December 16, 2024 • 29 mins
Comments, questions? Let's connect!
Imagine a world where every workplace equips people to thrive.
When I first met Kelvin I thought " if every school did this, my dream of eliminating workplace toxicity would be a reality".
This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation, where we dive into what it takes to create leaders who believe in themselves, are resilient, adaptable and have the courage to stand up for what they believe in, without waiting for permission.
Kelvin Bennetts, a transformative leader in education, shares his remarkable journey of over four decades, bringing community, connection, resilience and engagement to the forefront of the classroom experience. Discover how his personal experiences of disengagement fueled his passion for nurturing learning environments that prioritise students' needs. As someone who has committed to shaping the leaders of tomorrow, the insights shared extend beyond education, highlighting the importance of authentic leadership and the significance of fostering supportive spaces for growth in any organisation or group that we lead.
Want to connect with Kelvin? Send him an email kelvinbennetts52@gmail.com
💖Love the podcast?💖
You can pay it forward by:
- Rating and Reviewing wherever you listen
- Sharing it with others!
Ready to level up your impact?
➡️Book a complimentary mini-strategy session and I'll help unpack one of your current challenges
➡️Join our Masterclass Waitlist and get practical tools to level up your impact
Let's connect!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolynne-rydz/
https://www.instagram.com/jolynnerydz/
https://www.facebook.com/brillianceinspired
I am a Confidence and Success Coach for leaders, Organisational Development Consultant and independent Leadership Circle Profile® Certified Practitioner. Information shared about this tool is courtesy of Leadership Circle®, all rights reserved. www.leadershipcircle.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jolynne Rydz (00:00):
Imagine a world where every workplace equips
people to thrive.
Why I do what I do is because Itruly believe that every person
deserves, at work, as a bareminimum, to be treated like a
human, with respect, not anumber, not a commodity.
(00:21):
And the best workplaces thatI've come across are places that
are free from toxicity andthey're places where you can
come in as you and thrive.
And this is why I work to equipleaders in organizations with
the awareness and tools to makethis happen and also to build
resilience and healing for timeswhen it doesn't.
(00:44):
And when I first met this guest, I actually thought to myself
if every organisation did whatthey do, my dream of eliminating
workplace toxicity could becomea reality.
Just a quick note before wedive into today's episode.
The insights shared by our nextguest reflect their own views
(01:07):
and are not connected to theDepartment of Education.
Like all of our amazing guests,they're here simply because
they share our passion forhelping leaders amplify their
impact authentically, andthey're not receiving any
payments, so just bringing theirexpertise and insights to
support you on this journey as aleader.
Today, I'm thrilled to introducea guest who has dedicated over
40 years to shaping minds andcommunities in Victoria's
(01:30):
education system, KelvinBennetts.
Beginning in special educationand moving through various roles
, kelvin spent the last 25 yearsat Yarrambat Primary School,
where he served as assistantprincipal and then as principal
for 18 years.
His vision for nurturing adynamic school culture has
(01:52):
empowered students, teachers andalso the broader community to
thrive.
From enhancing facilities tocreating vibrant playgrounds and
embedding wellbeing initiatives, kelvin has truly left his mark
Outside of education.
Kelvin's passion for communityreally shines through in his
years of coaching football andbasketball, from youth leagues
(02:15):
to senior teams.
And when he's not coaching,you'll also find him gardening
or working with his Sidchrometool collection or enjoying time
with his wife, christine.
So I invited Kelvin Bennettsonto this podcast because he is
more than an educator.
He's a builder of both peopleand places, deeply committed to
(02:36):
his community and the peoplearound him, and that's so
important in leadership.
His journey is a wonderfulexample of magnetic authenticity
.
Leadership His journey is awonderful example of magnetic
authenticity just living andleading with a genuine passion
that draws others in andinspires them to be a part of it
, and inspires them to grow.
So Kelvin's work has not onlyshaped the lives of students,
(02:58):
but has also created a rippleeffect throughout the community
and it shows us the true powerof leading with authenticity and
purpose.
So let's dive in to today'sepisode.
Hi Kelvin, welcome into thepodcast.
So happy to have you here.
Kelvin Bennetts (03:17):
Thanks, Jolynne , it's grouse to be here, lovely
to talk to you.
Jolynne Rydz (03:22):
I know I'll just share with our listeners that
we're laughing because this isour third attempt to record this
podcast and the technologyuniverse is, I think, on our
side today, so we'll fingerscrossed and see how we go.
Kelvin Bennetts (03:36):
Hopefully.
Jolynne Rydz (03:38):
So firstly, I would like to start by saying a
big congratulations on yourretirement, because it's a big
life transition and I know for alot of the clients that I see.
People are often going throughlife transitions, whether that's
a returning to paid work afterhaving a child, or whether
that's getting to a plateau intheir career and wanting to take
(04:01):
things to the next level or, inyour case, retiring after a
really fulfilling career.
I'm curious to know how does itfeel?
What's going on for you rightnow?
Kelvin Bennetts (04:13):
Well, it's really different, I've got to
say, because you go from beingthe centre of attention to not
being the centre of attention,and I don't mean that in a smug
way.
When you're a principal of aschool or a leader in business
or something anything like that,you're involved in so many
decisions across a day and somany things that you have to be
(04:35):
over and you micromanage somethings and macromanage others
and literally every decision isrunning through you and you
suddenly stop and that allstopped on that first Monday and
I thought to myself wow, thisis really quiet and it's a
little while to adjust to that.
But no, my family has kept mebusy and Mabel's kept me busy,
(05:03):
but the reality is that I'dreached a stage where I'd had
enough of it.
The great times that it wasdidn't counterbalance the things
that were starting to get undermy skin or starting to be
really drawing and wearing onyou, and that just happens.
