Category: 8.1

Response to Stella Blog 8.1

Thank you Stella for your discussion on Strategic Competencies. I really enjoyed reading your articulation of course readings and your take-aways from the course.

One thing I enjoy reading in your post is how you have the ability to look at what we are reading and ask in a straight forward and pragmatic way “How will I implement this into my vice principal role?” (Peters, 2018). I like how eager you are to act on what you’re learning and employ it right away in your new position of leadership as you have stated here “One thing I have started to do, as I read through the course literature, is note guiding questions about strategic thinking for the high school. I then add them to our team agendas (collaboration times as well as staff meetings), one question per meeting, to help us to hear the hopes and dreams of our colleagues for our school as well as focus on specific criteria we need to address to move forward” (Peters, 2018).  What a great example this is to help spearhead an environment conducive to change and improvement. Hughes, Beatty & Dinwoodie (2014) state “For teams to act strategically, they must foster a climate of learning in the team itself” (p. 215).

You also mentioned some of your struggles as a new administrator “There are dynamics I am not aware of. There is a history behind decisions that pre-date my employment at the school. I ‘step on people’s toes’ because I do not understand the political nature, and while I have been given grace because I am new, I must delve deeper when collaborative and strategic discussions are being had. To do this, I need to ask questions and enter conversations humbly. James 1:19 encourages us to be quick to listen and slow to speak” (Stella, 2018). Thank you for this reminder. I have been in similar shoes for the past few years it seems, as I have been in three different schools within a short period of time and in each setting I need to re-learn the ropes and learn the politics and hierarchy of each new school environment.

This past week for example, one long time union rep teacher (who is new herself to my school) but has taught in the district for over 20 years felt she needed to remind those teachers who are organizing trips about the logistics and proper procedure for organizing educational trips. She called a meeting for all those teachers organizing school trips to enlighten us about who already has claims for certain trips and how frequently they occur.  I felt like there were a handful of teachers that are quite territorial about their school trips and do not want any competition from newer teachers who are keen and eager to get something going at the school, like myself. Thankfully, I spoke to my principal, who is also new to the school and has been feeling out the staff. He also noticed the aggression from staff but says he has seen this pattern of behavior amongst senior teachers in other schools he has administered. I think the advice given in the book of James is wise and I need to mindfully always proceed with caution in order to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes. I also pray Psalm 5:12 almost daily “Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

“The three least important principles from the course resources were from Galbraith (2014).  While the book was full of models, figures, and tables, I did not ever feel like it applied to my organizational context. For example, Figure 1.1 (p. 9) illustrates “Types of Interdependence.” While I understand the concept of organizational units affecting one another, the figure is completely Greek to me” (Stella, 2018). This was Greek to me too! I wonder why this book was chosen for the Education stream in the first place?

Stella, I concur with your appraisal of Galbraith (2014) which I likewise found “boring” and “too technically focused on business aspects as opposed to being able to glean ideas for education settings” (Peters, 2018).

You asked a poignant question which I also have for the business stream “I wonder if the business stream cohort found this text helpful?”

“Ungerer et al., (2014) was a good source of information, when I could actually read it!” Once again,.  I could not agree more with you on this point as I also found this to be the case in my analysis of the resources.  Similarly, as you have stated here, I also put off reading Ungerer et al., (2014) to the very last as it posed more work,  “In general, I struggled with this online text and often put it off to the last to read” (Peters, 2018). Thank you Stella for your contributions to the blog posts. I always enjoy reading your thoughts and you have helped me to learn more especially from the Christian School perspective on education. Blessings to you as you persevere to the finish line!

References:

Hughes R., Colarelli-Beatty K. & Dinwoodie, D. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Second Edition.

Peters, S. (2018, November 22). Stella’s strategic competencies || Blog 8.1. Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://create.twu.ca/stellapetersldrs501/2018/11/22/stellas-strategic-competencies-blog-8-1/

The Holy Bible: New International Version. (2009). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Blog 8.1 Response to Marcelo Contextualizing

Thank you Marcelo for your reflective post on contextualizing. You start off by asking a very good question “How can these leadership strategies relate to me in a third world country, working as a principal in one of the most impoverished states in Paraguay?” (Warkentin, 2018).

