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Bess Sullivan Scott ([email protected]) is the principal of GoodrichMiddle School in Lincoln, NE. She cofacilitates a DevelopingThoughtful Leaders group with Mary Beth Lehmanowsky forLincoln Public Schools’ secondary principals.
DevelopingThoughtfulLeaders
BY BESS SULLIVAN SCOTT
PREVIEW
An ongoing professional development program builds skills and relationshipsamong participants.
The program requires little financial support but strongparticipant commitment.
Participants learn how to leada learning organization.
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Never have time to think and reflect? Want to collaborate with your colleagues toincrease student achievement instead of competing with them in a stressful, stan-dards-based environment? Tired of reacting to the unintended consequences ofyour own and your district’s decisions? Striving to be a healthy, fulfilled school
leader? Lincoln (NE) Public Schools has begun to address these issues through an ongoingprofessional development program called “Developing Thoughtful Leaders.”
The goals of Developing Thoughtful Leaders are as follows:• To foster intellectual development in systems thinking and educational leadership• To examine action research on educational leadership and continual school improvement• To build collaborative support through sharing information and practices, solving prob-
lems, and examining emerging issues in educational leadership• To increase the interconnectedness and sustainability of learning organizations in
the district.
Program DesignIn 2002, Lincoln Public Schools was one of three school districts in the nation that were selected by the Institute for the Development of Educational Activities to design a coherent,sustainable professional development learning community for principals and other leaders.Using funds from DeWitt Wallace–Reader’s Digest, the institute provided the framework forDeveloping Thoughtful Leaders, a participant-driven program that requires little financialsupport and strong participant commitment. Initially, six facilitators were trained to runthree groups: an elementary principals’ group, a secondary principals’ group, and a district office administrators’ group. Because of the success of the program, the original facilitatorstrained six additional facilitators to lead two new groups for associate principals, coordina-tors, and district office curriculum specialists. Each month, the groups meet for an entireschool day—away from their buildings—to reflect, study, and talk about leadership.
To form the groups, the superintendent invited all
principals and district office directors to indicate their
interest in being part of a role-alike learning group.
He also asked for volunteers to facilitate each group.
Participants were asked to make a once-a-month com-
mitment for two years to ensure that the program had
a chance to work. The superintendent’s executive com-
mittee selected the facilitators. All principals and direc-
tors who showed interest became participants. Then
the superintendent stepped back so the facilitators and
group members could develop full ownership of their
own learning. The superintendent’s noncontrolling
support has been an essential element of the success of
Developing Thoughtful Leaders.
The elementary principals’ group has 25 members,
the secondary principals’ group has 15 members, and
the district directors’ group has 12 members. The 25-
member elementary assistant principals’ group and the
17-member secondary assistant principals’ and district
office specialists’ groups are in their first year of mem-
bership and were formed in the same open, inviting manner.
At the beginning of the school year, members volunteer to
facilitate different parts of the agenda each month. The
facilitators always lead the closure activities and discussion,
and they coplan and facilitate the Leadership Learnings
section of the agenda with another principal.
The five different Developing Thoughtful Leaders’
groups share the same goals and use The Fifth Discipline
(Senge, 1990) as a primary source of new leadership knowl-
edge. Developing Thoughtful Leaders is
not a cookie-cutter model. Each group has
developed its own agenda according to its
participants’ needs and wants to meet the
program goals. Addressing racism, building
professional learning communities, and
embracing change are examples of organiz-
ing themes for the different groups. Facili-
tators of the groups meet monthly to learn
from one another by sharing strategies, re-
sources, and agenda ideas.
Essential Agenda ComponentsThe following essential agenda compo-
nents are part of the Developing Thought-
ful Leaders program develops leaders:
Reconnect. At the beginning of the day
and after the lunch break, all the partici-
pants gather their chairs into a circle. The
participant volunteer asks a question that
each participant answers in two to four
minutes. Questions are carefully crafted to
elicit thoughtful answers that facilitate
authentic relationships. Sample questions
include, What event or person caused you to choose edu-
cation? Who are your mentors and why? What is your
most memorable family holiday gathering? and What is
causing you the most stress right now? Although the
stereotype of secondary principals might suggest that the
reconnect is excessively touchy-feely, the evaluations from
the principals in the group identify the reconnect activity
as the basis for the honest communication that has re-
duced barriers to collaboration.
