Superintendents Statewide Mentoring Meeting Thursday, September 19, 2013

Outcomes:  Grow your professional network;  Reflect on September board agenda;  Identify strategies and ideas for working with the board;  Considered the superintendent’s role as instructional leader;  Increase awareness regarding legal issues;  Collaborate around relevant issues; and  Identify strategies for improving individual leadership-life fit.

Grounding our work today… How did your September board agenda flow? What went well? What will you do differently in planning your next agenda and board meeting?

Working Effectively with the Board Modified Discussion Panel

Welcome, Panelists!  Chad Garber, Wapsie Valley  Mike Haluska, Decorah  Kerri Nelson, South Tama  Dave Wilkerson, Waukee

 How do you involve your board in supporting a shared vision for learning?  How do you balance the need to introduce new ideas and provide processing time for the board prior to decision-making with the need to keep moving forward in a timely way?  How do you keep the board focused on the big priorities as opposed to the day- to-day administrative decisions?

 How do you engage your board in your own evaluation?  What are the key outcomes for your board orientation for new board members?  What, if any, decision-making or problem- solving protocols do you use? If you don’t utilize specific protocols or procedures, how do you support the board in planning, making decisions, and solving problems?

 How do you engage your board in being part of the learning organization?  Describe the communication patterns between you and the board. With what frequency and how do you collect informal feedback from your board regarding your performance? How do you ensure you continue to share common expectations with the board for the focus of your work?

Break! Grow your professional network—choose a new table !

The Do’s and Don’ts of Instructional Leadership Steve Westerberg, Oelwein

3-minute Quick Write Describe the superintendent’s responsibilities as an instructional leader?

Ink-pair-share  Mentor-mentee share

What I wish I had known at the beginning…

Setting Priorities  Review the list of Do’s and Don’ts  Highlight/circle the top 3 ‘Do’ priorities that you would like to address  Share your priorities in your mentoring partnership—each explain rationale for choices  Identify the one priority that you will work to move forward in your district in the next month—how will you approach this work?

Following up  Revisit in your monthly mentoring meetings over the next months  Plan to share progress at our January 22 Statewide Mentoring Meeting

LUNCH !

Reminders from the Legal Vortex Matt Carver, SAI

Open Forum What upcoming issues/concerns need our attention?

Engaging in Critical Conversations Dana Schon, SAI

By the end of this session, you will have…  Considered conversation skills and behaviors that contribute to the building of successful relationships and extraordinary leadership  Participated in a structured conversation  Engaged in collaborative problem-solving

Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations Our lives are a series of relationships, the success or failure of which happen one conversation at a time. Extraordinary leadership is the result of having fierce conversations with ourselves first and then with others. Only then can any of us hope to provide the caliber of leadership that our organizations need and desire.

Using a structure to facilitate the conversation 1. Be clear about what you want from the conversation and what you do NOT want from the conversation:  What do I want for myself?  What do I want for others?  What do I want from the relationship?  How would I behave if I really wanted those results?

Using a structure to facilitate the conversation 2. Establish a mutual purpose and find common ground:  Find a shared goal—it reduces stress  Clarify the common outcome

Using a structure to facilitate the conversation 3. STATE your course:  S hare your facts (start with least controversial and most persuasive)  T ell your story (explain what you are beginning to conclude)  A sk for other’s facts and stories  T alk about what is fact and what is assumption  E ncourage differing views

Using a structure to facilitate the conversation 4. Actively listen to understand  Express interest  Respectfully acknowledge emotions  Restate what you have heard to reflect understanding  State your agreement, where fitting  When there are significant differences, compare the two views as opposed to pointing out right and wrong

Using a structure to facilitate the conversation 5. Finish clearly  Determine any action to be taken and by whom  Establish any timelines for completion of actions  Schedule a follow-up time

Experience the conversation  Choose a scenario that reflects an area where you would like practice  Take a few minutes to think about what you want from the conversation  Role play or process the conversation you might have  Process the role play

Windshield work  Role play/process the other scenarios

Break! Grow your professional network--choose a new table !

Leadership-life Fit Dana Schon, SAI

By the end of this segment, participants will have…  Revisited the concept of balance as compared to fit  Identified strategies for reducing stress and creating an ebb and flow that works for you

Challenging the Notion of Work-life Balance M05yxs

The Notion of Balance…  Is discussed most frequently discussed in the negative  Keeps us focused on the problem rather than the solution  Assumes we are all the same  Infers there is a “right” answer  Leads us to judge  Results in unproductive guilt  Suggests the goal is a split between work and life  Leaves no room for periods where there is more work and less life and vice versa; and  Ignores the constantly changing reality of work and life

You are one person, so there is no need to try to separate your personal life from your work life.

Why a work-life fit?  Honors our unique situations throughout various points in our lives  Leads us to inspire  Recognizes multiple options based upon each person’s current circumstance  Acknowledges the ebb and flow of life’s events  Values flexibility

Strategies for a Better Fit  Schedule Your Life – both work and free time  Create Lists – Know what needs to be done and put it on your schedule  Set priorities – Complete the most important things first  Create Systems for anything you do more than twice  Know when to say No – Delegate and stop trying to do it all.

Keep working to find your leadership-life fit!!

Final Thoughts & Evaluation