater school productions, and in this way both teachers and students get recognized. Sometimes I find the newspaper can do a better job of recognizing everyone. Perhaps due to simple oversight, the principal is not cognitive to all the happenings at the school. Just this weekend, our brand new Swim Team did an outstanding job at the Fraser Valleys coming 5th overall heading into the Provincial Championships this weekend. We have not had a swim team for the last eight years so to start it up again and to be ranked 5^th is quite an accomplishment. However, my principal missed the mark on giving my team due recognition. For myself, I get discouraged when I put in hard work or in this case my swim team and then not get any recognition. I wonder how leaders can stay on top of giving just the right recognition to their employees without allowing miscommunication and feelings of being offended to arise. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on that? Thank you for sharing your thought and personal experiences.

 

References

Atha, D. (2018, November). Strategic leadership team project [Web log post]. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs501/unit-7/

Closing the execution gap: How great leaders and their companies get results. Jossey Bass.

Sapra, A. (2018, November). Advancing organization by conflict resolution [Web log post]. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs501/2018/11/12/working-of-a-nonprofit-organization/

Response to Marcelo Blog 7.1 Being Missional

Hi Marcelo,

Thank you for sharing some of your past experiences with working in two different Christian school cultures. Your explanation of what ‘missional’ actually is was helpful. I guess both of my previous teaching positions were in schools where the majority of the student body are from a Christian home. My daughter’s school right now is also like that, however, as you mentioned, “I understand that although students may come from Christian families, it does not mean they will have a personal relationship with Christ.” This is very true. There are many students who are still investigating their faith. While I have had different experiences in Christian schools and working in the secular school system, I see some pros and cons to each.

For example, working in the secular I find it easier to stand out and be a ‘light.” I can share one example here. When I was teaching at an International School in Germany, one secretary mentioned to me how positive, bright and sunny I was compared to other teaching staff. What she saw was a glimpse of the HS reflected in me which was a huge encouragement to me back in the day as I had just moved to Germany with my husband and felt like God had taken me out of my protective Christian school and plunked me in a scary secular school. In hindsight, I think God had given me a lot of nourishment as a young Christian because he knew he could use me at this particular school. For one, I got involved as a Young Life volunteer and together with another Christian teacher from Australia, mentored a group of International students, some who were believers and others who were just checking Christianity out in a fun and safe environment.

Another difference I noticed in the secular school setting, teacher’s need to be extra careful about what they discuss in terms of their faith and what they believe. Just today I had such a circumstance. One of my grade 10 classes had debated last week on Canada’s new legislation which now allows people to request medical assistance in dying (Canada, 2018). It was during that class debate that I found out a couple of my students are believers and strong believers at that. I was so excited to hear them debating with a boy who said he was an atheist and believes humans come from apes. Well, today in class, the conversation continued and a few of my students started asking me what I believe. Because they asked, I told them point blank what I believe. I had already talked to the Christians last week and applauded them for taking a stand in their faith. There were a handful of students who really wanted to debate that topic in my class more than the debate they were assigned to research on disenfranchised ethnic groups in Canada. So, I had to tell them how, as much as I would like to debate this topic, I can’t because if one student was offended and said something I could lose my job. I didn’t exactly say all that.. but I do get frustrated at times wanting to have that conversation and being restrained.

According to Wolters (2005) “the civilization of the West is admittedly in the grip of a disastrous process of secularization” (p.45). Part of this degradation in our society is due to the movement away from teaching young people the truths found in the Bible. What I really long for as a teacher and as a future leader is summed up succinctly by this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” (as cited in Wolters, 2016, p.91).

So, working in a Christian school there is a lot more freedom to be yourself and to talk about hot topics. Teachers are liberated to teach students unabashedly the bigger picture and even pray together. I am excited though to find on-fire Christians in my classes and start mentoring them.

“I have only worked at Christian schools in the past eighteen years. Twelve years in the USA and six years now in Paraguay.” I wonder what differences you noticed from your teaching experiences and in particular the leadership of the staff in both the American school and the one you are currently at in Paraquay?