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Collegial relationship building has been the best part of our Developing Thoughtful Leadersessions. Our group hasdeveloped a strong level of trust and mutual support. Ourmeetings have become a safeplace to share questions, ideas,and concerns.
STO
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Read It, Liked It. This exercise pro-
vides the opportunity for principals to
share a synopsis of what they have been
reading professionally. Principals will of-
ten bring a book or an article, sharing
powerful excerpts and their application.
This review of current leadership litera-
ture helps the group prioritize their pro-
fessional reading and identifies important
resources.
Leadership Learnings. Often referred
to as the “cognitive piece,” Leadership
Learnings has concentrated on the intel-
lectual development in systems thinking.
During the last two years, The Fifth Disci-
pline has provided the new knowledge
members can use to make their schools
more effective learning organizations.
Studying the five disciplines of personal
mastery, mental models, shared vision,
team learning, and systems thinking has
changed the culture of district meetings
outside of the program framework. For
example, in the face of budget reductions,
principals used systems thinking diagrams
to try to fully understand their proposed
decisions before finalizing them.
Dialogue. The group explores a com-
plex, difficult issue from many points of
view, not to solve it, but to make participants aware of be-
liefs, mental models, and assumptions about it. The dia-
logue leader poses a question and participants in the dia-
logue respond. Participants do not debate one another
about their answers; they attempt to understand the mean-
ing of one another’s words. One of the groups most pow-
erful dialogues revolved around the question, What would
our district look like if I cared as much about your school
as I care about my school?
Professional Sharing. Because of the culture of learn-
ing present in the group, this part of the agenda has been
neither competitive nor boastful. This portion of the
agenda is time that principals can share the effective prac-
tices that they have implemented in their schools. Prac-
tices have ranged from pragmatic (e.g., how to effectively
organize the delivery of office messages without disturbing
instruction) to philosophical (e.g., how to reinforce school
values).
Closure. Each day ends with closure discussions and
activities. During this time, the next month’s agenda is
reviewed and adjusted as necessary. The lessons learned
during the day are summarized. Journaling is sometimes
used as a summary activity or as an evaluation tool. The fi-
nal activity is a roundtable discussion where participants
take turns identifying and committing to an application of
something new that they learned during the day that will
affect their leadership or their school. For example, after
learning about the ladder of inference, many principals
committed to being more aware of not jumping to conclu-
sions on the basis of their perceptions.
BenefitsCompetition has changed to cooperation and support
among middle level and high school principals who partici-
pate in the program because they systematically and pur-
posefully build relationships, acquire knowledge, and de-
velop new leadership strategies. Systems thinking has
provided structure and tools that participants can use to
reflect deeply on personal and organizational issues to gain
the inspiration to be courageous leaders. Developing
Thoughtful Leaders has increased the power of collabora-
tive work and diminished the feelings of isolation and lone-
liness of the principalship in Lincoln Public Schools by
building on principals’ skills and knowledge while nurtur-
ing their hearts and minds. PL
Reference❏ Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday.
P L N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 4 25
ResourcesThe Lemming Dilemma: Living With Purpose, LeadingWith Vision. D. Hutchens. 1998. Waltham, MA: PegasusCommunications.
Outlearning the Wolves: Surviving and Thriving in aLearning Organization. D. Hutchens. 1998. Waltham, MA:Pegasus Communications.
Shadows of the Neanderthal: Illuminating the BeliefsThat Limit Our Organizations. D. Hutchens. 1999. Waltham.MA: Pegasus Communications.
Tip of the Iceberg: Managing the Hidden Forces That Can Make or Break Your Organization. D. Hutchens. 2001.Waltham, MA: Pegasus Communications.
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools forBuilding a Learning Organization. P. Senge, A. Kleiner, R.Ross, C. Roberts, & B. Smith. 1994. New York: Doubleday.
Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook forEducators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares AboutEducation. P. Senge, N. Cambron-McCabe, T. Lucas, B. Smith,& J. Dutton. 2000. New York: Currency.