This is one piece of a continuing series of posts on school improvement reflecting my professional experience. I had prepared this manuscript for publication but time eluded me. The blog posts advance in time and concept in book-form beginning with the Blog post on March 21.
Em-power Tools
Training is essential for success in shared decision making. While a teacher responds to a multitude of questions that solicit decisions every day their existence in isolated, single cell classrooms does not afford them much opportunity to work cooperatively with their colleagues. Lieberman and Miller expound on this in Teachers, Their World and Their Work. It therefore does not hold that simply gathering teachers together in hopes of resolving an issue or attacking a problem will produce quality responses.
Ron Zemke and Dick Schaaf, authors of The Service Edge, refer to the power tools of empowerment. These tools are 1) information (data, technical knowledge, political intelligence, and expertise), 2) resources (funds, material, space, time), and 3) support (endorsement, backing, approval, legitimacy). Effective team members should receive training with these three empower tools before engaging in shared decision making.
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