Marcelo, I found this background information very interesting but also quite challenging to wrap my head around. You stated “By the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Paraguay is today in the 111th place from 187 nations in human development (“Human Development Reports,” 2013, p. 1). In a similar study done by UNDP in Spanish, the Departamento de Caaguazu (or the State of Caaguazu) is considered to be even thirty years behind the capital Asunción in human development (“Evaluación del desarrollo,” 2012, p. 25). The state of Caaguazu is considered to have the lowest income per capita in the country and consequently has the highest percentage of people living in poverty” (Warkentin, 2018).

Marcelo you also wrote “Poverty lays in stark contrast with those that have greater economic stability. Even though we live in an impoverished state, our city is considered to be the industrial capital of Paraguay. Living and working in a region with both poverty and wealth has its challenges” (Warkentin, 2018). Certainly our working environments could not be any different but at the same time we do have some similarities.  Living in the most expensive province in Canada, British Columbia, and working in a suburban middle class neighbourhood where the average single family home on a lot starts at 1 million dollars, I might seem apathetic to your circumstances. This is certainly not the most expensive city in the Lower Mainland, but kids at my school do not have to struggle too much when most students keep busy with pricey extracurricular activities like hockey, soccer, basketball, dance and swim team. At my school students can afford $4000 Spring Break trips to Europe and easily obtain part time jobs to pay for their cars by grade 10 and 11. What would happen though if we looked at this dichotomy from a different perspective? If we changed GPS locations just slightly, I could show you that there is one very low income area in BC that might be very comparable to your environment if not, even worse. If you drive 40 km’s west of Langley you will arrive in the heart of Vancouver’s infamous Downtown Eastside where an opioid crisis has wreaked havoc on its citizens for decades. Gee (2018) points out “In the heart of one of the world’s most livable cities, just next to the boutiques and bistros of Gastown, shocking scenes of human degradation unfold every day” where countless men and women are shooting to get high (Para 5).  Gee (2018) goes on to say “Scores are being killed by the poison in their drugs” and notes “130 suspected overdose calls occurred on just one single day this past July” (Para 5).  The article goes on to highlight our new mayor in Vancouver and the tough job he has to take over the reins and tackle this problem. I point this out simply because I do believe our course material on strategic leadership applies not only to us in our respective fields but also to our politicians who work to make our communities a safer place to live and raise families.

You wrote “Similarly, we have at our school children from wealthy and low-income families attending and participating in the same classes” (Warkentin, 2018). I can only imagine how difficult this must make it for you in a position of leadership with few funds available to make your have-not students not feel ostracized by those students who have it easy.  This makes me think back to some teacher-on call work I was doing a few years ago at an inner city school in Langley which had a number of Syrian refugee students. Even amongst these students who had nothing, some were given bicycles as a donation from a church or sponsor family while others did not have anything. Fighting amongst these kids happened frequently and I recall having to sit all the students down in a circle and dialogue as best we could to find a resolution to the problem and to teach them appropriate behavior in Canadian schools.

I do appreciate your reliance on God to take care and provide wisdom and guidance as you lead “The reality of our region and how we try to transform children through education encourages us to work by faith” (Warkentin, 2018). Our journey whether we teach or administer must be balanced not only by what the latest leadership textbooks suggest but also heavily from God’s Word which is the ultimate resource for living and leading others. According to Psalm 119:105 it says “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

“We are God´s creation, and the Creator eagerly wants to lead us when we are paying attention to His leading. When we are in a personal relationship with God, He will lead us through insight and imagination” (Warkentin, 2018). I agree with your point and might add it is always wise to step back and take a look at the bigger picture surrounding our circumstances. Our God sees and knows everything. The Bible assures us Christians that God will guide us in all of our ways “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).

Recently, I have been reminded of God’s word that encourages me not to fear anything “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). I often need to take a large step backwards to have a much better view of issues that play out at work and in life. Some teachers at my school are quite territorial and can be very unfriendly. Sometimes I feel like David hiding out in caves when God is calling me to step out and lead in confidence because His word reassures me that he has my back. Do you have these feelings too when the circumstances that you are dealing with seem too overwhelming?

