Category: Post 7.1

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Blog 7.1 Response to Sadieoberle’s Response to Seabreeze and Avisha

The post can be found here.

Hi Sadie! Thank you for articulating issues you see occurring in your organization. I know from learning with you in the summer that you have a heart for reform in your staff, and you raise some interesting points. For example, you note the correlation between staff who often use the most sick days are also the ones who least contribute to school events and activities. You write “The teachers or staff who refuse to help are also the ones who have poor attendance and take many sick days” (sadieoberle, 2018). Harris (2014) states there is a “simple but profound idea that organizational outcomes improve if professionals collaborate in a purposeful and disciplined way” (p. 13), and when we define professionals as having “a commitment to exemplary practice… professionals don’t need anyone to check on them, to push them… they are compelled from within” (Sergiovanni, 2007, p. x, italics added), it is obvious this issue affects the whole school community. You rightly note, “This causes conflict and a divide on our staff which in turn causes an unhealthy work environment” (sadieoberle, 2018).

You also note “The difficult part of this situation is that these kinds of things can’t really be any one person’s responsibility. These activities take place outside of working hours and outside of paid hours… This becomes even more difficult because all of these activities, committees or responsibilities are still expected. They are what give our school it’s identity” (sadieoberle, 2018). I totally agree. These events are expected by any parent and student community, and they truly are the memories that are generated for so many students. My staff struggles as well with the extra events, and they often question why we do things. As a new leader, I find it imperative to draw on the teachers’ passion for student success and the calling they have for teaching. Barth (2006) states, “The nature of relationships among the adults within a school has a greater influence on the character and quality of that school and on student accomplishments than anything else” (p. 9).  If I go down into the “pit” of rationalizing with teachers about the need for them to step up, it becomes a battle of wills and it usually ends with a “pulling rank” solution, neither of which promotes positive working relationships.

With so much weight placed on relationships, what helps to build a positive culture? I was reminded of a past assignment where I listed characteristics. Here is what I found from these sources (Barth (2002); Barth (2006); Harris (2014); (Hord (2013); Sergiovanni (2007); Serrat (2009)):

CHARACTERISTICS OF A HEALTHY SCHOOL CULTURE:
1.     Members are willing to discuss the “non-discussables”
2.     Members have clear personal and collective vision
3.     There are healthy cultural norms: collegiality, experimentation, high expectations, trust and confidence, tangible support, reaching out to the knowledge bases, appreciation and recognition, caring celebration and humor, involvement in decision making, protection of what is important, traditions, and honest and open communication
4.     Members support rather than subvert the school’s purposes
5.     Formal administration has a visioning process to generate mutually developed goals
6.     Members put student learning first and work with relevant data to modify practices
7.     Members value collaborative problem solving, dialogue, and reflection
8.     Official and unofficial information are similar and reinforce each other
FACTORS THAT LEAD TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF A SCHOOL CULTURE:
1.     Having an awareness of the true school culture, by asking about ‘the way we do things around here’
2.     Having the courage and skill to address toxic elements
3.     Questioning how policies and practices might exclude certain student populations
4.     Fostering norms, purposes, values, professional socialization, collegiality, and natural interdependence
5.     Willingness to uncouple learning and punishment
6.     Becoming open to the strengths and expertise of others
7.     Allowing transparency and shared decision making
8.     Establishing trust in sharing ideas and improving instruction without fear of retribution
9.     Setting up conditions that allow others to establish goals
10.  Willingness to enhance personal credibility

Barth (2002) tells us “A school’s culture is a complex pattern of norms, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, values, ceremonies, traditions, and myths that are deeply ingrained in the very core of the organization” (p. 7).  The leadership must be committed to establishing the norms that will build instead of breaking down trust. Sergiovanni (2007) explains “Leadership by binding and bonding are the keys to an effective long-term leadership strategy for schools because they have the power to help schools transcend competence for excellence by inspiring extraordinary commitment and performance” (p. 68). It is so easy to fall into the ‘blame game’ and transactional relationships. I agree that with your assertion, “I truly believe that maybe the teachers who get the least recognition because it appears that they do not go above and beyond are the teachers that need it the most because it would encourage them to do more” (sadieoberle, 2018). As you follow your instincts in your leadership journey, you have more and more opportunities to implement changes in your school. Blessings as you transform your school community one step at a time!

