gold member newsletter - amazon web...

GRIPGOLD MEMBER NEWSLETTER

INSIDE THIS ISSUE OF THE NEWSLETTER

SpRING 2013

How Do You SelectYour Student Leaders?Pages 6-7

NEW Conference ProgramsPages 2-3

Leadership Through ListeningPages 4-5

GRIP Leading & Teaching Conferences a SuccessPage 8

Registration Now Open for the GRIP Student Leadership Conference!See inside for details

Secondary ConferencesNew South Wales Sydney (Option #1) 1st Nov 13 Sydney Olympic Park Sports CentreSydney (Option #2) 25th Feb 14 Sydney Olympic Park Sports CentreTweed / Coolangatta 28th Oct 13 Tweed Heads Civic and Cultural Centre Coffs Harbour 29th Oct 13 C.ex Coffs Club Tamworth 30th Oct 13 Tamworth War Memorial Town HallNewcastle 31st Oct 13 Civic Precinct Newcastle City Hall Albury / Wodonga 6th Nov 13 Commercial Club Albury

Australian Capital TerritoryCanberra (Option #1) 4th Nov 13 Australian Institute of SportCanberra (Option #2) 24th Feb 14 Australian Institute of Sport

VictoriaMelbourne 7th Mar 14 Melbourne Conv. & Exhibition CentreWodonga / Albury 6th Nov 13 Commercial Club AlburyBallarat 7th Nov 13 Ballarat Lodge & Convention CentreMildura 8th Nov 13 The Setts Function Centre

South AustraliaAdelaide 25th Mar 14 Adelaide Entertainment Centre

QueenslandBrisbane 28th Feb 14 Sleeman Sports ComplexCoolangatta / Tweed 28th Oct 13 Tweed Heads Civic and Cultural CentreCairns 11th Feb 14 Pullman Reef Hotel Casino Townsville 12th Feb 14 Mercure Inn TownsvilleMackay 17th Feb 14 Mackay Ent. & Convention CentreToowoomba 20th Feb 14 Highfields Cultural Centre Rockhampton 21st Feb 14 Rockhampton Leagues Club

Western AustraliaPerth 10th Mar 14 Perth Conv. & Exhibition CentreGeraldton 14th Mar 14 Queen Elizabeth II CentreBunbury 21st Mar 14 Quality Hotel Lord Forrest

TasmaniaHobart 31st Mar 14 Hotel Grand Chancellor HobartLaunceston 4th Apr 14 The Tailrace Centre

Northern TerritoryDarwin 3rd Mar 14 Hilton Hotel Darwin

2013-2014 secondary ProgramAll sessions include main presentations, interactive activities, discussions, leadership games and entertainment.

8:40am Doors Open & Arrival

9:00am Session 1Being a Leadership Group of Influence

10:30am Morning Tea Break Optional Session: What Makes a Successful School Captain?

10:55am Session 2Leadership Everest: Succeeding in Student Leadership

Electives (choose 1)Option 1: How to Maximise Student InvolvementOption 2: How to Maximise Fun from Fundraisers

12:30pm Lunch Break

1:00pm Electives (choose 1)Option 3: Creating Unity at School - Lessons from Nelson Mandela Option 4: Creating House Spirit - Lessons from Cathy Freeman

1:45pm Q&A With GRIP Leadership Team and Final Review

2:30pm Close

(Program subject to change at any time)

REGISTER NOW FOR THE GRIP STUDENT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE NEAR YOU!

Lock the date into your school calendar now and register online to secure your school’s booking.

RegiStRation now oPen!

RegiSteR online now:www.gRiPleadeRShiP.Com.au

2 gRiP gold memBeR Newsletter

Primary ConferencesNew South Wales Sydney (Option #1) 26th Feb 14 Sydney Olympic Park Sports CentreSydney (Option #2) 22nd May 14 Sydney Olympic Park Sports CentreArmidale 5th May 14 Armidale Ex Services ClubTamworth 6th May 14 Tamworth War Memorial Town HallMoree 7th May 14 Moree Memorial HallCoffs Harbour 8th May 14 Coffs Harbour Racing Club Tweed / Coolangatta 9th May 14 Twin Towns Clubs & Resorts Forster 12th May 14 Club ForsterDubbo 19th May 14 Dubbo RSL Memorial Club Bathurst 20th May 14 Bathurst Memorial Ent.CentreNewcastle 21st May 14 Newcastle Panthers Wollongong 23rd May 14 University of Wollongong Wagga Wagga 27th May 14 Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga Albury / Wodonga 28th May 14 Albury Entertainment Centre

South AustraliaAdelaide 24th Mar 14 Adelaide Entertainment CentreMount Gambier 1st May 14 Sir Robert Helpmann TheatrePort Augusta 30th May 14 Lea Memorial Theatre

