{"id":338,"date":"2018-10-25T20:06:18","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T03:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sally81\/?p=338"},"modified":"2018-10-25T20:06:18","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T03:06:18","slug":"the-three-questions-blog-post-4-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/sally81\/2018\/10\/25\/the-three-questions-blog-post-4-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three Questions (Blog Post 4.1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Three Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is always about the little things.\u00a0 When work gets complicated and confusion replaces collaboration, it is time to take away the complexity by remembering what is truly important\u2014the people.\u00a0 Strategic teams need people to work together through strategic plans developed according to commonly shared understandings in line with an organizations mission, vision, and values (MVV). \u00a0Building up the people who are part of any and every organization will ensure that the whole organization is working efficiently and effectively to achieve the goals of the company.\u00a0 Zeeman (2017) states in his presentation of Senge\u2019s Five Disciplines of Learning Organizations,<\/em> people expand the capacity to create desired results (para. 2).<\/p>\n

The three questions strategic leaders should always consider in decision-making are presented quite aptly in a picture book based on a story written by Leo Tolstoy (Muth, 2002):<\/p>\n

1) Who is the most important one?\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

2) What is the right thing to do?<\/p>\n

3) When is the right time to do things?<\/p>\n

If you wish to listen to the story, follow this link, The Three Questions<\/a>, and someone will kindly read it to you.\u00a0 Since most of my leadership skills are practiced within the classroom for now, a story with a transformative lesson is more relatable to my followers.<\/p>\n

From the Inside Out \u2013 Developing Best Practices<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who is the most important one?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You never really know an organization\u2019s true practices until you are on the inside.\u00a0 One of the organizations in which I have been employed had an excellent initial interview process which was engaging and supportive while also objective.\u00a0 Two former administrators conducted the interviews and made recommendations to the Human Resource (HR) department.\u00a0 I was thrilled to work for an organization similar to the one I had to leave behind when I moved.\u00a0 Galbraith (2014) states that organizations will often hire people of like mind-sets and skill sets that enhance the company (p. 53).\u00a0 \u201cHuman resource policies are some of the most powerful culture builders\u201d (Galbraith, 2014, p. 144), so choose wisely.<\/p>\n

When is the right time to do things?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The identity of any educational institution is automatically public due to the service it provides to the surrounding community.\u00a0 Integrity keeps the company in a positive light while inconsistent practice and forgetting our need to serve people well can create cracks in the veneer. Developing stability with flexibility is an intentional process with a need to stay consistent with the organizations own mission statement, vision, and values.<\/p>\n

The past eight years has seen monumental shift in educational pedagogy attempting to prepare students for this digital age (BC New Curriculum).\u00a0 Ungerer, Ungerer, and Herholdt (2016) mention that there are tectonic shifts happening in education due to digital transitions and which is creating immense disruptions (p. 277). Even educational organizations need to make timely changes to stay current as well as competitive; there are many diverse opportunities for education these days and customers are lost when reactions are too slow and cumbersome.\u00a0 Public persona of the whole organization can also impact hiring practices when there is little to draw new staff to a district.<\/p>\n

What is the right thing to do?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Creating an organizational culture requires intentional decision-making at every turn.\u00a0 The power structure is weakened without diversity.\u00a0 Since it is impossible to know everything with just the same people in the same positions for long periods of time, it is necessary to go outside the organization and gather new ideas (Ungerer et al., 2016, p. 286).\u00a0 Galbraith (2014) says, \u201cIf growth creates complex strategies, it is diversity or variety, interdependence, and change that shape organizations\u201d (p. 14).\u00a0 Rotating leaders to share their strengths in different locations and facilitating best practice training for those who wish to innovate their practice is a wise investment of resources.\u00a0 Investing in people is always the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

Negatively Impacting Practices<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the biggest negative impacts for my previous organization was the practice of hiring only \u201clocal\u201d people to create a more unified front.\u00a0 While Lepsinger (2010) supports developing the people you need internally, it is also critical to break the cycle of low expectations and low performance (Lepsinger, 2010, p. 56).\u00a0 Since HR policies play such an enormous part of creating the behaviours and mind-sets that support the necessary changes, hiring practices must support the organization\u2019s MVV (Galbraith, 2014, p. 144).<\/p>\n

Working toward a common vision requires supporting and hiring people with divergent thinking to reinforce problem solving without creating bottle necks in the changes.\u00a0 The Four Actions framework found in Navigating Strategic Possibilities<\/em> is a good pattern for change-making decisions in a focused and purposeful manner (Ungerer et al., 2016, p. 296).\u00a0 Trying to maintain the status quo through limited hiring caused slow adjustments to changing trends in that district.\u00a0 Four suggestions to remediate some of the negative impacts are as follows:<\/p>\n

1) Visible leaders who are encouraging and supportive.<\/p>\n