References:

Barth, R. (2002). The culture builder. Education Leadership 59(8), 6-11.

Barth, R. (2006). Relationships within the schoolhouse. Education Leadership, 63(6), 9-13.

Dufour, R. and Fullan, M. (2013). Cultures built to last: Systemic PLCs at work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Harris, A. (2014). Distributed leadership matters. Thousand Oaks: CA; Corwin.

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

sadioberle. (2018). Blog 7.1 Response to Seabreeze ‘s response to Avisha’s 7.1 [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs501/2018/11/16/5634/

Seabreeze. (2018, November). Blog 7.1 Response to Avisha Advancing Organization by Conflict Resolution [Web log post]. Retrieved November 12, 2018, fromhttps://create.twu.ca/seabreeze/2018/11/16/blog-7-1-response-to-avisha-advancing-organization-by-conflict-resolution/

Sergiovanni, T. (2007). Rethinking leadership: a collection of articles. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Serrat, O. (2009). Building trust in the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.adb.org/ publications/building-trust-workplace

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Response to Layla’s 7.1 Blog Post

Original post found here

Hello Layla! I enjoyed reading your post, especially since I just returned from an education conference in Jiangsu province a week ago. It was my first time in China and I enjoyed visiting very much. As an International Student Program Coordinator, I have many students from East Asia, so having a personal connection to my Chinese students’ homeland is important.

While we were treated very well as delegates, being put up in luxury hotels and served amazing food, I could not help but wonder what was behind the public face. We were shown a gorgeous school but it didn’t have students in it.

At another middle school, there were fifty-one students in one class but no classroom management issues.

 

There were many stories from the western delegates about the poverty that we weren’t shown. I noticed only a few women in leadership, and the ones we spoke to did not dream to become headmasters/ principals. I discovered a few vice-principals were actually connected to the leadership through marriage, and it caused me to wonder if this gave the ladies special status or preference. Would they have been promoted to such a position without the family connection? Your comment “female workers have no chance to get promoted… some of us have accepted this invisible “policy” after hopelessly waiting for many years” (Layla, 2018) makes me even more curious about the female vice-principals I met. Or perhaps it is different in the education realm in China. What do you think?

I also wonder if you will stay in Canada for the rest of your career or will you return to China? If you return, I wonder how you will manage re-entering the corporate world there after learning and experiencing reforms to the culture here, which has incorporated much more voice and choice? You wrote about waiting hopelessly for the gender bias to be dealt with, so I feel anxious for you as you grow in this MAEL program. Can you bring reform with you as you return to your home country? Reeves (2009) states “Deep and sustainable change … requires change in behavior among those who do not welcome the change” (p. 44). From your writing, “The common styles of conflict (Lepsinger, 2010) in my organization are avoiding concerning conflicts among staff from different departments, accommodating regarding the conflicts within one department, and compromising referring to the conflicts between managers of different departments” (Layla, 2018), it would seem the organizational system of your company would not yet be open to such change. I feel strongly to keep you in my prayers, as the passion igniting in you during your studies must be guarded. Sergiovanni (2007) writes “Workers are subordinate to the system and are expected to follow directions and procedures as prescribed by that system… professional by contrast, are superordinate to their work systems. Instead of the system using them, they use the system” (p. 74). As you grow in your professionalism, according to Sergiovanni (2007), you will be informed by guidelines and principles, not governed by them. Please take care as you walk carefully in your journey!

