Educators
advocating for teacher leadership roles face many obstacles including but not
limited to “lack of funding or trust, resistance to power-sharing or change and
the inability of others to see beyond what currently exists” (Crowley,
2015). Any endeavor to gain authentic leadership
requires collaboration and by its nature, inviting behaviors by administrators. However, collaboration usually fails without utilization
of effective preparation, open-mindedness, and both verbal and non-verbal communication
skills.
A September
2014 post discussed Schmidt’s
(2007) meta-analysis
that identified sets of structure related to Invitational Education
(IE) theory, which
can be used to holistically evaluate school climate. Five powerful factors–people, places,
policies, programs, and processes, were highly significant for their separate
and combined influence on Invitational Leadership and school culture (Purkey
& Siegel, 2013).
In combination, “the Five Ps offer an almost limitless
number of opportunities for the Invitational Leader to address and impact “the
total culture or ecosystem of almost any organization” (p. 104). Through reflective consideration of the Five
P’s, the invitational leadership model becomes a unique and holistic model of
leadership for communicating success and
empowerment (Stillion & Siegel, 2005).
During her tenure as a Center for
Teaching Quality teacherpreneur,
Crowley (2015) reflectively identified valuable strategies for preparing to be
an advocate for effective collaboration.
Certainly, the implicit utilization of these strategies exhibit the
teacher’s preparation. These preparation
strategies include,
Do your research: What do you know
about your school’s mission, vision statement and strategic plan? Reviewing
these key documents will help frame your idea within a larger context. If
possible, schedule an informal, information-seeking meeting with an
administrator you trust. This will help you develop a more on-the-ground
perspective on these strategic plans. Knowing these documents demonstrates an
understanding of the greater mission and vision of the building and district.
In your proposal, be sure to answer how your idea or role supports the work and
initiatives already in place.
Spend time planning: Before you
approach administration with your idea or plan, consider its feasibility. Ask
colleagues for feedback. They may provide perspectives you were not
considering. Talk with people in your community to understand what they believe
is “possible.” This doesn’t mean that you can’t push past comfort zones or
introduce a never-been-done approach, but understanding how your idea is
perceived is important to your presentation. Consider the scope of your idea.
Although it may seem simple, in the complex systems of schools, even simple
ideas can affect many people. Also consider this: Will your proposal have broad
appeal and support in your community of colleagues, parents, students and
business leaders? Frame your proposal around supporters and benefactors.
Consider the costs: New ideas often
have financial consequences. Consider both the cost of resources and faculty
compensation. If your idea requires time away from the classroom, know your
district’s policies about short and long-term substitutes. Also consider
pursuing alternate funding before presenting your idea. Think about the budget
cycle and the timing of your proposal. Administrators are restricted by budget
approvals and often need to justify new or increased spending. How can the funds
for your proposal be justified? Valuing the cost will speak volumes to an
administrator about the feasibility of your idea.
Be intentional in your approach: Keep an open mind to
the perspective or lens administration brings. View them as collaborators, and
be ready to offer shared ownership of your proposal. Having administration as
an ally offers you valuable perspectives. Administrators often think about
implementation of new ideas within a 3-5 year frame, while teachers often frame
change within the school year calendar. An administrative perspective can be
invaluable to creating a realistic timeline for implementation of an idea or
proposal (Crowley, 2015).
Understandably, good preparation
exhibits readiness to collaborate.
However, explicit communication skills remain a requisite foundation to
successful collaboration. While key
communication skills include listening skills, feedback
skills, and presentation skills, it is essential to recognize the role of one’s
mindset as
the greatest influence upon whether communication skills will be
optimized. As noted in a February
2014 post, when seeking professional or personal development,
better results occur when acting
our way into right thinking rather than merely trying to think
ourselves into right action. When
learning to truly embrace and promote empowered collaborations, it is helpful
to reflect upon which mindset will be utilized prior to engagement. With practice, a mindset elevating the tenets of peace,
joy, and love
become evident in all relationships.
Nonverbal
behaviors comprise a large percentage of daily interpersonal communication
(Cherry, 2011). Persuasion requires more than conversation alone. Effectively using all eight types of non-verbal communication can dramatically increase a person’s persuasive
power. Since human interaction is about
action, interaction, and transaction, then a “Helical
Model of Communication exhibits
how communication never loops back onto itself.
