Balanced Leadership
Last week the Learning Leaders at my school finished McRel's Balanced Leadership Program that was held over six days, in three different weeks of Mondays and Tuesdays. I really liked the way the PD had been spread out, which allowed for us as leaders to go away from each week with time to think, implement some strategies and to come together with a shared understanding of our learning.
We learned about the 21 Leadership Responsibilities and how they can positively and negatively impact change within schools.
Our primary focus was to develop collective efficacy within our school - We all believe and we all achieve was a neat little catchphrase that myself and the Learning Leaders at my school came up with during 2 of those 6 days.
We learned a lot about how change affects people - this is called the magnitude of change. People can see change in two ways and it is up to leaders to gauge how this will affect the work that needs to be done and where the focus of their leadership responsibilities lies.
Change can be perceived as First Order or Second Order by the persons who will be effected. The leadership responsibility that is used at this point is called "Situational Awareness".
In any situation where as leaders we are looking to make changes we need to create a need or a demand for change from the masses. If people don't see a need to change something, leaders will have more difficulty enacting change.
I highly recommend doing the PD if you get the chance. It was a fantastic experience because what I have shared is only a minuscule snippet of what I learned from a very powerful 6 days!