An educational organization has to decide what kind of organization it is, who its customers are, what and how that message will be delivered in an effort to “market” its purpose.
In my experience, the most common metaphors used is “the school as a community” or “the school as a family”. These are used to describe the warm, fuzzy place where one would feel support and open communication practices. “Community” and “family” are about relationships that exist between and among people.
The image of school as a learning community is based on shared beliefs, values, and attitudes. This approach means that relationships are based on belonging, providing members with security, sense and meaning. The ties that bind us come from sharing with others a common commitment to a set of ideas and ideals. Building community requires us to put human needs before organizational needs.
School as community or family requires a different focus than many of us are trained to develop. Most school organizations are more formalized and tend to focus on predetermined roles and expectations. Their practice is more evaluative embodied in policies, rules and protocols.
Building “community and family” through school culture requires leaders that have a strong sense of empowering the workers, team building, trusting the workers, constructive feedback and open dialogue.
Leaders in an organization must see beyond the immediate surroundings in order to stir the emotions and feelings of others. Metaphoric language is at the heart of every organizational leader in an effort to provide a humanistic framework for enhancing teaching and practice. Metaphors are unseen influencers. Since leadership is the exercise of influence, the choice of metaphor is a source of power for leader.
4 comments:
I am struggling just a bit with one statement in your eloquent entry: "Building community requires us to put human needs before organizational needs." I believe these two needs are not mutually exclusive. There are instances when the organizational needs are totally congruent with human needs. While the instances may be finite, I believe there's some solid conversation to be had on this subject.
Yes, I had the same reaction as Beth. Perhaps a better way to put it might be "Building community requires us to consider human needs as a means to meeting organizational needs." Very few organizations exist (except perhaps those such as the Moose Lodge or the V.F.W.) solely to meet the needs of members.
I struggle with the human needs and the organizational needs. Sometimes it seems that we view our institutions consciously and unconsciously as serving the needs of those employed there. Yet, we are supposed to put "Children First." However, I know that if the staff is not happy, that will not be good for the kids. Part of leadership is understanding when and how to take care of the individual needs. I've been interviewing and hiring in the last week. Some of the candidates really could use the job and they would perform at acceptable levels. However, when we talked about who to offer the positiont to, we tried not to let those personal concerns have to much pull. Sometimes I also have to make changes in assignments to grade levels and teacher assistants. Almost everyone prefers the change once they tried it for awhile. When I first tell them about the change, there is no conversation about the best interest of the children. It is all about how that change will affect those people personally. I try not to let myself be influenced too much by the personal, but I do think it has a place and needs to be considered when at all possible.
Great point friends! I love this debate....I actually bolded this sentence for a purpose. This is part of a conversation I have been involved in before and this same item was discussed.
George - the phrasing is perfect.
Now, if you were to ask your teachers or employees which holds true, do they see it through the same set of glasses? Or is it a little more "colorful and warm" like the original statement?
Often times we hear those around us speak to the fact that it is about making people happy. Yet if a they do not have the training to see the BIG picture, it becomes more focused on the individual needs.
This perspective is different --from the seat you are sitting in on numerous occasions. At our level we know the dual roles we must meet. Does everyone understand this? Parents, students, stakeholders, etc.
Ex: What about the mother who is furious because we will not pick the child up in front of her house? Her view is we are not about doing what is best for kids. We are about the organization. Therefore, we limited to building community in this case...particularly when she gets the parents on her side.
(Promise this hasn't happened to me--sharing from the debate.)
Love the feedback...means you are reading it - HAHA
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