As we continue to navigate this environment of uncertainty we find ourselves in it is vital that we are able to Lead Well. No doubt we find ourselves re-experiencing a range of emotions, turmoil, anxiety, or even a crisis planning buzz (for some, yes!). We are also likely to be surrounded by people in crisis, experiencing a wide range of emotions themselves. Uncertainty is ever-present as we ride the resilience rollercoaster of lockdown and alert level changes.

In this Leaders’ Connect Denise Quinlan has dusted off the best of NZIWR evidence-based strategies, honed through the past year’s events. She will share strategies for managing anxiety and avoiding burnout, as well as explore why perfectionism is toxic to resilience and why ruthless prioritisation is a key resilience skill for all of us in 2021. Denise will remind us why it’s important to ask people ‘what helps you be resilient?’, rather than imposing our strategies on others.

Bio

Dr. Denise Quinlan 

Denise has been studying resilience psychology for over a decade. A co-founder and co-director of the NZ Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, she is also joint author of the newly published Educators’ Guide to Whole-school Wellbeing: A practical guide to getting started (Routledge, 2020). Denise collaborates with Leadership across a range of city- wide initiatives including the Grow Waitaha Wellbeing Community of Practice involving all secondary schools in Christchurch and the Whangarei wellbeing hub involving all five Kahui Ako in the city.

About the Leaders’ Connect online series

Leaders’ Connect is an interactive, relational, online space for education leaders. These one-hour online hui occur fortnightly and the aim is to:  

• Provide a safe place of connection for education leaders within NZ
• Support leaders’ wellbeing 
• Gain fresh leadership knowledge and capacity 
• Create professional connection via an online platform
• Provide a space for learning and sharing innovative practices and ideas 

“The topics for these Leaders’ Connects are so relevant. I have attended as many as I can since the start of the year. My school is a smaller rural school just south of Auckland, so the opportunity to discuss these types of topics with others in the education space is great, Kia pai to rā”, Kris Burden, Tumuaki, Hunua School.

Leaders Connect was initiated by our team during the COVID19 lockdown in March 2020 and facilitated 15 Leaders Connect sessions in 2020.  In October 2020 the Ministry of Education agreed to sustain this initiative through resourcing it till the end of 2021.

Videos from past events

https://leadershiplab.co.nz/videos/