7. Delegation of Authority
1. assign projects, tasks, and responsibilities with delegated authority to accomplish them in a timely and acceptable manner;
2. utilize subordinates effectively;
3. follow up on delegated activities.
At its best, delegation of authority is the essence of good leadership. It requires having and sharing a strong vision for the school, and using it to create a mission with the staff. It also requires having strong systems in place to create an atmosphere of shared leadership where there are teacher leaders as well as having all teachers feeling enabled to take part in the process and understand their role within the system. The leader’s role then moves from directing the progress in the mission to monitoring and supporting progress. Inviting others to take on leadership roles allows for a more dynamic system than if the leader is alone in the role and allows for more diversity in the approaches to meeting the mission. Creating shared leadership is what brings new ideas to the table, which can be shared with the rest of the staff. It is also why monitoring and support are vital roles of the leader. If a group or individual is making tremendous progress, the leader needs to create a forum to share that success; if not, the leader needs to lend more support. The leader is ultimately responsible for the outcomes and needs to stay in touch with the process.
During my experiences of earning my field service hours, I saw both sides of delegating authority on a day-to-day basis. During my time facilitating the Murray ALC after school program (which caters mainly to students who are not fully successful during the school day), one of our teachers was unable to make it in to school due to car problems. I quickly jumped in to cover for her. Her classes had a reputation for being unruly, and I was happy to have the chance to intervene and help to settle them down. I did, in fact, meet that goal. However, since I was unavailable to monitor the halls during passing time and drop in to classes, the remaining classes were a bit more difficult than usual. I don’t know for certain that there was a direct cause and effect relationship.
I took the lesson learned in ALC with me when I moved to Highland Park for summer school – another environment for students who are not as successful within the regular school day/year. On the first day, there were approximately 100 students more than we were staffed to accommodate, and we needed to bring in additional staff quickly. On the first day, in addition to assisting students with holes in their schedules, I sat with large groups of students while awaiting new teachers from the ALC staffing office. By the end of first hour, the staffing office had sent one teacher, by the end of second hour, we had another. An additional teacher started later in the week, and had some planning time up front. My first impulse was to jump in and devote a lot of time with the new teachers. Instead, I met with them after school and before school the following day, found some fun educational activities for them to do with their classes until the “official” curriculum arrived, encouraged them to work together, and then stepped back. I dropped by often to monitor and give support as needed. The result was calmer classrooms with students who saw the teachers (both very young, just starting out) as the leaders within the classroom, teachers who felt confident in their own abilities and collaboration skills, and the freedom on my part to be able to support a larger scope of classrooms.
The experience I had on a larger-scale that fits this competency is my time as the Professional Learning Community (PLC) facilitator for the science department of my current school. Having had a great deal of training in the area of leading PLCs, I took on this role as a relatively new teacher in a building with a strong science reputation. The focus of the learning was common assessment and using data to inform and direct our teaching with the ultimate goal of exceptional MCA proficiency rates. Over the course of the year, we looked closely at units that were taught by all members of the department, the essential standards covered, and how we were testing the students. We then set out to do several Japanese-style lesson studies to find the best way to teach each standard. Throughout the process, the facilitators from each PLC met to share our progress with the administration and each other and to give support and advice to each other. The science PLC was successful. While each teacher still maintained his or her own spin on the lessons, the essential elements are now collective throughout the department. I was given a great deal of freedom to facilitate the group and in turn gave each member a lot of opportunities to bring their ideas, lessons, reflections, etc. to the table.
As I move forward, I will take with me the understanding that it is more powerful to encourage teacher/staff-leadership within the building than to attempt to control every aspect of the school. It is a more efficient way to lead and brings about more trust between staff and administration as well as building capacity for change. System design, monitoring, supporting, and celebrating success are vital factors within this leadership style and need to become the focus of the leader. Often, it is more difficult to lead from a coaching role than to simply do all of the leading, but in terms of capacity, progress and relationship-building it is well worth the switch in paradigm.
