In the world of education and beyond, getting a team or organization to function at a high level is one of the fundamental responsibilities of an engaged leader. Today on the podcast, we are joined by special guest Helen Morgan, the Executive Director of HM Education Consultancy, through which she offers training, coaching, and consultancy support to a variety of clients across the globe. We have an inspiring and eye-opening chat with Helen about the foundations of a high-functioning team and the practical approaches that best serve the building of these kinds of workplaces. Helen highlights the importance of togetherness as well as the unity of the collective, explaining that putting the team ahead of a leader or other individuals is what will best serve everyone's interests in the long term. We also get into some of Helen's thoughts about handling transition through patience and pauses, and why small human touches can make such an impact on how a team works together, and how a professional environment feels. So, to hear all this and a whole more from our great guest, listen in today.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Helen's own definition of a high-functioning team and the emphasis she places on the collective.   
• The benefits of prioritizing togetherness and getting a group to move in the same direction.  
• The important responsibility of a leader in facilitating high-level functioning within a team.
• Why pauses and reflection are so vital, especially during times of transition and change. 
• Balancing urgency, busyness, slowing down, and sustainability. 
• The subtle, long-term actions that can make a big difference to the morale of a team.
• Memories from Helen's first job and how eating together impacted the spirit of the workplace. 
• Helen's standout conversation of the week and what made it so memorable to her!
• Rounding up our own favorite conversations from the last week. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Helen Morgan on LinkedIn

HM Education Consulting

European Mentoring and Coaching Council

James Kerr

Legacy 

John Maxwell

The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player

George Bernard Shaw

The Book of Boba Fett

The Mandalorian

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Connected Learner Partnerships

As we reflect on the past year, and the unusual challenges and lessons it has presented us with, we wanted to spend an episode talking about slowing things down, asking the right questions, and keeping it real. Through the varied experiences of the pandemic and the normal ups and downs of our lives, it is not always easy to stay present and intentional at every moment, but there are approaches and methods that we have found can help stay the course in this regard, and so we hope hearing these reflections is as illuminating for you as it was for us! We start off this chat by looking back at what has been happening, wrapping up the tail of 2021, and thinking about what might lie ahead for us all in 2022. We also get into how a big part of leadership is the ability to bring calm and stability to situations that can easily become too urgent and rushed. Listeners can also expect to hear about important conversations from each of our hosts' personal lives, thoughts on the relationship between trauma and fatigue, and how bringing a meeting into a fresh environment or configuration can remedy stale patterns! Tune in to hear it all!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A quick check-in with our two hosts and what they have been doing over the last couple of months. 
• Examining the idea of leadership as a way to model calmness and slow things down.  
• The right kind of questions to ask as a means to stay self-aware as a leader.  
• How switching things up for meetings can facilitate new ideas and energy.
• Matching the energy of a room with the learning that is needed at a given time. 
• Approaches for more authentic small interactions with each other.  
• Reflections on the challenges of 2021 and looking ahead to the new year.
• Dealing with the communal trauma that we have experienced and the resultant fatigue. 
• How recent events have made more space for everyone's feelings and stories. 
• The best conversations each of us had recently, and how these underline the importance of family.
• What to look forward to in this season of the BabbleED Podcast! 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Insight

Tasha Eurich

How to Be a Better Human Podcast

Chris Duffy

Tim Minchin

Pie Squared

Connected Learner Partnerships

Welcome back to the podcast, and to our second season! Today we wanted to kick things off by exploring the concept of starting successfully, which would appear appropriate for a new season of the show! So, what does it mean to start successfully? The obvious place to begin is in the morning, and we talk about how a morning routine can set you up for success during the rest of the day. From exercise to intentional action and maintaining a steady routine, these things can have a huge impact on the rest of your time. We also then get into some ideas around schedules and calendars, how meetings can be conducted in the most effective way, and why building a strong and collaborative network around you can be such a helpful resource. One of the main themes of today's episode, and moving forward in this season, is how we invest our time. We are in the process of reframing our thinking about this sort of intentional approach, and how we can track the results, so to hear it all and come with us on this new part of our journey, tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Ways to stay grounded through routines and practices. 
• Three important core values; people, process, and leadership. 
• Starting the day right, using mornings effectively, exercise, and intentionality.
• Finding time in a busy schedule and managing your calendar smartly. 
• The power of concise communication in meetings and classes.  
• Collaborating and outsourcing; using the strength of those around you for everyone's benefit.  
• Other elements of health and success; nutrition, sleep, and mental clarity.  
• Implementing balance and priorities when it comes to phones, family time, and rest. 
• Looking at the example of a rugby team and how they come together to refocus after a try is scored. 
• Methods of refilling the cup throughout the day and workweek! 
• Thinking about how we invest our time and the results of these efforts.  

