Building Trust and Efficacy in School Districts: A Leader's Guide
Summary:
In this insightful episode of the Engaging Leadership podcast, CT Leong engages with the esteemed Dr. Jamie Nutter to unravel the intricacies of educational leadership and its impact on community development. Dr. Nutter, with his wealth of experience, elucidates the profound relationship between school districts and the communities they serve, particularly in rural settings, emphasizing the essentiality of education leaders being at the forefront of community involvement and progression.
The conversation delves into the essence of crafting a suburban educational experience in rural school districts, the role of superintendents within the community, professional learning communities (PLCs), and the dynamics of school culture. The episode strikes a chord with education professionals endeavoring to elevate their leadership skills and illustrates how proficient leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping the educational landscape to heighten student achievement.
Key Takeaways:
- Leadership in education extends beyond school boundaries, necessitating superintendents to actively engage with and influence their wider community for enhanced educational experiences.
- Dr. Nutter underscores the importance of school districts in rural areas offering robust student opportunities, akin to those available in suburban districts, to bolster college readiness and academic success.
- Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) should be utilized intentionally to drive collective teacher efficacy, rather than merely existing as a procedural element.
- School culture's impact on learning outcomes is profound and multifaceted, with trust, professional collaboration, and self-efficacy being key components.
- Successful educational leadership relies on preparation, intentionality, and the ability to foster a sense of collective accomplishment among educators and students alike.
Chapters:
0:00:00
Introduction and background of Dr. Jamie Nutter
0:02:48
Providing a suburban educational experience in a rural school district
0:06:09
Engaging stakeholders and building community partnerships
0:08:22
The motivation to pursue leadership in education
0:09:58
Supporting new superintendents in their role
0:11:00
Preparing for the role of a superintendent
0:12:38
Personal epiphany and mindset shift in leadership
0:13:33
The importance of professional learning communities
0:14:24
Professional collaboration is key in professional learning communities, but it alone does not guarantee results
0:15:00
The definition of efficacy in education and the belief in being the biggest difference makers in students' lives
0:16:35
Engaging in professional learning communities with the intention of improving culture and efficacy leads to results
0:17:06
Implementing PLCs with the mindset of driving efficacy and intentionally applying it as a superintendent
0:18:45
Building and molding the culture of teams as a leader and understanding its purpose in solving external problems
0:19:54
The different components of culture according to Edgar Shine and the importance of aligning beliefs with practices
0:21:20
Using the School Culture Triage Survey to measure professional collaboration, affinity of clarity, and self-efficacy
0:23:26
Being intentional about all practices and focusing on accomplishment and success in developing culture
0:24:41
The critical insights in coaching leaders to think objectively, not take things personally, and foster open communication
0:27:04
The importance of leaders taking their ego out of the situation and thinking for the best interest of the organization
0:27:28
Leaders in school districts investing in building future leaders
0:27:58
Importance of building trust one person at a time
0:28:37
Relationships are key in creating effective schools
0:29:23
Foundational layer of trust is crucial for organizational success
0:29:55
Preparation and intentional planning are essential for success
0:30:35
Timely reminder to not take everything personally as leaders
0:30:45
Conclusion and thanks for joining the conversation
Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk
Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung
Connect with Jamie Nutter: www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-nutter-52580460
Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda
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Transcript
So we're fairly rural. We provide a variety of services from professional development to special education to leadership services to our school districts. I get the privilege of working directly with the superintendents of each of those school districts in our monthly superintendent meetings.
[: [:Prior to that, I was a principal in a school district where I was very blessed to have a lot of experience. In fact, we were the fourth experienced district in the state. I learned a lot about leadership being inexperienced and young principal, I had the privilege of working with a great team of teachers and other administrators who help me gain that foundation. And prior to that, I was a coach, a teacher and a community member in school districts.
[:Tell me a little bit more about what that difference is and how you've approached it as a superintendent at that time.
[:And so in rural districts, in order to do that, we had to really view ourselves as partners in our community and had to help our community members think about that as a vision as well and be committed to that. As a result, I was very blessed to be in a community where was a shared vision.
That was a part of it. In order to commit to that so many times we hear about the school and the community, for example, people will say we need to be a greater part of the community as if we're not already a part of the community. In fact, school districts in rural areas are the center of their communities.
commitment provided a lot of [: [: You have to be able to [:What was some of the levers that you used to engage the rest of these stakeholders especially in a more rural environment where they're quite spread out and it's difficult to get that kind of face to face contact with everyone at a single time.
[: college readiness. That all [:In the community where I served in one of our referenda, 84 percent of the community approved that with high numbers of voter turnout. We had another one where we needed more dollars to achieve our vision and 78 percent more approved that. So it does require a lot of community partnerships on when you're looking outside of the school into the community as a whole.
[: [:When I had the opportunity to get around like minded people it was just really exciting to hear of all the possibilities, to be around other people that looked for all the reasons we should do things, or we should provide opportunities versus all the reasons that we should not.
Being able to understand that influence is what drove me and then to try to motivate others to think about what are the possibilities that we can provide for people, let's just not settle for the fact that we live in rural areas. What's stopping us? So to be around other people who had a growth mindset really motivated me to continue my leadership path.