There comes a time whenenough's enough, and I guess I'd
(05:25):
reach that.
Jolynne Rydz (05:26):
Yeah and.
I admire your ability torecognise that and then step
away, because I think there's alot of people that get stuck in
jobs which isn't fulfilling andwhere the negatives are
outweighing the positives andmaybe feeling like they can't
take whatever that next stepmight be.
So, yeah, well done.
Kelvin Bennetts (05:43):
Both Christine and I had thought about that for
a long time.
It wasn't something that wejust decided, and we'd worked
towards being able to have thatability to say well, I'm at that
stage now and, to be honest, Isaid Christine my wife, when I
was first appointed I could dothis job for 10 years and I did
(06:04):
it for 18.
Yes, so I figured that closeenough to 10 years.
Jolynne Rydz (06:10):
Yeah, that's incredible.
So I am curious to know whatkept you so engaged in the
education field for that long.
Kelvin Bennetts (06:19):
Look, it was driven out of myself being
relatively bored and disengagedat school and trying to make
sure that kids didn't feel thesame way.
While I had the opportunity tolead and it gave me I had the
opportunity to follow somepassions.
It's really important that youhave a passion, and one of those
(06:41):
was really constructing anenvironment where children came
first and you were just tryingto get all the structural things
in place, and I guess that inan, in essence, we'd sort of
managed to get to that stage.
We were then just doing somefine tuning really towards the
end of it, but you know, we'dlooked at the way we were
(07:03):
teaching the, the facilitieswithin the rooms, the facilities
outside the rooms, the qualityof your staff, the mentoring and
guiding of your staff all ofthose things that take time, and
they weren't something thatthey were achieved overnight.
Some of the, the lofty ambitionswe had, took seven years to
(07:24):
even implement.
So you, you're driven by thatpassion, but you've got to have
that vision of why we're doingit, because there's no point if
you're the only person thatbelieves in what you're doing,
and I actually learned that atanother school that I was the
only person that really drovethat vision and when I left it
(07:46):
fell apart.
So my determination was that atYarrambat that wouldn't be the
case.
We'd have a group of peoplewho'd bought into that vision,
who believed in that vision,who'd helped formulate and
implement that vision, and onceyou do that in your team, it'll
be more long-lasting andimplement that vision, and once
(08:07):
you do that in your team, it'llbe more long.
Jolynne Rydz (08:08):
Lasting.
Yeah, and I love that, becausethere's so many organizations
and leaders that want to bringtheir vision in, and either they
might be struggling to bringpeople along with them, and what
I've seen you do really well isactually, yeah, inspire people
to come on that journey with you.
Are you able to unpack what itis?
You do?
Kelvin Bennetts (08:25):
that that helps people to buy into that vision
to be honest, I guess it reallyjust revolved around the the
tour.
Uh, for a start, because peopleand rightly so parents were
shopping around for where theyfelt that they could be.
They would feel comfortable toleave their children for seven
years, but for families thatmight have two or three children
(08:48):
it might be a 15-year decision.
You have to be strong in yourfeelings about being comfortable
and trusting where you'reputting a child for that time,
and I did the same as a parent,so those sort of things.
Looking at it as a dad drovewhat I would say or show on a
tour.
So really, what we'd be talkingabout was just what we were
(09:11):
trying to do.
We'd be talking about, you know, not only do we want kids to be
academically strong, but wealso wanted them to be socially
and emotionally strong.
And one of the key things Ithink that was shown on a tour
or two of the key things werethe pit and also the importance
of having that passion.
(09:32):
Because when you follow apassion, whatever it is, if
you're four years old, that'llchop and change a lot.
If you're my age, you'reprobably more stuck to it when
you're following it, that's whenyou're at impassioned about
let's get into it, and I thinkone of the things I used to just
(09:56):
use it as an example was thatfour or five year old or uh,
about that age that loveddinosaurs.
And how dare you?
If you mispronounced thedinosaur's name, you were the
it's not how you say it um, andyou'd be told off.
But really that's passion.
It's not rudeness or anythinglike that.
It's just somebody's passionabout that, that thing that they
(10:17):
love talking about.
And so they were the, the keythings that we talk about, and
how we were incremental in whatwe did.
We we wanted to bring ourchildren in in preps, but really
what we're trying to do wasbuild some big picture things
for them.
So we'd be talking about makingthem as smart as possible.
(10:38):
We'd be talking about givingthem an ability to make safe
choices.
We'd be giving them the abilityto be able to work in a variety
of ways by themselves, all theway into a group of 100.
We would teach them how to lead.
We would teach them how to usetechnology but not rely on it.
We're a good example of that atthe minute.
(11:00):
We're 100% relying on thistechnology right now, even
though it's failed us a coupleof times already.
And then we're also teachingkids how to understand other
people, that there are people inthis world that you will not
like, and that's okay.
That's the real world.
(11:22):
But if you don't like somebody,you just have to acknowledge
that and then try to berespectful.
Moving on from that.
Jolynne Rydz (11:29):
And there's so much in there that you're so
passionate about that you'vebuilt over these years.
I really want to come back tothat community, because in
organizations often we're tryingto foster engagement and we're
trying to tap into people'spassions so they can thrive at
work.
And you mentioned a situationwhere you were the only one sort
(11:53):
of leading it and it fell apartwhen you left.
When, when was a situationwhere you really went, wow, okay
, that's the power of thecommunity and bringing everyone
along?
Was there a situation thatreally kind of hammered that
home for you?
Kelvin Bennetts (12:08):
I think that it really started to show itself
quite strongly when I first cameto Yarrambat and the difference
that really, when I firstarrived at Yarrambat,
civilisation ended at IronbarkRoad, lorimer and all the places
(12:30):
out there just didn't exist.