I found your observations here about the social dynamics something I could relate to as you write about people in Paraguay and their mentality and lack of drive “People are generally very relaxed. As a result, they will work on their own pace. People also have low expectations of themselves which leads to underperformance. Most do not understand their capacity” (Warkentin, 2018). This makes me think of one boy in my class who is one of the very privileged Venezuelans to be able to move to Canada. He is an international student who is now in his second year at the school. We just had an ELL department meeting where his name came up. Apparently, his teacher last year also struggled to motivate this boy who just does not try very hard. He lacks effort and drive which perhaps have more to do with his upbringing and cultural DNA as you seem to struggle with the same lack of drive in your students. Ungerer, Ungerer and Herholdt (2016) posit how important it is for leaders to “model the way-showing others what to do, rather than just talking about it” (p.46). I wonder how we can model to our students, in particular the ones from South America, how to have a different mindset? Thanks again for sharing!

References

Gee, M. (2018, November 10). What I saw in a day on the Downtown Eastside shocked me. Retrieved November 22, 2018, from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-what-i-saw-in-a-day-on-the-downtown-eastside-shocked-me/

Holy Bible: New International Version. (2001). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Ungerer, M., Ungerer, G., & Herholdt, J. (2016). Navigating strategic possibilities. [Kindle]. Retrieved from www.kr.co.za

Warkentin, M. (2018, November 22). Contextualizing. Retrieved November 22, 2018, from https://create.twu.ca/marcelowarkentin/2018/11/22/contextualizing/

Blog 8.1 Competencies at Work

The literature for LDRS Strategic Leadership shows a variety of competencies which are relevant for success in strategically leading organizations for example Hughes, Beatty and Dinwoodie (2014) have a list of “Strategic Leadership Competencies Relevant for Success” (pp. 268-69).

• Business perspective
• Strategic Planning
• Organizational decision making
• Managing conflicting perspectives
• Acting systemically
• Influencing across the organization
• Building collaborative relationships
• Promoting organizational transition
• Adapting to new conditions
• Initiating organizational innovation
• Demonstrating Vision

Strategic planning is one competency I plan to incorporate into my teaching. Lepsinger (2010) states having an “Action Plan is the corner of execution” (p.25). One way I will use strategic planning is through collaborating regularly with my different school departments (Socials, ELL and Career Life Education) as well as on-going collaboration with other educators within the district and across the province. When we meet up at school for monthly meetings we discuss things like what’s new in the curriculum and ways in which we are implementing it in our classrooms. In my Career Life Education department for example, we meet up to share resources and are currently planning a school-wide Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) program that we will all teach from January –April. The School District offers opportunities such as book workshops for various different departments who can sign up to attend 3-4 sessions at the school board office. In education things move quickly and there seem to be new adjustments that need to be incorporated all the time. Therefore having “a well-thought-out action plan is one of the best tools you have to ensure that the factors required for effective execution are in place” (Lepsinger, 2010, p.25).

A second competency I believe strongly in and will always employ in my teaching and leading is vision. Unlike visualization where there is a tendency to have more control over what happens, vision is simply “a clear and compelling aspiration” (Hughes, Beatty and Dinwoodie, 2014, p.67). Hughes et al. (2014) also contend that “having a vision is about seeing something” (p.65). When I was about twelve years old I remember vividly my old diving coach teach about the technique of visualizing our dives before we attempt them. His words of advice still stick with me all these years. Of course in terms of diving, visualizing and having some control over every step in the process of executing your dive is critical. I imagine many athletes think in these terms. Hughes et al. (2014) go on to say how “an organization’s aspirations can give meaning to the work and energize people to do more than they thought they could or would” (p. 67). As a teacher, it is beneficial to wield vision and help my students push themselves to achieve things they do not think are possible. The same is true as a coach. My vision for my swimmers is to keep propelling them to achieve their best time. Scholar Lepsinger (2010) explains how “leading is in actuality the same as formulating a vision and strategy and engaging employees” (p.205). So, leading therefore entails having a vision as well as stirring others up to grasp hold of the vision and bring it to completion.

