From our Chapter President

Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa

In the midst of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2021, please bear with me as I attempt to honour yesterday’s Maori Language Moment promise.

We’ve been sending thoughts to all of you as you navigate the impacts and uncertainties (not to mention the smothering facemasks!) of the various current lockdown levels on you, your whānau, hoamahi and kiritata. If, like me, you’re one of the very fortunate who has a tuanui over your head, kai on your table, a rorohiko of your own and “endless wifi” to support professional and personal demands, spare a thought for the thousands of rangatahi, their whānau and kaiako who are dealing with the daily realities of the digital divide and the rising threat of long term impacts of educational inequity for rangatahi throughout Aotearoa.

Some of you may have heard of DigiTautua, a kaupapa initiated by Eteroa Lafaele, winner of the Prime Minister’s Pacific Youth Science (STEM) Award. Eteroa is working to generate donations of funding and equipment to provide laptops to school students who are disadvantaged by lack of access to a device and the internet. If you missed it on the news last night, read more about Eteroa and DigiTautua here.

Educate Plus members are givers – creating positive differences in the lives of others is the thread that binds us all together. If any of you or the institution where you work would be prepared to support the worthwhile mahi of DigiTautua please contact Eteroa Lafaele direct , go to the Givealittle page or, if you’d be prepared to contribute to a joint effort across Educate Plus members, email me at vicki@connectfutures.org.nz.

We hope that those of you who were able to join the Educate Plus Three Day Online Non Conference Series last week received value from the sessions offered. If you missed out, there’s always plenty more special interest webinars to look forward to – check out the impressive selection of webinars and other resources in the Member Resources section of the website or the Upcoming Events page. Our thanks to Sona, Sheila, Tina, Neil and Michelle at Head Office for all their hard work that makes these professional development opportunities available to members throughout Australasia.

For Aotearoa Chapter members based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Waikato, central Te Ika-a-Māui, Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Ōtutahi we’re working on setting dates for another round of member networking “meet-ups” featuring guest speakers so keep an eye on your inboxes!

In closing, if you know of anybody who may be interested in the Educate Plus CEO vacancy please see the article here. Our thanks to NZ Committee member Jennifer Roshan and Chapter Manager Kate Eatts for their mahi on this e-news. Ngā mihi maioha.

Hei konā mai. Noho ora mai.

Vicki

P.S. If you could use a comprehensive guide to greetings, sign-offs and acknowledgements in te reo Māori – here’s a link to the best reference I’ve ever come across, courtesy of one of our Educate Plus NZ member institutions – kia ora University of Auckland!

Chapter News

Auckland Networking Event at the Olympic NZHQ at The Cloud on Queen’s Wharf

Educate Plus New Zealand Chapter was in the very lucky situation of being able to meet in person and took advantage of the Olympics supporters hub NZHQ on the waterfront in Auckland to have a networking cocktail party. Around twenty members from schools and tertiary had both views of the Waitemata Harbour and the Olympic events on big screens whilst enjoying a glass of bubbles and the reassuring supportive conversations that are a significant part of any Educate Plus networking event.

A Word with Educate Plus Platinum Partner

School newsletter content ideas for uncertain times.

Feeling a little short of content these days? You’re not alone. Given that many award nights, sports carnivals, or other special events have been cancelled, you might be wondering what to share with your community next?

Let’s look at a few ideas that could help your school build out a newsletter during these challenging times.

1. Highlight student achievements

Has your school handed out any major awards lately? Highlight your star performers with a special newsletter call-out.

2. A word from your Principal

Ask your Principal to write a short piece on any topics they’d like to communicate to the broader community. Showcasing your school’s direction is also a great way to continue building your Principal’s reputation as a thought leader at your school.

3. Give a glimpse into your (virtual) classrooms

Round up photos from virtual classrooms that create a sense of community as parents and educators navigate online learning together. Showcasing how your school is adapting to virtual learning, is a great way to highlight the value of your school’s education.

4. Share a blog post

Share a link and short, engaging description of new blog posts to encourage your community to click through.

5. Celebrate awareness days

Is there a world awareness day coming up that your school supports? Share how you’ll be celebrating it in your newsletter, including how your community can get involved.

6. Teacher interview

Highlight your stellar academic staff by including a short interview with a teacher. What led them to teach? Why are they so passionate about their subject? A Q&A is an informal way for your community to get to know them.

7. Share a good news story

The world needs more good news stories now more than ever! Look for students or staff that help create a little joy in the community as a great way to highlight the strength of character of your community.

8. School clubs updates

How are your school club’s navigating lockdowns? Invite a club President to share words of encouragement, or highlight any upcoming virtual meet-ups.

