Improvement: Practices

For school improvement, how can using a value statement, outcomes, and key deliverables help you increase clarity and actually create value?

/ mkessenburg

Photo by Roma Kaiuk🇺🇦 on Unsplash

For school improvement, don’t tolerate blurriness—instead, get clear in detail about the value you want to create and what “done” looks like so you can actually create value. Why?

(1) Because getting clear in detail helps you flourish. (Remember, “a smart project leader starts with the assumption that nothing is clear”—Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager, loc 570).

(2) Because getting clear in detail increases the likelihood of shared understanding of what you’re working to accomplish, of good discussions and decisions, and of actually creating value in terms of increasing institutional effectiveness and getting people flourishing.

(3) Because not getting clear in detail increases the likelihood of competing views of what you’re working to accomplish, of bland discussions and mediocre decisions, and of only creating nominal change. Not good.

Note: “If members are not clear on the [value the team is to create], they will take the team where they think it is supposed to go, and that may not be the direction intended by the organization” (Fundamentals of Project Management, loc 2658). Not good.

(4) Because getting clear in detail is a best practice. Please keep in mind that “you can’t very well become something if you can’t describe and define it” (Fundamentals of Project Management, loc 650) and that “[w]ithout a clear and shared picture of the value you’re trying to create, the project is doomed” (Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager, loc 561).

How clear are you actually when you use a goal, action steps, and evidence of progress? This approach is the one I have quite a bit of experience with, and it got me clear in terms of what we wanted to accomplish (goal), what we needed to do to achieve the goal (action step), and what we wanted to see as we made progress on the action steps (evidence of progress). 

And while it did work, it also seemed to put the focus on completion (and on the mistaken belief that completion of action steps = completion of goal), instead of on creating value, on making a real difference. This approach also left some questions unanswered, for example:

Photo by Wolfgang Rottmann on Unsplash

What can help you get clear in detail about the value you want to create and what “done” looks like so you can actually create value? Three things that come to mind for me are (1) a value statement, (2) outcomes, and (3) key deliverables. Let me explain:

(1) Value Statement (aka: vision script): Collaboratively develop a document that answers this question: What value do we want to create? Here’s an example:

Value to be created for an improvement goal for increasing compensation and benefits:
(A) We experience increased compensation and an enhanced benefits package that includes a wellness program, a pension/401K, and more funds for professional development.
(B) We have increased retention.
(C) We are better able to attract more qualified candidates. 
(D) We are flourishing (for example, in terms of professional growth), able to stay in Christian education for our careers, and able to retire well.
(E) Feeling more valued, we experience increased passionate purpose in terms of commitment to the mission and to helping each other holistically flourish in Jesus. 
(F) We experience increased morale and unity.

(2) Outcomes answer the question, “What specific results do we need in order to create value?” Here’s an example of an outcome: “We have increased retention.” (Note: This outcome comes from the above value statement.)

(3) Key deliverables specify in detail the products we should have and what services we should be receiving for a given outcome. For example, if the outcome is increased retention, key deliverables could include:

  • A chart showing current and past retention rates.
  • Staff survey data indicating impact of new compensation and benefits package on retention.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Bonus: An added bonus of using a value statement, outcomes, and key deliverables is more and better feedback. For me, task completion is about being done or not done. So feedback is generally “yes” or “no”—as in “Are you finished with your curriculum maps?”

 When asked for additional feedback, I’m not sure what to say because I’m unclear about the value to be created, the outcomes, and the key deliverables—as in: “Are your maps good?”

However, when using a value statement, outcomes, and key deliverables, I can provide more and better feedback to questions like: 

  • How can we help you reach proficiency in terms of using an Understanding by Design approach to mapping?
  • To what extent are you being positively impacted by the value we’re creating?
  • What best practices will help us create value as we map the curriculum?

Image by freepik

How about you? How important is it to you to get clear in detail about the value you want to create and what “done” looks like so you can actually create value? How clear are you actually when you use a goal, action steps, and evidence of progress? What can help you get clear in detail about the value you want to create and what “done” looks like so you can actually create value? 

Here are some related resources:

Bottom line: For each improvement goal, get clear in detail about the value you want to create and what “done” looks like so you can actually create value.

Get flourishing!

Michael

For school improvement, are you primarily focused on creating value or on completing tasks?

/ mkessenburg

Photo by Jasper Garratt on Unsplash

Focus primarily on creating value! Why?

(1) Because both creating value and created value helps you and others get flourishing.

(2) Because focusing primarily on creating value increases the likelihood of deep change, of improved processes and practices, of people flourishing in terms of 5 elements of flourishing: passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources.