A third competency I plan to continue utilizing in my teaching is maintaining a “strong moral base” (Ungerer, Ungerer & Herholdt, 2016, p.42). I absolutely agree with Ungerer et al. (2016) who asserts “we clearly need leadership with a strong moral base” (p.42). Being virtuous as a leader and ascribing to moral values, sets one apart from the world and is a breath of fresh air to people who have few good role models to emulate.  Ungerer et al. (2016) emphasize the need for “better leadership at all levels of management in all types of organisations” (p.42). According to journalist Giustra (2018) “true leaders-ones with courage and conviction- instinctively find their higher ground in times of crisis, when violence and intolerance seem to be ubiquitous” (para 3). As Guistra points out, we need look no further than the lack of leadership qualities being exhibited in the last American midterm elections to note how lacking we are as a society to have so few moral and up-standing leaders left to imitate. Even in Canada, political leaders are making grave faux pas’ like the fall of Tony Clement, former shadow Cabinet minister, and his fall from grace. For these reasons, it is paramount to build up future leaders in education and in all sorts of organizations who maintain a moral base.

Identify the competencies I believe will not work in my organizational practice and why…

According to Galbraith (2014) leaders should be able to prioritize two or three things to work on (p.269). While this may sound fairly easy and uncomplicated in reality the high demands placed on teachers and administrative staff today necessitate a need to balance a lot more than just three priorities. If that were the case, not much would ever get done if teachers were only to focus on three things at a time. The truth of the matter is quite simply, every year teachers find there are more expectations put on them, more meetings to attend, more paper work to complete, and an ever growing mountain of performance standards to emulate. It is for this reason, I do not believe this competency can work in education. Teachers often need to prioritize multiple things in any given week. For example, this past week I had to focus on preparing lessons and teaching multiple subjects, prepping TTOC notes for my absence, coaching my swim team at Provincials, preparing what to say at a staff meeting as the rep. for Health & Safety , communicating with a few different special education assistants pertaining to the needs of our students and marking in order to notify students of any outstanding work before marks cut-off happens this Friday.

Another competency I do not believe will work in public education is having a business perspective. Hughes et al. (2014) states “understanding the different perspectives of different areas in the business and having a firm grasp of external conditions affecting the organization” is what it means to have a business perspective. Public education is something free for every citizen and is paid for by our tax dollars. There is no sales pitch in the end. If a parent chooses to pull their child out of the public system and place them in an independent school or home-school their child the public system does not bat an eye. Therefore to make the presumption a business perspective is needed in public education seems to me to be way off base. Alternatively, a business perspective is essential for my colleagues in private, independent schools who try to sell their schools to new families all the time.

Identify and critically evaluate the three most important principles I discovered in course readings and how I will incorporate them into my organizational practice.

The literature seems to talk a lot about the importance of acquiring substantial buy-in (Hughes et al., 2014 and Lepsinger, 2010). I feel this is one essential principle from the course readings because without buy-in from your students or buy-in from your staff, the process of implementing anything is futile. One way a strategic leader can garner positive buy-in from others is by “inviting others into the strategy-making process” (Hughes et al., 2014, p.49). In this way Hughes et al., explain how this produces a better strategy than could have been developed in isolation” (p.49). One example I have is our Christmas Extravaganza which we implemented as a staff last year. The idea was first introduced at a staff meeting by the administration but teachers were quickly invited to share their ideas and form a planning committee. By opening up the conversation and inviting in-put from all the staff we were able to ensure great buy-in from everyone and the event turned out to be a great success.

Being able, as a strategic leader, to initiate organizational innovation is one important principle I found in the course readings. Last year at one of our staff meetings in November one of our administrators decided it was time to start a new tradition in celebration of Christmas and this led to our schools very first Christmas Wonderland Theme Festivities. One idea that caught hold was the idea to not just celebrate for ourselves to enjoy, but rather to engage the entire school in looking for ways to do some good in the community and to bless others. We raised a significant sum of money last year and collected food for the homeless shelter but I have pondered how we could add to what we already started last year and make it even more successful. So, I proposed bringing in a celebrity guest speaker students would want to pay money to have their photo taken with this person and I also thought we could encourage a toy drive. In this way, teachers have the opportunity to implement organizational innovation. However, sometimes in an attempt to adopt new concepts hastily, grey areas might be overlooked. While organizational innovation might sound like a great collaborative idea it can have its draw-backs. At our school of 2040 students plus approximately 140 staff, trying to incorporate everyone’s voice in a decision is next to impossible. There will always be someone whose voice goes unheard.