They only had cows out there onpaddocks and really it was like
a small country school and Ithought, well, this feels really
different, because people wereactually immersed into their
school and the school was acentral hub, almost like a
smaller township and the.
(12:50):
The thing that really showed meabout that community buying and
care was something that we didfor a little while and that was
celebrate the school's birthdayand everybody get a cake.
We'd often ask our parents tojust bake some cakes that had
brown or gold on the top.
They're the school colours.
I didn't choose those, Iinherited those.
(13:12):
At one stage, a dad came up tome and he said look, kelvin, I
don't get a chance to do muchfor the school, but I'd like to
because I think we're doing somereally good things.
And he said instead of askingthe community to bake the cakes,
he said I'll just buy the cakes.
And I said to him are you sureabout that?
(13:34):
And he said yeah, look, justtell me how many I need.
And sure enough, all thesecakes arrived for the school's
birthday party and I started torealise then that that's
something a little bit differentand a little bit special about
bringing your community into theschool and recognising that
people do want to help, oftendon't know how to, but if you
(13:57):
open the doors and give thatopportunity, they often will.
And I guess that continued toevolve the longer we went there
and it evolved to that kind offamily support program that we
ran at the school.
We did a lot of work with ourlocal community during um COVID
(14:17):
and supporting families, but thereality was that there were a
whole string of families behindthat who were supporting
providing food and and shoppingvouchers and things like that
that you.
They didn't wantacknowledgement, but felt that
they were doing something thatwould be valued and actually
(14:37):
helpful to their whole community, and that was something that
we'd been trying to bring hometo our children about that.
You don't wait to help.
If you see something, step upand do it now.
If there's paper on the ground,pick it up.
Don't wait to be asked.
If someone looks lost in theyard, ask them.
(14:58):
Can you help them?
That sort of thing and thatstarted to then generate that
whole front foot idea aboutbeing there to help and not
being afraid to ask an offer andit's okay if someone says no,
I'm all good and you think, okay, that's fine, but you've made
(15:18):
the.
You've made that first effort.
And often we found with kidsthat it was really that first
time.
If they would try something,they realized that it wasn't so
scary to try and it was kind ofbuilding off that that we
started to really push our kidsto be more ambitious.
(15:40):
That went through to thingslike the Grade 6 Leadership
Program, where we stopped givingbadges and things like that to
wear and started giving themsomething more innate and we'd
always say to them that we'regiving you two things, you two
things.
You just can't see them, andthat's trust and respect.
And it was really surprisingwhen kids got that level of
(16:00):
trust to be able to do thingsand and you'd say, well, you
don't need me to hold your handto do that, I trust you to do it
.
And you could see them sort ofhuffay at the chest a bit and
say, hey, finally somebodybelieves in me.
And that was something that wasmissing, I guess, for me in
primary school that you didn'tdo anything without ever asking
(16:23):
or being told.
You were very subservient, youwere very don't be a lateral
thinker.
Think within the group, thinkin the same way, and what we
were producing were a whole lotof people who were thinking the
same and doing the same, whereaswe wanted to produce children
(16:44):
who were individualised in theirthinking, understood their own
abilities and were prepared toset and chase some lofty goals.
Jolynne Rydz (16:56):
Basically, yeah, and there's again so much in
that that I really appreciate,because there's a lot of
research out there, isn't there?
About people having thatexternal reward being less
motivating than that intrinsicreward of oh wow, I've you know,
someone trusts me and theybelieve in me and I've done a
great job and I can decide thatfor myself, and that's so
(17:19):
empowering and inspiring to seethat being done in schools.
And where do you think thissense of being able to think
laterally, being able to justjump in and do things without
permission and having that trustand respect, how do you think
(17:39):
that can impact, I guess, ourfuture?
So these are going to be ourfuture leaders.
How do you think this is goingto impact our society?
Kelvin Bennetts (17:46):
What I would hope is that we're building kids
who are resilient, able to copewith disappointment, able to
cope with disappointment, ableto cope with challenge, able to
cope with the changingcircumstances, whatever they
might be.
And that's what we're going toneed, because we need people who
are going to be actuallylateral thinkers and forward
(18:07):
thinkers rather than not justthinking in the past.
I mean, I'm not sure how tothat, but we want to pay respect
to history and learn from itand not make the same mistakes.
But we want to be better as wego forward, and the only way
we're going to do that is ifwe're building our kids who can
be more resilient, who justdon't fold under the first
(18:33):
moment of pressure.
I've got a sport coachingbackground as well and
surprisingly and I say this alittle tongue-in-cheek those
people that work harder and workon their skills more might not
be as talented as the naturalgifted person player, but in the
(18:56):
end, will be better becausethey'll work for the team and
they'll understand theirstrengths and skills.
It's important to be able to, Ithink, as a leader, understand
that you're not perfect.
You have a lot to learn.
I mean, even on my last day, Iwas still learning things and
still continue to learn.
I mean, even on my last day Iwas still learning things and
still continue to learn things.
(19:16):
I was never one to say that, ohwell, I know it all.
Just listen to me, becausethat's not my personality, but
it's also not my belief.
You can't fake some things andsay, well, I know it all, stay
cool, it'll all be fine.
When it's not, you have tosometimes roll with the punches
a little bit and understand thatthings will go awry and you
(19:39):
have to be able to cope withthose those things.
And one of the things I'd workwith the grades six leaders
particularly was about having aplan a, b and c so that you knew
that you know things might justgo perfectly and you don't have
to do anything.
But what is more likely is thatsomething just go perfectly and
you don't have to do anything.
But what is more likely is thatsomething will come along and
you need to be ready for it.
(19:59):
It would be the same when I wasmentoring teachers.
If you were going to go intoconversations with people, you
need a plan A and a B.
