Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Connect and Work Together

I see my leadership journey as a marathon, not a sprint. My thoughts and actions are geared towards a long term goal but because of this fact I don't always give it the time it deserves. I am fortunate to have a colleague in the same building that has a similar goal but I feel like more is needed to keep me engaged and aware of my thoughts and actions and how they can be viewed through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the people I know in my school board who are interested in formal leadership. I took some time today to think about why I haven't reached out to them to talk leadership and engage in discussions that can benefit all of us with respect to our work and development as leaders. This thought led to action as I contacted several colleagues and asked them if they wanted to participate in discussions around leadership by examining leadership literature (articles/readings), the use 21st Century tools to connect and grow our professional learning community, and examining our portfolios to prompt further discussion and growth.  

I believe that participating in this type of learning community can benefit my practice, the practice of my colleagues, and our school board by meeting the following Catholic Leadership Framework expectations:

  • establish, in collaboration with staff and other stakeholders, a commitment to purpose and vision which is embedded in the Gospel and energizes our work
  • help staff and diverse stakeholders understand the relationship between the school’s vision and board and provincial policy initiatives and priorities
  • regularly encourage staff to evaluate their progress toward achieving the school’s goals (sipsa/bipsa)
  • encourage staff to develop and periodically review individual goals for professional growth, as well as the relationship between their individual goals and the school’s goals (sipsa/bipsa)
  • model collaboration in our work
  • help staff (colleagues) make connections between school goals and ministry goals in order to strengthen commitment to school improvement efforts
The above expectations will provide us with a great start! I am excited to see what comes from our learning as we start our leadership learning experience.

5 comments:

  1. I agree that so often we get involved in our thinking that we forget to take action and reach out to others. Rolland, your initiative to get like minded people working, learning, and leading together is a great one. Thanks for the inspiration.

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    1. Happy to be able to start some good conversations!

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  2. Those who know me know that I have many random thoughts going on in my head at the same time so I will try to be brief.. I totally believe that this is a good thing to do and I like how Rolland has given us some goals to work on. We can only make this happen as James says through action(I hate blogging by the way)and here is where I go off on a tangent. Belief in what we are doing is key and it doesn't mean being in agreement all the time in fact it should mean challenging each other to become better and it may mean pissing each other off every now and then. I'm not talking about being mean but hoping the honesty will make us better. Please be honest because I respect all of you and I am truly grateful you are part of my leadership/learning journey. I don't know where this will go or where we will all end up in the future but as my favourite uncle used to say 'Keep the faith and don't do a thing until you hear from me.' Now remember the first part and ignore the second part because I was always confused by that statement but grateful for his positive thinking. Keep the faith people and be grateful the rest will fall into place. But we have to get to work, no one is going to do it for us.

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  3. how not to lead. This may seem like the paradoxical commandments but here goes.
    Don’t coach a team or run a club in your school. Despite the wonderful relationships you will build, the chance to see students in a different element outside the classroom and you will see them grow and help others.Just to scratch the surface of why we do this. It will go unrecognized as a leadership thing in the eyes of the powers that be. I coach and convene anyways because i like to.
    Don’t join a committee to grow as a leader or think it will be recognized as anything. Not to mention the professional relationships you will develop, plus friendships and your overall personal growth that evolves. The cynic in me says committees justify a part of an SO’s job. I join committees anyways for the personal growth.
    Don’t collaborate with your colleagues and take on a project that you will present to fellow teachers across the province and to your staff on how to improve your teaching because you will be told in the end that you are lacking in ‘Instructional Leadership and or practice’ I did a Collaborative Leadership Community anyways.
    Do challenge your present leader to help make you better, ask them what they perceive your weaknesses are(because they won’t tell you unless you ask) so you have something to work on in some areas of your life. Seek out someone who will be honest with you, seek out positive people in your life to help make you better and will keep you moving in a positive way. (Maybe a good reason for this group)
    I hope I haven’t come across as being too negative, but I have learned by doing and not watching on the sidelines. I do a lot of things I do because I like it or because of self-interest. It may sound selfish but the relationships I have built along the way and the experiences I have had (a day doesn’t go by that I don’t feel thankful and grateful for them), is worth it in the long run.

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    1. You hit the nail on the head with the theme of doing what you believe is right and worthy of your time. It is tough because people who want to enter into leadership roles have to do things that they may not be particularly interested in. This topic is certainly a controversial one.

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