(3) Because focusing primarily on task completion increases the likelihood of nominal change, of stagnation, and of people moving toward obsolescence and irrelevance. “As Dr. W. Edwards Deming has pointed out, there are two kinds of organizations in this world today: those that are getting better and those that are dying. An organization that stands still is dying. It just doesn’t know it yet” (Fundamentals of Project Management, loc 2184).

(4) Because focusing on creating value is a best practice.

Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

What can help you focus primarily on value creation? Here are 7 things that come to mind for me:

(1) Get the right people involved and working collaboratively. “The first rule of project management is that the people who must do the work should help plan it” (Fundamentals of Project Management, loc 409).

(2) Collaboratively clarify the value to be created in your scope statement, for example:

Value to be created for an improvement goal for increasing compensation and benefits:
(A) We experience increased compensation and an enhanced benefits package that includes a wellness program, a pension/401K, and more funds for professional development.
(B) We have increased retention.
(C) We are better able to attract more qualified candidates. 
(D) We are flourishing (for example, in terms of professional growth), able to stay in Christian education for our careers, and able to retire well.
(E) Feeling more valued, we experience increased passionate purpose in terms of commitment to the mission and to helping each other holistically flourish in Jesus. 
(F) We experience increased morale and unity.

Note: 

  • “Without a clear and shared picture of the value you’re trying to create, the project is doomed” (Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager, loc 561).
  • “It’s a strange world, but often projects are called successful if they end on time and stay on budget. Oddly enough, achieving an important, worthwhile, or useful outcome is rarely mentioned! It’s as if you were to make dinner on time and on budget but serve up lousy food nobody wants to eat. But you could still claim, ‘My project succeeded!’” (Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager, loc 279)

(3) Collaboratively specify the outcomes and key deliverables needed to create the value (instead of specifying the activities to be completed). For example:

(3.1) Outcome: We experience increased compensation and an enhanced benefits package that includes a wellness program, a pension/401K, and more funds for professional development. (Note: This outcome comes from the above value statement.)

(3.2) Key deliverables:

  • Revised compensation and benefits plan
  • Wellness program
  • Pension/401K
  • Comparison of old/new professional development funding levels
  • Policy requiring the annual review of compensation and benefits policies, plans, and processes.
  • Increase of business office staff by .5 in order to implement and monitor compensation and benefits, and to stay current with best practices regarding compensation and benefits.

(4) Collaboratively assess progress in terms of outcomes achieved (instead of action steps completed). This is similar to assessing what students actually learned (instead of the number of assignments students turned in or the number of lessons teachers taught).

(5) Collaboratively determine the experiments you will use to try to increase the achievement of the outcomes and key deliverables (instead of determining the action steps needed to be completed to achieve the goal). Note the difference in mindset: With an experiment mindset, we try something to see if it helps us create value; with a task-completion mindset, we complete tasks, mistakenly believing that task completion will necessarily result in goal achievement. Not good.

(6) In school improvement meetings, ask “What value are we working to create? How much of that value has been created?” (instead of “How many tasks have been completed?”) Remember, what gets talked about gets focused on.

(7) Work with a coach. Interested? Feel free to contact me. I provide free coaching for international Christian school leaders on a time-permitting basis.

Image by freepik

How about you? How do you feel about primarily focusing on the value to be created? Are you primarily focused on task completion or value creation? What can help you focus primarily on value creation? 

Here are some related resources:

Bottom line: For school improvement, focus primarily on creating value! 

Get flourishing!

Michael

Your accreditation visit is done—so your next step is to update your improvement plan, right? Nope!

/ mkessenburg

Image by freepik

Nope! The next step after your accreditation visit isn’t using the major recommendations to update your improvement plan. I wish I had understood this earlier. I really wish I had. Why?

(1) Because our insufficient shared understanding of school improvement in terms of purpose slowed us down.

(2) Because we found out too late that we were getting nominal change at best because we hadn’t addressed the root causes of a given recommendation like insufficient staffing and faulty assumptions and misunderstandings regarding the improvement goal.

(3) Because our insufficient shared understanding of what helps/hinders progress resulted in us being less effective and less efficient.

(4) Because our lack of defining what “done” looked like left us pursuing a fuzzy understanding of success.

Photo by David Pisnoy on Unsplash

Instead of 2 steps (completing the visit and starting on the plan), I wish had used the following 4 steps:

Step 1: Complete accreditation visit, including an after action review.

Step 2: Collaboratively review, refine, and ensure understanding and use of our improvement engine: purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices (see also School Improvement Reflection Protocol).