1. assign projects, tasks, and responsibilities with delegated authority to accomplish them in a timely and acceptable manner;
2. utilize subordinates effectively;
3. follow up on delegated activities.
At its best, delegation of authority is the essence of good leadership. It requires having and sharing a strong vision for the school, and using it to create a mission with the staff. It also requires having strong systems in place to create an atmosphere of shared leadership where there are teacher leaders as well as having all teachers feeling enabled to take part in the process and understand their role within the system. The leader’s role then moves from directing the progress in the mission to monitoring and supporting progress. Inviting others to take on leadership roles allows for a more dynamic system than if the leader is alone in the role and allows for more diversity in the approaches to meeting the mission. Creating shared leadership is what brings new ideas to the table, which can be shared with the rest of the staff. It is also why monitoring and support are vital roles of the leader. If a group or individual is making tremendous progress, the leader needs to create a forum to share that success; if not, the leader needs to lend more support. The leader is ultimately responsible for the outcomes and needs to stay in touch with the process.
During my experiences of earning my field service hours, I saw both sides of delegating authority on a day-to-day basis. During my time facilitating the Murray ALC after school program (which caters mainly to students who are not fully successful during the school day), one of our teachers was unable to make it in to school due to car problems. I quickly jumped in to cover for her. Her classes had a reputation for being unruly, and I was happy to have the chance to intervene and help to settle them down. I did, in fact, meet that goal. However, since I was unavailable to monitor the halls during passing time and drop in to classes, the remaining classes were a bit more difficult than usual. I don’t know for certain that there was a direct cause and effect relationship.
I took the lesson learned in ALC with me when I moved to Highland Park for summer school – another environment for students who are not as successful within the regular school day/year. On the first day, there were approximately 100 students more than we were staffed to accommodate, and we needed to bring in additional staff quickly. On the first day, in addition to assisting students with holes in their schedules, I sat with large groups of students while awaiting new teachers from the ALC staffing office. By the end of first hour, the staffing office had sent one teacher, by the end of second hour, we had another. An additional teacher started later in the week, and had some planning time up front. My first impulse was to jump in and devote a lot of time with the new teachers. Instead, I met with them after school and before school the following day, found some fun educational activities for them to do with their classes until the “official” curriculum arrived, encouraged them to work together, and then stepped back. I dropped by often to monitor and give support as needed. The result was calmer classrooms with students who saw the teachers (both very young, just starting out) as the leaders within the classroom, teachers who felt confident in their own abilities and collaboration skills, and the freedom on my part to be able to support a larger scope of classrooms.
The experience I had on a larger-scale that fits this competency is my time as the Professional Learning Community (PLC) facilitator for the science department of my current school. Having had a great deal of training in the area of leading PLCs, I took on this role as a relatively new teacher in a building with a strong science reputation. The focus of the learning was common assessment and using data to inform and direct our teaching with the ultimate goal of exceptional MCA proficiency rates. Over the course of the year, we looked closely at units that were taught by all members of the department, the essential standards covered, and how we were testing the students. We then set out to do several Japanese-style lesson studies to find the best way to teach each standard. Throughout the process, the facilitators from each PLC met to share our progress with the administration and each other and to give support and advice to each other. The science PLC was successful. While each teacher still maintained his or her own spin on the lessons, the essential elements are now collective throughout the department. I was given a great deal of freedom to facilitate the group and in turn gave each member a lot of opportunities to bring their ideas, lessons, reflections, etc. to the table.
As I move forward, I will take with me the understanding that it is more powerful to encourage teacher/staff-leadership within the building than to attempt to control every aspect of the school. It is a more efficient way to lead and brings about more trust between staff and administration as well as building capacity for change. System design, monitoring, supporting, and celebrating success are vital factors within this leadership style and need to become the focus of the leader. Often, it is more difficult to lead from a coaching role than to simply do all of the leading, but in terms of capacity, progress and relationship-building it is well worth the switch in paradigm.
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