Ned Hermann

I was recently involved in an exercise where a group of us assessed our own thinking preferences via the Ned Hermann brain dominance instrument (HBDI www.hbdi.com/ Many will know this as the colours self-assessment method, whereby your result is either strongly blue ( logical and analytical), yellow (creative and holistic), green ( structured and sequential) or lastly red ( relational and emotional). Although there is a lot more to it than this simple analysis, the results do actually point to the manner in which you prefer to think, react and act. Of the 4 of us involved, we all agreed that the pictures created of each individual were quite true to form. We enjoyed discussing together what this all meant for ourselves as a group—our strengths and where we might be lacking. The exercise was facilitated expertly, so that no-one style felt superior or inferior to the other—always a concern with these types of activities. In fact the conversation around how when under stress a person resorts to acting even more within their preference drew out information that was insightful for us to understand about each other. Great stuff!

Leading Change!

Constantly I am reminded that real change happens in a school setting only when everyone buys into whatever the proposal is to be. At present we are revisiting where we are all at with what we call the Powerful Learning process (our take on Inquiry). The teachers are all at different stages in their own understanding and therefore implementation, with only a few feeling really at ease and comfortable with what we are trying to achieve. This week’s PD session seemed to go round and round with not that much progress, only a lot of talk. Frustrating as it is, I need to remind myself that this is good—the talk is progressive, everyone is involved and I am confident that the end result will be a good one. Engaging everyone’s ideas can be long-winded but it is worth it!