Step 3: Collaboratively create a scope statement for each major recommendation. This statement defines the…

  1. Recommendation, commentary, and relevant indicators.
  2. People directly involved.
  3. User-friendly title we’re going to use to refer to this recommendation.
  4. Root causes of the recommendation, for example, unhelpful mindsets.
  5. Value to be created in terms of institutional effectiveness and in terms of people flourishing.
  6. Operating assumptions. For example, if the goal is curriculum development, this would be our operating assumptions about curriculum (see ChatGPT prompt below).
  7. Things that help/hinder us.
  8. Accountability structures.
  9. Key deliverables—these are the results/outcomes that we expect to see and that help us define what “done” looks like. 
  10. Average time investment needed per person.
  11. Who’s involved in developing the improvement plan.

Though it takes time to develop a scope statement, it will actually save you time in the long run. “[P]rojects [improvement goals/plans] seldom fail at the end. Rather, they fail during the definition phase” (Fundamentals of Project Management, loc 520). It takes far less time to develop a scope statement than to clean up and/or redo a failure.

Note: The above scope statement description is a modified version of what project managers generally use and reflects that schools create improvement plans that include things others may include in scope statements—things like timeline, budget, and milestones. To see sample templates for scope statements, click here.

ChatGPT Prompt for Step 3.A: Operating Assumptions: Act as a consultant for international Christian schools. We have an improvement plan on _____. We want to troubleshoot the assumptions our plan is based on. Give 20 possible assumptions, each of which is followed by 3 alternative assumptions and ways to address those alternative assumptions. This means a total of 20 possible assumptions and 60 alternative assumptions, OK?

Step 4: Develop an improvement plan that is aligned with the scope statement.

For Step 2, I wish that we had gathered together and discussed key questions about our improvement engine, for example:

  1. What’s our school improvement engine? 
  2. How well do staff and leaders understand and use it?
  3. What revisions might be good to make before we start working on our major recommendations?

For Step 3, I wish we had gathered together to discuss key questions about a given recommendation, for example:

  1. What’s the major recommendation? What commentary was provided?  What indicators were cited?
  2. What user-friendly title are we going to use for this?
  3. What stakeholders are directly involved?
  4. What are the root causes of this goal?
  5. What value do we want to create (in terms of institutional effectiveness and people flourishing)? How will we measure that?
  6. What are our operating assumptions about _____ (topic of the goal)?
  7. What are 5 things that will help us? What are 5 things that could hinder us?
  8. What 1-3 accountability structures will we use?
  9. Given the major recommendation, commentary, and indicators, what are 5 or more key deliverables? (What does “done” look like?)
  10. How much time will the average person involved in the plan need to invest?
  11. Who’s involved in collaboratively developing the improvement plan for this major recommendation?

If we had used these 4 steps (instead of 2 steps: complete the visit and develop the plan), we would have made more progress, been more helpful, been more likely to make an actual difference in terms of institutionally effectiveness and getting people flourishing.

Here are some related resources:

Source

And here’s what I’m learning about Step 3: Scope Statement from Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager:

  • “…a smart project leader starts with the assumption that nothing is clear” (loc 570).
  • “Without a clear and shared picture of the value you’re trying to create, the project is doomed” (loc 561).
  • “You’ve got to make sure that everybody sees the same picture of your project’s outcome. Its value must be clear and unquestionable to the people involved” (loc 567).

What about you? After your accreditation visit, what’s your next step? How might reviewing your improvement engine and establishing a scope statement increase the likelihood of your improvement goal not being part of the 70% that aren’t achieved? What will you do?

Bottom line: After your accreditation visit is done, review your improvement engine, establish a scope statement for the major recommendation, and then develop your plan.

Get flourishing!

Michael

Leaders, what 3 things can you do to be even more successful at school improvement?

/ mkessenburg

This blog post is part of a series on your improvement engine—make sure you have a great improvement engine (purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices) before you start working on your improvement goal! (See also School Improvement Reflection Protocol).

Photo by Marcel Eberle on Unsplash

If you want to be even more successful at school improvement, (1) create value, (2) lead people, and (3) manage process (Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager, loc 273). 

Let’s explore what doing this involves:

(1) Create Value: To create even more value from school improvement, use the chart and…

(1A) Determine the current level of value (see chart below): Full disclosure—for school improvement plans I was involved in, some were completed (but late), most were completed on time, some resulted in deep change, and only a few got people flourishing. When determining your current level of value creation, round down.

Note: Be sure to check out the ChatGPT prompt at the bottom, which allows you to apply the above 4 levels to the school improvement plan of your choice.

(1B) Determine your preferred level of value (see chart above): Previous to ACSI emphasizing flourishing, I would have said I wanted deep change—real change. Now, I want to see Level 4—people flourishing and the further cultivation of a flourishing culture. Definitely don’t settle for Level 1 or Level 2, and see if you can go for Level 4!

