After beginning the school year and introducing the staff to what we have learned in our study of The Leader in Me, what do you consider the next most important step?
Respond to Covey's description of the 4 Imperatives of Leadership and how relates to our situation.
"Don't boil someone else's water" was advice given by Muriel to David George. How does this apply to us since we have several schools in our area that are implementing or are considering implementing the Leader in Me model?
Point to remember ...schools should only move forward at a pace that matches people's ability to absorb change, all the while maintaining a pace that lets people know that "this is here to stay".
I believe the next step for our school would be training for some/all of the teachers.
ReplyDeleteThe 4 Imperatives of leadership that Covey describes are going to be vital to our success. The one that stands out the most in my mind, the one that will be the greatest challenge (I think), is “Inspire Trust.” I do not believe I have been a member of the faculty long enough to voice specifics; however, I feel that I have been here long enough to see that trust is a major issue already. Therefore, implementing an entirely new program is going to inevitably be a challenge in the trust department. The other 3 steps will fall into place naturally, if we can develop the necessary trust to move forward.
The quote, “Don’t boil someone else’s water,” exemplifies the importance of making the process unique to our school, our faculty, and our students. Middle school children are in a category all their own, and it would be senseless to try to imitate the changes taking place in elementary and/or high schools in our area. Likewise, mimicking other middle schools would not be beneficial to our cause either. We have to implement changes that meet our needs and the needs of our student body. The problem I am having is determining the needs and exactly how to make the changes.
The only thing that I would add to the previous post is this from page 166..."If a school's culture is filled with internal backbiting, a history of broken commitments, a staff of scarcity mentalities, weak competencies, or a ritualistic pattern of micromanaging, change for the good will be slow to happen--real slow--if it happens at all."
ReplyDeleteI am hoping change will come.