Direction, Alignment, and Commitment

From February 2017 through October 2017, I was a member of Cohort 1, of the Margaret Waddington Leadership Initiative (MWLI), a collaborative effort of the Center for Creative Leadership and the Vermont Principal's Association. This piece is adapted from the reflective writing I produced about the MWLI.

A couple of years ago, I finally heard the feedback that I needed to set a vision, or Direction, for my old school. It was time; I was finally able to feel confident setting a vision. My last year at that school was filled with my struggles to Align the staff and the programs to the vision. I knew then, and now have the words for the idea, that I did not have the Commitment of others to make this vision a reality. 

Fast forward a couple of years and things are different. At my current position, I’d planned to set a vision for the school after my first full year (and a process of much listening and observing). The craziest thing happened – Brownington Central School was totally ready and waiting for a vision to be set before Christmas. I had to double check my assumptions, and the staff confirmed that they were ready. So, I launched the Brownington Bridge to the Future. This Direction is to use Social-Emotional Learning and Student Engagement in Learning to lead all of our efforts. Since it already fit with our mission statement, it was an easy sell. I think that the staff was pretty well Committed to this, so that leaves only Alignment to worry about. That will be my role as supervisor – make sure that we stay aligned to the direction.



A CCL book on DAC can be found here.

SBI for Feedback

From February 2017 through October 2017, I was a member of Cohort 1, of the Margaret Waddington Leadership Initiative (MWLI), a collaborative effort of the Center for Creative Leadership and the Vermont Principal's Association. This piece is adapted from the reflective writing I produced about the MWLI.

I really like the simple, straightforward approach to feedback that is SBI. Tell the person the Situation about which I want to comment, tell them the Behavior I noticed, and then tell them the Impact the behavior had. I struggle with how to put the impact onto students instead of on me for feedback that is not about interpersonal behavior. CCL teaches that the impact can be about me or others present. Since it can include “work outcomes” I guess that I can use it with teachers. 
Here is an imaginary example (I have been using this with real teachers and worry that I would break confidentiality and trust with a real example):

Mrs. Jones, earlier during 6th grade social studies, when you told the students that they can choose the way they would be assessed, they got excited about this project in a way I haven't seen from them.

While this example seems a little stilted, the lesson learned is to be specific about the situation, the behavior and the impact when giving feedback.




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