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Connected Learner Partnerships

Stephen Covey

Can you believe we have made it to the end of this absolute rollercoaster of a year? Neither can we. We are so grateful that you have joined us on this wild ride so far, and in today’s episode, we are taking the time to reflect on the year that was. We hear what Jonathan and Scott are thankful for, what they wish they had known 10 months ago, and the areas in which they have grown the most over the past year. David Jordan also joins to share some of his wonderful insights. As teachers, we are also in the business of learning, and the past year has taught us more than we ever thought was possible. We saw how hard people worked, and got a firsthand look into just how many phenomenal things human beings are capable of. Thank you so much for joining us on this journey, and we look forward to catching up after this well-deserved summer break!

Key Points From This Episode:

• What Jonathan is thankful for this year: saying yes to the podcast!
• Hear what Scott and his son are thankful for this year.
• Find out what Jonathan and Scott wish they had known 10 months ago.
• Jonathan’s plans for the summer; he’s taking a proper break from work!
• Scott’s summer plans and the difficulty he has had getting home due to the pandemic.
• What a snowbird is and how they escape harsh winters.
• Where Jonathan and Scott have grown most over the past year.
• There needs to be a balance between planning and spontaneity for good things to happen.
• What scratches Jonathan, Scott, and David’s chalkboards.
• A lightning round of fill-in-the-blank to end the show.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Scott Lindner

Jonathan Mueller

“Why am I so big on coaching? I can’t think of any other way to get the adult environment in the school to be a closer model of what you want the student learning environment to be.” These are the words of Steve Barkley. As a nationally and internationally renowned educational consultant with over 40 years of experience, as well as an author and podcast host, Steve has a wealth of knowledge to share. Today on the BabbleEd Podcast, Steve joins us to continue our discussion on coaching in practice. Tuning in today you’ll hear how to identify people who are highly coachable, what role vulnerability plays in coaching, and why invitation needs to come before expectation in coaching practices. Find out about the importance of being clear on whether you are wearing an evaluation hat or a coaching hat in certain situations, why supervisors should replace their evaluation processes with resume updating and self-evaluations, and why you should spend more time engaging the teacher and setting the goals of the coaching process. To discover how to create a coaching culture within your school and which major pitfalls to avoid in the process, tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• How to identify people who are highly coachable or ready for coaching: they have a goal for students that they’ve yet to reach.
• Thoughts on the vital role of vulnerability in coaching.
• Why most of Steve’s work is driven by getting people to talk about goals. 
• Why curiosity is a critical element of coaching.  
• Thoughts on the idea that invitation leads toward expectation and what to do if someone is not accepting of the invitation. 
• The importance of creating a coaching culture within a school.
• Why supervisors should replace their evaluation process with resume updating. 
• The importance of modeling what you’re expecting. 
• Why you can’t wear the coach hat and the administrator or evaluator hat at the same time.
• Why Steve believes that teachers should do self-evaluations. 
• The idea of ‘studio learning’ and moving teaching out into a public space.
• A breakdown of specific coaching pitfalls to avoid.
• A final pitfall: not spending enough time engaging the teacher and setting the goals of the coaching process.
• The best conversation Steve has had this week. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jonathan Mueller on LinkedIn  

Scott Lindner on LinkedIn

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter  

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Connected Learning Partnerships

Steve Barkley

Steve Barkley on Twitter

Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud

The case for coaching being a part of teaching has never been stronger, and today’s guest, Steve Barkley, is evidence of just how powerful it can be when these disciplines are brought together. Steve has served as an educational consultant to school districts, teacher organizations, state departments of education, colleges and universities, nationally and internationally for the past 40 years. He also has a renowned weekly blog called Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud, which has become a great resource for teachers, administrators, and coaches globally. In today’s episode, Steve shares his unique introduction to coaching when he was a student-teacher. By being introduced to it in this way, Steve immediately saw the benefits in practice, and we talk about the value it brings to the schooling system. Steve offers some great insights on getting into a flow during the school year, what needs to be in place to ensure a sustainable culture of coaching, and why it is so important for administrators and teacher-trainers to lead by example when it comes to setting expectations around coaching.  