9. Focus on student wellbeing

Given the current environment, many students might be feeling a little anxious about the future. Foster a supportive community by asking your school counselor to share encouraging words and a reminder of the support services available.

10. Highlight your alumni

Showcase your Alumni’s achievements in a regular ‘where are they now’ content piece. Your community will love hearing about what their former peers have gone on to achieve.

There you have it — 10 school newsletter content ideas for when you’re not sure what to share. For more tips and tricks, check out how to improve your school newsletter distribution. You can also find the original, full length version of this article here.

About Digistorm:

Digistorm is a software, app & website development company, specialising in the education industry. They develop cutting-edge technologies to streamline school administration processes and give school staff back valuable hours in their day. Follow them on LinkedIn for helpful school admissions and marketing content, or visit their website.

Thought Leadership

How To Maintain Psychological Safety In A Hybrid Workplace

By Mariya Harris

Psychological safety in the workplace isn’t a topic you should sleep on—let’s explore the reasons why. For starters, the majority of people practice general safety naturally on a daily basis.

🛒 We lock our cars in the grocery store parking lot.

📱 We password protect our phones, laptops, Wi-Fi networks, etc.

🤝 We maintain close friendships with people that we trust.

But what happens when safety is lacking in an environment that we can’t necessarily control?

For example, let’s take a look at a work-related situation with a make-believe employee—we’ll name her Susan. Susan is a new employee who is excited to bring her ideas to the table. She comes across an ongoing company issue and takes the initiative to brainstorm a solution to fix it. However, when she brings her solution to light during a team meeting, her co-workers roll their eyes and dismiss her idea without a second thought.

How Teams Can Be More Supportive With Help From Hanlon’s Razor

By Genevieve Michaels

Hanlon’s Razor might sound like a hygiene device from Star Wars, but it’s got nothing to do with facial hair or the Millennium Falcon—we promise.

Instead, Hanlon’s Razor is all about minimizing our assumptions and seeing other people’s motives in a positive light. It’s a rule of thumb that we can use to think clearly and rationally, and it’s an especially valuable tool at work.

Everyone deserves to be treated with fairness and understanding, and if you can do that for the people on your team, it will pay off exponentially, not just in positive vibes, but in productivity and quality work. Because let’s face it—when you ask someone to describe their ideal work partner, terms like “paranoid” and “suspicious” aren’t likely to come to mind.

So let’s get into it—we’ll explain what Hanlon’s Razor is, why it’s so powerful, and how you can use it not just to see the best in your colleagues, but to be a better coworker yourself!

How To Instill An Ownership Mindset In Your Team

By Sarah Ribeiro

Remember the good ol’ days of group projects in school? You know, when nobody seemed to care, at least one member of the group ghosted the project entirely, and somehow one person ended up doing all the work?

One thing they never told you in school: the group project scenario never really goes away. And if you’re a manager, it’s your job to make sure the work gets distributed fairly and evenly and everyone cares equally about the task at hand.

So how do you get the rest of your team to “buy in?”

Meet an Educate Plus Colleague

Stephanie Kane,

Alumni Engagement, Wellington Region, New Zealand

Many years ago (1998 to be precise), I began working at Wellington College, in their Transition and Careers Department, organising work experience, speakers for career paths and life skills and helping to write CVs for our students. I also was asked to design the annual year book, and I joined the Rugby Club as their administrator.

In 1999, I was asked by the WCOBA if I would work for them after hours as their Secretary [Executive Officer] – coordinating their database, administration and communications. The role morphed to a full time role until late last year. Over the years, I have developed our very successful reunion programmes, ran alumni-based events, redesigned the alumni newsletter, upgraded the database and in 2017, organised the school’s 150^th celebrations. It was my job to provide our Old Boys with ongoing networking, social activities and engagement with their old school through a plethora of ways and to share their stories with fellow alumni. I really enjoy both looking for and hearing the memories, their successes and their career paths.

At the end of 2020, Wellington College realised they were unable to continue funding my position in the way that it had since 1998 from its regular budget, which relied heavily on income from international fee-paying students. As the Government is not currently permitting secondary school-aged international students to enter New Zealand, the budget to cover the remuneration was severely minimised. It was somewhat surreal having to fundraise for my role and for the Archivist who also lost his role. Subsequently, the WCOBA contracted both myself and our Archivist on reduced hours to continue with our purpose of keeping Old Boys engaged and preserving our history and memorabilia.

As an aside for the past ten years, I was also working by contract for ABSNZ (Association of Boys’ Schools NZ), arranging their annual conference and associated administration.