Blessings,

Stella

References:

Layla. (2018). Cooperation in a national company of China: Seems effective but conflicts lie underneath. Unpublished document. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs501/2018/11/12/cooperation-in-a-national-company-of-china-seems-effective-yet-conflicts-lie-underneath/

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

Levi, D. (2014). Group dynamics for teams. (4th edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Reeves, D. (2009). Leading change in your school: How to conquer myths, build commitment, and get results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Sergiovanni, T. (2007). Rethinking leadership: a collection of articles. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

 

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Response to “Conflict and Cooperation” by Rob Tegelberg || ET 2 (Blog 7.1)

Hi Rob,

Original post here.

Thank you for giving us a glimpse into your workplace. It sounds like you are very happy working there, and after some of our discussions for our second team assignment, I am glad that you have found a great place to serve! I appreciate how you began by framing your discussion with the mission of your school, “Committed to Academic Excellence with Biblical Principles” (Tegelberg, 2018). “In all areas of communication the administration and staff members are transparent about their concerns and their desire to fulfill God’s plan for our school” (Tegelberg, 2018). I appreciate the way your organization has utilized the mission, vision, and values to concentrate and align everyone towards one goal. Levi (2014) states, “In a cooperative team, all team members are motivated by the team’s goals. This motivation is mutually reinforced or encouraged” (p. 89). I wonder, though, what happens when a staff member loses focus or becomes misaligned in your organization? Are there repercussions or stated consequences? Levi (2014) warns “Highly cooperative groups tend to become highly cohesive… however, this can also create problems because the team becomes too oriented toward itself” (p. 90).  His point, further along, is that a team can “demand conformity from its members…[making] the team resistant to outside influence and resistant to changing the way it operates” (p. 90). Have you seen any hints of this happening, and if so, how does the leadership deal with it? Or do they even notice, as sometimes these areas can be blindspots?

I, too, have worked for a school that is run by a single church, where the “administration is mostly made up of members of the founding church” (Tegelberg, 2018), whereas the staff comes from various churches. As I read this, I wondered if there have been any issues arising from this structure? For example, in my experience, there were seasons of time where the board ran the school but weren’t involved. They didn’t have a vision for the school other than a place for their members to send their children. It became insular and self-breeding, almost nepotism-like. It was difficult to get different points of view from the leadership because they hired their own. I wonder if you have run into this issue at your school yet?

“The development of the positive attitude of the staff came through prioritizing staff prayer times, staff worship times, and through modelling servant leadership on the part of the administration” (Tegelberg, 2018). This is a wonderful example of Lepsinger’s (2010) quote “If you or members of your team take the first step and model cooperative behavior, you’ll increase the likelihood that people you depend on to get work done will respond the same way” (p. 178).  The fact that you see your leadership as servants as inspiring. It causes me to wonder how my team views my leadership, and if they find me servant-hearted?  Maybe because I’m questioning it is a good sign that I wish to act in this way?! However, I wonder how the modelling of servant leadership cause you to serve others? Can you be specific? Sergiovanni (2007) states “Morally based leadership transforms schools from ordinary organizations to communities. This transformation can inspire the kind of commitment, devotion, and service that will make our school unequal among society’s institutions” (p. 39). The description of your school causes me to equate it with this type of ‘morally based leadership,’ especially when you write “The greatest skill I have drawn from in this environment, is before dealing with any conflict, meet in prayer with the parties involved” (Tegelberg, 2018).  The testimony of your workplace is inspirational to me, and causes me to aspire to this level of transformational servant leadership. Thank you for sharing!

References:

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.

Levi, D. (2014). Group dynamics for teams. (4th edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Tegelberg, R. (2018). Conflict and Cooperation. Unpublished document. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/robtegelberg/2018/11/12/post-7-1-conflict-and-cooperation/

Sergiovanni, T. (2007). Rethinking leadership: a collection of articles. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.