Leadership Shares: Jorgen Neilson on Building a High Performance School

Jorgen Neilson is an extraordinary school leader. His sharp mind and strategic approach to school leadership is equally matched by his incredible empathy, warmth and connectedness with staff and students. Jorgen's unwavering determination to do 'whatever it takes' to ensure each and every child succeeds sits at the heart of his efforts to build a High Performance School. By ensuring all staff are a) clear on their vision and purpose, b) supported by strong systems and processes to promote quality teaching and learning, and c) can leverage the diversity within their teams, a culture of high performance is created enabling every student and every staff member to flourish.   As the Principal of Kin Kora State School in Gladstone, he has managed to balance his supportive and strategic leadership responsibilities to build a warm, friendly and inclusive school culture whilst maintaining a strong focus on student improvement and teacher development.

1.   The Butterfly Effect

Q: Do you believe teachers are having a larger impact in society beyond the classroom?

A: Absolutely – 100%! There is a real increase in the need for shaping students for the future – both our need (societally) and their need (personally). Obviously the need to have good people who can operate critically, collaboratively and with moral conscience is imperative. Sadly, it is sometimes also imperative to get “in the way” of some students who may be on a negative progression – to help change their current trajectory, moving from potentially troubled lives to become contributing members of society. I think that the opportunity for this type of impact happens because: 

• Social development needs are increasing, meaning the learning has an impact on rate and quality of community participation – not just on the individual level of retained knowledge and skill.
• The workforce(s) that our students will engage with are undergoing rapid change with the need for knowledge being surpassed by the ability to fluidly use soft skills.
• These skills, particularly Creativity and Problem Solving require resilience. Also the ability to collaborate effectively is a balance of confidence to speak up and the consideration to allow broad perspective. (Sounds easy, right!).

2.   What are the issues that keep you up a night? 

Q: What are the big issues for education in the current state of play and what are the emerging challenges on the horizon?

A: The movement from cookie cutter learning to differentiated practice, in terms of the needs of students and the context in which they learn. This is a complex task which requires a workforce willing to take the hard road. 

More contextualised learning has better outcomes for students but comes at the expense of not using the “out of the box” solution and the workforce impact in both time and skill are challenges. This really tests staff resilience levels, and requires them to be supported enough to take risks. My challenge as a Principal is to build teams that are both supported and courageous enough to get the learning right for each and every learner. 

Given this, wellbeing of staff becomes paramount, along with establishing a culture that we do “Whatever It Takes” for the students. This also adds pressure to the workforce, but yields rewards. My challenge here is to support teams as much as possible so that the necessary ‘hard road’ is the one we travel on the most. My mentor and friend, Paul Wood once said to me that developing capability is about, “Make best, most”.“

Make best, most!”is where we as school leaders identify, clarify and share the great practices occurring in our classrooms. Where we make progression towards these great practices the norm for all teachers. Any other work, reactive work, is necessary but every minute we spend in development has the potential to reduce the time spent reactively on crisis management. The work of a school leader can be a rewarding process, or a vicious circle depending on where our time is more concentrated. My challenge is to support my leaders to focus on systems and processes as much as possible so that we maximise our impact on the teaching and learning for students. If I can get my leadership team to spend half of their time solving the “story” of an issue and the other half on the “system” that led to it, the balance returns.  

3.    Your Brief History of Time

Q: Give us a career snapshot. What work roles did you have prior to becoming a teacher? What were the early teaching years like and what was the catalyst to move into leadership (which schools did you work in along the way)?

A: Work roles - Early on I had lots of jobs that, looking back were all about dealing with people. Retail worker, Outside School and Vacation Care, Hospitality. The full spectrum of people, some at their best, and others not so flash – but this was good grounding for working with children and staff in schools. I have never had a position where I was in complete control of the work that came my way, another helpful grounding and commonality with my work in schools. 

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for a career when I was in high school, and then (because I couldn’t find a work experience area that really appealed) I was given teaching as an option. I really enjoyed it, and then submitted my preferences for teaching. 

I had a great start to teaching – I was fortunate to work alongside a mentor I still consider to be one of the best teachers I have worked with, my mate (the crazy Kiwi) Eryca Rawiri. She was my mentor and teaching partner when I arrived in Emerald. Looking back, she used a simple strategy of ‘gradual release’ to ensure I could plan and deliver what was needed, and was always there to lend a hand and support me. 

I worked as a teacher for 4 years before I looked for my first Principal role. My Principal at the time said to me that I was ready, he said it was because I was starting to see and question ‘what and why’ when I did things. I really think that I was being a pain in the you know what!  He was great to encourage me to take the first step, and made sure I had experience across the curriculum before I went to a one teacher P-7 school. 

My Principalship / Leadership story so far…

• Small Band 5 (1 teacher) – Mistake Creek SS
• Medium Band 5 (3 teacher) – Goovigen SS
• Small P-10 school – Alpha SS
• Small Band 8 Primary – Emerald North SS
• Large Band 8 Primary – Denison SS
• Principal Coach – supporting various size schools < Band 8
• Large Primary Band 10 – Kin Kora SS

4.   Early Career: Advice My Younger Self

Q: What were some of your key early career leadership learnings and experiences? What advice would you give your younger self today? What advice do you wish you had ignored? 

