Cultural Leadership
Principals will understand and act on the understanding of the important role a school’s culture plays in contributing to the exemplary performance of the school. Principals must support and value the traditions, artifacts, symbols and positive values and norms of the school and community that result in a sense of identity and pride upon which to build a positive future. A principal must be able to “re-culture” the school if needed to align with school’s goals of improving student and adult learning and to infuse the work of the adults and students with passion, meaning and purpose. Cultural leadership implies understanding the school and the people in it each day, how they came to their current state, and how to connect with their traditions in order to move them forward to support the school’s efforts to achieve individual and collective goals.
Element 3A: Focus on Collaborative Work Environment
The school executive understands and acts on the understanding of the positive role that a collaborative environment can play in the school's culture.
Regardless of whether a school is separated by grade level or department, all members must work collaboratively to optimize opportunities for learning and promoting student growth. An administrator is ultimately responsible for making sure the culture which exists within their school fosters and encourages interdepartmental or inter-grade level collaboration and communication. Stephen Covey calls this concept "Synergy" and lists it as one of the habits of highly effective people. The concept holds that the power of one can never surpass the power of many; therefore a leader must exude a mentality of "all hands on deck." Embracing this idea also means that each member of the staff gets to feel valued and as though their contributions are meaningful and wanted. It also increases buy-in to school-wide goals and initiatives and gives staff a reason to commit to supporting the greater cause. Creating a synergistic and collaborative work environment is not something that can be done by following a prescribed list of steps, rather it requires tapping into emotional intelligence and soft skill sets to make people want to work together, for their leader, and the well being of their students. My work with this element focused on convincing members of the Math department to "buy-in" to my plan for Math I Remediation. I was ultimately responsible for not only writing the plan, but soliciting the staff members needed to carry it out. I was able to receive a commitment from five of our teachers who agreed to work with the struggling students and provide extra remediation and intensive intervention to them throughout their semester in accordance with my prescribed plan. In order to achieve this, I had to sell them on the importance of working collaboratively toward a common goal and then highlight the benefits not only our participating students, but the entire school community would receive as a result of their efforts.
Element 3B: School Culture and Identity
The school executive develops and uses a shared vision, values and goals to define the identity and culture of a school.
As an aspiring principal, one of my wildly important personal goals is to create a school environment where each student and employee feels valued and appreciated. Throughout the year, I strive to create and share small tokens of my appreciation to let the staff know I care about them and am excited to work with them each day. For staff, these tokens include small gift boxes, holiday-themed treat surprises or emails designed to promote a positive school culture. For students, this means sending a troubled student a card on their birthday, or leaving an encouraging note on their desk prior to their arrival in a difficult class. I believe its the small things that matter most and we must not forget how good it feels to be appreciated for the work we do each day.
As a new leader, it is also important to know about a school's past and the history and traditions citizens from the area hold close to their hearts. When I first started at BHS, I collaborated on the creation of a video to showcase some of the history, the current attributes and the beliefs held by this town so that I could develop a deep sense of understanding into what it is that this community values the most.
3C: Acknowledges Failures; Celebrates Accomplishments and Rewards
The school executive acknowledges failures and celebrates accomplishments of the school in order to define the identity, culture and performance of the school.
Any amazing administrator knows the importance of celebrations within their school. Whether we celebrate with staff members over receiving high proficiency scores on a major exam, or with students over an unbelievable athletic play or earning a higher achievement level in a difficult class, we must remember to make time to celebrate our accomplishments. Our administrative team chose to celebrate with students who passed their NC Math I Benchmarks and End-of-Course test over the course of the year as well as those who passed similar assessments in their NC English II course. After each benchmark in Math, I planned a small celebration to honor our students for their hard work. Students who earned a proficient score on their test were excused from the last thirty minutes of their fourth period class and asked to come down to the cafeteria for sweet treats and social time. In addition to announcing the events at school, I asked for pictures of the events to be posted on our school's website, I shared them on both my personal and our school's Twitter page and then shared the pictures and information with our district's lead Communication Director to post on the main district website. My goal was to for our students to receive as much recognition as possible for working hard in these classes and to entice other students who may not put as much effort into the assessments to try a little harder in order to be eligible for the incentive party.
Teachers also receive recognition for going above and beyond the call of duty for their jobs. WOWcats are a system used at BHS which allows administrators to noimate teachers who have gone out of their way to do something extra to support the students, the school or their colleagues. WOWcats are given out at the monthly staff meeting and are also going digital. Teachers win badges for the extra work they do and can display these badges in their classrooms or on their door. We also recognize teachers who have perfect attendance on a monthly basis with a sweet treat or personal-sized pound cake. It just our way of saying, "thanks," and "keep up the great work."
3D: Efficacy and Empowerment
The school executive develops a sense of efficacy and empowerment among staff which influences the school's identity, culture and performance.
In order to build a sense of empowerment among by teachers, I was sure to include a comment section in each of their walk-thru follow up documents entitled, "Powerful Practices Observed." This focus of this section was to provide teachers with positive and encouraging feedback to not only let them know in what aspects they are doing well, but to give them the confidence they need to take the next step in their career, or empower them to consider a next step if they have not already. Helping teachers build a sense of efficacy plays a major role in the culture of a school. The more teachers feel appreciated, noticed and valued, the harder they will work for themselves, their administrators and their students.