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Welcome to 2021 and our first TSAA Bulletin for the year. Here we are in the second half of Term 1 – I hope you have had a productive and settled start to the school year and are feeling enthusiastic, fresh, and positive for the year ahead. Thank you all for your dedication and leadership. As leaders in our schools we are key stakeholders in ensuring our teams, colleagues, families and school community feel safe and optimistic; modelling positive mindset, recognising and acknowledging the commitment and good work of our colleagues and always challenging ourselves and inspiring those around us. It is aspirational to see how schools are working together, supporting their teams, and taking up new opportunities as we are forever hopeful of a much more settled year ahead.
Our Executive have recently made the decision to re-schedule our Annual TSAA Conference to 2 & 3 September 2021. Feedback from colleagues indicated that many people are still feeling uncomfortable about travelling and staying away overnight. Hence our decision to choose a date later in the year. We have booked Wrest Point, Hobart – please make a note of these dates in your calendar!
Whilst intrastate travel has not been encouraged, we have been able to continue our ongoing meetings with our DoE Corporate Groups. Our regular face to face meetings have been moved to regular TEAMS Meetings with HR and Finance along with participation in other stakeholder and project groups;
- Intranet Redevelopment Project
- Capabilities and Values Stakeholder Group
- Monthly Budgeting and Forecasting Group Pilot
Thank you to those SBM’s, Corporate Colleagues and pilot schools that are involved in these working groups. I am sure you will all agree there has been some great work going on behind the scenes in a number of Corporate Areas. Our new look intranet is proving to be fabulous; it is fantastic to have easy and fast access, improved search functions and up-to-date information and documents.
As we move towards the end of term, I hope you are able to take a well-earned break and enjoy some time with family and friends. In these times we are reminded more than ever the importance of good physical and mental health, research indicates many benefits to our entire life; it helps you plan, makes you more mindful, enhances creativity, decision making and flexibility, If you are feeling anxious and need some additional support remember 24/7 support is available to all staff through our Employee Assistance Program, Newport & Wildman can be contacted on 1800 650 204 or email admin@newportwildman.com
Kind regards
Cynthia Pearce
Chairperson
COVID-19: while plenty is going on to keep COVID-19 out of our schools, on the flipside we’ve updated our resources in case we get a positive case at a school – ‘hope for the best and plan for the worst’
- Firstly, a Scenarios and Action’s guide steps out 8 common scenarios at schools, and the actions for them e.g. a parent who regularly comes to my school, and they have just been inter-state – do we need to do anything?
- Secondly, the closure resources have all been updated – a new one-page flowchart and procedure in the SEMP (PDF or the App) explain the main actions for all roles involved in a COVID-19 closure eg Principal, Director Operations, Facilities
- There is also a fully revised COVID-19 Closures Guide which is just for Principals and their senior staff (who are probably going to come looking for you to help them). It includes a detailed checklist and draft communications, ready to be edited for your school if needed.
All of these resources are on an updated intranet page – so save this as a ‘Favourite’ to take you straight there: https://tasedu.sharepoint.com/sites/intranet/SitePages/Principal-Resources-for-COVID-19.aspx#schools-and-cflcs
And… go through the flowchart with all staff at some point soon, to update everyone on the anticipated actions
Something else for all SBMs, Principals and senior staff… the Site Managers Emergency Toolkit & Cheat Sheet
There are quite a few security and emergency management resources now and it’s not always easy to know which ones are designed for your position – until now
A new intrant page has been created for you to easily find the resources that apply to you: https://tasedu.sharepoint.com/sites/SecurityandEmergencyManagement/SitePages/Site-Managers-Toolkit.aspx
And a 2-page PDF printable version is also available with hyperlinks: Site Managers Cheat Sheet
We suggest you save this as a Favourite as well, and take a look to make sure you’re aware of the resources listed.
Thanks & Regards,
Kate Dobson
Principal Advisor – Security & Emergency Management, Dept. of Education TAS
(03) 6165 5683
Kate.Dobson@education.tas.gov.au
0439 208 618
The DoE Intranet site is designed to help you get your work done with ease. If you haven’t had a chance to explore the site in detail, here are some tips to help you find what you need.
The School Business Operations site is for School Administration staff. This site’s features include:
- A news feed with the SASP updates and other news relevant to School Administration
- A monthly checklist planner – a handy checklist of tasks, sorted by when they are due
- Links to the major function areas that you need to access regularly
- A list of ‘Hot Topics’ links to get you to information you need now
- Useful links and quick tips in the dropdown menu (in the blue banner)
Shortcuts to your most frequently used pages
Do you use the Power Panel? The Power Panel is found on the left-hand side of the Intranet screen and has links to most commonly used systems, departmental websites, directories, as well as help and support contacts.
The Power Panel (outlined in yellow) from top to bottom includes:
- App Launcher: quick access to your Microsoft Office applications
- Personal Links: save your own links to frequently used pages and sites
- Directories: Find people across DoE by entering a name, a role, or school. Also find links to DoE, Tas Government, School and Services Directories
- Applications: DoE's online systems
- Public Websites: Links to all DoE public websites
- Help: Contacts for system support and help
Catch up on the news
Hit the Intranet home page for the latest DoE news.
- Read the news on the Latest All DoE News You can filter the news for your interests or search for individual stories
- Learning News is now on the Intranet! Read the individual news items anytime, or catch-up with Trudy Pearce’s fortnightly Learning News email.