(1C) Take action (provided there’s a gap between your current level and preferred level): Based on my involvement in school improvement, there’s a gap between my track record (often Level 2) and my preferred level (Level 4). 

To close my gap, I could…

  • Collaboratively develop a vision script to define the value we want to create—what deep change looks like (Level 3) and what flourishing looks like (Level 4) for a given improvement plan.
  • Use the vision script to remind staff of what we’re really after (which is much more than completing the plan or maintaining accreditation).
  • Use the vision script to assess the level of value actually created and determine next steps.

How about you? How can you close the gap between your current level and your preferred level? 

Image by freepik

(2) Lead People: To lead people so they are more inspired, engaged, and accountable…

(2A) Identify 4-5 leadership best practices you want to use: Kory Kogon (author of Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager) suggests 5 practices: listen first, clarify expectations, extend trust, practice accountability, and demonstrate respect (p. 20). Or you could use LIFE skills: listen, inquire, focus on others, and encourage.

Try this ChatGPT prompt: Act as a consultant for international Christian schools. You believe that school improvement involves leading people, meaning getting people inspired, engaged, and accountable. What are 5 specific best practices for leading people on an improvement plan on _____. For each practice, give a title, a description, an example of what that looks like, and a non-example.

Whatever practices you choose, be sure they help you get others inspired, engaged, and accountable—help you get others flourishing.

(2B) Assess how effectively you are currently using those practices, using the following scale: Poor • OK • Good • Great. When determining the current level of value, round down. 

Let’s say I want to use LIFE skills. When it comes to focusing on others, I want to rate it as Good, but I know I should say OK—because I have a tendency to want to share what I think, rather than deeply understand others.

(2C) Determine how effectively you want to use those practices: Definitely don’t settle for OK or even for Good—go for Great! 

(2D) Take action (provided there’s a gap between your current level and preferred level): For me to move from OK to Great on the LIFE skill of focusing on others, I need to listen, inquire to get others thinking, check to be sure I understand, and ask, “What are your options?” (instead of giving advice).

How about you? What practices will you use to get people inspired, engaged, and accountable?

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

(3) Manage Process: To manage process even more effectively…

(3A) Determine the process you’ll use when working on a school improvement goal: Make sure the process works and is user-friendly (easy to understand, represented in graphic form). I’m considering using the process from Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager (loc 497):

  • Scope: define what the project is (aka: improvement goal), the value to be created, and who’s involved (click here to learn more)
  • Plan: develop the map for getting from here to there
  • Engage: get people engaged
  • Track & Adapt—so we keep working to create value
  • Close: celebrate and reflect

(3B) Determine the best practices you’ll use to manage the process: Two practices I like to use are scoreboards (which make progress visible) and team meetings during which team members report on progress and determine their own next steps.

How about you? What process will you use? What best practices will you use to manage the process? 

Here are some related resources:

Source

Here’s what else I’m learning from Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager:

  • “…a Harvard study shows that only 35 percent of the projects undertaken worldwide succeed—which means we’re wasting a lot of time and resources” (loc 229).
  • “It’s a strange world, but often projects are called successful if they end on time and stay on budget. Oddly enough, achieving an important, worthwhile, or useful outcome is rarely mentioned! It’s as if you were to make dinner on time and on budget but serve up lousy food nobody wants to eat. But you could still claim, ‘My project succeeded!’” (loc 279).
  • “Without a clear and shared picture of the value you’re trying to create, the project is doomed” (loc 561).
  • “What does it take to execute the project successfully as a team? How do you keep the team fixed on the goal? How do you keep them alert, absorbed, and motivated? In a word: accountability” (loc 1404).
  • “Simply put, things happen to reactive people. Proactive people make things happen” (loc 1815)

Bottom line: To be even more successful at school improvement, create value, lead people, and manage process!

Get flourishing!

Michael
P.S. Here’s the ChatGPT prompt that allows you to apply the 4 levels of value creation to a school improvement plan of your choice:

Act as an international Christian school consultant who specializes in school improvement. You believe that school improvement should create value, and you have developed a 4-level model to assess the value created. 

Heres’s the 4-level model: 

  • Level 1: The improvement plan is completed (but it’s late and/or over budget). 
  • Level 2: The improvement plan is completed within parameters for time and cost (but does not result in deep change or in people flourishing). 
  • Level 3: The improvement plan is completed within parameters and results in deep change. Deep change includes addressing 1 or more root causes of the improvement plan (such as unhelpful mindsets, insufficient staffing, inadequate policies and processes, faulty assumptions and misunderstandings, a lack of training/expertise, and insufficient shared understanding of a given facet of Christian education ), and deep change includes noticeable, lasting change, especially in terms practices that increase institutional effectiveness. 
  • Level 4: The improvement plan is completed within parameters, results in deep change, and results in people flourishing during and after the implementation of the plan, further cultivating a flourishing culture. Flourishing means that people consistently experience 1 or 2 of the 5 elements of flourishing (passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources) and means that people consistently help others do the same. Remember, (A) only include 1 or 2 of the 5 elements of flourishing and (B) specify what this looks like both during and after plan implementation.