It begins at the bottom and expands infinitely as the communication
partners contribute their thoughts and experiences to the exchange” (Beebe,
Beebe, & Ivy, 2004, p 16).
Collaboration between educational
stakeholders improve whenever questions are planned to lead to answers that
require more questions. Theoretically, a
perfect convergent, or closed-ended, question would have only one answer. By contrast, a perfect divergent, or
open-ended, question would have infinite answers. The partner seeking effective collaboration
understands the better question usually is the one
that provides the most answers and
his or her non-verbal behaviors should convey open-mindedness, willingness, and
active listening.
Given
respect for and adherence to preparation and communication skills, a ten-step
process for collaborative consultation should prove helpful in future advocacy
for teacher leadership. The process may
appear to be a loop process but as is common with most action research
approaches, the process embraces the Helical Model of Communication, thereby
encouraging the good to become better.
Following are the ten-steps within the collaborative consultation
process (Walther-Thomas et al., 2000).
Each step includes an implementation example:
1.
Prepare
for the consultation:
a.
Focus
upon the targeted area of concern, organize materials, prepare several possible
strategies, and arrange for a comfortable meeting place
2.
Initiate
the consultation:
a.
Establish
rapport, focusing upon the concern, creating a collaborative climate
3.
Collect
information:
a.
Seek
data and make notes, identifying additional data needs, summarizing information
4.
Identify
the problem:
a.
Focus
on needs, state what the problem is or is not, identifying desirable
circumstances
5.
Articulate
the goal statement:
a.
Identify
issues, avoiding jargon, encourage expressions of concerns, develop a concise
goal statement, check for agreement
6.
Generate
solutions:
a.
Problem-solve
collaboratively, generate alternative interventions, suggest examples, review
options and likely consequences, select the most reasonable alternative
7.
Formulate
a plan:
a.
Specify
tasks for intervention, establish responsibilities, create evaluation criteria
and methods, agree on the timeline for the review progress
8.
Evaluate
progress and process:
a.
Conduct
the scheduled review session, review data and analyze results, keep artifacts
to document progress, assess the collaboration process, make positive and
supportive comments
9.
Follow
up on the situation:
a.
Reassess
progress periodically, support effort and reinforce results, continue the plan
for further improvement, make adjustments as necessary, bring closure when
goals are met
10. Repeat
consultation as appropriate:
a.
Include
other stakeholders as apropos, embracing diversity and inclusion
Ideally,
any educator seeking to advocate for teacher leadership should feel
empowered. However, exhibiting one’s
effective communication skills, diligent preparation, and open-mindedness, will
undoubtedly yield a more bountiful harvest.
Given this approach, advocating for teacher leadership success becomes related
to acting
our way into right thinking rather than solely trying to think
ourselves into right action.
References:
Anderson,
C.J. (February 7, 2014) Effective
communication requires a fertile mindset [Web log post]
Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
Anderson,
C.J. (June 4, 2014) Successful collaboration requires
utilization of effective communication
Anderson,
C.J. (October 17, 2014) Invitational
education theory and a framework for effective collaboration.
[Web log post] Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
Beebe,S.A.;
Beebe,S.J.; & Ivy,D.K. (2004). Communication: principles for a lifetime,
2/E. Allyn
& Bacon
Crowley,
B. (August 26, 2015) Administration as
allies: Fostering collaboration for teacher leadership.
[Web log post] Retrieved from
http://smartblogs.com/tag/Brianna-Crowley
Purkey, W. W., & Siegel, B. L. (2013).
Becoming an invitational leader: A new approach to
professional
and personal success. Atlanta, GA: Humanics. Retrieved from:
Schmidt,
J. J. (2007). Elements of diversity in invitational practice and research.
Journal of
Invitational Theory & Practice, 13, 16-23. Retrieved from: http://www.invitationaleducation.net/pdfs/journalarchives/jitpv13.pdf
Walther-Thomas,
C., Korinek, L., et al., (2000). Collaboration
for inclusive education.
Boston:
Pearson, ISBN: 9780205273683
To
Cite:
Anderson, C.J. (August 31, 2015) How educators can effectively advocate
for teacher leadership.
[Web
log post] Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