QueenslandBrisbane 27th Feb 14 Sleeman Sports ComplexCairns 10th Feb 14 Pullman Reef Hotel Casino Townsville 13th Feb 14 Mercure Inn TownsvilleGladstone 17th Feb 14 Boyne Tannum Community CentreMackay 18th Feb 14 Mackay Ent. & Convention Centre Bundaberg 18th Feb 14 Brothers Sports Club Emerald 19th Feb 14 Emerald Town HallNambour 19th Feb 14 Nambour Civic Centre Rockhampton 20th Feb 14 Rockhampton Leagues Club Toowoomba 21st Feb 14 Highfields Cultural Centre Coolangatta / Tweed 9th May 14 Twin Towns Clubs & Resorts

Western AustraliaPerth 11th Mar 14 Perth Conv. & Exhibition CentreGeraldton 13th Mar 14 Queen Elizabeth II CentreEsperance 18th Mar 14 Esperance Civic CentreAlbany 19th Mar 14 Albany Town HallBunbury 20th Mar 14 Quality Hotel Lord Forrest

VictoriaMelbourne 6th Mar 14 Melbourne Conv. & Exhibition CentreSale 28th Apr 14 Sale Memorial HallBallarat 29th Apr 14 Ballarat Lodge & Convention CentreBendigo 30th Apr 14 The Capital TheatreWodonga / Albury 28th May 14 Albury Entertainment CentreMildura 29th May 14 The Setts Function Centre

TasmaniaHobart 1st Apr 14 Hotel Grand Chancellor HobartBurnie 2nd Apr 14 Burnie Arts & Function CentreLaunceston 3rd Apr 14 The Tailrace Centre

Australian Capital TerritoryCanberra 26th May 14 Australian Institute of Sport

Northern TerritoryDarwin 4th Mar 14 Darwin Entertainment Centre

2014 Primary ProgramAll sessions include main presentations, interactive activities, discussions, leadership games and entertainment.

8.45am Early Access for GRIP Gold Schools

8.55am Doors Open for Remaining Schools

9.15am Session 1 The Schoolyard SuperheroMany students see leadership as an opportunity to give instructions and enjoy privileges. In contrast, this session uses the analogy of a superhero for students to see that leadership is actually an opportunity to serve other students at their school. Students will discover the four roles of a schoolyard superhero and realise that leadership opportunities are available to them every day.

10.45am Morning Tea

11.10am Session 2Lead Like a Strawberry Not Like a WatermelonThis popular session was originally presented a number of years ago and continues to be talked about today in schools all over Australia. By popular request, the updated version will be presented as part of the 2014 program. This session uses the metaphor of these two fruits to look at the important element of ‘integrity’ in leadership and communicates to students the importance of being the same person on the inside that they project on the outside.

Leadership Everest: Succeeding in Student LeadershipLike the journey to the top of Everest, the leadership journey is both rewarding and challenging. This session will identify many of the common challenges that student leaders face and then suggest ways to overcome them. The list of challenges includes; going against the crowd, getting back up after failure and surviving criticism.

12.30pm Lunch Break

1.00pm Session 3Bringing Our Ideas AliveStudent leaders often discuss great ideas that miss out on being implemented and achieved. As well as sharing in discussion with other schools, this session gives students practical tools to help them follow through on their ideas and bring them to life. This process involves generating new ideas, effective goal setting and implementing a simple planning method.

Q&A With GRIP Leadership Team and Final Review

2.30pm Close

(Program subject to change at any time)

gRiP Student leadeRShiP ConfeRenCe

RegiSteR online now:www.gRiPleadeRShiP.Com.au

Newsletter gRiP gold memBeR 3

Many of the students who attend our leadership conferences seem to be under the assumption that leadership and public speaking are the

same thing. Obviously public speaking is a useful skill for some people in leadership roles, but it is not at all the pinnacle or heartbeat of leadership. This misunderstanding is probably formed due to the frequency in which politicians and community leaders communicate with society through the television.

It is important that, from a young age, people understand that leadership and public speaking are not the same thing. If you are a teacher that works with student leaders, you have a unique opportunity to help young people see that leadership is so much more than standing up and ‘giving a talk.’ You also have the challenge of structuring things in your school such that student leaders themselves understand that their role is far more than public speaking.

When a student is able to understand that leadership is more than public speaking it can be freeing for them in a number of ways. Firstly, the shy student begins to think that maybe they can indeed be a leader at the school.

Secondly, students begin to see that they can influence others one-on-one and in a small group setting, rather than having to be the person who gives a talk at a whole school assembly. Thirdly, it allows students to explore ways in which leadership can be practised through actions, rather than only through words.

One way to help bring about this paradigm shift in your student leaders is to encourage them in the principle of ‘leadership through listening.’ Listening is obviously the opposite to speaking, and therefore is an effective approach to allow students to see that leadership is far broader than what they might have previously thought.

Leading by listening suggests that the important opinion is the person speaking, not the leader. This too is a valuable revelation for student leaders, as they begin to understand that leaders are effective when they place the focus on those they lead, rather than on their own opinions and interests.

As student leaders listen to their peers and place value on what they are hearing, only then will they truly be leading in the interests of others. >>

liSteningleadeRShiP thRough


1. Broaden who you listen to. Encourage your student leaders to circulate through different groups of students in different year levels. Spending time with others is the best way to show care and to understand the thoughts, issues and ideas that exist right across the school.

