Leaders...We Can Be More Aligned
Last week, we named an issue around collaboration, learning communities and alignment. We recognized that for whatever reason we have reduced communities of learning to moments in time for adults, while expecting communities of learning in classrooms to take place every moment. Leaders of schools are expected to create Professional Learning Communities, while districts and legislators often model something very different. This misalignment is a problem.
Living and breathing a community of learners is a leadership responsibility.
Let’s begin by addressing this challenge with an old adage: “Simple structures for complex issues.” Though this has always been something I’ve applied to facilitation with teams, it applies here as well. Stated another way, we must develop foundational, deep structures that are light on logistics and management, but heavy on impact and growth.
The following are three ways you can lead communities of learners more effectively:
The first of these is to pull your mission and vision off of the wall and put it in front of your face. Your M/V must be your filter, your guide, your reflection and your why. Make your M/V a living, breathing part of your decisions and design. When planning a staff meeting, design around your vision and hold yourself accountable to its intentions. When engaged in an Accountability meeting, assure decisions are filtered through the vision. When interviewing and hiring, ask questions that are grounded in the mission of the school. Remember, writing a M/V statement is NEVER the intent. Living the M/V is our intent!
Be a public learner.
Another high leverage action is to model. Yes, just model. Of course, you as a leader must be crystal clear about what effective collaboration, empathy, relationships, listening and communication look and sound like. That is the challenge, but with that clarity, you become the lead actor in the collaborative play. Your words then take on much, much greater meaning to a staff when what you say is matched with your actions. Listen deeply to people and speak less. Ask more questions and refrain from answering right away. Coach first, consult as necessary. Communicate essential items face to face, keep other items digital or paper. Be transparent in sharing and be reflective in processing. Be a public learner.
Make equal who you are seeking to become with what you are seeking to do.
The third application to creating collaborative, learning alignment is to always design for what I call, “both/and.” As you craft agendas, design engagements and support collaboration, make the why, the how and the what equally important and apparent. Design agendas that both develop relationships and inform policy. Facilitate meetings that both create learning as they create clarity. Give opportunities for your staff to take risks and create an environment of safety for them to learn when things don’t go perfectly. Make equal who you are seeking to become with what you are seeking to do.
Living and breathing a community of learners is a leadership responsibility, which means that it is a leadership consciousness. The pressures we feel will likely not be about our learning community, but about the many bi-products of it. It is our deep understanding and conviction of this foundation that keeps it elevated, modeled and communicated.
So, perhaps it is not the M/V Statement you need on the wall above your desk, but instead a mirror with a bright, yellow sticky note reading, “How am I living and modeling our learning community today?”