What does it take to change?
Mary-Anne Murphy
What does it take to change?
Change, as we know, is constant.
We might seek it, comply with it, or rebel against it. The truth is, we do all three of these things, depending on the type of change required of us.
A few years ago, as a leader in a busy secondary school, I was approached by an overly enthusiastic salesperson-facilitator trying to get me onboard with the latest IT extravaganza. I was waaaay too busy for that palaver! This PLD (Professional Learning and Development) was for the staff, not me. I thought they’d be better off spending their time with them, rather than trying to convert me (though I phrased it a bit more kindly).
But, like any determined salesperson, they were relentless. Whenever they were on-site, they’d drop in to see how things were going, offering an IT tip or trick here and there—which I duly ignored.
It wasn’t until I was overwhelmed with work, and they happened to call in, that my ears finally pricked. They suggested an easier, quicker, yet still professional way of doing something I had been struggling with. Then, they sat down with me and showed me how it could be done. Trying to play it cool, I thanked them and said I’d think about their offer for further assistance. My ego was at stake, after all! ;-)
Fast forward a year, and there I was, presenting at an international conference on all the wonderful, IT-based strategies I had been using with students and teachers!
AND, I went on to become a national e-learning specialist for a large PLD company! This leopard definitely changed its spots.
So, what does it take to embrace this thing called “Change”?
I reckon change happens on different levels.
The Pyramid of Logical Levels is a model developed by Robert Dilts, a pioneer in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). It illustrates the levels at which we operate.
Affecting change requires us to address the "where" and "when," as well as the "what" and "how" of what we are currently doing. At a deeper, more challenging level, it pushes us to question our "why" and "who."
When we undergo change, we move up and down Dilts’ levels. Deep, sustained change happens at the levels of values, beliefs, and identity.
A key question we can ask ourselves and those we work with is,
“Who will I/you become when I/you emerge from this change?”
Does this fill you with excitement and possibility?
Then let’s go!
Or perhaps it stirs up dread and fear?
If we allow ourselves to break apart and—with support—reassemble piece by piece, we eventually wake up to find we’ve been completely transformed. We are whole again, stronger, but also a new shape or size. Like the grief cycle, deep change requires transformation. And through this transformation, we may no longer fit into our old lives or ways of working.
To move forward, we must let go of the bar we’ve been gripping so tightly, and swim to the other side.
It’s in surrender that we find transformation.
Go beautifully this week.
MA :-)
Space for 2025 is filling. Check out our 2025 programmes:
Empowered Students
Leadership Retreat
Next year there is no RAPLD funding.
Talk to us about applying for grant funding to support your mahi.
Contact Mary-Anne to discuss your needs.
AI Hacks for Educators
Mary-Anne Murphy
As technology evolves, AI tools are becoming invaluable in education, offering new ways to enhance teaching and learning. Here’s a closer look at some of the best AI tools for teachers and students. I’ve also included pricing details to help you budget for your classroom resources.
1. Image Generation: Canva’s Magic Media
Canva’s Magic Media is an easy-to-use tool that lets you create custom images for your lessons. Whether it’s diagrams, charts, or even creative illustrations, Canva’s vast range of templates and AI tools help you design engaging visuals in no time.
Pricing:
Free Plan: Access to basic features and templates.
Canva Pro: Around $12.99 USD per month (about $20 NZD) for premium designs and features like Magic Media.
In the classroom: Students may wish to create their own images to go with their writing, or even craft an image to write about. Canva’s paid version also offers more advanced templates.
2. ChatGPT for Interactive Learning and Research
ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is like having a virtual assistant in your classroom. It helps both teachers and students brainstorm, solve problems, and explain difficult concepts in a way that’s easy to understand.
Pricing:
Free Plan: Basic chatbot functionality. (LLimited usage per day)
ChatGPT Plus: $20 USD per month (approximately $33 NZD) for more in-depth responses with the latest model (GPT-4).
In the classroom: If you’re teaching Year 7-8, ChatGPT can help you explain tricky maths concepts or generate ideas for creative writing. If students are working on a short story assignment, they can ask ChatGPT for help with developing a plot, character ideas, or a setting. For example, a student might ask, "Can you give me a prompt for a mystery story set in a small New Zealand town?" ChatGPT can then generate an idea to kickstart their writing, such as a story about a missing object that leads to uncovering a long-lost local secret. It’s also handy for planning lessons, providing it is personalised to your context and students.