Now, please apply the model to an improvement plan on _____. For each of the 4 levels, write 4 or more sentences describing the results. Use present tense verbs and give 5-15 specific descriptions for each level.

International Christian school leaders, 70% of change initiatives are unsuccessful! How can you avoid your change initiative being part of that 70%?

/ mkessenburg

70% of change initiatives are unsuccessful, says Dr. Toby Travis (Zoe Routh Podcast 253, 5:53 – 6:42). 70%—such a painfully high percentage! But as I reflect on my experience with change initiatives, I recognize that I’ve seen change initiatives that fizzle at the start, that get started but don’t get completed, and that get completed but don’t actually result in deep change, just in nominal change.

What can you do to avoid having your change initiative (aka: improvement plan) being part of the 70% that are unsuccessful? Here’s are 12 action steps that come to mind for me:

Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

(1) Ensure your school improvement engine is in good working order. Make sure…

  • Your purpose for improvement is galvanizing.
  • You have shared perspective on school improvement (see School Improvement Framework).
  • Your improvement process includes reviewing your purpose for improvement, assessing your current situation, taking action steps, assessing and celebrating progress, and determining next steps.
  • Your improvement plan is documented, is evidence-based, includes key components, and is accessible (see School Improvement Reflection Protocol, part 3).
  • Your improvement practices get results and get used.

ChatGPT: Act as an international Christian school consultant. For school improvement, what role do purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practice play?

(2) Use school improvement to get people flourishing. Through school improvement, get people experiencing passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources. Doing this will increase engagement and help you building a flourishing culture. To learn more, please read:

(3) Identify the deep change you want to see when you successfully complete your improvement plan. For example, for an improvement plan on increasing compensation and benefits, you may want to see increased staff retention, increased staff morale, and staff having reasonable financial resources in retirement. (To identify the deep change you want to see, try using a vision script format.) 

Document the deep change you want to see and then use it when…

  • Developing your improvement plan—the plan should increase the likelihood that your deep change will be achieved.
  • Implementing your improvement plan—make real-time adjustments to increase the likelihood that your deep change happens.
  • Assessing success—ultimately, school improvement is about deep change, not about completing an improvement plan.

ChatGPT: Act as an international Christian school consultant. If we successfully implement a school improvement plan on _____, what are 5 results we can expect to see?

4) Use a project management approach of creating value, leading people, and managing process (The Unofficial Project Manager, p. 3). School improvement is about managing projects—and unfortunately, I didn’t have training in project management and I wasn’t sufficiently familiar and skilled in project management. Wish I had been! How about you? To learn more, read this project management overview and watch this video:

ChatGPT: Act as an international Christian school consultant. Define “project management.” Give 10 ways that using a project management approach can help us do school improvement effectively.

Image by freepik

(5) Before developing your improvement plan, ask:

  • What 5 best practices will help us successfully develop our plan on _____?
  • What are 5 behaviors to avoid when developing our plan on _____?
  • What are 5 action steps to include in a school improvement plan on _____?

ChatGPT:

  • What are 5 best practices to use when developing a school improvement plan on _____?
  • What are 5 behaviors to avoid when developing a school improvement plan on ___?
  • What are 5 action steps to include in a school improvement plan on _____?

(6) Ensure your plan addresses root cause(s). In other words, what caused the situation you are addressing? Sample root causes include:

ChatGPT prompt—please note that you need to input the improvement plan:

Act as an international Christian school consultant who specializes in school improvement. You believe that for school improvement to result in deep, lasting change (for example, practices that increase institutional effectiveness), school improvement must address 1 or more root causes of a given improvement plan such as the following 6: 
(1) Unhelpful mindsets: fixed mindset, closed mindset, survive mindset
(2) Insufficient staffing
(3) Inadequate policies and processes, at the board and/or administrative levels
(4) Faulty assumptions and misunderstandings regarding the improvement plan
(5) A lack of training/expertise
(6) Insufficient shared understanding of a given facet of Christian education related to the improvement plan.

Apply your belief regarding root causes to a school improvement plan on _____. Identify 5 specific examples for each of the 6 root causes listed above. Next, 5 ways to address each of the 6 root causes listed above. This means you will provide a total of 30 examples of root causes and a total of 30 ways to address root causes, OK?

