Based on class readings and the development of your SIP/DIP, articulate how your improvement
plan strengthens multiple stakeholders in the organization.
In its simplest form, the best leadership plan is to have a plan and a set of clear objectives
and goals. This way you can incorporate everyone on your vision so you as well as them know
what you’re looking to accomplish. As a school leader you need to adapt the best concepts and
skills to emphasize, so that staff can concentrate on the quality of understanding rather than on
the quantity of information presented. As a leader, one of the most important techniques
discussion when making shared decisions. School administrators must spend adequate time
discussing with students, teachers, parents, and the community the objectives of the schools and
how the schools are run. Another important leadership tactic to promote the collaborative culture
and bring leadership and learning together is to provide feedback. Feedback helps organization
members attain their performance goals. Feedback helps in two important ways. First, it helps
people determine how well they are doing. Sergiovanni and Starratt found that the heart of
supervisory leadership is designing opportunities for teachers to continuously expand their
capacity to learn, to care, to help each other, and to teach more effectively. They believed that
schools are learning communities where students, teachers, and supervisors are learners and
teachers depending upon the circumstances (p. 9). As an administrator supervisory skills and a
master of supervision theory and practices are important to create a culture of learning within a
district. I think one of the ways to do this is through trust. “Trust is the central issue in human
relationships. Without trust, you can’t lead’ (Kouzes & Poser (2017), p. 198).
References
Kouzes, J. M., & Poser, B. Z. (2017). The Leadership Challenge (6th ed.). Hoboken, New
Jersey: Wiley.
Sergiovanni, T. J., & Starratt, R. J. (2007). Supervision: A redefinition (8th Ed.). New York:
McGraw Hill.
“Trust is the central issue in human relationships. Without trust, you can’t lead’ (p. 198).
Kouzes & Poser (2017), “Performance was dependent on the team leader creating an
environment of collaboration and trust, where there is an open flow of ideas and information” (p.
125).
“the leader interacted with them face to face and gave them the autonomy to make their own
decisions. She encouraged them to come up with their solutions to problems they encountered
and not to worry about making mistakes. P. 196
According to Kouzes & Poser (2017), “Extraordinary performance isn’t possible unless there’s a
strong sense of shared creation and shared responsibility. Exemplary leaders make the
commitment to foster collaboration by engaging in: creating a climate of trust and facilitate
relationships” (p. 197).
“Trust is required to build collaboration and promote relationships where people work together
cooperatively” (p. 197).
“To build and sustain social connections, trust must be reciprocal and reciprocated. Trust is not
just what’s in your head; it’s also what’s in your heart” (p. 198).
“The most effective leadership situations are those in which each member of the team trusts the
others” (p. 199).
“When you create a climate of trust, you create an environment that allows people to contribute
freely and to innovate. You nurture an open exchange of ideas and an honest discussion of
issues” (p. 200).
“The concern you show for others is one of the clearest and most unambiguous signals of your
trustworthiness” (p. 202).
“When you show your openness to their ideas and your interest in their concerns people will be
more open to yours” (p. 202).
“Leaders who play their role of knowledge builder set the example for how team members
should behave towards each other. As a result, the team members’ trust in one another and the
leader increases, along with their performance” (p. 205).
“To create conditions in which people know they can count on each other, a leader needs to
develop cooperative goals and roles, support norms of reciprocity structure projects to promote
joint efforts, and encourage face to face interactions” (p. 208).
“To strengthen others, exemplary leaders engage in two essentials. They enhance self-
determination and develop competence and confidence”(p. 220).
Leaders accept and act on this paradox of power: you become more powerful when you give
your power away” (p. 221).
“In strengthening others, leaders show they believe that people are smart and capable of figuring
things out” (p. 223).
“Freedom is the ability to make choices. People who perceive they don’t have any choices feel
trapped, like rats in a maze, when left with no alternatives, they typically stop moving, and
eventually shut down” (p. 224).
“Give people choices, and let them make decisions on their own, and then it becomes difficult to
blame ‘the company’ when things don’t go their way or when they don’t like the way things are
going” (p. 227).