A is where everybody just nodsyes and say that's perfect,
let's go, and B is wheresomebody says, hang on, that
doesn't suit me, that's let's go.
And B is where somebody says,hang on, that doesn't suit me,
that's not okay.
(20:19):
Here's why, and you need to beable to work through that sort
of stuff.
So there's an awful lot in thereand it's yet to be seen whether
we're successful with that.
And we're unlikely to know thatbecause we don't track that
with any sort of data.
The only data we've got is thatwe see a lot of our kids that
end up as leaders in secondaryschool.
And so, through that point ofpressure where there's a lot of
(20:42):
peer pressure on you to dumbdown and to fit in and not stand
out, if you've got the guts tobe putting your hand up to lead,
I'm saying and thinking tomyself that we've had success
there because you're saying, hey, I'm not going to be beaten
down by the crowd and I'm notgoing to dumb myself down and
(21:03):
I'm not going to shush myself up.
I'm going to speak my mind,I've got my reasons why, I'm
prepared to put them out thereand I'm prepared to endure a
little bit of peer pressure onme about that.
So that's what we'd see.
Yeah, I've had to see.
Jolynne Rydz (21:19):
And I've actually got tingles as you're speaking,
because if these young maybeyoung adults almost stepping out
there into these leadershiproles are doing so from a place
of service, from a place of,I've got an idea and I think we
can do things better.
Rather than I want the badge onmy T-shirt that says I'm the
(21:40):
leader.
I think that's so powerful andit's so needed.
So thank you for all the workyou've done in that space.
Kelvin Bennetts (21:47):
Hopefully it builds some people who take
leadership roles in ourcommunity and they might be
major roles, they might be minorroles, but they're all
important because the morepeople you've got with that
attitude, the better yourcommunity is going to be.
That service to community, thatidea that as a team we can
(22:10):
always be better, Surely that'sgot to be a better place to live
.
Jolynne Rydz (22:14):
Definitely and with your team.
So you obviously led a team ofincredible educators who still
are incredible.
Team.
So you obviously led a team ofincredible educators who still
are incredible.
And how did you get them toalso focus on the concept of
putting the child first and thatenvironment of them coming
first?
How do you bring people alongon that journey and make sure
(22:37):
that it stays that way even whenyou you leave?
Kelvin Bennetts (22:41):
well, that's.
That's a really interestingpoint, because we were doing
some work in that field beforewe let it loose on the rest of
the school, and it starts withfinding the right people.
To me, a brilliant teacher, abrilliant musician, a brilliant
doctor, it doesn't matter whatit's, it's one of their passions
and that's they're doing itbecause they want to do it
(23:03):
rather than they're doing itbecause, well, I'll get paid
tomorrow and there's a holidayat Christmas.
That's the first step.
And then we started to look atas a team are we open to having
others look at what we do?
And that was an important stepfor us because we needed to get
past that insular.
(23:24):
I closed my classroom doorfeeling and no one's going to
know what I really do to beingan open team member and open to
feedback, open to mentoring,open to sharing, and so we were
working in that field quite alot, and once I was appointed to
(23:46):
Yarram Bat, we actually startedto experience some really rapid
growth, and what that allowedme to do was to build the team
because I could start employingmore people.
There were some people thatneeded to be moved on and that
might sound harsh, but that's areality that there are truly
some people in every field whoshouldn't be teaching, who
(24:07):
shouldn't be a doctor, whoshouldn't be a bricklayer, and
so we dealt with that as well.
And now they were very hard andtough yards, but needed to be.
That needed to happen.
Then we started to build ourteam and then, because you're
bringing in a whole lot of newpeople who are open to that
belief, who are open to learning, who are open to coaching, we
(24:30):
were able to tackle some of thereally tough things that needed
to be done at the school, andone was engagement and boys
education and getting ourteaching right so that kids
weren't bored or kids weren'tmisbehaving.
More often than not, kidsmisbehaving class because
they're absolutely disengaged bywhatever's being presented up
the front.
And if that's the way you'reteaching you're presenting up
(24:52):
the front with a worksheet I canguarantee you now that kids
will be disengaged reallyquickly.
And so we tackled all of thatsort of stuff.
And so we tackled all of thatsort of stuff.
And then, the moment I wasactually appointed as the
principal because I acted forsix months before being
appointed, so that was duringthat six months a lot of that
work was being done.
(25:13):
Once I was appointed, I said,we are also going to become
experts and the two fields thatI think are critical for us to
become experts in our literacyand what we called inquiry
learning, which really evolvedinto that passion project work
and so we spent a lot of timebringing in people and coaching
(25:36):
and employing the right staffand getting the right programs
in place.
We made a lot of significantstructural decisions about
having smaller prep classes andsetting our kids up with
different things to make surethat they had a strong future,
rather than they get into gradesix and they're still two years
behind.
(25:56):
And now what do you do andwhat's their future really look
like?
Jolynne Rydz (26:00):
Yeah, and I love the forethought that went into.
You know, let's address it now,when it's easier to address,
rather than waiting for it tolater.
And so how does that contrastwith your concept of the pit?
So you talked already aboutresilience and adaptability and
how you actually help kidsthrough that.
(26:22):
Could you explain a little bitmore about that concept?
Are you a little bit like me,trying to multitask while you do
this podcast?
I know sometimes we fit thesethings into our day, so I
thought I'd split this into twoepisodes for you.
And wow, so far, there's so muchin this that is applicable to
any workplace.
(26:42):
So far, there's so much in thisthat is applicable to any
workplace that importance ofrecruitment and getting the
right people on board that aregoing to back your vision, that
are going to still be open andcontributing to that and also be
coachable, and how criticalthat is to getting that vision
implemented across the board.
Another thing that I lovedabout the conversation so far is
(27:05):
how, when you bring trust andrespect, people lift.
