In this episode Matt and Femi discuss culture - particularly from the perspective of heads of department trying to shape the culture of teaching staff in their corner of the school. This one is not maths-specific – the discussion is relevent to colleagues from any subject area or team.
They consider the fact that culture exists – whether you actively seek to shape it, or not, the characteristics of good culture, shaping and maintaining culture, so called toxic environments: and how incongruence, unfairness and wilful blindness from leaders can play a role there.
They talk about failing to listen for fear of endorsing the other person’s view, some challenges of open lines of communication, establishing and reinforcing norms, Tuckman’s stages of group development, being visible, engineering and celebrating success, and delegating and giving responsibility (while guiding and supporting appropriately), amongst other things.