Tag: Paul Browning

Read https://www.uqp.com.au/books/principled

Prominent Australian educator Paul Browning faced this situation when the school he led became embroiled in The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Principled draws on Browning’s first-hand experience of navigating an organisation through this highly public ethical crisis and outlines the challenges he faced as a leader. Bringing together evidence-based research and over 20 years of management experience, Paul Browning offers timely advice on the 10 key practices that can help executives build and develop skills to become more trustworthy leaders.

Source: Principled by Paul Browning

Paul Browning’s book Principled explores how trust can be destroyed and subsequently regained. It builds on his PhD and early book Compelling Leadership: The Importance of Trust and How to Get It. The aim is to provide practical advice that can be adopted by any leader wishing to become a more trustworthy leader.

There are ten practices associated with building trust discussed in the book:

  1. Listening
  2. Admitting mistakes
  3. Offering trust
  4. Consultative decision-making
  5. Providing affirmation
  6. Visibility
  7. Demeanour
  8. Coaching or Mentoring
  9. Caring
  10. Keeping confidences

Each chapter includes an explanation about what the particular practice, how you know when it is not working, and particular tips to help improve in the particular area.

For example, in the chapter on listening, Browning provides the following strategies for getting better:

  • Minimise distraction
  • Understand body language
  • Make eye contact
  • Look for emotion
  • Listen for the values
  • Take notes
  • Suspend judgment
  • Resist the urge to give advice
  • Reflect back for clarification and affirmation
  • Keep it timely

All throughout, Browning supports his discussions with concrete examples from his own experience as being principal of St. Pauls.

Principled is a useful book to think about and reflect upon practice at any level of leadership, whether it be capital L or small l. It is also one of those books that you can easily come back to focusing as a reference and guide.

A useful introduction can also be found here.

Continue reading “📚 Principled (Paul Browning)”

Watched
Paul Browning talks with Steve Austin about trust, leadership and his book Principled. Really enjoyed the discussion about service and trust:

leadership is about service, it’s about giving of yourself to empower others to be remarkable people, so supporting them to become people that they were designed to be.

Asked about the decision to apologise for absuse that occured at St. Pauls long before his time, Browning explains that:

When you look at leadership through the lens of service you’re actually taking on responsibility for the organization, for the community of people and its history … you have to own that.

Browning is asked about whether truth or trust comes first:

If I genuinely listen to you and walk in your shoes then I actually might end up changing my view of the world … Trust is the key

Watched The Importance of Trust from YouTube

Panellists: Dr Paul Browning Margaret Barr In this ‘Curious Conversation’, Paul and Margaret will first share their background and experiences, and then disc…

I really enjoyed this conversation between Dr Paul Browning and Margaret Barr. Not only did it provide a useful provocation in regards to the question of trust, but it was also a good introduction to Browning’s book. I was also intrigued by the differences and similarities between relational and organisational trust.
RSVPed Interested in Attending The Importance of Trust
Thank you for the tip Andrea. Trust feels as important now as ever. This quote from Browning’s book really stood out to me.

With time we all become more experienced, but a critical event waits for no-one. It is sometimes best to prepare for the worst and then be pleasantly surprised by the reality. Instead of a flash of panic, you will be more controlled if you have a plan to tackle the difficulty.

Unpacking appreciation in Principled, Paul Browning talks about recognising everyone who works within the school space.

From the cleaners who come in at night to the Chair of the Board, everyone plays a role and needs to know that they are on the same team and their effort makes a difference.

I remember participating in a school-wide PLC program many years ago where we met once a term. In my group, we had the business manager, the cleaner, the music teacher and the head of the English department. Although the process had its challenges, the intent to recognise everyone’s voice when unpacking school matters was clear.

Replied to What is trust in digital, hybrid, & physical spaces? (W. Ian O’Byrne)

In recent readings, research, and discussions, the topic of “trust” has come up. This could involve questions about how do we know whether we can trust information from a source our individual. This involves questions about building trust in an organization. This has also included questions about building trust with others in a relationship on a more personal level.

Another great resource on trust and education is Paul Browning’s work on leadership. Here is a video summary of his ideas:

Liked Challenging the invisible beast by Paul Browning (Compelling Leadership)

If you are a newly appointed leader here are a six tips to help you wrestle the invisible beast:

  • Spend time listening, seeking to understand the prevailing culture, “the way things are done around here”.
  • Be a questionable person. Identify the things you don’t agree with in the culture and have the courage to lead a life that is in opposition to those things.
  • Identify the crusaders, the nay-sayers and the influencers.
  • Take care not to get sucked into the prevailing culture, it is very powerful and you will be subsumed into it if you don’t have the courage, or strength to resist.
  • Develop strategies to change those aspects of the culture you don’t agree with, strategies to develop new norms.
  • Once a new strategy or norm is established, commit.