(7) Vet the assumptions on which your improvement plan is based—these assumptions may not be fully correct or could be incorrect. To vet your assumptions:

  • Identify the assumptions your improvement plan is based on.
  • Provide 1 or more alternative assumptions and ways to address those alternative assumptions.
  • Revise your assumptions and improvement plan as necessary. 

For example, you have a plan to increase Biblical integration in the curriculum and you have the assumption that students understand Biblical principles. An alternative assumption is students have varying degrees of understanding of Biblical principles—you could address that through differentiation.

ChatGPT:  Act as a consultant for international Christian schools. We have an improvement plan on _____. We want to troubleshoot the assumptions our plan is based on. Give 20 possible assumptions, each of which is followed by 3 alternative assumptions and ways to address those alternative assumptions. This means a total of 20 possible assumptions and 60 alternative assumptions, OK?

(8) Ask, “What might we be susceptible to that we want to avoid when implementing our improvement plan?” Lack of traction? False starts? Confusion? Reviewing Chart 1, Chart 2, and Chart 3 can help you.

ChatGPT: What are 5 behaviors to avoid when implementing a school improvement plan on ___?

(9) Do a pre-mortem: Imagine that you have carried out your improvement plan and it was unsuccessful. Identify the key causes of the lack of success, and then identify the remedies. Use your findings to make appropriate changes to your plan and practices. (See also risk management strategy.)

ChatGPT: Act as an international Christian school consultant. We completed an improvement plan on _____. We were not successful. What are 20 possible causes, and what is a remedy for each possible cause?

(10) Field test your improvement plan before implementing it. For example, if your improvement plan on increasing staff well-being includes having staff develop and implement Personalized Flourishing Plans, have 1 or more staff do a pilot study to see if using Personalized Flourishing Plans will be sufficiently helpful.

ChatGPT: Act as an international Christian school consultant. What are 5 ways we can field test our school improvement plan on _____ to make sure it’s feasible before we fully implement it?

(11) Get an external review of your improvement plan. For example, invite one or more curriculum coordinators from other international Christian schools to review your improvement plan and give feedback. I find this works best in person or on videoconferencing—I don’t recommend that you do this by email or on the phone.

Note: If you are interested, I’m available to do this for you on a volunteer basis. Feel free to contact me.

(12) Get and keep staff engaged—both before you start and while the plan is being carried out. Practices that can help include:

ChatGPT: Act as an international Christian school consultant. What are 20 practices that get and keep staff engaged when working on an improvement plan on _____?

Bonus: Would you like to explore additional ways to avoid having your improvement plan being part of the 70% that are unsuccessful? Use this ChatGPT prompt: Act as an international Christian school consultant. We want our school improvement plan on ___ to be successful. What are 50 things to avoid? What are 50 things we should do?

Photo by Pixabay

Question: What action step(s) will you take to increase the likelihood that your improvement plan will result in deep change? I’d like to challenge you to invest 10-15 minutes in exploring 1 or more of the options above by using the ChatGPT prompts.

  • I found using them to helpful, especially #5 on assumptions and #7 on the pre-mortem.) 
  • In my experience, using ChatGPT prompts gets me going, gets me some quick wins, and gets me thinking both broadly and deeply.

Here are some related resources:

Bottom line: Take action to ensure your improvement plan is successful! Don’t settle for anything less than deep change.

Get flourishing!

Michael

What steps have you taken in the past 12 months that actually helped you and your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement better?

/ mkessenburg

This blog post is part of a series on your improvement engine—make sure you have a great improvement engine (purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices) before you start working on your improvement goal! (See also School Improvement Reflection Protocol).

Image by freepik

Like you, I want to get better at improving. I want to more effectively and efficiently improve. I want to find ways to go farther faster. 

Let me ask you 3 questions:

Question 1: What steps have you taken in the past 12 months that actually helped you and your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement even better? 

  • I’m asking because I want to find out what’s working for others and try it out.
  • I’m asking because working on school improvement goals is a challenge—one that can crowd out working on ways to do school improvement better.
  • I’m asking because you might be making school improvement harder to do than it needs to be. 

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

Question 2: What steps could you take in the next 12 months to do school improvement even better? Here are some possibilities:

(1) Overcommunicate the why, how, and what of school improvement.

(2) Clarify what does and doesn’t help with school improvement.

(3) Document your improvement purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices. Make these documents accessible, use them regularly, and review/revise them annually.

(4) Establish a galvanizing purpose for school improvement.

