Organizational Success

            As the principal at Colegio Johannes Gutenberg Campo 9, I have the responsibility and the obligation to lead and direct the school on the right path. Our school is young; we just celebrated our 5th anniversary. We are still trying to find our way and rhythm of work. Just like a child, a young institution seems at times somewhat unbalanced and fragile, yet can show high energy and enthusiasm. During the early stage of an institution, it is essential to find the right path that will lead to healthy growth and bring the institution into full maturity.

As a former principal once said, “the school is what the teachers are.” Human resources are key to the success of any institution. As Galbraith (2014) mentioned, “hire hard, manage easy” (p. 53). It is yet a dream to have more options while hiring. We have great difficulty finding well-prepared staff. Much of the training and preparation we do in-house. We invest in training. Our board allows us to spend much more on training than other schools in the area.

Barriers

I see the list below as a few of the challenges that we face in our country, in our community, and in our school.

  • Shortage of well-trained staff and people that carry Christian values.
  • Lack of commitment to a profession.
  • Lack of professionalism in the career.
  • Lack of understanding of teamwork.
  • Low quality and a shortage of training opportunities.
  • Low salaries for teachers.
  • Staff members and board members sometimes have a short-term focus
  • Lack of trust among people.
  • Corruption in all areas of society.

Hope and Renewal  

This past Spring semester I took the LDRS 624 class. During the course, we were able to design our school and create a hiring, training, and discipline and dismissal policy for a new school we created as a team (Longmire, Somers-Harris, Warkentin, and Williams, 2018). I envision these policies as best practices for my institutions. Following these steps, I believe, will also bring continual renewal to the school.

  • Staff Selection Policy:
    • evaluate the written application
    • job interview – triangulate interview between the leadership team
    • teaching observations

Currently, I am not able to follow through with all of these steps. This year I had three staff members walkway from their jobs, and I had to hire fast three people to replace these teachers. I was only able to follow through all these steps before hiring the new teachers.

  • Orientation and Support policy:
    • Welcoming teachers to the school
    • Mentorship
    • Supervision and Evaluation
    • Professional Development
    • Orientation for all new teachers to the school from the Principal

We have not been able, at this point, to implement a mentorship and well-structured supervision and evaluation. We offer an orientation to new staff members, we offer once a month training to our staff and have professional development money available.

  • Discipline and Dismissal policy:
    • We have already implemented the Restorative Discipline Method where we follow a respect agreement.
    • Dismissal is the last option when the restorative discipline has not worked.

I believe that if we can implement and carry through the policies mentioned earlier, we will be able to have a more significant impact in our community, create a corporate identity, and build a stable organizational culture where staff members feel at home and can professionally grow.

I also believe that if we can implement the earlier policies we will be able to shift the negative impact, break down some of the barriers that we currently encounter, and refocus to reclaim organizational purposes.

Besides, to bring renewal to our institution, we have started a conversation with a Christian university to start a new branch in our town. It will yet take a long process but it is something could cause a significant impact in our community. We have also started a new partnership with a local church to start a new sports ministry. This ministry has the purpose to train future leaders and teach biblical values and principals to children in the neighborhood.

Reference

Galbraith, J. R. (2014). Designing organizations. Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer Imprints, Wiley.

Longmire A., Somers-Harris R. L., Warkentin M., Williams T. (2018) Inquiry Based Project [LDRS 624]. Unpublished Manuscript. Trinity Western University.