So, realising I could not maintain the lifestyle I was accustomed to, I had to look at other opportunities to keep me in prosecco and pearls – [she jests] and with that and with my relationship with the Heads of the Boys’ schools in New Zealand, secured two additional contracts with the Old Boys’ Associations of Rongotai and Marlborough Boys’ College attending to their alumni engagement and communication. I also have a few other schools I am in talks with and am just in the process of preparing proposals for them to work with their alumni associations.

So, six months on – [I did take a couple of months off to just forget about work altogether] – after almost 40 years as an employee, I am really enjoying being my own boss [aside from learning about tax, gst and invoices] and that I can work across seven days at any time of the day aside from when I am organising an event or attending a meeting. It’s great to work from home – I still go into the school to keep in touch with particular former colleagues and use the Old Boys and Archives Office. The downside is no sick leave, annual leave or public holidays but this year’s Staff Christmas Party will be great!

One of the benefits of being self-employed is that my office can be anywhere – at the end of May, I managed to get to Sydney for three weeks to see my daughter after two years of FaceTime. While she was working, so was I, albeit it two hours behind NZ. I count myself as very fortunate to have had this opportunity and am hoping I can get back without restrictions in November when she and her partner are having their first child. She is a guru on LinkedIn and everything else new since Facebook and Instagram so has been of great help when looking for younger Old Boys.

My son and his wife moved to Havelock North with two, almost three children, earlier this year so my plans to be a hands-on grandmother slightly diminished but we do see each other quite often and again FaceTime is a blessing for us all.

So aside from working, I am a bit of a home-body (even though I do miss those regular trips across the Tasman) and am always looking for something to work on around my house – painting, tiling, flooring, gardening, walking, sitting in the sun during the week and catching up with NZ-based friends and family. Who would have thought that someone who didn’t really enjoy school herself has ended up making a career around school life (or in my case post school life and memories).

Small Wins, Big Progress

Lincoln University Open Day 2021

Open Days for any educational institution are a big deal, and it’s always a challenge thinking how to convey the benefits of your own ‘place’ and its ‘potential’. Based on this year’s recent Open Day, Lincoln University reckons the key is using its ‘people’!

Case Study

Alumni Career Ambassadors initiative at Lincoln University Open Day by Jaime Shone (Domestic Engagement Manager, Lincoln University) and Penny Curran (Alumni Relations Office, Lincoln University)

When and where did this take place?

Lincoln University Open Day, Friday 23 July 2021

Who was involved?

Lincoln University Alumni, Lincoln staff, Open Day attendees

What was the initiative or win?

‘We decided to make Open Day a little bit different and instead of the attendees just having access to academics and current students, we invited alumni who were working in specific sectors to come and speak not only about the journey they have been through to get into the sector, but also to share their experiences about being a student at Lincoln University as well. That way, both prospective students and their influencers had the opportunity to talk to someone from each part of the supply chain (current student, academic, professional staff, support staff, alumni/industry rep) in order to make an informed decision.’ Jaime

What big progress movement has occurred because of this win?

‘Prospective students and their influencers had a greater understanding of both careers opportunities and the student experience. The feedback we have received has been very positive and we expect to see a higher level of conversion because of this.’ Jaime

‘Our Alumni Career Ambassadors told us prospective students asked them questions about salary, work life balance, and career progression – things they wouldn’t ordinarily have the chance to chat about.‘ They enjoyed being back on campus and we got to know our ambassadors a bit better and chatted to them about what they want to have in the way of alumni events and communications.‘ Penny

Any future impacts this change will have on your institute?

‘We hope to involve alumni as much as we can in our events both on and off campus. Their stories are so valuable’ – Jaime

‘We have now built a special alumni group – our Lincoln University Careers Ambassadors, and we’re already planning for next year’ – Penny

Inspiration Corner

How to understand your inner potential

No one takes the same life path to personal success. These talks can help you examine and identify the unique passions and perspectives that make you, you.

Why some of us don’t have one true calling by Emilie Wapnick

What do you want to be when you grow up? Well, if you’re not sure you want to do just one thing for the rest of your life, you’re not alone. In this illuminating talk, writer and artist Emilie Wapnick describes the kind of people she calls “multipotentialites” — who have a range of interests and jobs over one lifetime. Are you one?

How to find work you love by Scott Dinsmore

Scott Dinsmore quit a job that made him miserable, and spent the next four years wondering how to find work that was joyful and meaningful. He shares what he learned in this deceptively simple talk about finding out what matters to you — and then getting started doing it.

The beauty of being a misfit by Lidia Yuknavitch

To those who feel like they don’t belong: there is beauty in being a misfit. Author Lidia Yuknavitch shares her own wayward journey in an intimate recollection of patchwork stories about loss, shame and the slow process of self-acceptance. “Even at the moment of your failure, you are beautiful,” she says. “You don’t know it yet, but you have the ability to reinvent yourself endlessly. That’s your beauty.”