A: Key Learnings

• When something feels bad/stresses you – it is demanding attention or response. Delaying or leaving it only makes you churn and stress on it for longer. I remember the first time I needed to discuss a performance issue with a staff member. I waited for 3 days to have the chat. The first day it was because I wasn’t prepared mentally, on the second day there was another issue causing me to re-plan and by the time the third day came I was that wound up, it was a train wreck of a conversation. Hindsight being 20/20 – calling and addressing the issue early may have prevented the second issue, and my communication would have been better without the hassles of the subsequent days passing. 
• Trust your judgement, this includes judging when you haven’t got a clue and need to ask. The fact that we read people all day, every day means our brain searches for patterns and prediction – it can detect and highlight to you when something is wrong. Go with it!
• Keep your professional colleagues close – they are the best support for wellbeing and professional collaboration. I live about 15 minutes away from where I work. The drive in or home is used to connect with someone in my professional peer network. It is important because while we have teams in our schools there is still only one Principal – and it is a chance to get a colleague to offload to you instead of their families (or their own staff). I appreciate it and I know that my Principal colleagues do to. 

Advice to Younger Self…

• Get it clear, check it, check it again – and then start! Clarityis so important as soon as you need to rely on other people to get the job done. Looking back, when my instructions have been a little ambiguous the outcomes are not as strong. Get clear on what is needed, what it will look like, where the support is, and where it will be monitored. Then things start to happen.
• The way you respond to situations needs to depend on the context, not the person. I remember looking at the performance data of classes in a cohort, and being amazed when a class, whose teacher was widely regarded as having great outcomes for students, had some particularly troubling data. I remember thinking that it can’t be right – saying things like “there are never issues in that room” or “are you sure the calculations are correct?” After closer inspection, I found that there were a few students in the room who were really influencing the status quo, and the teacher who was usually on top of things was feeling upset about the prospect of asking for help. The result was the learning suffered, so did the teacher.  The lesson here is two-fold. 

a.    If you are unsure – check it yourself, don’t assume. 

b.    The work is complex – so the support needs to be clear, accessible and abundant

I have fallen for this before, and now look at the outcomes first, then make the decision - Coach (stretch good performance), Mentor (support to move from good to great), Manage (help the person remove obstacles). 

Advice I wish I ignored…

Not sure if it was advice, or my mis-read on the leadership messaging – I went through a time where I over negotiated things – in an effort to see people “happy” with next steps or decisions. This led to me spending too much time “wheeling and dealing” and ultimately left people frustrated if I couldn’t fulfill their wish lists.

Now I know it is much more appropriate to be clear on the intent of any transaction

• Direction – I need you to do this please. 
• Discussion – your thoughts are required before I decide.
• Decision – for us to decide together.
• Information for you – then you take forward or action.  

5.   Later Career: Setbacks & Successes

Q: How did your career progress to the role you had today? Have you had any setbacks which ultimately created subsequent success?What has become more important and what has become less important to your school leadership in the last few years?  

A: Setbacks - Leading an improvement agenda explicitly… following on from the advice to myself (above) I have learned that ambiguous plans lead to mixed results. Thus I have really focussed in on setting clear improvement plans in my schools. I remember a time where I set my plan, but didn’t have great checks, supports and monitoring. The result was that there was improvement, but there were much bigger gains in areas I had not placed focus. Looking back, it was a little too vague, so people were giving genuine effort but no gain for their work. It was a frustrating time for everyone.  

After that year, I made it my business to ensure that the plans are simple, which has resulted in a much more focused execution of improvement agendas ever since. I remember working in a project on school improvement where the co-ordinator said to me “the main thing is to make sure the main thing always remains the main thing”. It gave me a laugh because we had needed to do just that…

A: More / Less Important To My Leadership In Recent Years?

6.    On Building High Performance Schools

Q: What have been some of the successes and challenges in building a High Performance school? 

Q: How do you enable your own leadership team to create High Performance Teams throughout the school? 

A: I start with the expectation that the practices we use as a leadership team are present and practiced in all teams. Leaders are then supported to intervene with each team based on their level of functionality – Coach / Manage / Mentor.

We also use data and dashboards for all staff, and this is growing so that teaching teams are using their own dashboards. 

Common structures and expectations – the easiest win is structures that help the HPT process. We use schoolwide and team x team HPT data walls. Our meeting agenda templates align, always sharing key entry/exit components (e.g., opening / icebreaker / barometer / hot issues / key takeaways etc.).

We also use the HPT strategies for working together (Team Profiles, Above and Below the Line Chart, Calling Behaviour Protocol etc). Every teams develops their own specific vision, goals and Level Up plan for higher performance. In our team meetings governance roles such as chair and moderator are routinely shared, which is a great way to share the load but it also gives people insight into the impact of personal behaviours when teams meet, sometimes a dose of one’s own medicine can be the best cure! 