2. hold open forums.From time to time, hold ‘open’ leadership meetings in which any student in the school can attend and be encouraged to make a genuine contribution.

3. ask students for their input. Suggest to your leaders that they announce their ideas and then invite students to approach them with suggestions in advance of when a final decision will be made.

Below are some very practical ways that you can encourage ‘leadership through listening’ in your students:

As student leaders listen to their peers and place value on what they are hearing, only then will they truly be leading in the interests of others.

4. have a suggestion box.This idea has been around for years, but if students in the school are made aware of it and utilise it then the suggestions placed in the box can be discussed at the next student leaders meeting.

5. Share the thoughts of others. Challenge students to share opinions in meetings that are definitely the thoughts of others, not just the leader themselves. This is obviously hard to police, but continually reminding leaders of this reminds them that they are representatives of a much larger group.

Putting some of these practical ideas into action will be of great benefit to both the school and the student leaders themselves. The student body will develop a deeper appreciation for the efforts of their leaders and those in leadership roles will be continually reminded that being a leader is not about public speaking but rather the service of others.


Student leaders?

This is one of the most frequent questions that I hear from the conversations that teachers have with each other when they attend our student leadership conference.

“How do you select your student leaders?” Some people who ask this are simply interested in the topic, whilst others appear to be on a genuine quest to identify the foolproof way of selecting the perfect group of student leaders.

Having been involved in these discussions many times, and working with hundreds of schools, I have come to the realisation that there is no universally perfect answer to this question. It is like asking the question “what is the best way to teach a class?” The answer to this question depends on a variety of factors unique to the school, the leadership structure, the students, and the environment.

I have heard a huge variety of opinions in this discussion of late. Some schools have done away with leadership roles altogether, either because they want to treat a whole year group as a class of leaders or because they want to see the natural leaders rise to the surface and lead, without having to appoint positions. >>

how do You Select Your

By Ronan McGinniss


I know of one principal who says that he gives every student in the school an equal vote for their student leaders and he insists that the result should never be tampered with, as the students will follow the people they have elected regardless. Other schools invite nominations and then put students through a very structured selection process involving interviews, candidate speeches and student and staff voting. Different again, some school principals reserve the right to select the student leaders themselves.

Small schools are in a unique situation. Sometimes selecting leaders is made easier if there are only a handful of senior students who automatically take on this mantle, but other years there may be no senior students at all and the structure needs to be approached differently. For a variety of reasons, some schools find it difficult to find students that are interested in filling leadership positions, which requires a long term strategy of leadership development rather than a short term selection process.

After navigating through this conversation for some time, I am able to recommend some general suggestions and principles to keep in mind when creating the ‘selection process’ at your school.

1. ASk THE STUDENT BODY FOR THEIR INPUT IN SOME WAY.

This may or may not involve a traditional ‘voting’ process. Student input may be in the form

of inviting students to nominate others or themselves.

2. AVOID CAMPAIGN SPEECHES. Assembling the students to listen to candidate’s speeches often results in the election of the

candidate who delivers the funniest or wittiest speech. It also results in potential student leaders thinking more about campaigning than about leading. If you do like the idea of speeches, encourage the candidates to lead a charity project in the twelve months leading up to student leader elections. During their project they can deliver a speech to the students focussed on

the project, not on themselves, so that the student body can hear this person speak within a context.

3. REQUIRE SOME ACTION FROM THE POTENTIAL STUDENT LEADERS BEFORE THEY ARE SELECTED.

It will help reinforce to them that leaders are required to take action and not simply sit back.

This could be as simple as asking the students to write a paragraph about ways they feel they can help the school community.

4. COMMUNICATE THE PROCESS CLEARLY TO THE STUDENT BODY.

If you use a voting system, inform the students how the voting will work. The last thing you want

is students feeling that the process is clouded in secrecy or corruption... this sounds extreme but this is often what they think!


In recent months the GRIP Leadership team has completed the successful launch of our new conference just for teachers. The ‘GRIP Leading & Teaching’ conference

was held in five locations around Australia and brought together approximately five hundred educators for a day of leadership professional development.

“The GRIP team presented a thought-provoking and inspirational day. I am returning to my school re-charged with a new way of viewing leadership.”

Dianne Cowderoy (Sherwood Ridge PS)

“Wow, it’s just what I needed to hear. Relevant, genuine and it just really spoke to me.”

Emma Sisley (Halls Head PS)

“Highly informative, useful ideas and tools to inspire and equip colleagues and students.”

Phil Tarrant (Pedare Christian College)

“An excellent program, it’s not very often you come across a PD that has so many practical applications. Well worth attending. Thank you.”

Louise Judge (St Stephens School)

In the coming months, we will announce full details and the brand new program for next year’s conferences for teachers, which will be held toward the middle of 2014.

gRiP leading & teaching Conferencesa Success


gold member newsletter - amazon web...

Documents