Wisdom from great writers on every year of life by Joshua Prager

As different as we humans are from one another, we all age along the same great sequence, and the shared patterns of our lives pass into the pages of the books we love. In this moving talk, journalist Joshua Prager explores the stages of life through quotations from Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, William Trevor and other great writers, set to visualizations by graphic designer Milton Glaser. “Books tell us who we’ve been, who we are, who we will be, too,” Prager says.

Watch videos now

To overcome challenges, stop comparing yourself to others

by Dean Furness

When you stop comparing yourself to others, you can accomplish great things, says wheelchair athlete Dean Furness. He shares how, after losing the use of his legs in an accident, he discovered a powerful new mindset focused on redefining his “personal average” and getting better little by little.

It seems we have been measured almost all of our lives, when we are infants, with our height and our weight, and as we grew it became our speed and our strength. And even in school there are test scores and today with our salaries and job performance. It seems as if those personal averages are almost always used to measure where we are in comparison to our peers. And I think we should look at that a little differently. That personal average is just that, it’s something very personal and it’s for you, and I think if you focus on that and work to build that, you can really start to accomplish some really amazing things.

Watch now

PDs/SIGs and Upcoming Events

Waikato Networking Event – Postponed until further notice

We have an exciting line up of online PD for our members. There is something for every profession in the Advancement sector and this is a great space to learn and share industry ideas. Registrations and more information will be available on our website soon.

Zoe Routh presenting

Grace Under Fire: Stay calm under pressure

Do you want to keep a cool head when everyone else is losing theirs?
Discover:

Secrets of instant charisma, no matter how introverted you are.
How to stand your ground when your emotions are going wild.
Respond rather than react, especially in a confrontation

19 October Webinar, 12.00 – 1.00pm (AEST), 2:00pm – 3:00pm (NZST)

$35 Members, $50 Non-Members

Alan Stevens presenting

Building Relationships and Business in a Challenging World

One of the most valuable factors that influence prospects in choosing which business they associate with, and who they want to associate with, the one we often don’t talk about, is interpersonal compatibility.

If a customer is interested in your products but doesn’t find your team easy to talk to, good luck with that! The longer you take to get to know, like and trust each other, the slower and weaker the relationship will be.

In this presentation, Alan will demystify the power of reading people to build better relationships. He will cover how to read people to know how they prefer to be spoken to and treated, all within just seconds of meeting them, ensuring memorable and lasting relationships.

Those who attend will have the firsthand opportunity to learn how others see them and how to use that to an advantage.

26 October Webinar, 12.00 – 1.00pm (AEST), 2:00pm – 3:00pm (NZST)

$35 Members, $50 Non-Members

Dr Helena Popovic presenting

Boost Your Brain

Most people work on building up and boosting their financial assets. But how many people work on building up and boosting their greatest asset: their brain?

The revolutionary field of neuroplasticity has shown that the brain can change its structure and function. It can grow new cells, new circuits and new connections in response to what we do, think, feel and believe.

We are more than passive victims of our genes: we play an active role in how our brains develop throughout our lives. However most people are yet to realise the enormous personal power this gives them.

For our brain to stay healthy and operate at its best, we need the right nutrition, rest, stimulation, challenge and reward. Most importantly, we need to take charge of our thinking because our thoughts play an integral role in wiring our brains for optimal performance.

2 November Webinar, 12.00 – 1.00pm (AEST), 2:00pm – 3:00pm (NZST)

$35 Members, $50 Non-Members

Pauline Nguyen presenting

Calm Courage, Resounding Resilience, Tacit Grit

Pauline references many of the skills and learnings that created her success – her unique life experiences have given her a distinctive insight into the minds of individuals and businesses alike, allowing her to pass on the invaluable skills of self-mastery, courage, resilience and grit. As Pauline says, “if we can learn the tools of self-mastery, we can better practice the art of influence over others”.

9 November Webinar, 12.00 – 1.00pm (AEST), 2:00pm – 3:00pm (NZST)

$35 Members, $50 Non-Members

Social Media

Stay Connected

We value open communication and want to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in Educate Plus, in our communities and encourage conversation in this time of social distancing.

In addition to our various email communications, you can also stay connected through our social media profiles. These profiles provide information on upcoming events, helpful resources and more.

Educate Plus CEO vacancy

Empowering the workforce that removes barriers to education access is a challenging and crucial gig. This role has transformational possibilities. Could you or somebody in your networks be the right fit for Educate Plus?

Educate Plus is seeking a new Chief Executive Officer. If you have extensive experience providing strategic non-profit, profit-for-purpose, or membership-based organisation leadership, effective strategic vision direction and achievement of results, this role could provide your next challenge. Get in touch today.

Find out more