{"id":5174,"date":"2018-11-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/competency-based-education-quality-principle-5-cultivate-empowering-and-distributed-leadership\/"},"modified":"2020-03-10T21:50:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T01:50:05","slug":"competency-based-education-quality-principle-5-cultivate-empowering-and-distributed-leadership","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/competency-based-education-quality-principle-5-cultivate-empowering-and-distributed-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Competency-Based Education Quality Principle #5: Cultivate Empowering and Distributed Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This is the sixth article in a series based on the book\u00a0<\/em>Quality Principles for Competency-Based Education<\/a><\/em>. You can find the section on Principle #5 Cultivate Empowering and Distributed Leadership on page 48.<\/em>\u00a0The links to the other articles can be found at the bottom of this page and will be updated as they are posted.\u00a0<\/em>For more on equity, see\u00a0Designing for Equity: Leveraging Competency-Based Education to Ensure All Students Succeed<\/a>.<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult, if not impossible, to implement or sustain a personalized, competency-based system through top-down bureaucratic approaches. You can\u2019t simply write a memo to tell schools and educators how to change their practices. You can\u2019t tell people to change their beliefs and assumptions. The change process requires engagement. Engagement requires trusting relationships and time for dialogue and learning. Trust is developed and demonstrated by listening to, investing in, and respecting the ability of others to make strong decisions. Thus, districts and schools making headway in creating competency-based systems will usually refer to the importance of empowerment and distributed leadership that give schools and educators more autonomy. But autonomy doesn\u2019t mean the individual makes all decisions. Rather, it refers to decisions being made closer to and involving the people who are being impacted.<\/p>\n

The other problem with top-down decision-making in the transition from traditional to competency-based education is that it will slow decisions down. Decision-making forms bottlenecks as problems are identified and move up and down the hierarchical ladder. Furthermore, the superintendent or principal is unlikely going to have a grip on all the information they will need to make a wise decision. They are going to need to bring in multiple perspectives and involve others in thinking through the chain reaction of changing any one piece of the system. Thus, even though distributed decision-making may appear to take longer, it is actually likely to make better and, in the long-run, faster decisions. Some schools embrace the mantra Go slow to go fast <\/em>to help them shift their values from expediency to effectiveness. (See the Code of Culture<\/a> about the use of heuristics.)<\/p>\n

Leader Becomes Leaders<\/em>. Roles Change. <\/strong><\/p>\n

District and school leaders will have to rethink their roles if they embrace distributed leadership. Is the job of a principal or superintendent to make decisions or, as Jaime Robles<\/a>, former principal at Lindsay High School has explained, is it to \u201cmake sure our decision-making processes are managed effectively\u201d?<\/p>\n

At one point in their journey, the previous superintendent of D51 boldly turned to holacracy<\/a> as a method to manage roles and decision-making. Although the holacratic model was discontinued after a change in leadership, D51 continues to invest in a strong leadership team. Other leading districts do the same. Instead of bureaucratic turf, with each division managing vertically, there is a constant focus on horizontal intersections. Thus, the emphasis is more on leadership teams and less on one top-dog leader. Think leaders<\/em>, not leader.<\/p>\n

The Power of Trust<\/strong><\/p>\n

Building trusting relationships is a needed ingredient for distributed decision-making. (See The New School Rules<\/a>.) People need to feel that they can speak their truth and bring attention to problems without repercussions. They need to feel respected and listened to. Thus, when we talk about a culture of inclusivity<\/a> and belonging, it applies equally for the adults as well as students in a school or district.<\/p>\n

Vulnerability comes before trust and helps to create trust. Thus, leaders and leadership teams will need to role model vulnerablity. In the Code of Culture<\/a>, Dr. Jeff Polzer, a specialist in organizational development, explains that vulnerability \u201cis about sending a clear signal that you have weaknesses, that you could use help.” And if that behavior becomes a model for others, then you can set the insecurities aside and get to work, start to trust each other and help each other. If you never have that vulnerable moment, on the other hand, then people will try to cover up their weaknesses, and every little microtask becomes a place wheres insecurities manifest themselves.<\/p>\n

Thus, instead of viewing a leader as a decision-maker, tough, and charging ahead (there are clearly some gender-related themes here in how we often think of leaders), in a distributed leadership model, leadership teams are strong question-askers, reflective, and comfortable with a growth mindset that says I\u2019m not sure of the solution…yet.<\/p>\n

New Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leaders and leadership teams will find that they need to change their practices. They may be small such as creating open administrative spaces rather than closed-off offices. Or there may be new ways of doing their work that take time to fine-tune. Patricia DeKlotz, superintendent of Kettle Moraine<\/a>, described some of the new practices she and assistant superintendent Theresa Ewald have introduced:<\/p>\n