It's what you do not what you say

There is an old adage 'people will judge you by what you do rather than what you say'. We see it often, don't we. The Principal says 'I expect you to be on time to class', and is then regularly late to meetings. The teacher tells students 'I expect you to respect me', and then proceeds to yell at them.

As I continue to think about the deliberate acts of leadership required to support the growth in creativity in schools, this became very apparent to me over the past two weeks. I've written previously that I want staff to practice, celebrate , and share, their. own creativity. I think this is important if teachers are similarly to support growth in creativity in their students. Having discovered my interest in writing free verse poetry I have taken to occasionally sharing one or two of those poems with staff to model risk taking, vulnerability, and creativity more generally.

Now there have often been outlets for staff to show their creativity on stage. Our leavers assembly regularly features a 'staff dance'. At performance evenings we often have staff who might sing (alone, or with others), and our choral group 'Voices with Soul' almost always has at least one or two staff singing in the group. 

However over the past two weeks (for reasons I cannot even guess sat) three staff have shared examples of their creativity with me. The first two shared poems with me, both of which were very cool. I was grateful (actually quite honoured.. 'chuffed' is a word my mother would have used) that they were prepared to share at all, and would definitely encourage them to share more widely in our community.

And then there was  today. One of our team, at the end of a regular meeting on more usual professional issues, drew out a ziplock plastic bag and said 'I want to show you these'. She does patchwork. As a part of her Professional Growth Cycle work, specifically around tikanga, she decided she didn't know enough about Matariki, and researched the stars. She then began creating a series of patchwork squares each dedicated to one of the stars. She had chosen patterns, and fabrics, to tell the story. This in itself was gobsmacking enough. The specific pieces, as yet not quite finished, showed creativity 'in spades'. The designs, the fabrics, the stories are beautifully told in fabric. And how creative is it to show the results of this small part of her tikanga journey in patchwork. That is b****y inspired.

As if that weren't enough, here's the 'kicker'. She thanked me for encouraging creativity in others, that she had been inspired to share this work as a result of my own acts in sharing my poems.  She expressed gratitude for my work in building an open culture that supported and nurtured creativity amongst staff and students.

My heart melted. I nearly 'teared up'. 

Putting aside my immediate emotional response, it strongly supported my. views on leadership and creativity. 

I do believe we can teach creativity, despite some views to the contrary. Ask any secondary school art or drama or music or technology teacher, or an English teacher. They do it every day. You can ALSO create the conditions in which creativity can thrive. I liken my work to that of a gardener. A gardener cannot 'make' a plant grow. But she can create the right conditions for the plants to grow. She can sow and water, fertilise and cultivate, so that plants are most likely to grow. So I think it is with creativity in schools.

Why is this important? Our Manaiakalani schools espouse the pedagogy 'Learn, Create, Share', creativity at the centre. If we want it to grow we have to be deliberate and intentional about it. We have to create the right conditions for it to sprout, to flourish, and grow, if we want to reap the harvest of improved wellbeing, and a generation of empathetic problem solvers.

Principalship has many component parts. It's complex work. It's hard to suggest that any one component is more important than any other, although I am a great support of Vivianne Robinson's 'Student Centred Leadership' work which defines the hard core of our work so well. However in the mix I 'reckon' (yes another 'reckon') there need to be those acts required to create the conditions in which creativity can thrive.

It appears that it is an open non judgmental response to risk taking, a willingness to share as a way to model risk taking, an explicit signal that overt acts of creativity are valued, that makes a difference. It's definitely what you do, not what you say, that makes a difference.

I took it from these three experiences of the past two weeks that I may actually be getting the hang of this 'Principalship' thing. 'He puna auaha a centre of creative excellence'.. maybe.. just maybe!!!

 

PS Once the patchwork is finished, I will ask the teacher's permission, and hopefully be able to share this splendid beautiful inspiring piece of creativity. And I hope to convince the two poets to share their wonderful words too.