"Back your own knowledge" - A volunteer's advice to himself

A common thread in first-time volunteers at Springboard Trust is wondering what you can bring to a school principal’s development.

We work with volunteers from a broad spectrum of industries, all with different focuses and levels of expertise – yet almost always, they feel unsure about the work.  

Even Dan Grafton, ASB’s South Island Sales Manager – who had done extensive work with schools before, including being on a Board of Trustees – was uncertain about his expertise with school leadership.  

It didn’t take long for that to change.  

The a-ha moment 

In his role at ASB, Dan has spearheaded multiple initiatives that saw the bank engage schools throughout the community. Through this – and his time on a BoT – Dan saw school leadership first-hand, including the complex dynamics that principals must navigate. 

But it wasn’t until the first session that he fully grasped what he could bring to the relationship.  

“The vision session was a big a-ha moment for me. As a corporate we talk about purpose a lot, and have shifted over time to a big focus on helping customers over making products. To go to the first workshop and hear about the vision was like hey, wait – this is my bread and butter!”  

With schools also looking at tools like the Gallup Q12 surveys, Dan was able to go above and beyond – bringing his expertise with these frameworks to principals in a clear and concise way.  

“The strategic planning process is really similar across both ASB and schools – realising that gave me a huge appreciation for how these models work and align with other sectors.”  

Despite thinking his experience with strategic planning was unofficial – and perhaps not applicable to an education environment – Dan quickly realised the core of Springboard Trust’s cross-sector magic.  

“If you’re a people leader, in any way, you can help others learn. Strategic planning, focusing on vision – everything you need is there.”  

Bringing the long-sightedness 

Upon joining the Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme, Dan found that each principal had distinctly different priorities.  

“I’ve done the programme twice now, and these schools were chalk and cheese in terms of structure and what they wanted to achieve.” 

“The balance between wellbeing and achievement, particularly in schools affected by the earthquakes, was huge. Some also haven’t thought a lot about their strategic plan before either – it's just a document they file once per year, rather than something they always come back to.” 

That’s where honesty becomes, as it often does, the best policy.  

“You’ve got to call them out, challenge the principals on what they want to achieve, so they can identify what they want to do and how that links back to their vision.”  

“It’s sometimes hard. A lot of principals are so busy fighting fires, fighting to get through the next hour that a long-term focus takes some work.”  

He also believes the matching process goes a long way to forging this honest relationship.  

“It takes a bit of time to get to know your principal, but we got along just so well – felt really well paired, which is fundamental for making this programme work.” 

Learning for two  

While the Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme focuses on the school leader’s learning, Dan also brought back some important lessons to ASB.  

“SLPP was great for some perspective, to appreciate how good we have it at ASB. Education changes so often and so fast – by comparison, we have a lot of stability. I was able to bring back some of the challenges teachers were facing which helped bed in that mentality for our teams too.” 

“Another big thing was cultural diversity. We had relatively little exposure to Māori culture from my departments perspective, while it is a critical priority for the principals I’ve worked with.” 

“I’ve been able to do some training myself in that regard, and bring it forward as a focus.”  

All told, it has been a fantastic pair of partnerships for both Dan and the principals he has worked with. When asked what advice he would give himself if he was considering SLPP, he was unequivocal: 

“Just go in and do it – and back your own knowledge. It’s an awesome experience, well run, and incredibly rewarding.”