One of the topics I have been focusing on in particular with leaders this term, and which I will shortly revisit, at one of my talks at GESS Dubai 2024 later in November, is that of the wellness of school leaders and teachers: what it means, how to engender it, and how to sustain it in the busy, often frantic and frenetic, environments in which educators work.
There are many aspects to wellness, of course; firmly, at its heart though, arguably (and demonstrably), is kindness: kindness to self, kindness to others, kindness to the world in which we live. The science tells us this, in fact … a study in Canada in 2013, for example, which has been picked up and confirmed by later studies, showed that adolescents who volunteered actually had significantly lower levels of certain markers for cardiovascular risk, including the marker interleukin-6, about which you can investigate online if you are so inclined (but basically, for the non-medical, is better for human bodies to possess in smaller rather than larger amounts). And if you still needed convincing, hear the words of that now-guru of Leadership Wellness, Brené Brown, who talks and writes extensively about the importance of kindness. If the great Dr Brown says it, is must be true … kindness matters!
Kindness, the evidence shows, affects us at a cellular level. The act of being kind – ie not just having people be kind to us, but being kind ourselves – actually makes us healthier. So fundamentally, if we want to be well (and we want our school leaders and staff to be well), then kindness is a pretty good place to start. This includes, of course being kind to ourselves, focusing on praising ourselves when things go well, rather than simply punishing ourselves when they don’t; the power of kindness would seem to be amplified, however, when we apply it to others, and we are proactively kind.
So, what does this mean for schools? Pursuing this train of thought highlights that wellness starts from within – that is to say, it begins with the individual. Individuals need to choose to be kind, and then need to practise kindness, if they are to be truly kind. Kindness is a complex concept in some senses, because it is a combination of kind intention, communication of this kind intention, and reception by another of this communication, but it is also extremely simple – start with the intention of kindness, and (although admittedly not a failsafe approach, given that some gestures intended to be kind can fall far short of the mark), the chances are that some of the kindness will land, and will be impactful on the person for whom it is intended.
Moreover, and importantly, this act of being genuinely kind will have increased your wellness. Yes, really! Kindness can start small – with a smile, a pause to help, a thought for others; it certainly starts with us as individuals. Of course kindness needs to be led from the top in schools … a kind environment does not take form if our leaders are unkind. But actually, for kindness to have impact on the wellness of staff, it needs to be practised by the individual, for their own sake as well as for that of others.
In our society, we often fall into the trap of surrendering our responsibility for ourselves to others – to systems, to processes, to protocols … but in fact, each of us has responsibility for ourselves, and the wonderful advantage of choosing and practising kindness is that we are actively impacting both ourselves and others.
Let us not forget that any change in our behaviour, as students of the science of habit formation will know, requires individual discipline and commitment … Let us embrace this in our quest for wellness! Great change happens intentionally, after all, and kindness is no exception. My challenge for today is practise being even kinder, because you will be taking the next steps forward in your journey of wellness.
Enjoy!
