Leadership and Planning (565) - Week 2

Evaluating data has been a small part of my job and each year I collect training data, survey staff and evaluate subscription data to make decisions about professional development and instructional resources.  This week has reminded me of how important collecting and evaluating data can be for setting goals and making changes in a district.  In the past I have found that staff can get very frustrated when we ask them to fill out surveys or ask students to take another assessment, so I think I need to share more results with them and involve them in more of the planning that takes place after.   This may help them understand and be more tolerant of the requests that we make each year.

I didn’t find chapter two, “Strategic Leadership: Assembling Your Team” as valuable at chapter one or three.  Although I agree that having teachers involved in the interview process is a great way to engage teacher leaders I don’t see teachers having as much involvement as the author described in chapter two.  I liked Gabriel’s suggestions and I may be able to use some of the tips for conducting the interview as we continue to interview new staff but I don’t see our teachers taking the role of placing or scheduling of new teachers. 

I did enjoy reading Chapter Three,” Interpersonal Leadership: Communicating Your Leadership”.  I feel that communication is one of the most important skills that a leader should have and I’ve seen many leaders fail because of poor communication skills.  In a world where email is a major communication tool we have to be very careful how we word things.  People can’t see facial expressions and body language when reading emails and many times people interpret the words much differently than the author intended.  Another danger is reacting too quickly to a confrontational email.  I have learned to read an email several times and then wait before I respond to an email that requires some thought.

I also liked Gabriel’s oral communication suggestions.  Answering a question with a question can sometimes be frustrating but I understand his point that it can help a person discover the answer on their own.  I also like the reminder to “put it in the positive”.   His example of asking, “How did it go when you turned in that form?”  instead of “Did you take care of that form that I asked you to?” is a great way to put the responsibility on  them.  I am definitely going to try that approach in the future.