We hear the word “wellbeing” thrown around a lot these days, but few fully understand what it entails. Is it perhaps an absence of disease or illness? Or something more complex than that?

In my opinion, wellbeing is certainly complex and the multi-dimensional model of wellbeing that I introduce in this episode will demonstrate that it goes beyond just being in good physical and emotional health, it also means that we feel comfortable and happy with our occupational, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, financial and social wellbeing. 

Research by  Gallup in 2021 indicated that the more of these dimensions require our attention, the more likely we are to experience mental health challenges and burnout.

Once we begin to view wellbeing from a multi-dimensional lens, we can become more in tune with our wellbeing needs and take impactful and supportive actions.

 

In this episode, we cover:

• Varying definitions of wellbeing
• An introduction to the eight dimensions of wellbeing
• A reflective practice that can help you “check the pulse” on your own wellbeing
• How to begin addressing gaps in your wellbeing

 

Links and Resources:

Join our online wellbeing course for educators today

Blog article: The Eight Dimensions Of Wellbeing And Why All Of Them Count Towards Your Success In Life And Work

Download the 8 Dimensions of Wellbeing PDF resource

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

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While you may think you know what challenges your staff are facing and what they need to thrive in the workplace - you won’t really know for sure unless you ask them. 

And while you’ve probably made an honest effort to provide your teachers and staff with more support, you may be wondering why so many are still struggling with or on the brink of burnout. 

Our national data collected from schools across Australia reveals that workload and administrative tasks are the leading causes of workplace stress for teachers and staff, and while in some cases it may seem near impossible to reduce workload, there are many creative strategies that can be employed to streamline it and reduce the burden staff are experiencing.  

The point is, we have to get to the root of the problem in order to make lasting changes and improvements to staff’s wellbeing and school culture. Our Anonymous Staff Wellbeing can support you in doing just that! 

 

In this episode, we cover: 

• The importance of identifying staff stressors
• Organisational vs operational workplace stressors
• How our Anonymous Staff Wellbeing Survey can help you identify staff stressors and make better decisions about which initiatives to pursue
• The top reported stressors across Australian schools based on our survey findings
• The top rated strategies for supporting wellbeing across Australian schools according to our survey findings

 

Links and Resources:

Anonymous Staff Wellbeing Surveys

Blog article: How To Use a Staff Wellbeing Survey To Support a Whole-School Scan

Blog article: The Leading Causes of Workplace Stress for Teachers and School Staff Across Australia 

Blog article: The Top Rated Initiatives to Improve Staff and Teacher Wellbeing and How to Address Them 

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

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Have staff wellbeing initiatives you’ve offered in the past left you feeling disappointed that nothing changed or improved?

One mistake leaders often make is assuming they know what staff need or want, but the only way to know for sure is to ask them BEFORE we act.

When it comes to overhauling a whole school’s culture, we must have staff buy-in, and in order to achieve that, we need to involve them in the process of change - from allowing them to provide feedback to including them in co-creating a vision and implementing the changes necessary to create a thriving school environment. 

Anonymous Staff Wellbeing surveys are an excellent way to allow all staff to have a voice and collect valuable feedback that can help leaders implement meaningful changes. 

More than once, I’ve worked with schools where the leadership team felt they had a good understanding of what the priority areas were, but upon involving the staff in discussions, other priorities came to the surface instead.

 

In this week’s solo episode of the Well-Led School podcast, I walk you through 

• Why your school should run an anonymous staff wellbeing survey
• The benefits of anonymous staff wellbeing surveys
• How to effectively survey the staff in your school
• The four sections of my Anonymous Staff Wellbeing Survey
• Some of the data that has emerged in the last 12 months of running and analysing surveys of schools across Australia

 

Links and Resources:

Explore my Anonymous Staff Wellbeing Survey Packages

Blog Article: What Is A School Scan Of Wellbeing And Why Does Your School Need To Do One? 

Blog Article: How To Use A Staff Wellbeing Survey To Support A Whole-School Scan

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way, we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

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In the 10th episode of the Well-Led Schools podcast I am joined by school principal and Positive Psychology advocate David Kolpak.

