Lead Collectively: From Belief to Action to Impact
with Peter DeWitt and Michael Nelson
Date
Tuesday 4 August 2026
9.00pm - 3.30pm
Brisbane CBD, Venue TBC
Workshop Cost
Non Member - $550
ACEL Member - $440
Group Rates (3+)
Non Member - $440
ACEL Member - $330
Combine and Save
$620
*Receive a discount when you combine your registration with a new ACEL membership
Overview
Collective Leader Efficacy (CLE) is the belief that when leadership teams develop shared understanding, engage in joint work, and evaluate their evidence of impact, they can improve both student and adult learning.
Our framework to help school and district leadership teams lead collectively is built around a three-legged stool:
- Shared Understanding – built on trust, clarity, and coherence. Teams slow down to ensure words like “equity,” “engagement,” or “accountability” are not just shared language but deeply understood concepts.
- Joint Work – leaders collaborating in authentic, purposeful ways, not in silos or “contrived collaboration.” This involves establishing culture, networks, and systems that ensure collective responsibility.
- Evidence of Impact – using multiple forms of data (demographic, perception, student learning, and processes) to reflect on what is working, what isn’t, and how leadership actions truly affect students and staff.
In this engaging workshop, Peter DeWitt and Michael Nelson will provide research and practical guidance of what leaders and educators can do to lead collectively.
Success Criteria for Leaders
By the end of this workshop:
- Explain what an Instructional Leadership Collective is and how it supports deeper leadership learning.
- Define Collective Leader Efficacy (CLE) and explain its significance in improving school outcomes.
- Analyze how your team develops a shared understanding and identify strategies to strengthen this process.
- Examine how your team engages in joint work and apply strategies for deeper collaboration.
- Evaluate different methods for assessing impact and apply evidence-based strategies to measure progress.
Peter DeWitt
Peter DeWitt (Ed.D) is the founder and CEO of the Instructional Leadership Collective along with his thought partner Michael Nelson. He was a K-5 teacher for 11 years and a principal for 8 years. For the last 10 years, he has been facilitating professional learning nationally, and internationally, based on the content of many of his best-selling educational books.
DeWitt's professional learning relationships are a monthly hybrid approach that includes both coaching and the facilitating workshops on instructional leadership and collective efficacy.
DeWitt's work has been adopted at the state level, university level, and he works with numerous school districts, school boards, regional networks, ministries of education around North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the U.K.
Peter writes the Finding Common Ground column for Education Week, and hosts Corwin’s Leaders Coaching Leaders podcast with Michael Nelson. In 2020 DeWitt co-created Education Week's A Seat At the Table where he moderates conversations with experts around the topics of race, gender, sexual orientation, research, trauma and many other educational topics.
Michael Nelson
Michael Nelson co-facilitates coaching, keynotes, and workshops with Peter DeWitt. Their first book “Leading with Intention” was released in May 2024.
Even though Michael still considers “teacher” as his primary title, he has served in roles of principal, district instructional leader, superintendent, and currently as assistant executive director developing programs and initiatives for superintendents and district leaders in the state of Washington.
Michael has received many state and national awards during his time as a principal and superintendent. As a principal, he was acknowledged by Pacific Lutheran University as its Outstanding Recent Alumni in 1997. At the same time, the school he was leading as principal received the National Blue Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education.
As a superintendent, he was named Washington state’s 2019 Superintendent of the Year. During his tenure as superintendent, Michael was elected President of the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) by his peers.