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Introduction

How Leadership Teams Develop a Winning Game Plan

Evolving education policies and standards across the United States have placed higher accountability and pressure on schools. Strong leadership is needed to navigate, advocate, and implement change in the profession. In past years, school leaders were easily identified as the principal at the building level and the superintendent at the district level. Much in the same manner as we traditionally defined the principal and superintendent as school leaders, we have always thought of leadership teams as those composed solely of administrators. While leadership teams made up exclusively of administrators may still be a viable option, today more and more schools are challenging the traditional notion of leadership teams and are establishing diverse teams in terms of members’ perspectives and job responsibilities. Additionally, policy changes are calling for a redesign of the teaching profession. For the purpose of this book, leader refers to any individual ranging from the superintendent or principal to various administrators, department chairs, specialists, and teachers leading an essential initiative. Thus, rather than limiting leadership roles to one or two administrators in the entire district, any educator in the school system can be a leader.

This new emerging vision has created an interesting dynamic in schools. Whereas once upon a time staff members could only hope for marginal input and had a low level of responsibility for the outcome of an initiative, today’s staff members are an integral part of the implementation plan and the success or failure of any new initiative. Now more than ever, there is a stronger pledge among leaders for full implementation of new initiatives, well-thought-out goals that can withstand the test of time, and a deep commitment to collaborating with multiple stakeholders. In order to obtain progress within initiatives, goals cannot just be transferred to greater task lists and disjointed professional development. They need to translate to simple, measurable statements that can be achieved districtwide. Solutions must come through developing shared meaning among all leaders. As education writer and researcher Michael Fullan (2001) states, “The interface between individual and collective meaning and action in everyday situations is where change stands or fails” (p. 9). It’s not about creating a large number of goals based on the newest and most innovative educational strategies and hoping for the best. It’s about having the ability for people to stay focused on the most important effort rather than a litany of initiatives. It’s about pushing a school system to increase the number of leaders and teams speaking with one voice to create change throughout the organization. It is about revitalizing the workforce and creating a system in which continuous improvement is the collaborative goal. Ralph D. Stacey (1992), professor of strategic management at University of Hertfordshire in England and management consultant for top executive teams of major corporations, states, “What a group comes to share in the way of culture and philosophy emerges from individual personal beliefs through a learning process that builds up over years” (p. 145). This type of culture shift does not happen overnight, but once embedded and built into the foundation of the organization, it can withstand uncontrollable factors such as principal and staff changes, as well as shifts in socioeconomic demographics.

Professional learning community principles will undoubtedly remain timeless and critical for school improvement. Yet, some school leaders continuously struggle to bring the PLC principles to life because they have trouble transitioning from theory to practice. In order to avoid having PLC principles become just another improvement initiative, leadership teams must understand that it takes much more than passion and enthusiasm from leaders or a few staff members to truly implement a new idea or to change long-held beliefs. It requires leadership teams to be crystal clear about their schoolwide game plan for success, using all available staff as leaders. Thus, this book is meant to assist all leaders (district-level leaders, building administrators, teachers, and other staff) in understanding how all staff members can fully embrace a focus on learning versus teaching, collaboration versus isolation, and results versus intent.

Leadership teams need to also channel their energy into fully translating their ideas into concrete models that can easily be understood by everyone within the organization. It is not good enough to assume that promising ideas are self-evident or, even more dangerously, to postulate that everyone shares the same perspective. Teams are rarely motivated toward a common goal if it is vague and abstract. Therefore, leadership teams must deliberately plan an effective way of translating such powerful concepts as the three big ideas of a PLC (moving a school culture from a focus on teaching to learning, isolation to collaboration, and intentions to results) into clear and manageable concepts that can spark action and mitigate some educators’ and stakeholders’ resistance to change. Thus, this book will also help leadership teams examine various ways to discuss or implement key PLC principles to develop and implement strategies for positive winning behaviors to guide their efforts throughout the change process.

This does not imply that the work of a PLC is a game or that it is a process that has an end. School organizations are far more complicated than a single sports team, but in both cases, the leadership team is looking to inspire, execute, and, most important, stay committed to the plan. Preparing to implement an effective game plan requires a systematic approach that takes into account the various perspectives of educators. Therefore, in order to ensure all stakeholders’ needs are met, the leadership team must first collaborate to define the foundational elements of a winning plan with a clear and focused approach to implementation across the entire organization. For example, district leaders need to determine the organization’s long-term plans, and school building leaders need to develop site-specific goals that are strategically aligned to the district improvement plan, which then correlates to the SMART goals of the individual grade-level or content-area teams. Similar to building a championship sports team, leadership teams must develop an effective game plan, provide team members with a concise playbook of new ideas, build commitment to a different way of working, celebrate results, and ensure alignment throughout the organization. Thus, this book focuses on the critical aspects that seem to derail leadership teams or make implementation a slow and arduous process.

This book seeks to help educators at any point in the PLC journey move forward with processes and practices by sharing tools that will spur conversation, ignite interest and debate, and develop new perspectives within an organization. Its purpose is to break down key concepts and most importantly give the leadership team an idea of how to bring staff along on the journey. At times, even organizations that are fully functioning as PLCs could use some retooling to encompass new staff or to readjust their focus. The tools found within each chapter can assist all leaders, from novices to advanced practitioners, as they support, develop, or refine the PLC culture. This book does not focus on the initial foundational stages of PLC implementation but rather looks to provide practical guidance based on the work of Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, and Robert Eaker that will enhance implementation. By providing this guide, we hope leaders and staff members will be better able to guide their schools in the difficult but rewarding work required to create and transform PLCs from contenders into championship teams.

The book is divided into five chapters, each addressing specific actionable elements for capacity building within district- and building-level teams. Chapter 1 focuses on bringing clarity to the plan. Chapter 2 discusses the importance of collaboration in strengthening teams. Chapter 3 addresses increasing student learning. Chapter 4 emphasizes using data to support student learning. Chapter 5 details how to avoid pitfalls and how to promote winning throughout the school.

At the beginning of each chapter, you will see epigraphs to provide leaders with quotes for both self-reflection and application in their work with staff. Many of the quotes pertain to embracing the idea that school teams need to act and function much like a champion sports team, and they also add relevant real-world connections.

Each chapter then provides evidence and research to support why a specific concept is needed to achieve full implementation of a game plan. Working models are always helpful to both leadership teams and staff, while abstract ideas and generalizations have been known to hinder leadership teams attempting to develop clarity or meet objectives. For this reason, every chapter suggests coaching points that identify and explain critical concepts and offer processes and tools to achieve the objective. Coaching points are organized into three parts: (1) an introduction and explanation of the critical concept, (2) a description of the process or tool we recommend using to achieve the objective (we call this the what), and (3) implementation guidance for leaders to use with staff (we refer to this as the how). The coaching points also include application tools such as facilitation guides, guiding questions, and discussion prompts. The coaching points are meant to be a starting point for crafting more customized pieces to meet the teams’ needs. As with any tool, the process of developing clarity through meaningful research, discussion, collaboration, and consensus is far more important to the implementation process than basic adoption of the document or template. Much of the PLC process is about building the teamwork and collaborative culture required in 21st century schools.