Yeah, that doesn't just applyto kids, it applies to any human
being.
If they feel trusted andrespected, they are going to be
so much more equipped andenabled to do their job well,
because they're not dealing withself-doubt and wondering where
they stand or wondering ifthey're doing the right job.
(27:26):
They can just go do it and knowthat they'll be valued for that
.
And then the third thing I wouldlove to reflect on is the
importance of passion and thatwhen you can tap into people's
passion, it just becomes easyand people get excited and
people come along with you andit's such.
I think an underrated key inleadership is how to tap into
(27:50):
people's passion.
So I'm so glad that that cameout in the conversation so far
and hopefully I've had a littlefun and left a little
cliffhanger for you.
So let's dive into part two,which is up, already available
for you.
So if you want to keeplistening, head on over to part
two now.
Imagine a world where every workplace equips
people to thrive.
Why I do what I do is because Itruly believe that every person
deserves, at work, as a bareminimum, to be treated like a
human, with respect, not anumber, not a commodity.
(00:21):
And the best workplaces thatI've come across are places that
are free from toxicity andthey're places where you can
come in as you and thrive.
And this is why I work to equipleaders in organizations with
the awareness and tools to makethis happen and also to build
resilience and healing for timeswhen it doesn't.
(00:44):
And when I first met this guest, I actually thought to myself
if every organisation did whatthey do, my dream of eliminating
workplace toxicity could becomea reality.
Just a quick note before wedive into today's episode.
The insights shared by our nextguest reflect their own views
(01:07):
and are not connected to theDepartment of Education.
Like all of our amazing guests,they're here simply because
they share our passion forhelping leaders amplify their
impact authentically, andthey're not receiving any
payments, so just bringing theirexpertise and insights to
support you on this journey as aleader.
Today, I'm thrilled to introducea guest who has dedicated over
40 years to shaping minds andcommunities in Victoria's
(01:30):
education system, KelvinBennetts.
Beginning in special educationand moving through various roles
, kelvin spent the last 25 yearsat Yarrambat Primary School,
where he served as assistantprincipal and then as principal
for 18 years.
His vision for nurturing adynamic school culture has
(01:52):
empowered students, teachers andalso the broader community to
thrive.
From enhancing facilities tocreating vibrant playgrounds and
embedding wellbeing initiatives, kelvin has truly left his mark
Outside of education.
Kelvin's passion for communityreally shines through in his
years of coaching football andbasketball, from youth leagues
(02:15):
to senior teams.
And when he's not coaching,you'll also find him gardening
or working with his Sidchrometool collection or enjoying time
with his wife, christine.
So I invited Kelvin Bennettsonto this podcast because he is
more than an educator.
He's a builder of both peopleand places, deeply committed to
(02:36):
his community and the peoplearound him, and that's so
important in leadership.
His journey is a wonderfulexample of magnetic authenticity
.
Leadership His journey is awonderful example of magnetic
authenticity just living andleading with a genuine passion
that draws others in andinspires them to be a part of it
, and inspires them to grow.
So Kelvin's work has not onlyshaped the lives of students,
(02:58):
but has also created a rippleeffect throughout the community
and it shows us the true powerof leading with authenticity and
purpose.
So let's dive in to today'sepisode.
Hi Kelvin, welcome into thepodcast.
So happy to have you here.
Kelvin Bennetts (03:17):
Thanks, Jolynne , it's grouse to be here, lovely
to talk to you.
Jolynne Rydz (03:22):
I know I'll just share with our listeners that
we're laughing because this isour third attempt to record this
podcast and the technologyuniverse is, I think, on our
side today, so we'll fingerscrossed and see how we go.
Kelvin Bennetts (03:36):
Hopefully.
Jolynne Rydz (03:38):
So firstly, I would like to start by saying a
big congratulations on yourretirement, because it's a big
life transition and I know for alot of the clients that I see.
People are often going throughlife transitions, whether that's
a returning to paid work afterhaving a child, or whether
that's getting to a plateau intheir career and wanting to take
(04:01):
things to the next level or, inyour case, retiring after a
really fulfilling career.
I'm curious to know how does itfeel?
What's going on for you rightnow?
Kelvin Bennetts (04:13):
Well, it's really different, I've got to
say, because you go from beingthe centre of attention to not
being the centre of attention,and I don't mean that in a smug
way.
When you're a principal of aschool or a leader in business
or something anything like that,you're involved in so many
decisions across a day and somany things that you have to be
(04:35):
over and you micromanage somethings and macromanage others
and literally every decision isrunning through you and you
suddenly stop and that allstopped on that first Monday and
I thought to myself wow, thisis really quiet and it's a
little while to adjust to that.
But no, my family has kept mebusy and Mabel's kept me busy,
(05:03):
but the reality is that I'dreached a stage where I'd had
enough of it.
The great times that it wasdidn't counterbalance the things
that were starting to get undermy skin or starting to be
really drawing and wearing onyou, and that just happens.
There comes a time whenenough's enough, and I guess I'd
(05:25):
reach that.
Jolynne Rydz (05:26):
Yeah and.
I admire your ability torecognise that and then step
away, because I think there's alot of people that get stuck in
jobs which isn't fulfilling andwhere the negatives are
outweighing the positives andmaybe feeling like they can't
take whatever that next stepmight be.
So, yeah, well done.
Kelvin Bennetts (05:43):
Both Christine and I had thought about that for
a long time.
It wasn't something that wejust decided, and we'd worked
towards being able to have thatability to say well, I'm at that
stage now and, to be honest, Isaid Christine my wife, when I
was first appointed I could dothis job for 10 years and I did
(06:04):
it for 18.
Yes, so I figured that closeenough to 10 years.
Jolynne Rydz (06:10):
Yeah, that's incredible.