On the topic of conflict, my colleague and I were under fire at the International School in Germany because we were affiliated with Young Life. One student from Iceland had complained about our group and tried to cause trouble so that Young Life would no longer be able to meet on campus.

“While in the US I worked for a school that had the purpose to maintain the Christian culture. Majority of students were from Christian families, and the institution assumed that people had an understanding of what it meant to be Christian. The purpose was not to evangelize. Some of this also had to do with the particular denomination the school was part of. In my personal opinion, I see more cons than pros with such schools.” I wonder what pros and cons you saw in this setting? Can you share a few?

“I am a principal now of a school which has the purpose to be missional and brings kids into a relationship with Christ. We do have students that come from Christian families, but we don’t recruit them. They naturally come to us. Most of our students have very little knowledge of the Bible and who Christ is. It gives me great energy to work in such a place.” I would find this exhilarating as well and perhaps this is where my current teaching position is similar to your school as the vast majority of students do not know much about God and they certainly do not know his redemptive plan. I do wonder though if some of the issues you’ve had with finding just the right staff is attributed to the fact that you are a missional school and not a Christian school with mostly students from a church background? In such a school, the school board would not allow unbelieving teachers to teach. Do you have a contract that your teachers must sign which states what kind of behavior they must have? I had special contracts to sign at the previous schools I mentioned.

As Wolters (2005) says, we are in the job of helping to reconcile the world with the Father (loc. 141). We are healing and restoring what is fallen (loc. 860).” This is a great quote! We are indeed in the business of bringing healing and restoration to a fallen world. Therefore it should not matter so much if we are called to be leaders in one system or the other; God can use our light to shine and reach different people in both systems.

Reference:

Canada, H. (2018, October 26). Medical assistance in dying. Retrieved November 14, 2018, from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/medical-assistance-dying.html

Smith, J. K. (2016). You are what you love the spiritual power of habit. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

Wolters, A. M. (2005). In Creation regained: Biblical basics for a reformational worldview [Kindle version] (Second ed., Loc. 1-1582). Retrieved from www.amazon.com

Blog 7.1 Response to Rob (Conflict and Cooperation)

Rob, thanks for sharing about your current school. This school sounds similar in ways to a Christian school I taught at for three years in Toronto which was also a “missional school founded and run by a single church.” Unlike your school, my old school required that 75% of the student population come from a Charismatic background. Teachers came from mostly Pentecostal and Baptist churches but they were all believers. At a local Christian school that I taught at briefly, they also had certain stipulations about what percent of students had to come from a Christian home and what percent could be unchurched but at least open to learning more about Christianity. The same is the case for my daughter’s present Christian private school however, they also seek to have a certain percent of the student body from a charismatic church background.

“Most of the student population is from non-Christian families. There are Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, and Atheist families sending their children to our school.” I wonder how open these students and parents are to Christianity? What seems to be the appeal for them to send their children to your Christian school when there are other Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist schools in Richmond?

“The development of the positive attitude of the staff came through prioritizing staff prayer times, staff worship times, and through modelling servant leadership on the part of the administration.” I have also experienced this at my old school in Toronto. It was back then in 2001-2004 when I was first exposed to transformational servant leadership. My principal at the time, Mr. B, walked very close with the Lord. In fact the entire staff seemed to minister to me in such a powerful way. As a young Christian I learned much about the gifts of the HS, speaking in tongues etc… It was common to be walking down the hall and teachers or admin might be praying over someone in the halls.

Furthermore, being intentional is key whether praying with staff or worshiping. Smith (2016) posits “recognizing worship as the heart of discipleship doesn’t mean sequestering discipleship to Sunday; it means expanding worship to become a way of life” (p.113). For both you and your colleagues as well as my old school in Toronto, worshiping God through prayer and worship service built a strong community and was very powerful.

“The administration strives for these principles modelling them to the staff, who in turn model them to the students. In all areas of communication the administration and staff members are transparent about their concerns and their desire to fulfill God’s plan for our school. This is the foundation of our staff interactions, in all things we work for Christ.” All that you write here Rob is very similar to my old experiences. You are very blessed to be able to work and teach in such a healthy environment.

