reflections

Engage, Inspire, Empower – End of Year reflections

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“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. “
– Maya Angelou

As I reflect on leadership, administration, public service, endings, and beginnings, I find the same connections between successful people and relationships. As social beings, we seek the benefits of friendship, mentorship, collegiality – in work, personally, in civic clubs, sports, and hobbies. The people are who/what “matter” insofar as leadership and change, and growth and progress are concerned.

On a personal level, I have the good fortune to serve in four school districts over the past 22 years. Each change allowed me to channel the excitement and possibility about the new beginnings I was about to “encounter”. It is always bittersweet to leave the many relationships I have had the privilege of building over the years in one place. I am confident that many of the relationships will sustain the transition and my departure. What is most exciting about leadership transition and change is that it allows for contributing in another community that has a rich history, strong continuity, and strong community ties.

It is an honor to have been selected to join learning organizations with the wonderful people with whom I have worked and led. My hope is always to meet/greet/start to build relationships with the people and then find out their needs and wants; and my hope is to be able to work together and lead in as collaborative manner as practical in the best interests of the students, faculty & staff, parents, members of the board, and the community in general. It is fantastic to have this opportunity for new beginnings!! Each new opportunity has provided a series of true leadership experiences and opportunities for learning and growth

“There are as many ways to recognize people as there are people to recognize.” -Eric Harvey

When we do employee survey work, “Recognition” is often the most neglected dimension by managers. For recognition to be appreciated, it must be timely and perceived as an earnest expression from a caring colleague. Get to know your coworkers as humans beings and understand how they prefer to be acknowledged, recognized and rewarded. Then catch them “doing things right” and do the needful with enthusiasm. Taking time for oneself, one’s family and one’s faith. Leadership involves balancing the many “pulls” in one’s life and enjoying all of the gifts that life has to offer. Each day is a gift – take care to not take for granted!! Here in DPS we have sustained a focus on The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes & Posner) and Encourage The Heart (recognition is part of this) is one of the five practices of exemplary leadership about which they write.

Essentially my whole focus is on EXCELLENCE – I have lived my life by this focus, I conduct my work by this focus. As a public school superintendent – a proud superintendent – my charge is to support student growth and learning every day – I am held to high standards by my school board, my staff, the students, the community – everyone. And I should be held accountable to very high standards, and my performance is measured – as it should be – according to established best practices and internationally accepted standards for leadership.

I also have had the honor of working for several years as a Sr. Educational Consultant for HUMANeX Ventures (Ventures for Excellence) as a practitioner scientist, researcher, trainer, and developer of leaders. In my roles (private and public) I work on helping others reach heights higher than they thought they could reach through scientifically validated highly predictive instruments and research and analyses used in selection and development of staff.

During my more than two decades of public educational leadership, teaching, and service, I value the coaching I have received through mentors and coaches powerfully dedicated to supporting my impact as a leader.As I read the news about “reforms” and legislation and philanthropic efforts toward impacting education, I state emphatically and publicly that selection of staff AND the development of staff will lead to excellence in our schools. Personal and professional connections lead to supportive relationships and culture.

As we approach the end of one calendar year and the beginning of another, I appreciate the opportunity to serve, reflect, and lead!

As we say in DPS109:

ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER

Leadership and Change Reflections in May

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chess

In my leadership I would like to think I am a chess player as opposed to a checkers player. As I learned and had affirmed in a leadership summit, some leaders play chess and spend extra time getting to know the individual strengths and talents of their leaders while others play checkers and treat everyone the same. I hope I am a chess player in that I individualize leadership development in the same manner as I hope our principals support teachers in differentiating learning for our students. As a leader my focus is on equipping others. My focus is on helping everyone see and find clarity! Another reflection and learning I knew about but had reinforced at a conference is the concept of “weeding the garden”. Annually, Dr. Tim Elmore suggests, we should ask three questions:

1. What (do we do organizationally) needs a facelift?
2. What needs an overhaul, and
3. What needs a “funeral”.

As we reflect upon a highly successful school year based upon results including satisfaction, climate surveys, culture surveys, student performance on state and national assessments, and other metrics, we must take the time to identify answers/responses to the three questions so we update/adjust that which is good but needs tweaking, that which was once good but needs a retooling, and that which no longer is relevant.

Leadership and Change are two very popular words and concepts for educational leaders. In our school district we have experienced a lot of change in the last few years. For example, last year we welcomed five new leaders including the superintendent and an assistant superintendent, an assistant principal, student services coordinator and a district program coordinator! Next year we welcome two newly appointed principals and assistant principals and we are engaged in the selection process for student services coordinators as well.

In addition this year we refined our mission: Engage, Inspire, Empower and we refocused our energies on the Big 5
“Big 5″: 1. Common Core State Standards 2.  Danielson frameworks/DPS109 STEP Teacher evaluation 3.  Technology 4.  Organizational culture 5.  Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education

We have reformatted professional development with an EdCamp and a Teaching and Learning Conference, and we have worked with our visionary Board of Education to Transform the Middle Level Educational Programming!

As we wind down the 2013-2014 school year we are filled with pride, excitement, anxiety, sadness (to bid farewell to our graduates) and joy that we once again had the good fortune to impact the lives of our students, develop the talents of our teachers and staff, and impact our community in a positive manner! This year I have learned a lot! And of course there is still tons more to learn.

I learned that the teachers in DPS109 love their children, their schools, their professional development. I learned that the principles of leadership as found in the literature (including in the Leadership Challenge) have direct applicability to the development and growth of our leaders (administrators, teachers, etc.).

While we wind down this school year and gear up for some pretty intense construction this summer (science lab construction/renovation, new Smart Labs, Life / Safety work, completion of the air conditioning projects at Walden and Kipling and in the Caruso gym) we reflect and give great thanks for the vast support and resources our Board and community bestow upon us each and every day!

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I learn each day that the culture of our organization is dependent upon our focus on and communication of results. I learn that there are beliefs and perception about issues like what impacts student learning even though we have facts about the effects about what in fact impacts student learning (see posts on Hattie research). I learned that while we do an exemplary job of communicating the various happenings of the school district, we must constantly focus on how our messages are being received and if our messages are being understood. I have learned that our award winning school district has so much about which to be proud and so many opportunities to positively impact student learning and success.

While we have tons of awesome changes in place and planned, and while our Big 5 will govern us next year as well, I know that organizations still fear change – even when all know changes will be good. My job is to support people as we go through organizational changes, leadership changes, results changes, culture changes, policy changes – in essence – through all changes.

Our journey continues and our year still has a lot of learning left! As part of my continued participation in the Blogamonth challenge I am sharing some “almost end of year” reflections. As always we will continue to listen to our stakeholders as we aim for the stars in creating, sustaining, and nurturing world class educational opportunities for children! Our organizational culture is based upon shared vision, customs and language. Our organizational culture is focused upon excellence.

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