So I am curious to know whatkept you so engaged in the
education field for that long.
Kelvin Bennetts (06:19):
Look, it was driven out of myself being
relatively bored and disengagedat school and trying to make
sure that kids didn't feel thesame way.
While I had the opportunity tolead and it gave me I had the
opportunity to follow somepassions.
It's really important that youhave a passion, and one of those
(06:41):
was really constructing anenvironment where children came
first and you were just tryingto get all the structural things
in place, and I guess that inan, in essence, we'd sort of
managed to get to that stage.
We were then just doing somefine tuning really towards the
end of it, but you know, we'dlooked at the way we were
(07:03):
teaching the, the facilitieswithin the rooms, the facilities
outside the rooms, the qualityof your staff, the mentoring and
guiding of your staff all ofthose things that take time, and
they weren't something thatthey were achieved overnight.
Some of the, the lofty ambitionswe had, took seven years to
(07:24):
even implement.
So you, you're driven by thatpassion, but you've got to have
that vision of why we're doingit, because there's no point if
you're the only person thatbelieves in what you're doing,
and I actually learned that atanother school that I was the
only person that really drovethat vision and when I left it
(07:46):
fell apart.
So my determination was that atYarrambat that wouldn't be the
case.
We'd have a group of peoplewho'd bought into that vision,
who believed in that vision,who'd helped formulate and
implement that vision, and onceyou do that in your team, it'll
be more long-lasting andimplement that vision, and once
(08:07):
you do that in your team, it'llbe more long.
Jolynne Rydz (08:08):
Lasting.
Yeah, and I love that, becausethere's so many organizations
and leaders that want to bringtheir vision in, and either they
might be struggling to bringpeople along with them, and what
I've seen you do really well isactually, yeah, inspire people
to come on that journey with you.
Are you able to unpack what itis?
You do?
Kelvin Bennetts (08:25):
that that helps people to buy into that vision
to be honest, I guess it reallyjust revolved around the the
tour.
Uh, for a start, because peopleand rightly so parents were
shopping around for where theyfelt that they could be.
They would feel comfortable toleave their children for seven
years, but for families thatmight have two or three children
(08:48):
it might be a 15-year decision.
You have to be strong in yourfeelings about being comfortable
and trusting where you'reputting a child for that time,
and I did the same as a parent,so those sort of things.
Looking at it as a dad drovewhat I would say or show on a
tour.
So really, what we'd be talkingabout was just what we were
(09:11):
trying to do.
We'd be talking about, you know, not only do we want kids to be
academically strong, but wealso wanted them to be socially
and emotionally strong.
And one of the key things Ithink that was shown on a tour
or two of the key things werethe pit and also the importance
of having that passion.
(09:32):
Because when you follow apassion, whatever it is, if
you're four years old, that'llchop and change a lot.
If you're my age, you'reprobably more stuck to it when
you're following it, that's whenyou're at impassioned about
let's get into it, and I thinkone of the things I used to just
(09:56):
use it as an example was thatfour or five year old or uh,
about that age that loveddinosaurs.
And how dare you?
If you mispronounced thedinosaur's name, you were the
it's not how you say it um, andyou'd be told off.
But really that's passion.
It's not rudeness or anythinglike that.
It's just somebody's passionabout that, that thing that they
(10:17):
love talking about.
And so they were the, the keythings that we talk about, and
how we were incremental in whatwe did.
We we wanted to bring ourchildren in in preps, but really
what we're trying to do wasbuild some big picture things
for them.
So we'd be talking about makingthem as smart as possible.
(10:38):
We'd be talking about givingthem an ability to make safe
choices.
We'd be giving them the abilityto be able to work in a variety
of ways by themselves, all theway into a group of 100.
We would teach them how to lead.
We would teach them how to usetechnology but not rely on it.
We're a good example of that atthe minute.
(11:00):
We're 100% relying on thistechnology right now, even
though it's failed us a coupleof times already.
And then we're also teachingkids how to understand other
people, that there are people inthis world that you will not
like, and that's okay.
That's the real world.
(11:22):
But if you don't like somebody,you just have to acknowledge
that and then try to berespectful.
Moving on from that.
Jolynne Rydz (11:29):
And there's so much in there that you're so
passionate about that you'vebuilt over these years.
I really want to come back tothat community, because in
organizations often we're tryingto foster engagement and we're
trying to tap into people'spassions so they can thrive at
work.
And you mentioned a situationwhere you were the only one sort
(11:53):
of leading it and it fell apartwhen you left.
When, when was a situationwhere you really went, wow, okay
, that's the power of thecommunity and bringing everyone
along?
Was there a situation thatreally kind of hammered that
home for you?
Kelvin Bennetts (12:08):
I think that it really started to show itself
quite strongly when I first cameto Yarrambat and the difference
that really, when I firstarrived at Yarrambat,
civilisation ended at IronbarkRoad, lorimer and all the places
(12:30):
out there just didn't exist.
They only had cows out there onpaddocks and really it was like
a small country school and Ithought, well, this feels really
different, because people wereactually immersed into their
school and the school was acentral hub, almost like a
smaller township and the.
(12:50):
The thing that really showed meabout that community buying and
care was something that we didfor a little while and that was
celebrate the school's birthdayand everybody get a cake.
We'd often ask our parents tojust bake some cakes that had
brown or gold on the top.
They're the school colours.
I didn't choose those, Iinherited those.
(13:12):
At one stage, a dad came up tome and he said look, kelvin, I
don't get a chance to do muchfor the school, but I'd like to
because I think we're doing somereally good things.
And he said instead of askingthe community to bake the cakes,
he said I'll just buy the cakes.
And I said to him are you sureabout that?
(13:34):
And he said yeah, look, justtell me how many I need.