[: [:So that I would say is probably the biggest privilege I have right now as a leader in a region. That's very satisfying for me to be able to work with high quality individuals.
[: how to prepare them for that [: [:I'm responsible to provide feedback, support, accountability and contribute to culture. But it's not my fault if there are people who are not satisfied. Now I'm not going to settle for the fact that there might not be people who I'm serving that might not be satisfied. But I learned that There's a lot of factors that I can't control.
I wouldn't be taking care of [: as a leader, focusing on the [: [:Once you get that flip, it then becomes easier to lead and pursue the vision that matters and pursue the big picture and bring more people on board.
We talked a lot about professional learning communities,
could you talk a little bit about what you've seen tying some of the research around these professional learning communities with your efficacy in the different roles that you've seen?
[: that efficacy and that self [:For example, school districts that have late starts, early releases or time for professional collaboration. If the purpose of that isn't to develop a belief of efficacy or self determination and efficacy within their staff, then that practice in itself is not going to be effective. So the whole idea is to be intentional about creating strong efficacy.
king at our teammates, we're [:So everything that we do in our culture has to be geared toward that intention, but just checking off a box to say, okay, we're going to do this component and we hope to get these results is not as effective. The research is pretty clear that those organizations that engage in professional learning communities to improve their culture or to improve their efficacy are the ones that get results.
[: lief that we are the primary [: [:If we're providing time for teams to establish norms and common assessments and discuss best practices to get those results on those common assessments there has to be some expectations and just standing in front of a group of people and verbally sharing an expectation from a leader does not necessarily mean that we're going to get those results.
are to provide that support. [:As a superintendent to be intentional that we want our educators to grow so that students become those positive recipients of our practices.
[: [:We can't understand culture unless we really go back to the saturation points. And when we look at those saturation points, it goes back to Edgar Schein from MIT. Edgar Schein said that, Organizational culture exists for an organization to be able to solve their external problems. He also defined it as and I'm going to paraphrase here, but the behaviors and the interactions of its members of how they solve that external problem. So in education, our external problem is learning, achievement for our students, that's what defines us is the problems that we're trying to solve, what we've been called to do. We have to really understand what components of that culture we're trying to change.
ucation is that we're seeing [:They maybe want to work on brand or they want to improve their brand. They want to improve their storytelling. Edgar Schein would say, okay, that's just one component. That's the artifacts. That's what we tell people. And then Schein goes into the espoused values.
It's what we tell everybody within our organization. So in other words, we tell the outside world what we're about. With our brand and our mission and our vision statements, we also tell each other what we're about, and then finally, we really dig down into what's the individual belief of the members. So we tell the outside world, we're about this.
e that change as a member. I [:The school Culture Triage Survey measures three components of culture. Those include professional collaboration. That's how do we interact with each other? We've talked at length about PLC's. That's a big part of professional collaboration. And then affiliate collegiality. How well do we get along? How do we like the people that we're interacting with, which is a key component of trust. And we know all the research about trust and culture. And finally Wagner's tool measures that self efficacy or self determination because the only way we know what's going on in the minds of the individuals is through to gather that information by asking them.
[: ional and it all has to move [:So the advice that I would give any leader based on the research is to be intentional about all the practices. It can't be just about feeling good. Certainly that's important. We want great morale. We want people to feel good, but it has to be about that intention. But to get the greatest amount of satisfaction, it has to be about accomplishment and it has to be about success, it just can't be because people tell us we're great.
We have to internalize that and feel that ourselves. And that's what a leader has to try to bring out and they can't give that to the members. The members have to feel that and earn that. And the leader is to help them earn that.
[: And there's this [: [:One is I could say, as a leader, I should have seen that. So they're pointing out a weakness to me because I'm not smart enough to see that's a problem. Or I could look at that objectively and understand that one of my team members is communicating the fact that there is a barrier, to us achieving our vision or that perfection If we can figure out a way to solve that problem we could be better as an organization.
And so that requires me to be at my best every single day. On our team here at CISA three, we have trained coaches and we really work hard at recognizing catabolic energy versus anabolic energy. Because my instincts are often to respond to negativity or respond to barriers with negativity versus looking at it as an opportunity.
So I would say that [:It really comes down to having that confidence and not being insecure or working toward not being insecure about open communication and finally the final point that I'll make is if I'm insecure about our team pointing out barriers and I react in a negative aspect.
e our organization better is [: [:How much do you feel that leaders in school districts today invest in building up their leadership bench? It sounds like it's something that's really hard to do but it's also something that takes time out of the regular daily operations and it could be seen as a long term investment, which may not pay off over the next three months or six months or a school year.
Do you feel like we're investing enough in building future leaders in our pipelines.
[:And if trust is a key component of efficacy and we know the research is undeniable about collective teacher efficacy to get results. Then we know that we have to build trust and that's one person at a time, one relationship at a time, and that's one conversation. I can't do that at a staff meeting and start spewing off a bunch of expectations.
we have to be working toward [: [:You've shared a lot with us today, Dr. Nutter, thank you so much for your insight. If there was one key takeaway that you wanted to share with leaders in education for them to remember and to be able to lead more effectively, what would that be?
[: [: [:
