If your district/school is interested in addressing the need to create a Turnaround Plan, or working to prevent that requirement, it is essential to have as much expertise involved as possible, including an experienced building leader who has walked through and implemented all the Turnaround Practices. Establishing building leadership teams to generate school improvement is intense, exciting, and productive work. It takes clarity of purpose and a shared vision that is rooted in data, perceptional as well as objective. When educational staff engage in work to improve the school, as a team, real movement in student outcomes follow. Importantly, the movement is facilitated by the school leader, but not “run,” by the leader. The staff are expected to make, or advise, in decisions and all are responsible for the implementation. The school culture shifts to where everyone sees themselves as having agency and responsibility for the quality of the school. The intellectual and emotional energy required is great. This work becomes more sustainable and feasible when working with objective and experienced professionals. 

Staff and students' sense of belonging is a critical condition for academic success. Staff and students who feel a sense of belonging "feel socially connected, supported, and respected." They trust their teachers and their peers, and they "feel a sense of fit at school" due to efforts at the school level to promote a safe and supportive learning environment. To engage with students as authentic partners, we must approach engagement with a focus on equity. This means a) establishing meaningful engagement activities and systems that do not characterize or treat specific groups as deficient in their level of engagement or approach to education and b) acknowledging and navigating cultural differences through communication, humility, and sensitivity.

This workshop will cover the basic tenets of organizational behavior and discuss the two forces that make change and progress possible. These two forces challenge leaders to make difficult decisions. Leaders must ask and understand questions such as: Why do staff behave the way they do? Why do some staff respond while others do not? How do we influence behavior? When leaders want to initiate a change in their culture, it will only be as effective as how they understand and act towards the opposing forces.

Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast. “Yet, most leaders spend their time developing well-thought-out goals and strategies and fail to realize a culture that is toxic, lacking trust, and unhealthy will squash the best-developed and well-intentioned goals and strategies in their tracks.  Before presenting new goals and strategies in an organization, a leader should assess the health of their culture. What changes must they make to create a culture ready to support new initiatives? Do you have the right people in the right positions? Is it the right time, or do you need to spend time developing our culture? If you are a school committee member or on a board of any organization, you may be eager to implement new goals, but you could be missing a vital element that will lead to successful outcomes.  We can't plant healthy seeds in toxic soil that lack nutrients or are overused.  They just won't grow. 

Leaders often know they have an unhealthy culture and purposely get lost in their responsibilities that keep them busy and avoid confronting the most challenging part of their job. Developing goals for your organization will not solve the problem of a culture that needs attention.

School leaders strive to build a culture of trust and collaboration, but happiness and fun are a bonus!  How does a school leader do it all?  How do we build structures that guarantee a positive and engaged culture?  The needs of students and adults are the same.  By focusing on clear communication, recognition, connection, play, voice and choice, school leaders can construct an environment in which adults and children thrive simultaneously.  Through practical strategies and research that highlight the possibility of a more energized, engaged, and empowered culture, participants will learn why happiness and leadership can co-exist.   

Leaders at the start of their career, those near the end and all of those in between will benefit from the culture we will build during this workshop and the energy we will generate by coming together and sharing our knowledge with one another.

The organizational culture of a school, or district, has a direct impact on retention of effective staff, productive relationships with families, educator cohesion and mutual support, and student learning outcomes. Culture is often overlooked as a real lever for change. This workshop will develop skills to understand the current culture and intentionally move to build a more effective one.  Specifically creating a building-based climate and culture team. Topics will range from identifying current cultural norms and values and how they affect the school, creating a model of shared leadership and shared responsibility, honest and professional communication, and using evidence to connect norms, values, and vision to the daily life of the school. Workshop content and process is relevant for district and school leadership.