And sure enough, all thesecakes arrived for the school's
birthday party and I started torealise then that that's
something a little bit differentand a little bit special about
bringing your community into theschool and recognising that
people do want to help, oftendon't know how to, but if you
(13:57):
open the doors and give thatopportunity, they often will.
And I guess that continued toevolve the longer we went there
and it evolved to that kind offamily support program that we
ran at the school.
We did a lot of work with ourlocal community during um COVID
(14:17):
and supporting families, but thereality was that there were a
whole string of families behindthat who were supporting
providing food and and shoppingvouchers and things like that
that you.
They didn't wantacknowledgement, but felt that
they were doing something thatwould be valued and actually
(14:37):
helpful to their whole community, and that was something that
we'd been trying to bring hometo our children about that.
You don't wait to help.
If you see something, step upand do it now.
If there's paper on the ground,pick it up.
Don't wait to be asked.
If someone looks lost in theyard, ask them.
(14:58):
Can you help them?
That sort of thing and thatstarted to then generate that
whole front foot idea aboutbeing there to help and not
being afraid to ask an offer andit's okay if someone says no,
I'm all good and you think, okay, that's fine, but you've made
(15:18):
the.
You've made that first effort.
And often we found with kidsthat it was really that first
time.
If they would try something,they realized that it wasn't so
scary to try and it was kind ofbuilding off that that we
started to really push our kidsto be more ambitious.
(15:40):
That went through to thingslike the Grade 6 Leadership
Program, where we stopped givingbadges and things like that to
wear and started giving themsomething more innate and we'd
always say to them that we'regiving you two things, you two
things.
You just can't see them, andthat's trust and respect.
And it was really surprisingwhen kids got that level of
(16:00):
trust to be able to do thingsand and you'd say, well, you
don't need me to hold your handto do that, I trust you to do it
.
And you could see them sort ofhuffay at the chest a bit and
say, hey, finally somebodybelieves in me.
And that was something that wasmissing, I guess, for me in
primary school that you didn'tdo anything without ever asking
(16:23):
or being told.
You were very subservient, youwere very don't be a lateral
thinker.
Think within the group, thinkin the same way, and what we
were producing were a whole lotof people who were thinking the
same and doing the same, whereaswe wanted to produce children
(16:44):
who were individualised in theirthinking, understood their own
abilities and were prepared toset and chase some lofty goals.
Jolynne Rydz (16:56):
Basically, yeah, and there's again so much in
that that I really appreciate,because there's a lot of
research out there, isn't there?
About people having thatexternal reward being less
motivating than that intrinsicreward of oh wow, I've you know,
someone trusts me and theybelieve in me and I've done a
great job and I can decide thatfor myself, and that's so
(17:19):
empowering and inspiring to seethat being done in schools.
And where do you think thissense of being able to think
laterally, being able to justjump in and do things without
permission and having that trustand respect, how do you think
(17:39):
that can impact, I guess, ourfuture?
So these are going to be ourfuture leaders.
How do you think this is goingto impact our society?
Kelvin Bennetts (17:46):
What I would hope is that we're building kids
who are resilient, able to copewith disappointment, able to
cope with disappointment, ableto cope with challenge, able to
cope with the changingcircumstances, whatever they
might be.
And that's what we're going toneed, because we need people who
are going to be actuallylateral thinkers and forward
(18:07):
thinkers rather than not justthinking in the past.
I mean, I'm not sure how tothat, but we want to pay respect
to history and learn from itand not make the same mistakes.
But we want to be better as wego forward, and the only way
we're going to do that is ifwe're building our kids who can
be more resilient, who justdon't fold under the first
(18:33):
moment of pressure.
I've got a sport coachingbackground as well and
surprisingly and I say this alittle tongue-in-cheek those
people that work harder and workon their skills more might not
be as talented as the naturalgifted person player, but in the
(18:56):
end, will be better becausethey'll work for the team and
they'll understand theirstrengths and skills.
It's important to be able to, Ithink, as a leader, understand
that you're not perfect.
You have a lot to learn.
I mean, even on my last day, Iwas still learning things and
still continue to learn.
I mean, even on my last day Iwas still learning things and
still continue to learn things.
(19:16):
I was never one to say that, ohwell, I know it all.
Just listen to me, becausethat's not my personality, but
it's also not my belief.
You can't fake some things andsay, well, I know it all, stay
cool, it'll all be fine.
When it's not, you have tosometimes roll with the punches
a little bit and understand thatthings will go awry and you
(19:39):
have to be able to cope withthose those things.
And one of the things I'd workwith the grades six leaders
particularly was about having aplan a, b and c so that you knew
that you know things might justgo perfectly and you don't have
to do anything.
But what is more likely is thatsomething just go perfectly and
you don't have to do anything.
But what is more likely is thatsomething will come along and
you need to be ready for it.
(19:59):
It would be the same when I wasmentoring teachers.
If you were going to go intoconversations with people, you
need a plan A and a B.
A is where everybody just nodsyes and say that's perfect,
let's go, and B is wheresomebody says, hang on, that
doesn't suit me, that's let's go.
And B is where somebody says,hang on, that doesn't suit me,
that's not okay.
(20:19):
Here's why, and you need to beable to work through that sort
of stuff.
So there's an awful lot in thereand it's yet to be seen whether
we're successful with that.
And we're unlikely to know thatbecause we don't track that
with any sort of data.
The only data we've got is thatwe see a lot of our kids that
end up as leaders in secondaryschool.
And so, through that point ofpressure where there's a lot of
(20:42):
peer pressure on you to dumbdown and to fit in and not stand
out, if you've got the guts tobe putting your hand up to lead,
I'm saying and thinking tomyself that we've had success
there because you're saying, hey, I'm not going to be beaten
down by the crowd and I'm notgoing to dumb myself down and
(21:03):
I'm not going to shush myself up.