A third important principle found in the literature and course readings is the importance leader behavior (Lepsinger, 2010). Lepsinger (2010) stresses how “leader behavior is the key to effectively managing change” (p.165). While it may be true, a leader’s behavior plays a critical role in the change process, it is also difficult to manipulate if the individual is unwilling to change.

Identify and critically evaluate the three least important principles I discovered in the course readings and explain why they are irrelevant to my organizational experience and future.

Managing conflicting perspectives is one area I feel is not relevant to my school environment. For one, everyone has different character traits, life experiences and educational areas of expertise. Moreover, teachers come from diverse cultures, and have different worldviews. It makes little sense to invest any time in trying to manage conflicting perspectives when there will naturally always be conflicting perspectives amongst a staff of 140. The Humanities department, for example, will always have a different mind-set towards essay writing than the Math and Science departments and the PE teacher’s will always have a different view of athletes than most academic subject teachers.

Acting systemically is one more principle I feel is not very germane to my high school environment. Hughes et al. (2010) ask “To what extent do I understand the political nature of the organization and work appropriately within it” (p.268)? I feel this point is absolutely not important. I may work in a unionized environment and many public school teachers support the NDP party, but I have different political interests and my employer cannot persuade me to vote a certain way. I was quite appalled when I received an email from the Langley Teachers Association (LTA) advising me of which School board Trustees they were supporting in our municipal election last month. I found their covert tactics very inappropriate. Why does the LTA feel the need to choose which candidate’s teachers should support in a political election? We live in a democracy and I teach my students the importance of exercising their democratic right to vote. In my opinion, the teachers union is overstepping their boundaries and for this reason I feel acting systemically is irrelevant.

The business perspective is another principle which does not pertain to public education as public education is not a business, it is a free service for all Canadian children. Some schools are a business like Faith based schools which must sell their school to mostly like-minded parents who hold the same values and want their children to be taught within its structure. Having a business savvy mindset is thus beneficial.

Identify, from my critical evaluation of course texts, the least effective course text material I discovered during my investigation strategic leadership principles and why I see them as least effective (personally or corporately).

The one book I found least effective for me is Navigating Strategic Possibilities: Strategy Formulation and Execution Practices to Flourish (Ungerer et al. (2016). For one, I like reading books and because it was impossible to purchase this book from South Africa I ended up printing the entire thing. Reading realms of paper versus a nice succinct book made it difficult for me to really enjoy Ungerer et al. Instead, it was so much easier for me to pick up my other three books which I highlighted and flip to the appropriate pages. Furthermore, I do not think it is wise to offer a course text which must be read on Kindle or printed only. I need something in my hand to read and mark up so Kindle is not my preference for reading. My next least favorite text is Designing Organizations (Galbraith, 2014).The language of the book was focused on the business world and many business examples were used but I did not find the book overly useful for public education. The book kept using business examples when I could not see the cross-over between business and public school education. For example, Galbraith speaks about employee recognition systems used for rewarding outstanding performance and he goes on to say “the truly high performers are anointed to the 100 Percent Club, win a trip to Hawaii..”(p.51). In public education there are no rewards for our teaching efforts. It’s all unionized and if there is any merit it is not based on how many students score 99% it is rather based on how many years have you been teaching in the system and what is your seniority like. That is the only way one advances. In terms of recognition, we are fortunate to be awarded a 25 year teaching pin from the School board but no financial bonus or free trip to Hawaii.

References

Galbraith, J. R. (2014). Designing organizations strategy, structure, and process at the business unit and enterprise levels (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Giustra, F. (2018, November 13). Will America’s Cato emerge to save republic? Retrieved November 19, 2018, from https://www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20181113/281633896264702

Hughes R., Colarelli-Beatty K. & Dinwoodie D. (2014) Becoming a strategic leader.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Second Edition.

Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution gap. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ungerer, M., Ungerer, G., & Herholdt, J. (2016). Navigating Strategic Possibilities : Strategy Formulation and Execution Practices to Flourish. Randburg: KR Publishing. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1427028&site=eds-live