“Winning” in the Broadest Sense: Lessons for Leaders
An asset-based orientation - focusing on successes - fuels the team’s momentum and mindset rather than depleting it. To be clear, we are not trying to gaslight you into a toxically positive view of celebrating wins in schools. Seeing weaknesses in implementation and impact creates urgency for change, and seeing success creates the belief that we can. Educators need both.
More Respect, Less Stress, Better Solutions - When Listening to Teachers is a Way of Working in a School System
If educators are asked to haphazardly contribute ideas and insights apart from school improvement processes - say, only during a single PD workshop facilitated by a consultant! - it can feel disingenuous and be ineffective in shaping smart solutions. When harnessing the collective knowledge and creativity of the team is a central way of working, schools develop better solutions and also reduce teacher stress and improve teacher respect.
Collective Efficacy As The Most Powerful Renewable Resource
In regards to leading collective teacher efficacy, researchers explain, “When a team of individuals share the belief that through their unified efforts they can overcome challenges and produce intended results, groups are more effective” (Donohoo et al., 2018, para 1). This may seem like a simple idea, but schools need intentional approaches to develop this collective belief so that collective actions lead to equitable student opportunities and outcomes. It cannot just be up to individual teachers to believe more or hope more: the school or organizational ecosystem must support belief. Schools must provide teachers opportunities to recognize their successes and progress, and to see those of their peers. Key here is defining progress as learning- even when the learning stems from a mistake or failure, versus a success.