Keynote by David Parkin - Wed 14 July 2010

This guy was a very inspiring speaker who spoke about the importance of a person's character and values first and foremost - teach them competencies and skills later.

Here is some information about David Parkin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Parkin

David is a well known Australian Rules football coach, was a player, and is also a previous primary school teacher. He now teaches lecturer in Sports and Exercise Science at Deakin Uni. He is interested in teamwork and leadership. He is passionate about teaching, leadership and teamwork.

The attitude that you bring with you determines what you get out of whatever you are doing.

Here are some of David's ideas

As in all other fields of life, people want things faster, better and cheaper.

Education – crowded curriculum, national curriculum doesn’t include all the important things that it used to. Mainly teaching to the test.

Stress levels are up. Teachers are more stressed than the police – increased breakdowns and suicide. Reduced fun and fulfilment. How are we going to make it better?

Ray McLean’s book on teams: Any given team

Too much emphasis on competencies and skills. Focus on values and personal qualities. Commitment to do the job. Focus on character first, teach competencies later.

Get rid of people who cause problems in the institution.

"If it aint broke, smash it" - always think about how we can do this better (opposite of "if it aint broke, don't fix it")

Difference between leadership and management

"Leadership is about getting the right things done."

"Management is about making sure that the right things get done right."

In the process of writing a book about teamwork and leadership recently, he found that good leaders really wanted to get the job done. The best leaders also cared about the team members beyond the capacity of what they were employed to achieve.

Share the knowledge and the power.

Give ownership whenever you can.

Despite your personality and preferred ways of doing things, you need to be flexible and don’t treat every situation and person the same way. Team needs to take ownership of what the team is doing.

Continually sell the vision.

Ideal size for a team is 5-12.

Mutual goal setting. Then work out how it will be measured and evaluated. "If it don't get measured, it don't get done."

Share the recognition and rewards - teams must do this. Acknowledge what people do well and their unique skills. Work out how to combine all as a team.

Encourage team members to have critical friends - must be open to feedback to improve.

Trust - essential within the team. Team players must be predicatable.

Sacrifice - working for others. Going beyond your own needs and assisting others in the team. Work hard for your mates.

Here are some ideas on working with a team:

• Do you hear the language of blame and excuses or the language of responsibility?
• Ask your team what they want to achieve and then work out together how to achieve it.

Finished with these questions:

• Can I still make a difference as I am in the role that I’m on – or do I have to reinvent myself to make a difference?
• Do I still have the passion and the health to do what I need to do?
• Am I still respected by those that I serve?
• How’s your attitude?