Leadership is often a topic that people do not talk about. We often put too much emphasis on the teachers, and the performance of the students. This is important, but should not be all of the focus. The educational facilities that are at the cutting edge are doing things differently. They are changing the game, from the bottom up.  The strategies that I will outline are not the end all be all solution. They are just the tactics, and strategies that are being used by some of the best schools across the nation. You, or your leader, needs to determine which of these items they want to use to attack the ever growing need for change we have today. Leap Year This is more specific to curriculum adoptions, or technology skills. The leaders are simply one year ahead. You should have a plan that is spelled out for multiple years, and your leaders are one year ahead of staff. If this plan is scaffolded correctly, it will help to transfer useful skills onto staff before they are a requirement making the adoption of the next year plan easier. It also helps to showcase the power in your leaders. It builds strong beliefs, and trust in the skills of your leaders aiding in the success for all members of your buildings. Contagion The best name, and one of the best strategies. Approach your most willing innovator and tell them to go for it. Let them be who they are and spread their wings. So long as they are still delivering understanding to the standards, who cares how they get there. You will find that this leads to huge buy in from the teacher, deeper understanding of the learning standards from students, and the spreading of innovation. Once one teacher succeeds, the rest will follow. The idea will literally become an innovation germ in your staff. UnOffice You have heard of an unconference, well this is an unoffice! Basically, you transform where you are and what you do, to be as transparent as possible. I have heard of leaders who literally place their desk in the common areas. Some leaders start blogs and podcast regularly to make their work transparent on technology. Remove the stigma behind "going to the principals office" by removing the office. Step back to become a co-learner with your staff. |
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