3. Suno for Audio Generation
Suno generates synthetic voice narrations, making it a great tool for teachers and students alike. You can create audio versions of instructions or stories, which is perfect for supporting auditory learners or providing bilingual content in English and te reo Māori.
Pricing:
Free Plan: Limited features.
Paid Plan: Ranges from $10-$30 USD per month (about $15-$45 NZD), depending on usage and access to premium voices.
In the classroom: Create bilingual audio stories or narrate classroom instructions, especially for younger students or those who might struggle with reading comprehension.
4. Research Support: Perplexity and Elicit
Research can be time-consuming, but tools like Perplexity and Elicit make it easier. They summarise academic articles and help you find reliable resources quickly, saving both teachers and students valuable time.
Perplexity Pricing: Free.
Elicit Pricing: Free for basic tasks; paid plans start at $25 USD per month (about $38 NZD).
In the classroom: These tools are ideal for student research on topics.. They help streamline the research process and summarise key findings, making it easier to focus on the analysis.
5. Feedback Tools: Kaizena and Mote
Voice feedback tools like Kaizena and Mote allow teachers to leave personalised audio feedback directly on student work. Students can also use these tools to provide voice notes for peer reviews or group projects.
Kaizena Pricing: Free.
Mote Pricing:
Free Plan: Limited voice feedback.
Unlimited Plan: Around $9 USD per month (approximately $14 NZD).
In the classroom: Imagine assessing a student’s creative writing. You can use Mote to give voice feedback on their sentence structure or creativity, making the feedback process more personal and easier to digest.
Ethical and Appropriate Use of AI Tools
While AI tools can make learning and teaching more dynamic, it’s important to use them ethically. These tools should complement your or your students’ own thinking, creativity, and effort, not replace them. Teachers can model appropriate use by ensuring students don’t rely solely on AI to complete tasks but instead use it to clarify concepts, check their work, or explore new ideas. It’s also important to consider privacy and ensure that any student data shared with these tools is handled securely and responsibly. This approach fosters academic integrity and helps students develop their critical thinking skills.
Final words
Have a tutu! Allocate 10 mins “play-time” each day with the tools. Perhaps even blend it into Team meeting time.
And, don’t be afraid to get your students involved in exploring what the platforms can do - they can often come-up with some interesting ways of how they might use them to support their learning.
Go well this week, and have fun!
MA :-)
Space for 2025 is filling. Check out our 2025 programmes:
Empowered Students
Leadership Retreat
Next year there is no RAPLD funding.
Talk to us about applying for grant funding to support your mahi.
Contact Mary-Anne to discuss your needs.
Creating a Culture of Care
"Caring personally makes it much easier to challenge directly." — Kim Scott.
In my mahi, I am often called upon to support a team or organisation with their culture or team dynamics. A crucial part of this work lies with the leaders, as they model the expected culture. It’s both challenging and rewarding work that requires people to be both caring and daring. Creating a culture of care is like tending to a garden—you must nurture it with empathy, but also prune it with accountability, ensuring it grows strong and healthy. It’s not just about making people feel comfortable; it’s about fostering an environment where individuals feel supported yet responsible for their actions. As Brené Brown puts it, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind,” emphasising the importance of setting clear expectations and holding people accountable in a way that encourages growth and learning.
Psychological safety is vital for creating a culture of care, where empathy and accountability coexist. Timothy R. Clarke, in The Four Stages of Psychological Safety, outlines four phases that help leaders build this environment: Inclusion Safety (feeling accepted), Learner Safety (safe to ask questions and make mistakes), Contributor Safety (confidently sharing ideas), and Challenger Safety (challenging the status quo without fear).
Clarke emphasises that psychological safety doesn’t equate to a lack of accountability. As he states, “Psychological safety is not permission to slack off or disengage. It’s the ability to be oneself while maintaining accountability.” When you foster trust and openness while upholding high standards, you ensure your team feels supported yet responsible for their actions. This approach creates a space where innovation and growth can thrive.
Empathy in leadership means truly understanding the challenges your team faces, whether they are personal struggles or professional hurdles. It requires listening, connecting with people on a human level, and showing genuine concern for their wellbeing. But as Simon Sinek wisely pointed out, “Empathy is not about being nice. It’s about understanding.” Empathy alone isn’t enough. Without accountability, you risk creating an environment where standards slip and growth stalls.
