When Values Collide: Beliefs Shape Decision-Making

In several of my courses we talk about personal belief systems and how they shape the way we do our work and make decisions. The challenge is that in any school people often hold different beliefs, grounded in their own unique experiences. This leads to some pretty intense discussions about beliefs, about ethics, and about "right and wrong." I'm always looking for ways to extend the discussion and provide school leaders with tools they can use to think about the different beliefs present among their teachers, staff and community.

This week I saw an article on edutopia that was especially helpful in thinking about this issue. The article, Teacher Collaboration: When Belief Systems Collide, by Elena Aguilar, is built on Garmston & Costa's work in Cognitive Coaching where they discussed the ideologies that shape educators' decision-making. I want to share the article and hope you find it useful to think about your own personal "ideology" and how it shapes what you do and how you see the work, and motives, of others in your school and community.

As always, I'd welcome your thoughts about this topic.

It All Begins with Vision

During my recent work in Oregon GEAR UP schools I'm been reminded of the importance of the principal's vision. Two principals, Jay Mathisen at La Pine High School and Scott Reed at Lincoln Junior High/High School, became principal a few years ago with a clear vision for making their campus academically excellent and a place that exemplified a culture of college readiness. After three years they've had tremendous success shaping their school and can point to significant gains in student achievement and college attendance.

Having a clear vision or purpose for your school is important. Besides having your own personal vision you must work collaboratively with teachers, families, staff and students to develop a clear and compelling vision for your school. That's what made Jay and Scott successful.

But it all begins with your personal vision. That vision consists of the most fundamental beliefs about life, about your work, and about relationships with people. I suggest you use a four-step process to develop your vision statement.

Step 1: Think about your personal and professional life. Describe what you would like to achieve and the contributions you would like to make. Think of it as something already accomplished. Describe what it looks like and feels like. For example, imagine hovering in a hot air balloon over your life. Imagine your life as successful as it might be---what would you see? what would you feel? what would you hear?

Step 2: Consider your self-image, relationships, personal interests, and community based on the things you wrote in step 1. Examine each item in your draft statement to be sure it still fits.

Step 3: Develop a list of values and identify those that are most important in your life. Once this is done, review the list and rank them from most to least important. Remove the least important. Re-rank if appropriate. Check for relevance with your earlier statement. Eliminate any item that is not relevant.

Step 4: Use the items from the first three steps to develop a statement about who you are. Review and edit the statement as often as needed until you believe it accurately reflects your vision.

The job of a principal begins with vision. If you don't have a vision, or haven't revisited it recently, you won't have a clear direction when pressures mount. I encourage you to take the time to develop your own vision and to work with your school community to build a shared vision.

I'd enjoy hearing from you about your school and the vision that guides your efforts.