Key Points From This Episode:

• Steve’s insights into the power of coaching and the impact it has had on his life. 
• How coaching and mentorship can be built into the practice of teaching. 
• Steve shares an example of a school he worked with that had a great culture of mentoring. 
• The importance of schools fostering continual growth for the teachers. 
• A valuable question Steve likes to get administrators to ask teachers every year. 
• How schools can sustain high-quality professional growth. 
• What languishing means and how flow can be used to overcome this issue that teachers face. 
• The possibilities that come when we rethink the school year calendar. 
• How to be mindful around staff transitions, which are inevitable in schools. 
• Steve’s advice for how schools can sustain a culture of coaching.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jonathan Mueller on LinkedIn  

Scott Lindner on LinkedIn

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter  

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Connected Learning Partnerships

Steve Barkley

Steve Barkley on Twitter

Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud

Andy Hargreaves

In today’s episode of the BabblED Podcast, we welcome Learning Innovation Coaches, Cheryl Terry, and Ben Sheridan, to share their insight into creating a coaching culture in international schools. Ben and Cheryl join us from NIST International School in Bangkok, Thailand, and our conversation hinges around definitions of leadership, norms of collaboration, and the importance of demonstrating vulnerability. Tuning in, you’ll learn how asking the right questions not only fosters growth but leads to a great conversation, why modeling leadership built on trust and vulnerability is the best way to implement it, and how, sometimes, doing less enables you to do so much more toward building and sustaining a culture of innovation. This is an exciting conversation filled with wisdom and practical knowledge, so make sure not to miss it!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Cheryl shares why she believes a culture of coaching is important in schools.
• Ben weighs in, pointing out the value of continuous learning and improvement.
• How coaching can help you improve your overall practice as an educator.
• The importance of fostering a spirit of collaboration that Ben believes is centered on trust and agreed upon structures and roles.
• Cheryl highlights the roles that intentionality and vulnerability play in building trust.
• Jonathan shares an example of how asking the right questions demonstrates growth.
• Ben emphasizes that it takes vulnerability to build trust, not the other way around.
• The role of school administration in modeling leadership that is built on vulnerability.
• Why an alignment of words and actions is key: what we value, we spend our time on.
• A reminder from Ben that putting the seven norms of collaboration into practice takes time.
• How to sustain a culture of innovation and battle fatigue using focus and clarity.
• Cheryl explains why being a good listener is imperative to being a good leader.
• What makes a great conversation: passing, paraphrasing, asking mediative questions.
• Jonathan, Scott, Cheryl, and Ben reflect on the best conversations they have had recently.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Cheryl Terry on LinkedIn

Cheryl Terry on Twitter

Ben Sheridan on LinkedIn

Ben Sheridan on Twitter

NIST International School

The Culture Code

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Connected Learner Partnerships

In this day and age, the culture of ‘busy’ seems to have permeated society and even our schools. While we may encourage our students to make sure they are rested, sometimes you also just have to get stuff done. In today’s show, we have a candid conversation on all things ‘busy’. We discuss the positive and negative connotations of busyness, the glamorization of not sleeping, and busyness as a status symbol. We go through common statements relating to busyness and discuss them. As good time management is vital to being effective in our industry, we discuss how busyness can threaten or promote our effectiveness in our jobs. We talk about the difference between being ‘good tired’ and ‘bad tired’ and how to avoid that feeling of being drained. As the personal and professional are so intrinsically connected in our industry, we discuss the importance of boundaries. We also mention some helpful resources to help you maintain your resilience throughout the year in this culture of ‘busyness’. Join us for all this and more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• An introduction to the topic of busyness in schools and the culture of ‘busy’.
• Questions on whether we are actually busy or we just think we are.
• Thoughts on busyness as a status symbol. 
• The glamorization of requiring minimal sleep. 
• Questions about the correlation between hours of sleep per night and success. 
• How lists may help one differentiate between perceived busyness and actual busyness.
• Questions around the difference between being ‘good tired’ or ‘bad tired’.
• The importance of being effective through your busyness and being able to replenish yourself.
• Questions around what is balance.
• How to prevent work from intruding on one’s personal space. 
• Questions on the necessity of busyness to be purposeful and effective.  
• The role of deadlines in driving results.  
• One’s responsibility as a coach or educator to be an example of good time management.
• Key resources for support in a culture of busyness.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jonathan Mueller on LinkedIn  

Scott Lindner on LinkedIn

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter  

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Connected Learning Partnerships website

‘Ugh, I’m So Busy’: A Status Symbol for Our Time - Joe Pinsker, The Atlantic

Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators by Elena Aguilar on Amazon 