I'm going to speak my mind,I've got my reasons why, I'm
prepared to put them out thereand I'm prepared to endure a
little bit of peer pressure onme about that.
So that's what we'd see.
Yeah, I've had to see.
Jolynne Rydz (21:19):
And I've actually got tingles as you're speaking,
because if these young maybeyoung adults almost stepping out
there into these leadershiproles are doing so from a place
of service, from a place of,I've got an idea and I think we
can do things better.
Rather than I want the badge onmy T-shirt that says I'm the
(21:40):
leader.
I think that's so powerful andit's so needed.
So thank you for all the workyou've done in that space.
Kelvin Bennetts (21:47):
Hopefully it builds some people who take
leadership roles in ourcommunity and they might be
major roles, they might be minorroles, but they're all
important because the morepeople you've got with that
attitude, the better yourcommunity is going to be.
That service to community, thatidea that as a team we can
(22:10):
always be better, Surely that'sgot to be a better place to live
.
Jolynne Rydz (22:14):
Definitely and with your team.
So you obviously led a team ofincredible educators who still
are incredible.
Team.
So you obviously led a team ofincredible educators who still
are incredible.
And how did you get them toalso focus on the concept of
putting the child first and thatenvironment of them coming
first?
How do you bring people alongon that journey and make sure
(22:37):
that it stays that way even whenyou you leave?
Kelvin Bennetts (22:41):
well, that's.
That's a really interestingpoint, because we were doing
some work in that field beforewe let it loose on the rest of
the school, and it starts withfinding the right people.
To me, a brilliant teacher, abrilliant musician, a brilliant
doctor, it doesn't matter whatit's, it's one of their passions
and that's they're doing itbecause they want to do it
(23:03):
rather than they're doing itbecause, well, I'll get paid
tomorrow and there's a holidayat Christmas.
That's the first step.
And then we started to look atas a team are we open to having
others look at what we do?
And that was an important stepfor us because we needed to get
past that insular.
(23:24):
I closed my classroom doorfeeling and no one's going to
know what I really do to beingan open team member and open to
feedback, open to mentoring,open to sharing, and so we were
working in that field quite alot, and once I was appointed to
(23:46):
Yarram Bat, we actually startedto experience some really rapid
growth, and what that allowedme to do was to build the team
because I could start employingmore people.
There were some people thatneeded to be moved on and that
might sound harsh, but that's areality that there are truly
some people in every field whoshouldn't be teaching, who
(24:07):
shouldn't be a doctor, whoshouldn't be a bricklayer, and
so we dealt with that as well.
And now they were very hard andtough yards, but needed to be.
That needed to happen.
Then we started to build ourteam and then, because you're
bringing in a whole lot of newpeople who are open to that
belief, who are open to learning, who are open to coaching, we
(24:30):
were able to tackle some of thereally tough things that needed
to be done at the school, andone was engagement and boys
education and getting ourteaching right so that kids
weren't bored or kids weren'tmisbehaving.
More often than not, kidsmisbehaving class because
they're absolutely disengaged bywhatever's being presented up
the front.
And if that's the way you'reteaching you're presenting up
(24:52):
the front with a worksheet I canguarantee you now that kids
will be disengaged reallyquickly.
And so we tackled all of thatsort of stuff.
And so we tackled all of thatsort of stuff.
And then, the moment I wasactually appointed as the
principal because I acted forsix months before being
appointed, so that was duringthat six months a lot of that
work was being done.
(25:13):
Once I was appointed, I said,we are also going to become
experts and the two fields thatI think are critical for us to
become experts in our literacyand what we called inquiry
learning, which really evolvedinto that passion project work
and so we spent a lot of timebringing in people and coaching
(25:36):
and employing the right staffand getting the right programs
in place.
We made a lot of significantstructural decisions about
having smaller prep classes andsetting our kids up with
different things to make surethat they had a strong future,
rather than they get into gradesix and they're still two years
behind.
(25:56):
And now what do you do andwhat's their future really look
like?
Jolynne Rydz (26:00):
Yeah, and I love the forethought that went into.
You know, let's address it now,when it's easier to address,
rather than waiting for it tolater.
And so how does that contrastwith your concept of the pit?
So you talked already aboutresilience and adaptability and
how you actually help kidsthrough that.
(26:22):
Could you explain a little bitmore about that concept?
Are you a little bit like me,trying to multitask while you do
this podcast?
I know sometimes we fit thesethings into our day, so I
thought I'd split this into twoepisodes for you.
And wow, so far, there's so muchin this that is applicable to
any workplace.
(26:42):
So far, there's so much in thisthat is applicable to any
workplace that importance ofrecruitment and getting the
right people on board that aregoing to back your vision, that
are going to still be open andcontributing to that and also be
coachable, and how criticalthat is to getting that vision
implemented across the board.
Another thing that I lovedabout the conversation so far is
(27:05):
how, when you bring trust andrespect, people lift.
Yeah, that doesn't just applyto kids, it applies to any human
being.
If they feel trusted andrespected, they are going to be
so much more equipped andenabled to do their job well,
because they're not dealing withself-doubt and wondering where
they stand or wondering ifthey're doing the right job.
(27:26):
They can just go do it and knowthat they'll be valued for that
.
And then the third thing I wouldlove to reflect on is the
importance of passion and thatwhen you can tap into people's
passion, it just becomes easyand people get excited and
people come along with you andit's such.
I think an underrated key inleadership is how to tap into
(27:50):
people's passion.
So I'm so glad that that cameout in the conversation so far
and hopefully I've had a littlefun and left a little
cliffhanger for you.
So let's dive into part two,which is up, already available
for you.
So if you want to keeplistening, head on over to part
two now.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com