True care involves providing a space where people can learn from their mistakes while still being held to high standards. Accountability ensures that everyone understands their role and takes ownership of their successes and failures. This fosters a resilient, high-performing team where both accountability and empathy are valued. Kim Scott’s Radical Candor shows that caring deeply for your team allows for direct challenges and honest feedback, helping them to grow and thrive.
Ultimately, a culture of care is built on the recognition that empathy and accountability must go hand in hand. You need to be empathetic enough to understand your team’s needs, but strong enough to hold them to high standards that promote growth. Like the roots and branches of a tree, these elements support and balance each other, allowing your workplace to flourish. As Simon Sinek reminds us, “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” This care is as much about accountability as it is about empathy.
Some reflective questions you might consider:
How well do I balance empathy with accountability in my leadership, and what impact does that have on my team's growth and trust?
Am I providing clear and consistent feedback that helps my team take responsibility for their actions while feeling supported?
How can I better model both care and accountability to create a culture where my team feels motivated to perform at their best?
Go well this week
Mary-Anne
Space for 2025 is filling. Check out our 2025 programmes:
Empowered Students
Leadership Retreat
Contact Mary-Anne to discuss your needs.
Flourishing Together
“When the going gets tough, the tough find their purpose”.
I have the privilege of working alongside teams and leaders, supporting them in becoming even better at how they function together and individually. One thing I’ve come to realise is that it’s easy to get so caught up in the busyness of day-to-day tasks that we sometimes forget why we’re doing them in the first place. And often, that busyness can lead us far from our original purpose, causing us to lose sight of what truly matters. We might fall into patterns of doing things simply because that’s the way they’ve always been done, because it feels easier, or because we can’t envision a different way.
Research by Hooker and Masters (2016) highlights that meaning in life enhances both psychological and physical resilience. Having a clear sense of “Why” acts as an emotional compass, helping us stay grounded and motivated through life’s storms, and keeping us focused on the mahi (work) that truly matters.
Uncovering our collective "Why" isn’t about memorising an organisation’s mission statement. True meaning is personal and deeply rooted in values like whānau (family), service, and community. While personal meaning often aligns with broader organisational goals, it always begins at the individual level. When people connect with their deeper purpose, they become more resilient, adaptable, and prosocial—strengthening both themselves and their communities.
In my work, one of the things I focus on is helping individuals and teams reconnect with their deep "Why." What drives them at their core to do the work they do?
Our "Why" can evolve over time, which means it needs to be revisited regularly. Sometimes people discover that their personal purpose no longer aligns with the organisation’s, which can be a valuable opportunity for reflection and further exploration.
Meaning isn’t a luxury; it’s a proven strategy for success. By linking individual purpose to collective goals, we create stronger, more motivated teams and communities, leading to collective flourishing.
Here are a few reflective questions to consider:
How well do you understand your own "Why," and how does it shape how you approach challenges in both your personal and professional life?
In what ways can you help others in your team or community connect their personal purpose with the broader organisational mission?
How might cultivating personal meaning and purpose contribute to building a more resilient, engaged, and supportive environment within your team or organisation?
This time of year is when, as leaders, we begin to review our journey and look ahead to the next few years from a strategic perspective.
This is a personal invitation to you and your leadership team to join us for a day at the end of the year to review and craft your strategic goals, initiatives, and annual plan. I will facilitate and guide the process as you work with your leadership team, surrounded by other leaders, to analyze your data, synthesise your consultation documentation, share ideas, make connections, optimise AI to support your thinking, and leave with a draft strategic and annual plan.
It will be a day of dedicated mahi to get things done. You may also choose to stay the night before and join us for dinner. You'll be in the beautiful surroundings of Waihi Beach School, with the beach only a stone's throw away.
Contact me directly to book your spots - limited spots available.
Mastering our Mindset Mountains
Sir Edmund Hillary once said “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves”.
In today’s fast-moving, unpredictable world, managing tasks and responsibilities is only part of what it takes to be at your best. True success, especially in tough times, depends on how well we build our own inner strength. This is where psychological capital (PsyCap) comes into play. Originally developed by Fred Luthans, Bruce Avolio, and Carolyn Youssef in their pioneering research on positive psychology in the workplace, PsyCap centres around four core psychological resources: self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience.