Leading a school culture where both staff and student wellbeing is front and centre requires strong leadership capability, the relevant personal attributes and emotional intelligence. David encompasses these very qualities and in this episode he breaks down his approach and philosophy towards becoming a “well-led school” - a school that leads with wellbeing in mind. 

About David:

David Kolpak (MEd, BEd, BTeach) is the Principal at Trinity College North in Adelaide (EY-10). In his leadership roles, David has been responsible for the design and delivery of Positive Education programs delivered to students from Kindergarten to year 10, working with his teams to develop the scope and sequence of programs taught between the ages of 3 and 16 and ensuring that the principles of positive psychology are embedded across all curriculum areas.With 30 years’ experience as a leader and teacher, David has established himself as a quality educator and speaker on Positive Education and Wellbeing and has been invited to present his work at numerous national and international conferences including the Positive Education Schools Association, the Positive Schools conference and the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress.Keen to share his work, David has authored several “Character Strength’ iBooks which are freely available to use in the classroom. David’s passion for bringing out the best is evident in his school-based leadership and teaching roles together with his wider roles as a speaker and leader in the field.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why focusing on staff wellbeing is just as important as student wellbeing
• The importance of a well-rounded approach to wellbeing in schools
• How to create a feedback culture that’s based on trust
• What character strengths are and why it’s valuable to explore them with staff
• How to create more engagement by allowing staff to be who they are

 

Links and Resources:

Blog article: The PERMAH Model for Workplace Wellbeing  

Blog article: What is Positive Psychology and How to Apply The Principles To Your Own Wellbeing

Blog article: 9 Reasons to Put Staff Wellbeing at The Top of Your School’s Priority List

Discover your own character strengths! Take the VIA Strengths Assessment here

Are you a Dove, Owl, Peacock or Eagle? Take the DISC bird personality test here 

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

Connect with David:

LinkedIn

Download and read his character strengths iBooks

 

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In this episode of the Well-Led School podcast, I am joined by change leadership expert and author of the book Valuable Change, Brendon Baker. We discuss what it really takes to inspire and create meaningful change within workplaces and schools and how simple mindset shifts, like how we define success, can lead us towards the changes in culture we seek. 

 

About Brendon

Brendon is a leading expert in getting what you want from your projects. He has led and guided over $10 Billion in transformative projects and programs across more types of change than would be reasonable to list out here. Just know that it includes everything from transformations to teddy bears. Through it all Brendon has learned two things:

First - Change is HARD, so we need to ensure it’s worthwhile.

Second – The answer often lies in simplicity.

He is the author of the best-seller Valuable Change, and niche top seller Creating High Value PMOs. His pioneering work in the internal influencer space is world leading. Brendon now spends his time forging change leaders and working with them to drive more worthwhile organisational change. His clients include high growth tech firms, key ASX100 companies like AGL and South32, various Not-For-Profits, as well as all three levels of the Australian Government.

 

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation where we cover:

• What it really takes to create meaningful change at work
• How reframing how we define and measure success can help us achieve change
• How to make sure the changes you’re implementing aren’t surface level
• Why context and clarity are key to driving change
• How recognition, rewards and incentives can be leveraged to motivate change
• Ways that school leaders can ensure their change initiatives stay at the forefront for all staff
• Why wisdom is the key to valuable change
• The importance of narrowing your focus
• What the momentum path is and how it can be applied to create change over time

 

Links and Resources:

Learn more about creating change in schools by reading these articles:

• The Secret Recipe For Motivating Your Staff To Implement Change In The Workplace
• Leading Through Complex Change: How to Adapt Our Leadership Style To Support Staff During A Pandemic

View/download the momentum path image

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

Connect with Brendon:

Visit his website 

Connect on LinkedIn 

 

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Social events, morning teas and the one-off wellbeing workshop can only do so much to improve staff wellbeing and school culture. While they’re well-intentioned, these initiatives only target the very surface of the daily challenges school staff face. We need to take a deeper look at the underlying and systemic reasons why staff may be suffering from chronic stress and burnout. Once identified, solutions and actions can be put in place that directly address the issues while considering various elements that, when improved upon, can create a positive and long-lasting change in how your staff and school culture feel. 

