Clarify the Commitments That Are Vital to Creating the School
A shared vision describes what a school will become. Collective commitments describe the specific behaviors that individuals throughout the school must demonstrate in order to move the school in the desired direction. These commitments serve two purposes. First, they move the conversation from the discussion of what a staff hopes to create someday to the specific steps that must be taken today to bring the vision to reality. Second, articulated commitments help clarify how an individual can contribute to the school improvement effort. Whereas a shared vision focuses on the organization, collective commitments focus on people. The conversation moves from “What is the school we hope to create?” to “What must each of us start doing now to move us forward?”
The collective commitments should be specifically aligned with the vision statement, and the principal should model this important step by publicly stating the explicit commitments he or she is prepared to make to contribute to the achievement of the shared vision.
See the Schaumburg School District 54 “Mission and Goals” to download examples of collective commitments for principals, teachers, students, and parents. Visit go.solution-tree.com/plcbooks for a link to this reproducible.
See “Why Should We Articulate Collective Commitments?” for a sampling of the research on collective commitments. Visit go.solution-tree.com/plcbooks to download this reproducible.
Establish Indicators of Progress and Strategies for Monitoring Those Indicators
One of the most powerful ways leaders communicate their priorities is by creating a process for monitoring progress of those priorities. Effective principals will work with a leadership team to:
• Translate vision statements into specific actionable steps for making progress
• Establish a timeline for when the steps should be completed
• Monitor each step
• Intervene to provide support when staff members are struggling to move forward
• Identify specific benchmarks the staff can reference to keep track of improvement
• Set clear schoolwide goals and ensure that every collaborative team has translated one or more of those goals into a goal for the team that is strategic and specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented, and time bound (SMART)
In later chapters, we will have much more to say about the importance of SMART goals in implementing the PLC process. For now, we will simply assert that if a shared vision is to impact student achievement, principals must help people throughout the school identify and achieve strategic and specific, measurable short-term and long-term goals that serve as milestones of progress toward the vision.
When a staff has answered these questions—Why do we exist? What kind of school must we become to fulfill our purpose? What collective commitments must we make to create that school? and When do we expect to achieve benchmarks on our journey?—people throughout the school have the benefit of knowing why they are engaged in the work they are doing each day. Furthermore, clarity regarding how these questions are answered provides staff members with a powerful frame of reference when they are called on to make decisions. They know decisions that are consistent with the purpose of learning for all, that move the school toward the shared vision, that honor the collective commitments, and that contribute to the achievement of the school and team goals are certain to be supported. Establishing this foundation is just one of many steps on the journey to becoming a PLC; however, it is a vital step that should not be overlooked.
See “The Professional Learning Communities at Work™ Continuum: Laying the Foundation” and “Where Do We Go From Here? Worksheet: Laying the Foundation of a PLC” for information to guide you on your PLC journey. Visit go.solution-tree.com/plcbooks to download these reproducibles.
Develop a Critical Mass to Support Implementation and Begin Taking Action
One of the most common mistakes principals make in attempting to implement the PLC process is to delay taking action until every staff member has endorsed the action. Do not confuse a widely shared vision with universal support among staff. Principals must strive for consensus as opposed to unanimity. It is unlikely that everyone on a staff will welcome the substantive changes necessary to transform a traditional school into a PLC. Principals who delay action until every staff member is willing to board the PLC train are almost certain to discover the train will never leave the station.
Those who hope to lead a professional learning community must recognize that professionals are expected to make decisions based on the evidence of the most promising strategy for meeting the needs of those they serve. In a profession, evidence trumps appeals to mindless precedent (“This is how I have always done it”) or personal preference (“This is how I like to do it”). Therefore, effective principals ensure staff members are provided with the evidence to make informed decisions. They do not allow an individual’s preference to supersede a professional’s obligation to apply what is considered the most effective practice in his or her field.
Therefore, in attempting to build consensus for implementing the PLC process, principals should work with their leadership team to:
• Build shared knowledge regarding the elements of the PLC process and the research base supporting the benefits of the process
• Engage in dialogue with staff to identify and address concerns and questions
• Encourage dissent and invite all staff to present contradictory research and evidence that suggests the PLC process is detrimental to student learning
• Seek to understand the perspective of those who are opposed to taking action by asking them to share their thought processes and assumptions
• Articulate their thought processes and assumptions, search for areas of agreement, and acknowledge areas of disagreement
• Demonstrate a willingness to compromise on some of the specifics of implementation provided those compromises do not violate the big ideas of the PLC process
Once the leadership team has met these obligations, we recommend a two-part standard for moving forward with implementation.
1. All points of view have been heard.
2. The will of the group is evident even to those who oppose it.
If that standard is met, all staff members should be expected and must be required to act according to the will of the group. Although it is certainly preferable to have staff members engaged in the PLC process out of commitment, actions based on compliance are better than the interminable inaction of waiting for resistant staff members to change their beliefs. Research advises that people are far more likely to behave their way into new beliefs than to believe their way into new behaviors (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000; Reeves, 2002). A principal cannot stipulate that resistant staff members change their beliefs. A principal can, however, insist that resistant staff members behave in new ways, engaging in behaviors that are essential to the PLC process. If that process proves beneficial to students, provides resistant staff with a positive experience, and leads to better results, changes in their beliefs and levels of commitment are likely to follow. Personal experience remains “the great persuader” and “the mother of all cognitive map changes” (Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, & Switzler, 2008, p. 51).
See “The Professional Learning Communities at Work™ Continuum: Responding to Conflict” and “Where Do We Go From Here? Worksheet: Effective Communication (Chapter 9)” for more information on building consensus and dealing