SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP SATISFIES THE STAKEHOLDERS.

Effective education leadership makes a difference in improving learning. There’s no thing new or especially controversial about that idea. What’s far less clear, even after several decades of school renewal efforts, is just how leadership matters, how important those effects are in promoting the learning of all children, and what the essential ingredients of successful leadership are. Lacking solid evidence to answer these questions, those who have sought to make the case for greater attention and investment in leadership as a path way for large-scale education improvement have had to rely more on faith than fact

Especially for struggling students, smaller schools increase the chances of their attendance and schoolwork being monitored. Smaller schools also increase the likelihood of students having a close, ongoing relationship with at least one other significant adult in the school, an important antidote to dropping out. Smaller school organizations tend to have more constrained and focused academic programs. Typically, they are also more communal in nature, with teachers taking more personal responsibility for the learning of each pupil. Summarizing the rationale for smaller schools, Lee, Ready and Johnson (2001) argue that:

Constructs such as social networks, social resources, caring, social support, social capital, cultural capital and communal school organization are bound by a common idea. Students and adults in schools should know one another better .

High-quality leaders achieve this impact ...

By setting directions – charting a clear course that everyone understands, establishing high expectations and using data to track progress and performance.

By developing people – providing teachers and others in the system with the necessary support and training to succeed. And by making the organization work – ensuring that the entire range of conditions and incentives in districts and schools fully supports rather than inhibits teaching and learning.

Here is still much more to learn about the essentials of quality leadership, how to harness its benefits, and how to ensure that we don’t continue to throw good leaders into bad systems that will grind down even the best of them .

Strategy leadership: Three must-have skills for strategy leadership

Strategy leadership is critical for an organization's sustainability and success, not only during growth or change, but also - considering today's volatile global economy - in an ongoing manner. Leading and implementing a business development strategy takes short and long-term vision, tactical agility and the power to inspire others. These three skills are multifaceted and complex, and benefit from continuous learning. A good way to develop strong strategy leadership skills is through strategic leadership development programs from various training, seminars and workshops.

1. Vision

When people call someone a "visionary leader", they probably really mean that that person has good strategy leadership skills. Vision enables you to see a target as well as the context around you and the steps needed to get there. A good strategy leader will:

• Define the end-goal and the exact benefits it should bring to the company
• Identify the shorter-term components of that goal and their impacts on the organization
• Determine the strategy model that will best fit this business development strategy
• Assess internal context, such as level of buy-in, resources available (including human), strategic fit with overall business plan, etc.
• Assess external context including global economic environment, specific competitor challenges, etc.
• Identify environmental factors that will play into the success of the strategy, short and long-term, as well as those that will present impediments
• See challenges from various angles
• Identify and assess key stakeholders and their perspectives

2. Tactical agility

Vision isn't very useful if you don't have the practical capacity to carry out the steps of your business development strategy That's why a person wishing to improve their strategy leadership should also hone their tactical agility. This, of course, entails being well-versed in the typical steps of a business development strategy.But the development strategy alone is only a piece of paper without strong strategy leadership. For real strategy leadership, you also need to know which steps are critical to the particular challenge, take decisive action and shift gears when necessary. business development strategy programs that focus on advanced strategy implementation teach you use critical thinking to prioritize and then act decisively, quickly and dexterously to make it happen. Leadership workshops can help the aspiring strategy leader learn to better balance risk-taking and daily tasks.

3. Inspiring others

Success in a business development strategy is only attainable if the team is inspired by the vision and led to play their best roles in implementation. Strategy leadership implies being the one to motivate them. A strategy leader must clearly communicate the vision and lead the direction for success, ensuring team members see how daily actions contribute to the short- and long-term goals. People need to own the process to offer their best skills. Sophisticated strategy leadership includes facilitating the strategic capacity of team members - giving individuals the room and confidence to make decisions pertinent to their roles. As leadership skills, these can be among the most difficult to learn.

Gives hope to those trying to implement a student-focused culture and offers practical advice on what steps to take."

—Donald Poplau, Principal, Mankato East High School, MN

"Profound, yet simple and easy to implement. A timely book with great implications for schools trying to meet NCLB."

—Gina Marx, Assistant Superintendent, Augusta Public Schools, KS

Including students in school wide decisions helps them shape their future!

Students Are Stakeholders Too! captures students' uncanny insights in their own words and illustrates how a responsive principal involves all student segments, creates an audience for their ideas and suggestions, and engages their authentic participation with staff in decision making. Using only existing resources, educators can practice real democracy within their school community by inviting students to discuss their interests, needs, and preferences about school matters.

This outlines eight levels of student Challenging the beliefs and practices of individual readers and collaborative groups of educators.

Students as Stakeholders

Creating the Space for Active Student Voice  

The School Improvement Process  

Alignment Between Mission and the School Portfolio  

Alignment Between Mission, Portfolio, Celebrations and Concerns  

Alignment Between Concerns and Priorities  

Alignment Between Priorities, Study and Strategies  

Alignment Between Priorities, Strategies and Evidence  

Alignment Between Strategies, Evidence

• By successfully managing your stakeholders, you will be better able to keep a lid on scope creep, ensure project requirements are aligned, understand tolerance for risk, and mitigate issues that would otherwise delay the project. Good stakeholder management is a testimony to your influence in an organization, and a key component to a healthy project environment.and Action Plans