Leadership Challenge

Leadership Challenge was introduced to me at our Dublin June retreat. So, I thought it was time to see what I could learn by reading this book. I was amazed by the information and details of becoming a successful leader as well as gathering five tools for my toolbox.  They are as follows:

• Model the way - students, parents, teachers (people are watching);
• Inspired shared vision - trust;
• Challenge the process;
• Enable others to act - collaboration; and
• Encourage the heart - appreciation.

Three points of emphasis in the book were (a) trust (assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something) - being able to trust your staff, students, & parents when envisioning what the school should represent; (b) collaboration (to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor) - bringing all stakeholders (parents, staff, students, secretaries, custodians, transportation, etc) to the table either by completing a survey or in-person for informal/formal discussions; and (c) appreciation - (an expression of admiration, approval, or gratitude) - ability to praise and recognize your staff, students, parents, community for the work they have done or will do in the future.

Coming up in the next blog, will be a discussion regarding organizational structure - eliminating the waste by using the Six Sigma Lean philosophy defined as a proven systematic approach to improve measurable results for any organization. Lean is a process to identify and eliminate sources of waste and activities that do not add value to create maximum productivity.

Clear Line of Vision

Clear Line of Vision

I have been fortunate to have many in-deph conversations with my Superintendent about leadership change and ways of stabilizing the environment. The term "Clear line of Sight" came up in our conversations. The "Clear line of Sight" approach includes the development of a strategic plan, the setting of annual objectives and performance indicators within each educational area (role), setting personal objectives for each member of the staff (responsibility), and an assessment and review of individuals' personal objectives (personal goal) once a year. 

Clear line of Vision is an organization chart set-up to alleviate the "Pendulum Effect" when leadership change occurs. The purpose of this chart is keep the goal in place in-order to stabilize the environment. Each arrow represents an area; for example, Social Studies, Math, Language Arts, Science, Unified Arts, Business Tech, Business, Custodians, Secretaries, Cooks, Transportation, etc. These arrows depict the various departments in your building or district. Within each arrow contains three levels that lead to the goal. They are as follows: (a) what is your role; (b) what is your responsibility; and (c) what is your personal goal.

This approach is one to use for any organization that creates collaboration within and amongst your staff. Also, it focuses each and every staff members' goal toward the main goal or objective, which creates solidarity and cohesion. Moreover, it allow for collaboration with staff, trust in the decision-making process, and appreciation for the work being done; with the point of emphasis toward empowering your staff and holding everyone accountable for meeting the main goal (i.e., Equity & Excellence) of the organization.