Image by pch.vector on Freepik

(5) At each improvement meeting:

  • Include a well-being component (for example, ask everyone to share a recent high and low).
  • Help everyone know how each meeting fits into the big picture. You can do this by connecting (as appropriate) the mission, vision, improvement process, and improvement goal to each meeting.

(6) Deepen shared understanding of what improvement is, what your improvement system is, and what helps you and your colleagues stay focused on improvement.

(7) Study and discuss mindsets that impact school improvement, for example, growth, fixed, thrive, and survive:

Growth mindsetFixed mindset
The goal of our self-study and visit is to
learn how we can be an even better school		The goal of our self-study and visit is to
show how good of a school we are
The visiting team report helps us improveThe visiting team report is an indictment
Each recommendation we received
from the visiting team is an
exciting opportunity for us to work hard & grow		Each recommendation we received
from the visiting team indicates a
deficiency 
Let’s talk with other schools that are better than us at this so we can learn how to improveWhy are they making us do this? Other schools are simply better than us at this, so why try? 

*The above chart is based on this video and this video. To learn more, read this blog.

Thrive mindset focuses on…Survive mindset focuses on…
Being proactive on what’s important.Being reactive to what’s urgent.
Prevention.Addressing symptoms.
Developing systems.Completing tasks.
Using documentation.Using personal recollection.
Carrying out ongoing processes
and multi-year plans.		Completing projects.
Helping both current and future
students, staff, and leaders to flourish.		Getting through today, this week, this month.

*To learn more, read this blog.

(8) Ensure that your school improvement process:

Additionally, consider having domain committees meet twice each year and considering using the Working Genius model to analyze the composition of your Steering Committee and to determine next steps.

(9) Ensure that your improvement plan:

  • Is documented and evidence-based.
  • Includes key components like goal, due date, action steps, resources, and evidence of progress. 
  • Is formatted effectively.
  • Is understood and used by staff and leaders.

Image by vecstock on Freepik

(10) Address the root causes of each action plan, for example: unhelpful mindsets, insufficient staffing, inadequate policies and processes, faulty assumptions and misunderstandings, a lack of training/expertise, and insufficient shared understanding of a given facet of Christian education (for example, curriculum, well-being, using student assessment data, and helping students grow strong in Jesus).

(11) Ensure that your improvement practices get results, get used, and get staff and leaders experiencing the 5 elements of flourishing: passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources. Here are sample practices:

  • Ask questions.
  • Frequently talk about improvement.
  • Put improvement tasks on your calendar.
  • Do daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual reviews to think about what happened and to determine next steps.
  • Use a scoreboard to track progress on my goals.
  • Before starting to work on a goal, review the School Improvement Framework and the Improvement Engine: purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices.
  • Use Radical Candor (video, chart).

(12) Work with a coach. On a time-permitting basis, I provide free coaching for international Christian schools. Interested? Feel free to contact me.

Question 3: Now what? What’s 1 thing you can do to help you and your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement even better?

Bottom line: Help your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement even better!

Get flourishing!

Michael

What role does reflection play in your international Christian school’s improvement?

/ mkessenburg

This blog post is part of a series on your improvement engine—make sure you have a great improvement engine (purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices) before you start working on your improvement goal!

Photo by Ümit Bulut on Unsplash

Reflection can help you and your colleagues to improve your international Christian school! Why?

  • Because reflection helps you and your colleagues flourish.
  • Because reflection helps you and your colleagues to step back, assess what’s happening, and determine next steps.
  • Because not reflecting can result in you and your colleagues not seeing the big picture, not understanding what’s happening, and not determining next steps. Not good.
  • Because reflection is a best practice.

To what extent do you and your colleagues reflect on school improvement? What does reflecting on school improvement look like at your school? What it looks like for me includes weekly reviews, quarterly reviews, and annual reviews which include using this reflection tool and after action reviews.

Image by tartila on Freepik

What helps you and your colleagues reflect? I find that a set of questions helps me and my colleagues reflect. Here are 4 questions that can help you and your colleagues:

(1) How are you doing right now? Use the following scale: 10: flourishing • 1: flailing

(2) How are you doing with regard to school improvement?

  • What 3 insights did you personally gain this school year regarding school improvement?
  • What 3 school improvement accomplishments for this school year do you want to celebrate?
  • What 3 concerns about school improvement do you personally have going forward?

(3) What’s driving your school’s improvement efforts? For me, a school’s improvement is driven by the 5P improvement engine:

  • Purpose
  • Perspective
  • Process
  • Plan
  • Practices

(4) How can you enhance what’s driving your school’s improvement efforts?

(5) What are your highlights/insights for this reflection?

2 tips: For an expanded version of these questions, click here! If you want to talk with me about reflecting on school improvement, click here!

Get flourishing!