“In previous schools and organizations there has always been an underlying culture of gossip and grumbling. Teachers and administrators back-stab one another, complain about one another, and disrespect one another.” I have seen these extremes as well, but I might add that I have seen great differences between two completely different Christian schools where in one atmosphere it was overflowing with love and the interactions of the Holy Spirit, unlike the other where the atmosphere was  cold and seemed to be not as on fire as the other school. I often attributed that to the denomination of the school and perhaps there is great truth to this point of view because my daughter’s school is very similar to my old school in Toronto, although it is much larger in size.

Since I have worked for the public system, I have noticed a bad culture of gossip, grumbling and backstabbing all in the name of trying to climb the ladder. It was quite eye-opening when I first did my practicum in the public system. My Profs. At TWU encouraged us to do our main practicum in the public system and from the start of the program I spoke strongly for only wanting to teach in the Christian system. After much prayer, God orchestrated everything to work out in such a positive way. My main School Advisor was himself a Christian and not just a Christian, but a transformational servant leader Christian. I attribute my sticking with the public system to him and his mentorship. My other School Advisor was also a Christian and happened to be the sponsor teacher for a Christian club at the school. I then started to see the possibilities of being a light in a dark place. Currently, at my school all the TWU alumni stick together and take on the TWU student teachers. We are a small group of teachers with a similar worldview which is comforting to know that I am not all alone.

Have you ever begun a conflict resolution meeting with prayer? Do you feel that it makes a noticeable difference to the tone of the meeting?

Not conflict resolution however, I am sure my old school used this approach for such meetings, if they existed! At my old school in Toronto we had prayer devotions for 30 minutes before school started every single day. Teachers would take turns leading and this would rotate throughout the entire staff. I remember being a fairly new Christian and feeling a bit anxious about having to prepare something and teach the others who all seemed to have been walking with the Lord for a much longer time than myself. That prayer time was the highlight of my every day. We really bonded as a staff; praying for each other, our personal issues as well as for our students and the families of the school and the pastoral team. Praying in unison with others who were my brothers and sisters in Christ was pretty amazing. I have never worked in such an environment since even though I taught at another Christian school, they did not do staff devotions on a regular basis.

I have worked at many schools that struggle with an attitude of gossip and grumbling? What actions or traits do you think prevent that attitude from arising at my current school? Are there any tangible tools one could take from this example into another situation to dissolve an existing negative school culture or environment?

Just today I attended a Health & Safety Meeting and when I arrived two of my colleagues were grumbling about the new VP and shortly thereafter, it went into a complaint against our principal. I thought to myself how dangerous these executive meetings can be and how quickly they can turn into gossip sessions which only tear down instead of building up. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Nevertheless, the situation made me put my headlights on and realize these people cannot be trusted. I will be very careful from now on about what I share with them.  Wolters (2005) reminds us that the world we currently inhabit is a perverted creation; the poisonous effects of the fall have fouled every aspect of creation” (p.63).

“Should a situation arise in the future where a staff member were to take advantage of the current school environment that I work in, what strategies would you employ in creating an attitude of collaboration? For a hypothetical example: a new staff member joins the team. They bring with them an attitude of negativity, a desire to only do required tasks, and teach the curriculum that they want to teach. How would you bring them into the collective vision.”

This is a good question to ponder Rob.  Hughes, Beatty and Dinwoodie (2014) talk about “strategic thinking and how it should be part of a collective process” (p.56). They go on to mention Steve Jobs who made a note to “involve multiple people in the company’s strategic thinking” (p.57). How would you turn this person’s mindset around by listening to him/her while making them feel they have some say in the matter?

 

References

Holy Bible: New International Version. (2001). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Hughes, R., Beatty, K. & Dinwoodie, D. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organization’s enduring success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Smith, J. K. (2016). You are what you love the spiritual power of habit. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

Wolters, A. M., & Goheen, M. W. (2005). Creation regained biblical basics for a reformational worldview (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.