Project L.O.F.T. Report

1. Project L.O.F.T. Report • May 2007 through October 2007 • Creating a design to meet stakeholder desires and dissolve our current set of interacting problems. • Brainstormed by the Project L.O.F.T. Design Team

2. Stakeholder Specifications The Design team carefully examined and generated themes and design specifications from the 2200+ stakeholder-generated ideas. What follows are the results of their work and some “first-blushes” of potential designs.

3. Design Specs: FUNCTIONS What the system must produce: • Positive impact on all students. • Integrated solutions to sets of client problems. • Recognition of the worth of our staff and assure they have the materials, equipment, and support to contribute their gifts and expertise and to do their work well. • Help for LEA’s to define their unique sets of problems in a holistic way. • Strong client relationships characterized by openness, shared learning, and trust. • Support to the DE in deploying initiatives. • Judicious and efficient use of educational resources in the service areas.

4. Design Specs: FUNCTIONS Below are a representation of stakeholder specifications that helped frame the set of functions: • “best practices reflected in school cultures” • “blend initiatives with LEA’s” • “more leadership opportunities” • “honor/respect skills and strengths people have” • “trust, respect, value” • “efficient, quality services” • “expert collaborative balance” • “flexibility to support learners” • “creative service delivery” • “function as a group” • “prioritize and develop a focus for the Agency” • “standardization and flexibility balance” • “a birth-to-21 seamless system” • “flexibility for all to engage in planning and development” • “staff in field and assigned to projects are connected to work of the Agency” • “core services to meet mandates”

5. Design Specs: STRUCTURES How the system would be organized: • Teams that are opportunity-creating: • presenting challenging work; • having opportunities to teach and learn from colleagues; • having opportunities to innovate, and; • to see the impact of their work. • Dynamic structures that continually match internal competency with client need. • A set of internal support units that are managed to provide highly effective, efficient, and aligned services to the agency at large.

6. Design Specs: STRUCTURES Below are a representation of stakeholder specifications that helped frame the set of structures: • “promoting expertise within teams” • “honor specialist/generalist combined role” • “match assignments to needs” • “more direct contact with content consultants” • “establish research/design teams” • “scheduling that allows for collaboration” • “assignments using each person’s strength, interest, and passion” • “flexible, fluid, and purposeful collegial learning groups around common content” • “follow-up learning teams both discipline specific and school district specific” • “projects and initiatives assigned to groups and teams” • “utilize personnel expertise” • “provide structured mentoring and coaching” • “dynamic, flexible groups” • “incorporate more discipline meetings for learning and best practice” • “a fluid employee structure” • “integrated teams with LEA’s”

7. Design Specs: PROCESSES How the system would conduct work: • Identify and standardize on best-known practice that contributes to effective solutions to complex client problems. • Develop, disseminate, and continuously improve programs, products, and services that simultaneously achieve high quality, rapid cycle times, low waste, and high flexibility. • Develop and use a measurement process that provides relevant information to decision makers at all levels of the Agency. • Develop and use effective decision processes that: • make decision criteria clear and known; • identifies and records key assumptions and expectations, and; • fosters learning through comparisons between what was predicted and what actually occurred. • Enable people to develop and apply their knowledge and talents to influence the Agency and its clients.

8. Design Specs: PROCESSES Below are a representation of stakeholder specifications that helped frame the set of processes: • “better communication” • “opportunities to meet within disciplines” • “consider democracy at work models” • “developing our own research” • “consistent standards for initiatives and work” • “future oriented research teams” • “better ways to relate information” • “end-in-mind design processes that involve all” • “identify systems and procedures that individuals have developed to be more effective and efficient and share with others” • “emphasis on research based practices” • “foster internal communication that promotes staff inclusion and equity” • “reliable and timely feedback systems and access to data” • “observable/measurable value of services” • “decisions are made using data” • “make visible the underlying underpinnings of the work and allow staff to create and commit to their role” • “learn, understand and work on a uniform practice of instruction” • “consistency in communication and documentation of key information” • “efficient data collection/display options” • “feedback systems are in place and utilized on systemic basis with outcomes shared with all stakeholders” • “opportunities for AEA and LEA staff to learn together”

9. One idea for organizing With the assistance of systems scientist, Jamshid Gharajedaghi, an organizational platform was drafted as one possible way to organize to achieve the functions, structures, and processes desired AND that would hold promise of dissolving the current set of interacting problems we face. This is but a first blush at attempting to conceptualize how an organization might be able to create its own future. The next slide shows the model with subsequent slides meant to describe each segment.

11. Understanding a “platform” This particular idea is based upon a “platform” concept. A “platform” is organized around a specific set of work. In this idea, there are 5 platforms: • Shared Services. • Knowledge or Project Bank • Product & Service Delivery • Markets • Executive

12. The Shared Services Platform • This platform is where all the services reside who are responsible for providing the Agency will service. The goal of this platform includes: • Responsiveness • Efficiency • Quality • Ease-of-use • The areas identified were those brainstormed on a first pass-through and may or may not be complete or accurate.

13. The Knowledge Bank Platform • This platform is where the Agency has access to all of the expertise in the Agency and in which all employees may take part in innovation and creation of projects, research, programs and services. • Teams would be led by a project manager who assembles an integrated team of professionals to solve problems or explore new learning and/or research.

14. The Product & Service Platform • This platform is where the work of the Agency takes place – where products and services are customized and delivered to the various customers and consumers.

15. The Markets Platform • This platform is where the work occurs – each market is clearly defined and the responsibility of people in this platform is to be the voice of the client inside the Agency and to commission and contract for products, services, and new solutions.

16. The Executive Platform • This platform is designed to ensure that all platforms work effectively together and that the system is integrated. Key responsibilities include: • Providing resources – financial and human. • Creating and monitoring a clear and transparent decision-making system. • To set criteria and to monitor the key system measures for the organization.

18. Next Steps On December 11, 2007, the Design Team will meet for a day to attempt to create a design and to determine some logical “first steps” during the first approximation of the design.