Even though I received a score of 19 on the self-reflection quiz, making it unlikely that I am
an “accidental diminisher”, I need to continue working in a couple areas to be an effective
a leader in my school.
The first being that when problems arise, I tend to be a person who wants to not only address
the problem, but propose a solution to the problem and take care of it quickly so we can
move on. (This is a coping skill since I am a procrastinator.) This year our Instructional
Leadership Team (ILT) has been in this mode as well and I can see how it caused us to come
close to becoming “Accidental Diminishers” as we feel the need to make decisions quickly.
For example, we made changes in our leadership team this year and with those changes
came the problem of how do we get information out to staff. In the past, we were in teams
(schools within a school, so we had 4-5 core teachers on a team that had the same students
and we shared specialists among the teams) and the team leader was the representative on
our school’s leadership team. It worked well, but because we are not “teaming”this year, it was decided that we would have department leads as well as a representative from each
grade level on the team to make sure all were represented.
Even though at the time it made sense. We ran into the problem of who will be the point person for who? What are our roles? Too many questions and variables came into play. Since we had at least two people representing everyone on staff. it didn’t make sense to have both department leads and grade level representatives deliver any communication and/or bring things to ILT. In trying to solve this problem quickly, it was decided to have grade level people be in charge of communicating since we have less responsibilities than department heads for the same pay. We tried this one month, but soon realized that then it shifted the workload and it didn’t work out since we were each communicating with a third of the school. We also, still had the problem of some being represented by two people. (example, I teach
both 6th and 7th grade social studies). As we looked for solutions again, it was suggested that we create a communication tree where each of us took only a few people to represent/ communicate with. We are rolling this out this next week and will see how it goes.
our school’s leadership team. It worked well, but because we are not “teaming”this year, it was decided that we would have department leads as well as a representative from each
grade level on the team to make sure all were represented.
Even though at the time it made sense. We ran into the problem of who will be the point person for who? What are our roles? Too many questions and variables came into play. Since we had at least two people representing everyone on staff. it didn’t make sense to have both department leads and grade level representatives deliver any communication and/or bring things to ILT. In trying to solve this problem quickly, it was decided to have grade level people be in charge of communicating since we have less responsibilities than department heads for the same pay. We tried this one month, but soon realized that then it shifted the workload and it didn’t work out since we were each communicating with a third of the school. We also, still had the problem of some being represented by two people. (example, I teach
both 6th and 7th grade social studies). As we looked for solutions again, it was suggested that we create a communication tree where each of us took only a few people to represent/ communicate with. We are rolling this out this next week and will see how it goes.
Even though this is an example of a decision that was made with a group of people, I was in
on the decision. I think through this example and my detailed report after taking the quiz, it
shows my need to slow down a bit in my decision making and take the time to think it through
how it would really look and sound. I also liked the idea of waiting at least 24 hours before
responding. . . . I am getting better about this since I have been burned in the past by
decisions I have made quickly.
The other thing I need to work on is my gift for gab. I am one of those people who really has
a hard time not speaking up if the room is quiet. Also, if it is something I am passionate for
as well then I will speak more as a way to convince someone to try my idea. I do see how it
can stiffle others, and I have been working on this, but it is a work in progress. I look forward
to trying the ideas presented in the book.
Again, I can see my efforts to work on these issues in the past has changed me from an
“accidental diminisher” to an “unlikely diminisher”, but I still need to work on these areas to be an effective leader and to be aware of them I do my action research so I don't slip into being an "accidental diminisher".
“accidental diminisher” to an “unlikely diminisher”, but I still need to work on these areas to be an effective leader and to be aware of them I do my action research so I don't slip into being an "accidental diminisher".
