New View EDU Episode 3: Key Takeaways

In "Schools and the Science of Thriving," Episode 3 of the NAIS New View EDU podcast, hosts Tim Fish and Lisa Kay Solomon grapple with how weary school leaders, staff, and students can summon resilience and optimism to return to the classroom.

The guest is leadership expert, executive coach, and author Caroline Webb, who shares the research behind the science of thriving, and how changing your practices to help everyone have better days can fundamentally improve almost every aspect of education.
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Use these prompts to spark discussions with your leadership teams. (You can also read the full episode notes here.)

Key Takeaways

Caroline’s core premise is that we don’t have to let “good” days happen to us—that we can be intentional about how to architect more joy, impact, and meaning in our lives. According to Caroline, “The best days also tended to involve people feeling confident that they were doing a fine job, and that they had the support they needed from others. Finally, people talked about good days leaving them feeling more energized than depleted, overall.”
  • What does a good day mean to you?
  • Reflecting on those good days, can you identify conditions or patterns that tend to support them?
Caroline pulls extensively from behavioral science, psychology, neuroscience to architect more “good days.” As she says: “Once we recognize how our thought patterns can affect everything from our perception of reality to the moods of those around us—grasp these essentials, and it becomes far clearer how to bring the best out of ourselves and others. And that puts us in a much stronger position to create the kind of day we really want to have.”

Caroline believes in the model of leader as coach, supporting the best in others by asking the right questions versus telling people what to do.
  • Reflecting on your own leadership style, how do you get the best out of others? When do you act more like a coach versus more like a manager?
  • Reflecting on what you need as a leader, where does coaching show up in your life? How might you create more supportive structures for coaching?   
Caroline talks about “bolts of appreciation”—micro-moments of noticing a positive contribution or action from someone else.  
  • What can you do to add more “bolts of appreciation” in your life, perhaps with your team, faculty, board, or students? 
  • How might you think about this practice as part of intentional culture-building?