This episode of the Well-Led Schools podcast covers my six-step framework for improving staff wellbeing and school culture. This framework considers elements of Positive Psychology, current educational leadership research and the recommendations from leading Australian wellbeing organisations like Beyond Blue, Be You and the Black Dog Institute. 

The 6 steps to improved wellbeing in schools are

1. Scan your school and pinpoint the health and wellbeing needs of your staff
2. Up-skill the leadership team
3. Create a wellbeing action plan
4. Build and manage relationships
5. Create a stay at work plan
6. Foster more engagement in the workplace

 

In this episode, we cover:

• Why surface level approaches to wellbeing don’t work
• The 6-step framework for improving staff wellbeing and school culture
• Actions you can take to carry out each step

 

Links and Resources:

Download the 6 steps PDF guide

Blog article: The 6 Key Steps For Improving School Culture 

Blog article: The PERMA(H) model for workplace wellbeing

Blog article: What is Positive Psychology and How to Apply The Principles to Your Own Wellbeing

Blog article: The Wellbeing Action Plan: An Essential Tool For Ensuring Staff Wellbeing In The Workplace

Previous Podcast Episode: An Integrative Approach to Addressing Staff Wellbeing in Schools: Introducing the PERMA(H) Model

 

Anonymous Staff Wellbeing Surveys

Leadership Reflection Tool

Download my team-building ideas

Check out more quality resources to upskill you and your leadership team

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

Connect with me via:

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In this episode of the Well-Led Schools podcast I am joined by Corey Tavella, Principal of Thomas More College in South Australia where, together, we’ll be exploring the guiding principles of ‘Well-Led’ schools. 

When adopted and applied, these principles can help schools to “lead with wellbeing in mind,” begin to transform the culture from within and better influence positive outcomes in student learning and school achievement. 

 

Well-Led Schools…

1. Know that healthy, well and engaged staff positively influence student learning:
2. Carefully consider how to weave staff wellbeing into the fabric of the school
3. Seek the input and consultation of all staff
4. Recognise that awareness is the first key to change
5. Are led by highly-skilled and emotionally intelligent leaders
6. Understand that staff wellbeing is a joint responsibility
7. Have shared vision and a ‘Wellbeing Action Plan’
8. Promote collaboration and nurture strong relationships
9. Engage their staff

 

About the guest

Corey Tavella is currently the Principal of Thomas More College in South Australia, a relatively large 7-12 school of almost 1100 students from 7-12 (co-ed). This is his fifth year as Principal, having been a Deputy Principal at two schools, one all-boys and one all-girls. One of his key tenets of leadership is presence which, he believes, lends itself well to staff wellbeing; in aiming to be present for his staff, he wants to ensure they all know they are heard, valued, cared for and respected. Corey has been in education for 23 years, and these five years are the first where he has not taught students. Having said that, his guiding principle is that his staff are 'his class', and he aims to challenge and support them to help them achieve their best, as he would his students.

 

In this episode, we cover:

• What a ‘Well-Led’ school is
• 9 research-backed guiding principles that will help lead schools with wellbeing in mind

 

Links and Resources:

• Blog article: The 9 Guiding Principles of Well-Led Schools
• Register for the free live training on February 16th
• Anonymous Staff Wellbeing Surveys 
• View Corey’s work with the theme “Purpose” for 2023
• Coreys work with his Executive Team’s Leadership statement via LinkedIn
• Connect with Corey on Linkedin

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

Connect with me via:

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Whether staff are constantly calling in sick, struggling to bounce back post-pandemic or you are experiencing pushback on new ideas, the pressure of an increasing workload and challenging students can stop progress in its tracks.

What we need in schools is an approach that plans for and considers the multiple elements required to increase staff psychological safety.