“People just do not strive to maintain, protect, and take responsibility for things they feel they
don’t own or for which they have no accountability” (p. 229).
“Exemplary leaders appreciate that they have to create this sense of psychological ownership if
they are going to make extraordinary things happen” (p. 229).
“When people take personal responsibility, and are held accountable for their actions, their
colleagues are much more inclined to want to work with them and are more motivated to
cooperate in general” (p. 230).
“Choice, latitude, and accountability fuel people’s sense of powerfulness and control over their
lives” (p. 233).
“Ensuring that employees are given the training they need and involving them in decisions that
impact their work creates both competence and commitment” (p. 235).
“Even if people know how to do something, a lack of confidence may stop them from doing it.
Strengthening others is an essential step in psychological process that affects the intrinsic need
for self-determination” (p. 239).
“Leaders need to provide coaching, because no one ever got to be better without constructive
feedback, probing questions, and active teaching by respected coaches” (p. 240).
“Good coaches ask good questions” (p. 242).
“So, on October 8 Ezra the priest brought the scroll of the law before the assembly, which
included the men, women, and all the children old enough to understand. He … read aloud to
everyone who could understand. All the people paid close attention to the Book of the Law”
“Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform that had been made for the occasion. To his
right stood Mattihiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. To his left stood Pedaiah,
Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zachariah, and Meshullam” (Nehemiah 8:4 NLT).
“They read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was
being read, helping the people understand each passage” (Nehemiah 8:8 NLT).
“On October 9 the family leaders and the priests and Levites met with Ezra to go over the law in
greater detail” (Nehemiah 8:13 NLT).
“Yet in spite of all of this, we are making a solemn promise and putting it in writing. On this
sealed document are the names of our princes and Levites and priests” (Nehemiah 9:38
NLT).
Understanding that faculty is one of the largest stake holders in your institution is very important.
I hate that school has become a business. I think it is important to think students first and then the
teachers. For your first goal of educating and informing the faculty, I think it is very smart to
recognize that they will be the most affected by changes. According to Kouzes & Poser (2017),
“Ensuring that employees are given the training they need and involving them in decisions that
impact their work creates both competence and commitment” (p. 235). I find nothing more
aggravating as a subordinate thinking about the authorities in my district coming up with plans
for us to follow and not thinking about what that would do to our normal routines in the
classroom. Additionally, as a leadership quality, the inclusion of faculty to foster research and
develop new programs is extremely wise. Who is best to come up with solutions then the people
that are in the trenches each day. According to Kouzes and Posner (2017) “Give people choices,
and let them make decisions on their own, and then it becomes difficult to blame ‘the company’
when things don’t go their way or when they don’t like the way things are going” (p. 227).
Nyjah,
I think your goals are very realistic and I also think it is important to have student centered
improvement at the heart of your improvement plan. Too often has schools become being
business and we forget that it should be students, teachers and then the rest following. I like that
you recognize each stake holder and that it is an ongoing process. Educational leadership is
achieved through a process that requires preparation, the dedication of day-to-day work, constant
self-examination and improvement, and perhaps most importantly, the support of administrators
and leaders. There are many successful classroom leaders that understand it is about knowing the
people you are working with, their values, what they love to do, what they care about, and what
they stand for (Kouzes & Posner 2017, p. 4). I can say from personal experience, I am more
inclined to respect a leader if they bother to take time to include me in decisions, ask my
opinion, and simply take the time to understand my teaching methods. My plan is very similar to
yours so I really appreciated your post.
Cheers,
Dani
The improvement plan strengthens each stakeholder by adding value to each stakeholders
position in the schools' success. After working through the improvement plan, I noticed that
school/district improvement plans are ongoing from year to year. School/district improvement
does not just stop after certain goals are achieved, there is an ongoing effort to make school/
district a great place to learn. This ongoing attempt for improvement involves all stakeholders,
the fact that it involves stakeholders on an ongoing basis strengthens the need for each individual
group's function in the improvement process. Kouzes and Posner state, "No one person can
single-handedly educate a child..." (p.208, 2017). There must be a common goal that brings
everyone together to work in a collaborative effort.
