Hi Sea Breeze!
Thank you for your response to my post. I love how your principal brought the staff together to reconnect with the original vision of the school! As we learned in LDRS 503 about the TSL pyramid for results, aligning the staff to the organization’s mission, vision, and values is powerful (Atha, 2018). I have found myself bringing my school’s mission to the forefront during difficult conversations with staff and students. I think of the MVV as a lens, focusing the vision into areas that need to be illuminated.
For example, our mission is to provide Christian education, to transform the student – and the world – for the glory of God. When I’m dealing with a student behavior, I ask them how the behavior transforms them, and the world around them, and is it glorifying God? As I think about your school, with a new principal, the value placed on the community memory is so important. As leaders, we carry the hopes and dreams of others in our decisions. As strategic leadership teams are these hopes and dreams carried by the community for the organization being valued, honored, and given room to guide us to the next stage of development? Northouse (2016) remind “Servant leaders accept the responsibility to carefully manage the people and organization they have been given to lead… they hold the organization in trust for the greater good of society” (p. 228)
“This was a very fruitful decision on his part and the following week he walked around the school asking staff one by one what we thought of the collaboration session. This made me” I’m interested what you were going to say here. You didn’t finish your thought!
“Ecclesiastes 4:12 which high lights the effectiveness of working together as a team rather than going solo ‘Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.’” I’m so glad you reminded me of this scripture! I feel the power of the SLT working together versus working alone. In my Assignment #1, I spoke of being afraid when situations come up due to my inexperience. However, in the first six weeks in this position, the biggest learning is to forward problem emails to the SLT right away. The graphic in my post shows how I feel about my team, that we all hold a piece of the puzzle, and while all different, they are all imperative to seeing the whole picture.
“’As far as I can see, getting ahead in my organization is about the heart of the person, not their position.’ In my school it is very different.” Could you expound on this? Do you feel this personally? Even with a union position?
Thanks again for your thoughts and sharing how things work in your organization.
Stella
References:
Atha, D. (2018). LDRS 503 Course Learning Notes. Trinity Western University.
Holy Bible: New International Version. (2001). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Seventh edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.