Meeting and conferring is a strategy/process all principals should have in place. As a principal, it is important to be transparent, establish trusting relationships through two-way communication, and value feedback to build and sustain credibility to show you value the perspectives, knowledge, expertise, and opinions of the staff within your learning organization. When two-way communication (meet and confer) is strong and is a norm, staff can work collaboratively to meet the diverse needs of students and increase student performance through the collective commitments to the district vision.
When the school community approaches communication and decision-making through the lens of the district vision, action aligns to continuous improvement goals that facilitate achievement of the vision. The vision provides direction and motivates school staff, students, and community members to work together to advance student performance and learning. The vision emerges from core values and is the compelling, motivating, and guiding force for all organizational action and behavior to foster high levels of student achievement.
High levels of student achievement / performance is the number one goal and priority of public education and every learning organization. The district vision defines what teaching and learning should look like and aspire to be so the vision becomes the reality. When teaching practices and student performance data is analyzed to celebrate success and identify areas in need of improvement to problem-solve, decisions must be made regarding action that needs to be taken to move the organization forward and increase student achievement. If a strategy/process for meeting and conferring is an established norm, discussion can focus on mutual interests aligned to vision with a commitment to provide solutions related to student performance that honor the perspectives of staff and administration. When all stakeholders feel they are heard and their feedback is valued and utilized to inform decision-making, meet and confer can positively impact culture, sustain positive relationships, increase student performance, and work to make the vision reality.
I love the mention of valuing feedback as a leader. We continually talk about giving meaningful feedback to our staff. Feedback that will help them grow as educators. It is extremely important that as the leader of the school we welcome feedback in order to help ourselves grow. No one is perfect, and we all need to learn and grow from the decisions and experiences we make.
ReplyDeleteHi Candice,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your response to the "meet and confer" topic. I really appreciated how every idea that you shared linked back to the district mission and vision. To me that shows that you are very aware of the direction that your district is moving towards and you are providing leadership to drive your staff towards that vision as well. I also really liked that you mentioned the celebration of successes. I feel that sometimes as educators, administrators focus so heavily on the areas that need improvement, that the celebrations are often forgotten. I liked that you addressed that in your response.
Lindsey