Think of it as your mental toolkit—designed to help you navigate challenges, adapt to change, and stay focused, even when things don’t go as planned.
So, how do you go about building your own psychological capital? Let’s break it down.
What is Psychological Capital?
PsyCap is about cultivating a positive mindset that helps you perform well, regardless of the obstacles. It’s made up of four key components:
Self-efficacy: The belief that you can take on tasks and reach your goals.
Optimism: A positive outlook that helps you see opportunities in setbacks.
Hope: The drive to pursue your goals and the ability to find different ways to achieve them.
Resilience: The ability to bounce back from difficulties and keep moving forward.
Building these traits within yourself is about more than just coping; it’s about actively growing and getting stronger in the process.
How You Can Build Your Own Psychological Capital
Here’s some ideas on how you might reflect on and develop each part of your psychological capital:
1. Self-Efficacy: Building Confidence in Your Own Abilities
Self-efficacy is about trusting yourself to handle challenges and achieve your goals. We all have moments where doubt creeps in, especially when something new or difficult comes our way. But by building on small successes, you can gradually strengthen that belief in yourself.
Questions to Reflect On:
Do you believe you can overcome challenges, or do you tend to question your abilities?
How can you break down your goals into smaller steps to experience regular wins?
Are you taking time to acknowledge your achievements, even the small ones, to reinforce your confidence?
2. Optimism: Seeing the Opportunity in Challenges
Optimism isn’t about pretending everything’s perfect. It’s about seeing the possibilities, even when things don’t go to plan. Being optimistic helps you stay solution-focused and positive, especially in challenging times.
Questions to Reflect On:
When things don’t go your way, do you find yourself fixating on the negatives, or can you see the bigger picture?
How can you start reframing setbacks as learning opportunities, rather than barriers?
Are you intentionally surrounding yourself with influences that support a positive outlook, instead of those that drag you down?
3. Hope: Staying Motivated and Flexible
Hope is what keeps you going, even when the road gets rocky. It’s about having the motivation to reach your goals and the flexibility to find new paths when the original one isn’t working.
Questions to Reflect On:
Are your goals clear and meaningful enough to keep you motivated?
When one approach isn’t working, how can you shift your thinking and explore different ways to succeed?
What strategies help you maintain hope during long periods of uncertainty or challenge?
4. Resilience: Bouncing Back from Setbacks
Resilience is the ability to recover from difficulties and come back stronger. It’s what keeps you going when life throws a curveball (or five). The key to resilience is not just “powering through” but also learning from setbacks and using that knowledge to move forward.
Questions to Reflect On:
When faced with a setback, how do you typically respond? Are you able to regroup and refocus, or does it derail your progress?
Are you giving yourself time and space to process challenges, or are you trying to fix everything immediately?
What tools or habits can you build into your routine to help you recover from difficult situations more effectively?
Bringing It All Together
Psychological capital isn’t just an abstract concept—it’s a set of skills you can actively build within yourself. By focusing on self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience, you’ll become better equipped to handle life’s ups and downs, both personally and professionally.
This process takes time and reflection, but it’s worth the effort. There will be moments when things feel tough and your resilience is tested. But with intentional focus on building your psychological capital, you’ll find yourself bouncing back more quickly, staying more motivated, and facing challenges with confidence.
Take a moment to reflect on these areas. Think about where you’re already strong and where you might need a bit more attention. Building your psychological capital is an ongoing process, but the payoff is becoming more confident, motivated, and resilient in the face of whatever life throws your way.
You’ve got this! Go well this week,
MA :-)
P.S. We have a few spaces still available for our Strategic Planning Day in December. This is a personal invitation to you and your leadership team to join us for a day to review and craft your strategic goals, initiatives, and annual plan. I will facilitate and guide the process as you work with your leadership team, surrounded by other leaders, to analyse your data, synthesise your consultation documentation, share ideas, make connections, optimise AI to support your thinking, and leave with a draft annual plan.
It will be a day of dedicated mahi to get things done. You may also choose to stay the night before and join us for dinner. You'll be in the beautiful surroundings of Waihi Beach School, with the beach only a stone's throw away.
Contact me directly to book your spots.