The challenges of inclusion and diversity within schools are always evolving with our understanding and learning in these areas. Much progress has been made over the last 20 years or so, but we all know there is still a long way to better practices and experiences for learners and staff members. Here on the show today to talk about her work in confronting some of the hurdles and kickstarting positive change is the amazing Rovanna Bawden! Rovanna is the Head of Enriched Inclusion at the Western Academy of Beijing and she explains the catchy 'JEDI' acronym that she uses to address the need for justice in these areas. Our guest shares some of her personal history before diving into a few simple yet effective ways that individuals and institutions can approach diversity and inclusion. For Rovanna, it starts with the staff members; they have to lead the charge and begin the self-examination that is so necessary right now. We talk about the importance of classroom atmosphere, practices, and arrangements, and also consider the work towards diversity and inclusion as a longer-term building project. For all this, make sure to join us for a great episode of the BabblED Podcast! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Rovanna's background and her career path leading up to her current position at WAB. 
• The changes in our understanding of the idea of inclusion in the last few decades.
• The difference between naming an issue and actually addressing it through action. 
• Introducing the JEDI acronym: justice, equity, diversity, inclusion.
• The bravery that is needed within schools to unpack and confront biases.   
• Starting with trust and building outwards to better diversity and inclusion.  
• The development of the feeling of inclusion over time; creating long term safe spaces. 
• Important data collection in these areas for more informed progress; challenges to quantification. 
• The impact of learning environments, classroom spaces and non-preferential seating. 
• Considering the current impact of COVID-19 and remote learning on diversity concerns.
• Rovanna's advice for the best starting point for schools; the educators' self-examination. 

Tweetables:

“Enriched Inclusion basically means supporting students that require individual programming and giving them the best educational opportunities ever.” — Rovanna Bawden [0:03:03]

“How do we deepen that conversation as educators in the classroom? How do we make that come alive? This is a dilemma facing every school now.” — Rovanna Bawden [0:04:56]

“We need to look at ourselves first as a staff in a school, as a teacher, as an educator. You have to look at your own biases. We all have bias. We all have self-bias.” — Rovanna Bawden [0:07:12]

“Everyone has a story, and I think you've got minorities in the classroom that maybe we need to give more floor time to. How do we hear those stories and how do others respond?” — Rovanna Bawden [0:11:44]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Rovanna Bawden on LinkedIn

Western Academy of Beijing

The United Nations Convention of Children’s Rights

Vernā Myers

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Connected Learner Partnerships

Inspiration is one of the most valuable, tangible tools a teacher and coach can give their pupil. In many schools though, there are roadblocks that prevent students from feeling inspired. Today we talk to an expert on the topic, Steve Sostak, who is co-founder of Inspire Citizens, an independent educational organization working to reimagine schools as thriving community centers. We start off by defining what inspiration is, finding out that it includes agency, choice, and voice. Steve expands on this by explaining the importance of seeing teachers as artists because of their need to be agile and creative. Following this, we hear more on how teachers need to go beyond just the act of teaching. That is to say; teaching is the act of contributing to and bettering communities. Steve further explores this notion by talking about the move from passion-based to calling-based learning. Later, we discuss some of the roadblocks to inspiration within the learning systems and why it’s important to be flexible in your approach to teaching. As the show draws to a close, Steve tells us about Inspire Citizen and its mission to rethink education. Before we go, Steve leaves us with an application challenge so you can continue inspiring kids long after the episode ends. Join us today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing today’s guest, Steve Sostak.
• We ask: what does “inspiration” actually mean?
• How inspiration can be seen and felt in classrooms.
• The issue of inspiration in schools.
• Teachers and coaches are responsible for leading the energy push.
• How teachers can go beyond just teaching. 
• Some of the inspirational roadblocks that schools impose on themselves.
• Steve talks about Inspire Citizen and what its purpose is.
• How to inspire kids as teachers.
• When inspiration hasn’t been enough for Steve.
• Steve leaves us with an application challenge.

Tweetables:

“I think you know it’s inspiration — when you walk into certain classrooms, or the teacher or the students, you can feel that energy, you feel that agency, you feel that voice and choice.” — @inspirecitizen1 [0:02:52]

“Sometimes I think we need to think about teachers more as artists.” — @inspirecitizen1 [0:04:44]

“I always equate citizenship to a more conscious understanding of civics, social justice, sustainable development, holistic wellness, economic viability.” — @inspirecitizen1 [0:22:01]

“Part of creativity and that organic nature of being creative is when failures result in just amazing new ideas.” — @inspirecitizen1 [0:28:23]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter

Scott Linder on Twitter

Connected Learner Partnerships

Steve Sostak on Twitter

Inspire Citizens

Moving Beyond Busy on Amazon

UWC Singapore

A Long Walk to Water on Amazon 

Water For South Sudan