Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership http://toservefirst.com/definition-of-servant-leadership.html is best described by Trust, Appreciation, and Collaboration. A school district is as good as its leader and how they are viewed by staff, community, and businesses; can only enhance the quality of education the students receive. If more leaders placed confidence in Servant Leadership, I truly have no doubt that school districts would be a greater place, education wise. 

After reviewing numerous research articles, Robert Greenleaf presents the best depiction of "Servant Leadership." The ten principles of Servant Leadership http://www.butler.edu/volunteer/resources/principles-of-servant-leadership/

.: Fixing Our National Educational Accountability Sys...

.: Fixing Our National Educational Accountability Sys...: "Accountability: The obligation to bear the consequences for failure to perform." -Webster's Dictionary In a recent report b...

Building a Culture of Hope

Enriching Schools with Optimism and Opportunity

• ·      Improve instructional effectiveness together (visiting and observing classrooms)

• ·      Create own professional development (collaborate) 

• ·      Implementation of collaborative school

• ·      Principal Leadership – vision must focus on the mantra “All students can learn to All students will learn

• ·      Nurturing research-based practices for successful professional development

• ·      Teachers as learners and sharing of lessons

• ·      Assessing the Institutional Culture

• ·      Instructional Cultures (support for teachers)

• ·      Provide safety and validation for teachers as learners by having staff share moments of learning at staff meetings (celebration)

• ·      Family involvement

• ·      Modern-Day Rite of Passage for Children of Poverty (Essential conditions for Learning)

The above are highlights from "Building a Culture of Hope," which I believe is a must read for school administrators and staff. This book goes in-deph on how to change a culture. Great for PD across your staff. Enjoy!

Balance Scorecard

Balanced Scorecard

The diagram below depicts the Lean Six Sigma organizational structure from a School District's point of view (POV). In the previous Blog, I mentioned Line of Sight (School Building POV), which falls under this organizational structure.  In the following paragraphs, I will explain how the organizational structure is broken into 4 sections that represent the Lean Six Sigma philosophy as well as the key elements of the Balanced Scorecard. 

The 4 P's of the Balanced Scorecard are as follows: 

Plans (Academic Program); 
Process (Facilities);
Parents (Finance); and
People (Communications, HR, & Operations (Tech)).

Plans

• Stretch Goals/Annual Goals of department (Identify Key Principal Items)
• SMART goals
• Leading/Lagging Indicators

Process

• Align to VOC
• Op Ex
• Problem Solving
• Appreciative
• Inquiry

Parents

• Voice of the customer
• Clarify Root needs
• Delight

People

• Values
• Beliefs
• Line of Sight
• Culture/Morale

The 4 P's directly align to the District's two goals (i.e., Equity & Excellence). The Balance Scorecard is set-up to make sure every department aligns their goals to the District's goals. The purpose of the Scorecard is to prevent the "Pendulum Effect" every time a new leader comes to the District. Too many times, a new leader will come into a district and instill their values and goals, which causes the swinging back and forth of the organization. Thus, creating an unbalanced scorecard and unstable culture. This is the synopsis version but when you go in-depth with the philosophy of Lean Six Sigma, one will see the total effect and precision of how to balance and stabilize a culture. For more information go to "What is Lean Sigma Six" by George, Rowlands, and Kastle. 

                       

           

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.

STEM Evening for Spanish Speakers

Dublin Scioto hosted a Stem night for our Latino parents on January 30, 2014. This was an event to bring awareness to the STEM Programs in Dublin City Schools Stem. The event highlight were as follows:

Speakers

• Carlos Castro, OSU Professor in Mechanical Engineering
• Thomas Castillo, Engineer, Keihin North America 
• Chris Pimentel, Engineer, Honda R&D 
• Honda of America Manufacturing 
• Latino and Latin American Space for Enrichment and Research (LASER) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) 

• Short Video – “Engineers are Cool” 
• Tolles Technical Center 
• Benito Lucio, Educators and Community Helping Hispanics Onward (ECHHO) 
• Dublin City Schools STEM Program including Carlos Hernandez and Ulises Aguilar, current STEM students  

The grassroots event was defined by the outreach programs presentations in Spanish to get more Latinos involved in STEM. I was amazed by the number of people that showed up. This event is just one of the ways Dublin is reaching out to educate the community on the advantages of taking STEM classes. The goal is to increase the number of Latinos involved in these programs. I truly believe the event will grow as the years go by but this was a great start. With Common Core coming and PARCC assessments around the corner, this was another way for Dublin to show what they are willing to do to get ALL cultures prepared for life after High School. 

Our philosophy can be summed up by three words....Trust, Collaboration, and Appreciation. Trust us to make the best decision for students, Collaborate with all stakeholders so they are involved in the decision-making process, and Appreciate the good things going on with staff and students. What does this say....Dublin is willing to provide the best experiences academically, and create an environment conducive for learning. We do not want to leave no child behind. As a result, this is just another reason why Dublin is ranked amongst the best School District not only in Ohio, but the United States!

Remember, Life may be Hard, but It is Fair!  Proud to be part of such a great district, which involves individuals willing to do whatever it takes to make, not only our Latino population more aware, but to bringing people together for the betterment of ALL students!