The Ripple Effect of the Collaboration Meeting

With the Collaboration meeting drought drawing to a hopeful conclusion. It feels like we did when COVID was beginning to come under control and people could be together again.

It is not necessarily over, but there are hopeful signs. It has been a while since educators gathered to exchange ideas, practices and contribute their voice. The break from meetings has interrupted robust conversations, sharing of pedagogy and comparing student progress. One principal said that the students had completed a writing assessment, but there had been no moderation of writing.

What this absence has shown is the importance of collaboration meetings. They are one of the few scheduled meetings, where the time allocated is relevant and productive to the year level educators attending.

It is also an event that reflects the culture of the school. The interaction and “feel” of the collaboration meeting is how the school is viewed. If the meeting is productive, friendly, efficient, purposeful, respectful and relevant, then the participants will make a positive judgement that the rest of the school is the same.

If the meeting is the inefficient, disorganised, irrelevant and disrespectful, the participants will believe the rest of the school is the same. We naturally make judgements on the whole from the experience of the part. You have one bad meal at the café, and you judge all meals as bad. The Google reviews are testament to this.

I call this the Ripple Effect. The positive or negative drop that falls in the pond sets the tone for the rest of the pond. Like the eyes are the windows to the soul, collaboration meetings are the windows to the culture.

Middle leaders, leading the collaboration meetings are the ambassadors for the culture. They are the positive drops in the pond. They are the ones that model the school culture.

But do they have the skill set? Do they have the conviction and courage to set the agenda, the norms, the accountability so we avoid negative and expand positive?

So, as we come out of the dark and move to reigniting the collaboration meetings, consider if your middle leaders have the skill set to reflect the culture, we all aspire to?