Provide feedback
If you would like to provide feedback on the intranet site, report a problem, can’t find something, or would like to suggest a feature email webtechnologies@education.tas.gov.au.
A reminder for all SBM’s there are three options available. Please choose the most relevant address to use minimising the number of emails being received by Business Ops
Schools (Northern Region) - School Business Mangers
Schools (Southern Region) - School Business Managers
School Business Managers - All
Did you know that new employees can now complete the New Employee Starter information online?
For your information we have included the RWVP Policy and the latest COVID-19 check in procedures as a lot of visitors are questioning administration staff around office procedures.
Registration to Work with Vulnerable People Policy (education.tas.gov.au)
Ali Dennison and Lea-Anne Breganti have volunteered to be involved in the group reviewing the capabilities & values profiles working group which is led by Bernadette Welsh – Senior Consultant HR Projects. On Friday – some met in person, some via TEAMS as we brainstormed what are the capabilities & values profiles, new format, grouping of topics, if the content of the domains meet the needs of the work group and promotion of profiles. Other people on the working group are :
- Meg Barker – Project Officer Workforce Strategy
- Lisa Burstall – Manager Strategy, Performance and Partnerships
- Jakki Coombes – Assistant Manager HR Recruitment and Employment
- Alison Knowles – Senior Accountant Financial Services
- Christine Lane – Manager Engagement Strategic System Improvement
- Lyn Metcalfe – HR Manager HR Policy, Strategy and Wellbeing
- Margaret Paterson – Senior Consultant Performance
- Jacqui Percival – Coordinator Financial Systems
- Jo Pook – Manager Workplace Relations
- Amy Robertson - Project and Policy Coordinator Workforce Strategy
There were a lot of suggestions and comments made and we felt it was a very valuable day. At the end of the meeting Bernadette advised there is a recently launched intranet hub for the Performance Management Framework. Eventually the C&V Profiles will have a presence in the Hub. If you have any performance related activities on your horizon, check out the hub and the resources available, including the improved format PDP template. There are a lot of new guides for all things relating to performance discussions. https://tasedu.sharepoint.com/sites/HumanResources/SitePages/The-Performance-and-Development-Framework.aspx
There will be some communications coming out in the coming week or so, but in the meantime, feel free to share the link.
Wellbeing Article for the newsletter from Newport & Wildman
Monday, 22 February 2021
Workplace culture has changed since the days where people started work, did what the manager told them to do and 'logged off". Today, workplaces need to engage and motivate their employees by understanding what employees need from their work. We know employees want to grow, want to be valued, involved, and to feel part of the organisation.
Each generation may have differing needs and not factoring in employees’ values, needs and expectations leads to strong emotions at work which can lead to decreased productivity. Engagement is key to a mentally healthy and productive workplace culture – organisations need emotionally intelligent leaders who know how to respond in a way that facilitates positive workplace behaviour.
What do we unwittingly do that creates negative/positive emotion?
Insight and awareness around the impact of behaviour on others is a skill that can be learned and developed – paying attention to body language and others’ reactions is key. It’s important that you choose your moment to seek feedback or deliver information.
Are negative emotions in the workplace bad?
Emotions are contagious so it is important to listen, be aware and address underlying issues before the emotions impact on others within the workplace. Negative emotions are defined as, for example, anger, frustration, burnout - all emotions that are part of being human. It’s unrealistic to expect people not to have emotion, but they need to learn how to effectively manage their emotions. One way to manage emotions in the workplace is for leaders to know how to have a constructive conversation which includes active listening, de-escalation, providing feedback. If your managers require some skills in this area our Constructive Conversations training can help employees use negative emotion to create a positive consequence.
What works?
Upskilling and training managers to manage emotions is important.
Many managers get promoted for their technical skills and abilities and may experience difficulty managing strong emotions. These skills can be taught through coaching and training and should include: de-escalation skills, skills to keep calm, active listening, reflecting and summarising.
Modelling behaviour from the top down
It’s important to model the behavioural response that you want to see in others. Leaders set the tone for organisational culture and communication. Consultation is key; that is, consulting with employees to understand the type of culture everyone wants to create. Role modelling that behaviour is important as employees become disillusioned if they do not feel heard and their value isn’t acknowledged. It’s like building a muscle – it takes time and practice.
Managing difficult emotions/trauma
Acknowledging emotion, without deciding whether the emotion is valid or not, is very powerful. People want to feel that their emotional response is heard and understood. Your first step is to calm the situation by listening with real empathy. The person is then ready to work with you to generate solutions, and while it takes longer, does mean there will be “buy-in”. Managing trauma in the workplace means moving at the individuals’ pace and understanding that everyone is impacted differently and therefore there will be different responses. Recognising and acknowledging that there is a range of normal reactions to trauma, and suspending judgement (no right or wrong response) will assist the workplace to recover effectively.
To arrange an appointment call 1800 650 204 or for enquiries about related training please contact the Newport & Wildman Team.
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, chopped
125g Dark baking chocolate, chopped
3 eggs, lightly whisked
335g (1 1/2 cups) white sugar
115g (3/4 cup) plain flour
30g (1/4 cup) Dutch cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Equipment
20cm (base measurement) square cake pan
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Grease a 20cm (base measurement) square cake pan and line with baking paper.
Place butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water). Stir with a metal spoon until melted. Remove from heat. Quickly stir in egg, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt until just combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Set aside to cool completely.