Six Strategies to Create a Culture of Innovation

Involvement is among the top three keys to school improvement. Innovation requires involvement. We know school culture defines a school's success at innovating. How can we maximize involvement? What are the strategies we can use to find that perfect interaction between innovation, school culture, and school improvement?

Here the top tweets from this week. They show us six strategies leaders and principals can use to create a culture of innovation. Six strategies that result in school improvement!

Be Intentional

As leaders everything we do is magnified, intentionality is critical in all decisions we make. #leadupchat 

— Mike Peck (@EdTechPeck) August 13, 2016

This might just be the starting place - being intentional about shaping culture. Just doing the job, managing the office, and putting out fires does not result in school improvement. That's the hard part, for sure. Master the tasks of the job, so you can get them out of the way...so you become the leader your school needs!

Every interaction is an opportunity to shape the culture. Every meeting, agenda, and email are opportunities. However, they require intentional leadership. Being strategic about the questions we ask, the words we write, and the actions we take. They are all magnified, for good or worse. So be intentional, connect them to your school's vision, and lead with purpose.

Use a Leadership Dimmer Switch

As a leader, equip yourself with a dimmer switch…
Knowing when to diminish your brightness to let the light of others shine. #leadupchat

— David Culberhouse (@DCulberhouse) August 13, 2016

When David tweeted this it stuck with me. Leadership is not about me. It is about us. It is about where we are going. Why we are doing it. How we will achieve together. Leadership is about us. Therefore, I must decrease, so we can increase. Let others shine. Even better use a dimmer switch and become a spotlight that shines on others. Who wouldn't want to be involved with that type of leader?

Minimize Risk to Maximize Innovation

A3: #leadupchat encourage staff to be risk-takers. Do be afraid to fail forward- #Learning

— Tiawana Giles (@TiawanaG) August 13, 2016

Letting others shine is one thing, but what if fear is stopping action? We have to address fear head-on. We, all stakeholders, but definitely leadership. We can minimize risk through communication, through action, and through critical conversation.

Communication can drastically impact fear and risk. Here are some things to think about:

• What written communications go out periodically to invite ideas and solutions?
• What messages do you give a large staff meetings that communicate vulnerability and celebrate risk-taking?
• How do you use small team meetings to garner input, praise divergent thinking, and encourage teachers to challenge your own thinking?
• Do you use any non-threatening feedback methods? Question jar in the lounge? Google forms?

Actions speak loudly. Here are some intention actions that can tackle fear and risk-taking:

• Publicly praise team efforts at creative problem-solving.
• Hand-written notes to privately recognize teacher innovation.
• Including "outside" teachers in decision meetings to garner and recognize their perspectives.

Finally, and most delicately, one-on-one conversations can have the largest impact. They have potential to be negative if the leader is not on target with the vision. The tone of these conversations must be upbeat, yet the topics are serious. What failures has the teacher dealt with? What challenges is the teacher facing? Here's the tough one. What administrative decisions do you feel are slowing you down? More importantly, what learning is occurring? 

Encouragement, empathy, and support go a long way. This is not evaluation. This is togetherness. This is same page. Working together. No one struggles along. We learn together. We grow together. We innovate together.

Use Questions that Shape

A1 @KeriSnowden Listening is key if we want to build a community culture of engagement. #leadupchat

— Carol Varsalona (@cvarsalona) August 13, 2016

Blind sided? Side swiped? It happens when we don't listen. It happens when we lose responsiveness. It happens when we lose engagement. Questions are essential. Here's an entire post on Leaders that Use Questions.

Carefully crafted questions allow school leaders to find the information to move the campus forward. They also communicate, "Your input matters. You matter." Teachers are at the front lines of student performance. Their knowledge of campus problems is so intricate. Their knowledge of campus opportunities is so detailed. They are invaluable to campus improvement. 

A leader who wants to shape a culture of innovation will acknowledge teacher expertise by asking questions. Daily conversations are opportunities to listen to teachers. Questions can unlock the vast treasures tucked in every professional across the building. Use questions and shape your culture towards improvement.

Create Leadership Opportunity

School improvement is too complex and too big of a burden to be carried by one person. Teacher leaderships is a necessity. #leadupchat

— Latoya Dixon, Ph.D. (@latoyadixon5) August 13, 2016

Latoya is always on target with school improvement. Yes, it is too complex. The job of the principal is to make the complex simple. Simple is doable. Doable is inspiring and hopeful. Sharing leadership is a great way to simplify school improvement.

Creating teams that are empowered toward specific goals. Goals, not mandatory documentation. Sharing leadership means the team of teachers is engaged with the vision, understands the goals, and is released to create the solutions. This obliterates micro-management! Empowering teams of teacher leaders increases commitment, engagements, and shares the onus of innovation. Empower, step back, and be ready to be amazed!

Connect Action to Vision

A4 Empowerment. Ask me for anything, just show me how it helps us all move toward the vision and mission. Do this, and it's done #leadupchat

— Jeff Banks (@ecetechgeek) August 13, 2016

Jeff is tapping into the truth about educators - educators are passionate. Educators want what is best for students and will do what is best for students. The disconnect probably occurs when what is asked doesn't appear to connect to the vision for improvement. 

We can overcome this disconnect by living the vision. Embodying it. That's fairly abstract, but it is rather simple. It depends on our starting place.

If we use the teacher teams mentioned above, then we've started with vision. We defined our purpose towards the ultimate end point 5-8 years down the road. Using the vision creates a clear rationale for the goals of the campus, which lead to clear objectives for the team.

Clarity about the why creates clarity about the what. If we know why we're doing it, we can decide what to do. The leader clarifies the why, the team creates the how and what. This empowers teachers to create the solutions. Teachers are the innovators. 

In this way, we aren't asking anyone to do first and then trying to convince them second. That's problem with buy-in. It's cheap and after the fact. It's a subtle form of manipulation. Instead, we are focusing on vision and goals first. Then we are asking teachers to be the innovators toward that vision.

They are the front line doers. They will do more, do better, and perform higher, if they decide the doing. We can circumvent the vision disconnect by putting vision first, empowerment second, and shared decisions third. 

Surefire, it will create a culture of innovation.

Please read for more details on School Improvement, Innovation, and Toxicity.

Also, here's a blog from TeamTom Education on supporting the Passion of Educators.

And here for top tweets on School Leadership Trends

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