As teachers up and down the country are bracing themselves for the inevitable bout of ‘flu that will take hold the minute they wake up on Saturday morning, let’s celebrate the fact that 2018 has been another cracking year.
Regardless of whether you believe this to be true or not, let me assure you that each and every one of you has made a difference to the lives of the young people that you teach, in ways that you could never imagine.
I see it all the time as I walk around schools. I don’t need to look at a set of books or pore over a spreadsheet to know that a teacher is making a difference. And not just with one child, but with every single one of them in their class.
I watch closely as teachers engage meaningfully with their pupils, noting all the time the respect, trust and admiration that flows between the two. At this time of year especially, I see also anxious and nervous children who are so excited about Christmas, but deep-down are dreading being away from their teacher.
As much as they may love their parents or carers, they know that at school they are guaranteed unconditional care, fairness, attention, support, structure, discipline, consistency and above all, a real sense of belief. Belief in themselves and belief in their teacher.
Beliefs are simply perceptions of reality. It is often said that, ‘we are what we believe’. This is a good thing because it means that if we change our beliefs then we can change reality. This is why it is so important to have a clear and meaningful set of values that help guide us on how to behave in order to make continual changes to reality.
Steve Jobs, during his early days as CEO at Apple, was a genius at changing people’s perceptions of reality by getting them to believe that anything was possible. He understood that reality was malleable, and in so doing became expert at using RDFs. A Reality Distortion Field is a phrase first coined in 1981 to describe Jobs’s uncanny ability to make other people believe in the possibility of completing very difficult tasks.
For you and me, our reality distortion field is most likely operating right now. It is through this field that we project the reality of who we are to the world in regard to our strengths, limiting beliefs, doubts, fears etc. We see the world through an RDF. It’s no surprise therefore, that on occasions our perception of reality can be distorted. This is why vision and values can sometimes help guide us.
Apple have always had a very clear and compelling vision, underpinned by a set of behaviours expected of all staff. I was lucky enough to visit Apple HQ in California in April and saw it for myself. What it also did was to drive home the following point: That having a clear vision is pointless without a clear set of values to show people how to behave in order to achieve it. Quite simply: No values, no vision.
Take a company involved in shipping, for example. They have a compelling vision for excellence, but if their values are non-existent or poorly aligned, it counts for nothing. This will be evident when facing a difficult decision around missing a key shipping deadline because of concerns around quality. Staff from a values-based company would behave as expected by pulling the consignment because of the lack of high quality or precision. They would not fear reprisals from management, even though the firm may lose the contract. On the other hand, a local competitor may behave differently and ship it out, because they don’t value quality over quantity. For them, it’s about meeting deadlines on time and at whatever cost.
In order for our multi-academy trust to achieve its vision, we have a clear set of values that help us do the right thing. In short, our Trust is built on trust. The Latin word for ‘trust’ is fides – as in ‘to confide’ or bona fide (of good faith). We built our entire Trust on this belief, that if we are to become the best version of ourselves, we can only do so through high levels of trust.
You may not be aware, but Fides was also the ancient Goddess of trust. Her temple on the Capitol in Rome was where the Senate of the Roman Empire signed, sealed and stored all of their treaties and laws of the land. The deity Fides was their custodian and moral guardian of all that they believed at the time to be right and proper. As role models go, she is a formidable figure.
We use the acronym FIDES to help us remember the behaviours that we expect of all our adults and young people. Rather than go straight in with a googled set of abstract nouns (more often than not laminated and then displayed for all to see in the main entrance), we started first with the behaviours. Once we’d agreed on these, we then thought about the most appropriate abstract noun for each one.
We came up with five: loyalty, tenacity, kindness, courage and brilliance. Every day, we ask ourselves as we go home, ‘What have I done today that was courageous, brilliant and kind?’ I guarantee that no matter how bad a day you might have believed it to be, it was not that bad. As a teacher or leader, it’s almost impossible to go an entire day without doing any of these. You’ve probably also been extremely tenacious (not giving up on a child) and courageous (trying something new or dealing with a setback) but just haven’t found the time to reflect on it and know so.
Those five words though are unhelpful on their own. To someone new to the organisation, what does it mean to be tenacious? How does a young child demonstrate loyalty or courage? This is where FIDES helps us. I had the privilege of working with a cross-party group of staff to unpack all of this. It took us about a year. We wrote it all down and published it in a booklet called, ‘Trust Us: Making our Values Happen’. The children then followed this up with their own version called, ‘Trust Us Too’. You can watch a short video that they made here. The children themselves explain what FIDES means to them far better than I can.
As a Trust, our five core values are:
Focus on family
Insist on excellence
Do good as you go
Embrace innovation
Seize success
That’s it. As a teacher, if you do nothing else but demonstrate these behaviours day-in, day-out, then you will have done a brilliant job. This is why when I walk around any of our schools I can tell clearly when someone is making a difference. They live and breathe our values. For me F + I + D + E + S = a truly great school. It’s a sure-fire formula for success.
The beauty about values is that you don’t have to justify them to anyone outside the organisation. They will always stand the test of time and hopefully still be there long after you’ve gone. Above all, they are to be nurtured for their own sake. They are our north star and show us the way, especially during difficult times or when under pressure.
I hope your school has a north star burning bright; a compelling set of values that you believe in. If it does, then chances are you have a strong sense of purpose and self-worth. You buy-in to what it is your school is trying to achieve and understand clearly where you belong in the scheme of things. You feel valued and believe in both yourself and the moral purpose of the school leaders. Trust and integrity run deep.
If your school does not have a clear set of values or perhaps you don’t feel this way, then make it your new year’s resolution to try and put that right. You’ll certainly be doing good as you go. As a teacher with a clear moral compass, you owe it to yourself, to your colleagues and, above all to the young people and communities that you serve. Trust me.
(You can read more about this in my book, The Art of Standing Out, available from Amazon.)