Q: How do you get teams working effectively – both within cohorts and collaborating across the school on important schoolwide projects? 

1. Training and onboarding. We make HPT structures a part of induction. 
2. Clear expectations in all meetings: 

• What are we here to do (purpose) 
• What are the parameters (agreed content)
• What is the link to the big picture (vision)

3. Setting / directing back to the structures in place – particularly where and how your staff can get support – the Business As Usual (BAU) process is vital here. Perhaps more importantly, the adherence to BAU around staff support is a discipline that needs more practice in many schools. School leaders tend to be very compassionate, and sometimes over reach when it comes to responding to staff need – breaking their own BAU rules for staff support – which may fix an issue in the short-term, but cultivates dependence in the long-term. As leaders we need to be mindful of the “give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish” principle to build a sustainable wellbeing culture in schools.

4. The use of a cohort leaders / middle leaders structure to ensure perspective is gathered broadly, and responded to. This regular check-in not only meets consultative requirements for schools, but allows genuine reflection that takes into perspective the needs of the whole school. This also allows for succession planning and career pathway development. 

How do you use meeting cycles and dashboards to maximise staff and student performance and wellbeing?

• Data in 1:1 conversations with leadership team, and then by them with their teams.
• Response to Pulse data – this is getting more and more valued as the role of teacher wellbeing becomes more prevalent. It is the way we respond to needs of our staff – getting them to take ownership over their wellbeing and use us as a resource and support as needed. 
• Use the HPT strategy review process to review our school performance and improvement plan implementation once per term – we call this our Board Meeting.
• Making sure our PLC’s have ready access to their own team data wall and dashboards when they are reviewing their performance and making decisions.

7.   Influential Leaders & Mentors 

Q: Who do you think of when you hear the words ‘Influential School Leader’? Have mentors played a significant role in your career? What characteristics do you find most helpful in a mentor?  

Easily, Paul Wood.  I first met Paul as the parent of a student I coached.  He encouraged me to take on the Principalship, and has been a sounding board, support and critical friend all the way. He has also been a Principal colleague and  mentor, and then my Supervisor. 

Key Characteristics:

• Very sharp and highly intelligent – but not in an omnipotent kind of way. The sort of person you knew you needed to listen to. 
• Unwavering in beliefs – what is important – moral purpose (do what is right), courageous leadership (do what needs to be done) and that people matter (enjoy the ride).
• Always made time for me. A Band 9 high school Principal talking to a Band 5 about P&C issues or broken mowers! I’m sure looking back, that there were about 11.2 million other important things Paul could have been doing for the betterment of his own school, but in that time – he was completely present.
• A good mentor – asks questions and shares insights with the goal of getting you to an answer – sometimes a frustrating process – but the answer is yours to create (although I suspect with Paul the answer was in his head about 30 seconds after I asked the question – an extremely patient mentor!). 

8.   Strange But True 

Q: What have been some of the more memorable ‘strange but true’ moments in your career?

A: I think one of the more interesting ‘strange but true’ facts about me is that I am not one of those quiet, refined and reserved types of Principals portrayed in films and television shows. The most common feedback I get from people when they ask me about my occupation is: “I can’t believe you are a Principal!”. I’m not sure if that means I need to change a little (perhaps be more reserved and boring!), or their personal stereotype of Principals needs to shift to include warm, caring, outgoing, fun loving types of people! 

9.   Personal Inspo: Favorite Books & Quotes

Q: What are some of your favourite quotes? What are your most gifted and/or recommended leadership books to others? 

10.The Tipping Point: Coping With Stress 

Q: When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused what do you do? How do you ‘stay the course’ during periods of change and uncertainty? 

• I hunker down – stop and identify the next steps:  a.) Drop the anchor; b.) Find the High Value Target – make a plan where the actions have the likelihood of the most impact; and c.) Execute the plan.
• I find the people who are in there with me, and make sure they are fine. The teams I directly lead are supported earlier than the people they manage down the line, so when stressful times arise more people are able to be supported. 
• I check in with colleagues – normally I find they are in it too ! (Term “cycles” are funny in schools – we go through similar things at similar times) I either get (a) respected and wise counsel or (b) a validation/normalisation of the incident. 

11.Sliding Doors – Into The Future

Q: Fast-forward 20 years from now – what will be the keys to success or failure of the education system?

• Focus on learning, not teaching. It has to be all about the kids – my mantra “our kids are worth whatever it takes”); 
• De-demonization of data. What the data is not as important as what you do with it (this will make it easier to own).
• Robust and true collaboration. Everyone wants to work together – “work smarter not harder”; “share the load” etc. The trick is that collaboration is also about getting people onto the same page. At times this means everyone has to move (their position) a little, not just moving to the dominant view. 

Thankyou Jorgen Neilson!

Dr Pete Stebbins PhD

Dr Pete Stebbins, PhD, is a workplace psychologist, executive coach & author of the forthcoming book: "The Five Disciplines of Extraordinary School Leaders". Pete has many years of research and professional practice behind him working extensively in education and health. Pete is the director of the High Performance Schools Program working with a large number of schools to maximise staff and student outcomes.