As we progress through this semester, a book that I read came to mind. The book is entitled Zapp and the author is William Byham. The book, Zapp,
dealt with the concept of leadership and change. Byham addressed the need for administrators to empower
their staff with the tools necessary to bring about the change that will sustain
ongoing success for their schools or organizations. This book also discussed creating an
environment of change through empowering others with the belief that they are
stakeholders, which will then lead to a sense of ownership. Additionally, it discussed how sometimes
change starts with one person realizing that change is a part of evolving
process that leads to a person or company becoming the best they can be. The process starts with the realization that
there is a need for change, identifying the reason for the change, the end
result, and the steps needed to successfully get you there. As I worked on the culture paper, the book reminded me that leaders have to ensure that every staff member feels empowered and is accountable to the success of the school. As a leader, this book helped me in the area
of empowering others with specific examples, such as positive reinforcement,
being a good listener, and facilitating issues, rather than always being the
one to solve or make decisions that affect an entire school. More importantly, the book exemplified how
change does not occur immediately. It may
take several days, months, and years.
Change may also consist of several attempts before you begin to see the
results of your change. Lately, I have struggle in my current role. My
school has been making achievement gains, yet in analyzing the culture of the school, I realized that there are still members who do not feel empowered or apart of the school. I found the book encouraging
with its message staying focus and knowing that you will eventually reach your
goal. If you get a chance to read it, I am sure you will enjoy it!! It is an easy read and more importantly, I think its realistic of what goes on in our schools.
Thank you for the recommendation. I have found how important it is to consistently read and stay up-to-date on what's going on in education. I have never read so much that I have this year. But it makes a difference. I will make sure to pick this one up through Amazon!
ReplyDeleteLaTonya, great post and great insight as to the process of change. I think we all want to see immediate change when we implement new ideas, new concepts, new policies. This is a good reminder that it takes time.Happy to see that you are seeing achievement gains AND that through this assignment you were able to gain knowledge of the culture within your school. I'm sure that you will be an advocate for positive change. Thanks for sharing about the book. I will definitely get this one
ReplyDeleteBankston, I agree with the idea that every staff need to feel empowered and acknowledge for contribution to the school success. This is a major component of the school's cultures. Given that the gains in student success, I believe your school has a greater opportunity to expand on those gains once the culture changes for the better.
ReplyDeleteParts of school culture is that we play the short game and not the long one. When it comes to culture, there have to be established norms. The initial part of the process is that some folks may not see the added value of the propose change. But if we place systemic change that may support climate change in the long run, we might see the type of gains that we look for in school transformation
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