Cultivating Innovative Leadership: Embracing the Basics

1. Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teacher’s Forum Innovative Leadership: First, the Basics Redmond, Washington July 19, 2005 Dr. Yvonne Caamal Canul, Director Office of School Improvement Michigan Department of Education

2. Assumptions • You are innovators, leadership is inherent in that role • Innovare - to make new, renew – from within • Innovation doesn’t need to be complicated • Environments can foster innovation • Leaders influence their environments • Environments that foster innovation have basic characteristics

3. Relationships Research Rituals Leadership Innovation: The Basics • Relationships • Rituals • Research

4. Relationships • Everyone is a potential ally, everything a potential spark • Relationships - connecting people, situations, ideas

5. Relationships -Role of the Soul • Find your authentic self, be human • let people know you, laugh • Lead from Within • lead with light • Organizational value formula • value = positivity

6. Organizational Value Formula The amount of work you contribute to the organization - (minus) The amount you complain about the amount of work you contribute = (equals) Your Value to the Organization

7. Relationships- Influence and Connections • Sphere of influence is symbiotic • you get what you give • Understand the nature of connectivity • nothing exists in isolation • “Uno nunca sabe para quien trabaja” - Power Shifts

8. Relationships –Responsibility to Others • Relationships define area of engagement • broader definition, greater capacity • New relationships increase responsibility to new agenda – increases potential for new ideas • finding common ground, giving/getting

9. Relationships –Mentorship • Everyone has a story, listen to it • Empower others • identify your leaders within, mentor them • Build an expansive constituency base • there are no enemies

10. Rituals • Ritual as Metaphor Routines, events, activities, and products transforming ordinary meaning into extraordinary being

11. Rituals – Meaningful Routines • Set Expectations • establish whole community routines • develop coherence, stability • Student Focus • engage students in their identity • Celebratory – implant the positive • transformational thinking

12. Rituals –Events • Expected and unexpected • benchmarking events • contextual need • Support instruction • focus on academicrelevance • Attention to details • small things DO matter

13. Rituals – Activities • Support the Mission – • be clear about what it is • stay coherent and focused • Congruent with stated values – • the “non-negotiables” • pedagogy vs. politics, weigh each • Enhance instructional goals • support to academics

14. Rituals – Product Oriented • Concrete, tangible • make history, legacy-minded • Physical evidence of meaning • visual “meaning-making” • Standard of excellence – • let people know they’re worth it • reward generously

15. Research • What’s Going on Here and What Does it Mean?

16. Research – Know Thyself • Expand your personal curriculum • Know a lot about a lot, travel and read • Engage in self-discovery • who am I? who are we? • Identify a group of colleagues and TALK regularly about your craft until the conversation expires • Take time to discuss deeply with safety

17. Research –Inquiry-based Environment • Ask “why are we doing this?” • keep the mission/reason clear, constant • Create opportunities and climate for discussions • find ways to engage in deep inquiry • “Getting through” the agenda doesn’t imply efficacy • use the “teachable moment”

18. Research –Inquiry + Data = Good Decisions • Broaden definition of information gathering • textual, verbal, non-verbal • gather data from everywhere, ask good ?’s • Look for, ask for evidence, patterns • what does the data tell you? • all information helps with decision-making • Match support with data-identified needs • the data will tell you what to do

19. Innovative LeadershipSimple thoughts on a complex idea • Be prepared to know yourself better than you may want to • Know a lot about a lot • Travel as much as you can • Believe and act as if there are no enemies • Dream, think, then do

20. Innovative LeadershipSimple thoughts on a complex idea • Take some risks, redesign the conventional • Every day tell the people you work with that they are the greatest • Come to work earlier than anyone else, leave later than anyone else – be selfless • Set the expectation for excellence, then practice it • Understand and believe that obstacles are just simple reminders telling you to go back and change direction, design, goals

21. Innovative LeadershipSimple thoughts on a complex idea • Negotiate – find common ground whenever and wherever possible • Practice PRAXIS • Anticipate whenever possible, trust your intuition • Gossip is a dangerous, be circumspect • No one is “golden” – power shifts

22. Innovative LeadershipSimple thoughts on a complex idea • Don’t deprive anyone of their place, their time, their story • Everything happens for a reason – “cada perro tiene su día” • Be empathetic, especially when you don’t feel like it • Problems are opportunities for creating innovative solutions

23. Innovative LeadershipSimple thoughts on a complex idea • Build bridges, don’t burn them – but make sure you cross them! • Whenever you think you’ll never do that, you will • What goes around, comes around – so beware of what you send around • Mentor people, work your way out of leadership

24. Innovative LeadershipSimple thoughts on a complex idea • Build professional equity and cash it in sparingly • Develop projects around people’s strengths • Say “please” and “thank you” a lot, especially to waitresses • Smile, enjoy life

25. “He who has a “why” to live for can bear almost any “how.” Friedrich Nietzsche