Where to find such an approach? Well, look no further…

In episode 6 of the ‘Well-Led’ Schools podcast, you’ll learn about Positive Psychology’s PERMA(H) model of wellbeing, how it can be applied in the workplace, and ideas to try at your school that will help increase staff wellbeing across each of the PERMA(H)’s pillars of wellbeing.

 

In this episode, we cover:

• An introduction to Positive Psychology and the PERMA(H) model
• The pillars of the PERMAH model
• How the PERMA(H) model can be applied in the workplace
• Tips and ideas to leverage the PERMAH model in schools and in the classroom

 

Links and Resources:

Blog article: The PERMA(H) model for workplace wellbeing

Blog article: What is Positive Psychology and How to Apply The Principles to Your Own Wellbeing

Team-building ideas

VIA strengths assessment

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

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You can‘t expect changes to magically happen without a clear vision and an action plan. 

In episode 5 of the Well-Led Schools podcast I delve into why having a vision is a foundational step in creating a school culture that prioritises wellbeing. 

If there is no bigger picture vision for your school, staff end up confused and giving in to the environmental pressures that are the strongest in your setting while taking what appears to be the easiest route and never re-orienting towards your north star – it comes at the cost of overall effectiveness and outcomes.

A vision for whole school wellbeing must start at the very top - with the school principal. However, in order for that vision to stick and permeate it’s important that principals gain the buy-in of middle leaders and then all school staff. 

To do this, we must co-create our vision alongside the very people responsible for making that vision a reality. 

Once a vision is established and agreed upon, we can move on to creating and communicating expectations and the responsibilities for each member of the school community to collectively uphold in order to shift the school culture into one that puts wellbeing front and centre.

 

In this episode, we cover:

• The importance and benefits of having a vision
• How to build a vision centred around staff wellbeing and school culture
• Who creates and drives the vision
• The first steps you can take to create a people-centred vision

 

Links and Resources:

Waitlist for the “Well-Led” Schools Partnership program

Blog article: Principal Vision: A Foundational Step In Creating A School Culture That Prioritises Wellbeing

Blog article: The Secret Recipe For Motivating Your Staff To Implement Change In The Workplace

Blog article: The PERMA(H) Model For Workplace Wellbeing

Kates 3 Question System: 

1. I am my best when I…
2. As a team we will work well when…
3. The things that are currently stopping us are….

A Vision Example

See an example of some principal vision work here

Book Recommendations:

Wellbeing at Work by Jim Clifton 

Built to Last by Jim Collins

Great Leaders Have No Rules by Kevin Kruse

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Find Your Why by Simon Sinek 

 

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honoured that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or on your preferred podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

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A culture of wellbeing starts at the top. 

It’s impossible to resolve staff wellbeing woes if the leaders in a school are experiencing chronic and unmanaged stress or burnout. The state of leader wellbeing can go on to impact the wellbeing and performance of both staff and students. So, when wanting to create a culture that prioritises wellbeing, it’s important that leaders take a self-reflective look at how well-managed their own wellbeing is. 

Building self-awareness around our stressors and triggers and implementing strategies that allow us to cope, helps us become better at problem solving, builds resilience, promotes job satisfaction, boosts emotional intelligence and ultimately makes us better leaders. 

School leaders with a strong sense of wellbeing then go on to lead with energy, enthusiasm and compassion and, in turn, they’re able to build stronger relationships with staff, address problems objectively, and have more capacity to consider the needs of others.

Further, leaders who value their own wellbeing have the power to act as role models for staff and the school community as a whole. It’s easier to pass on values of wellbeing when we, as leaders, adopt them as our own.  

 

In this episode, we cover:

- Why leader wellbeing matters and the impact it has on the school community

- A definition of wellbeing from a multidimensional perspective

- Common leadership stressors

- The importance of developing effective coping strategies

- Practical steps leaders can take to begin to address and improve their wellbeing

 

Links and Resources:

Blog article: The 8 Dimensions of Wellbeing and Why All of Them Count Toward Your Success in Life and Work

Blog article: The PERMAH Model For Workplace Wellbeing 

Resource: Leader Reflection Tool

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave me a review in iTunes or on your podcast app, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

 

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