Michael

To what extent are your practices actually helping you improve?

/ mkessenburg

This blog post is part of a series on your improvement engine—make sure you have a great improvement engine (purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices) before you start working on your improvement goal! (See also School Improvement Reflection Protocol).

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Ensure your practices actually help you improve!  Why?

(1) Because using helpful practices gets you flourishing.

(2) Because helpful practices increase the likelihood that you will get the help you need, complete tasks on time, and know where you are in terms of progress on your goal and what you need to do next.

(3) Because unhelpful practices can result in not having the help you need, forgetting to complete a task on time, and having no idea where you are in terms of progress on your goal or what you need to do next. Not good.

(4) Because using helpful practices is a best practice.

Let’s keep thinking about this by reflecting on 4 questions: 

Photo by David Pisnoy on Unsplash

Question 1: What practices do you currently use? My practices include:

  1. Using vision scripts to identify the value we want to create.
  2. Managing the process for a given school improvement plan. Make sure the process works and is user-friendly (easy to understand, represented in graphic form).
  3. Asking questions.
  4. Frequently talking about improvement.
  5. Putting improvement tasks on my calendar.
  6. Doing daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual reviews to think about what happened and to determine next steps.
  7. Using a scoreboard to track progress on my goals. (I use a spreadsheet.)
  8. Before starting to work on a goal, reviewing the School Improvement Framework and the Improvement Engine: purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices.
  9. Using Radical Candor (video, chart).

Question 2: What makes a good practice good? For me, a good practice…

Question 3: To what extent are your practices actually helping you improve? I think my practices actually help me improve. I’m effectively and efficiently improving. And I’m experiencing the 5 elements of flourishing—using my improvement purpose helps me experience passionate purpose, doing reviews helps me experience transformative learning, and using my calendar helps me experience helpful resources.

Question 4: What can you do to make your practices even more helpful? Here are some options:

(A) Identify the 3-5 practices that help you the most. Intentionally use them more often.

(B) Stop using 1 or more practices that don’t help you. This could include practices that actually hinder you, for example: 

  • Relying on personal recollection for school improvement (instead of using documentation).
  • Not connecting your school’s improvement plan to carrying out your school’s mission.
  • Thinking that your school is being forced to work on major recommendations (instead of remembering that accreditation is a voluntary process, and your school invited the help).
  • Using the fundamental attribution error (see video).

(C) Add a new practice, for example:

  • Asking more questions (instead of giving advice).
  • Listening to understand (instead of to respond).
  • Focusing on others first (instead of focusing yourself first).
  • Encouraging others (instead of critiquing them).
  • Having each administrator serve on a visiting accreditation team each year.
  • Looking at the documentation for a given action plan before discussing it and assessing progress.

Here are some related resources:

Bottom line: Ensure your practices actually help you improve!

Get flourishing!

Michael

P.S. Bonus: Here are 10 quotations from books I’ve read that include a form of the word practice:

(1) “Growth is a practice, not a project” (Becoming Coachable, loc 114).

(2) “Monitor and codify best practices so they can be replicated across the organization” (Smart Growth, loc 2328).

(3) “…clarify expectations so that you can practice accountability” (Trust and Inspire, loc 2096).

(4) “How could we increase the number and strengthen the quality of examples of this alignment between our vision and our practice?” (Flourishing Together, loc 2485)

(5) “… self-care is good. It can boost moods when we need it, and it’s part of a fulsome well-being strategy. But it’s a tactic, not a strategy. And it’s too far downstream to truly prevent burnout. Rather, burnout is a complex constellation of poor workplace practices and policies, antiquated institutional legacies, roles and personalities at higher risk, and systemic, societal issues that have been left unchanged, plaguing us for far too long” (The Burnout Epidemic, loc 235).

(6) “…sustainable strategy is the deliberate, effective approach an organization takes to serve its constituents. In other words, sustainable strategy isn’t just declared; it’s done. It’s more than a dictum issued from senior leadership; it’s the practice of the whole organization” (Road to Flourishing, loc 2634).

(7) “To the athlete, practice isn’t something you do before you go to work. To the athlete, practice is the work. And work is practice” (Beyond High Performance, loc 580).

(8) “Meeting time is practice time. Use every meeting, problem, decision, conflict, or change as an opportunity to build your skills” (Conversational Capacity: The Secret to Building Successful Teams That Perform When the Pressure Is On, loc 2321).

(9) “Common knowledge is not common practice” (On Leadership: The Nature of Loyalty: Sandy Rogers).

(10) “The norms and practices of your team and organization send signals about what is valued and what isn’t, so they must be consistent with the shared values and standards that you’re trying to teach” (The Leadership Challenge, loc 2167).