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Leadership Team Meeting for Live Oak
February 23, 2010
4:30-5:30 PM
Agenda
By the conclusion of today’s activities members of the Live Oak Leadership Team will
• Be able to identify key elements of a high-performing team;
• Compare and contrast a principal-led team to a teacher-led team and discuss the
benefits and potential challenges of each;
• Identify strategies principals can use to support high-performing teams
• Identify person strengths and area for growth in building and leading effective
teams..

Time Topic Materials

5:30-5:40 Introductions, Agenda and Objective Review Agenda

5:40-5:50 Aspects of High-Performing Teams Pre-work

5:50-5:55 Video 1-Beach Court Elementary Video

5:55-6:10 Video 1-Reflection and Discussion Reflection Document

6:10-6:20 Video 2-Monarch Academy Video

6:20-6:35 Video 2-Reflection and Discussion Reflection Document

6:35-6:45 Personal Strengths/Weaknesses in Building Action Planning Document
and Leading Teams

6:45-7:00 Personal Professional Development Action Action Planning Document
Plan

© 2008 New Leaders for New Schools and Educators for Social Responsibility 1
Culture And Climate Resource Materials
Compiled by New Leaders for New Schools
Working Draft As Of September 15, 2008

Building a High Performing Leadership Team
LEADERSHIP TEAM STANDARDS
I. CORE BELIEFS, VISION, AND MISSION
A. Each leadership team member believes that every child can reach high levels of academic excellence.
B. The team embraces that its primary focus is student learning.
C. The team has ambitious and measurable student achievement goals and a comprehensive plan for achieving those goals.
D. Each team member supports and upholds the school vision and mission for the school relentlessly throughout the year.
E. The team members ensure that standards, instruction, curriculum, assessment, and programs are aligned with the school
vision and student achievement goals.
II. CULTURE OF COLLABORATION
A. The leadership team values the role of staff members as partners in the effective functioning of the school; the role of
families as partners in the education of their children; and the role of the governing board as partners.
B. A system of communication to involve and inform all stakeholders is in place and used.
C. The processes and decisions of the team are transparent to all stakeholders.
D. The diversity of the school staff is reflected within the team.
E. The team aligns the work of the team to its relationship with other teams and structures in the school.
F. A climate of trust, respect and mutual accountability exists among the members of the school leadership team.
III. CYCLE OF IMPROVEMENT
A. A 4-step Cycle of Improvement is used to inform leadership team decisions: (1) Analyze Data, Diagnose and Plan; (2)
Implement; (3) Reflect; and (4) Adapt and Improve.
B. Team members facilitate the 4-step process for other teams in the school so that all staff use the Cycle of Improvement to
make decisions and inform their practice.
C. Time is made available for the learning of the 4-step process to occur – both within the leadership team meetings and in
other staff / team meetings throughout the school.
D. The team ensures that professional development is aligned with the needs identified by the Cycle of Improvement process.
IV. EFFECTIVE TEAM PROCCESSES
A. A set of ground rules / norms has been discussed and accepted, and each leadership team member abides by those rules.
B. Roles within the team are identified and rotated in order to share responsibilities and build leadership skills.
C. Team members understand the levels of decision-making; team consensus is the preferred method for decision-making.
D. Meeting agendas are developed with clear outcomes, specific timeframes and processes for achieving those outcomes.
E. Problem-solving and conflict resolution tools are used when appropriate; debriefing of difficult discussions and decisions is
held routinely.
F. At the end of each leadership team meeting, action steps and deadlines are identified, and the person responsible for each
step is noted; these action minutes are communicated to appropriate stakeholders in the wider school community.
G. An evaluation of each meeting is conducted for continuous improvement.
V. STRATEGIC PLANNING
A. The leadership team translates the vision and mission of the school into a step-by-step school improvement (action) plan.
B. The team sets priorities and allocates resources based upon these priorities.
C. In the school improvement plan, the team determines what success will look like by identifying the measures of progress.
D. A variety of data sources are used to monitor the school’s progress and the team uses technology to expedite the reporting
of data.
E. The team analyzes its data continuously to modify or refine its intervention strategies quickly.
F. The leadership team sets clear expectations for the performance of staff.
G. The team monitors student learning to evaluate the effectiveness of staff members and provides support (professional
development) to improve teaching.
H. The leadership team supports the administration in improving or removing underperforming staff.


Creating Your Own Leadership Team Profile
Think about what it takes to give you the feeling of power or control over the events for which you are
responsible. Answer the questions below about yourself in your role as a team member. This will create
an individual profile of you as a team member.

What motivates me as
a team member?

What unique
perspective,
strengths, or skills do
I bring to the team?

What opportunities
can I take to assume
greater responsibility
or make a greater
contribution to the
team?

What additional
information or
assistance do I need
to work productively?

In what ways can I
work best with others
on the team?

Make a power profile of your group using the profile on the next page.


Team Profile
Team member Skills / Areas of Responsibilities What is
strengths / learning or or roles willing needed to
contributions growth to take work most
effectively?

What are the strengths of the group?

Are there areas where individuals or the whole group will need some assistance?


Team Charter Proposal
Purpose
• What is the purpose of our team?

The purpose of the leadership team is to ensure that all students at our school reach high levels
of academic achievement.

Decision-Making Process
• How will we make decisions? If we chose consensus, what is our fall-back
position should we not be able to reach consensus?

The team will attempt to reach consensus for all major decisions. When consensus can not be
reached, the principal will make the final decision, with the ongoing support of the entire team.

Roles and Responsibilities
• Each meeting should have a facilitator, recorder, time-keeper

Facilitator, recorder and time-keeper will be chosen at the beginning of every meeting.

Working Agreements
• Given the purpose of our team and our responsibilities, what working agreements
do we need in order to do our best work together?
• What is our process for resolving conflict?

Conflict that arises will be dealt with professionally and respectfully. One-on-one conflict should
be dealt with individually and then brought to the principal if unresolved. Group conflict should
be an agenda item for discussion, with the principal having been made aware of the concern
before the meeting.

Team Norms
What norms do we want to hold ourselves to in these meetings and in the way we act as a
team?

Agenda Items for Next Meeting
• Review Charter and Norms
• Goal Setting
• Clear roles and responsibilities
• Meeting outcomes and agenda with Action minutes Ongoing


What does leadership
look like in our school?
How do we lead our
faculty?

• What does it look like to
model the way?
• Distributive leadership?
• What is the loose-tight
relationship?

What is the work
of our team?

• What is the purpose
of the team?
• What are the expected
outcomes of our work?
• What does the Diagnostic
Tool tell us?
• Which UEF lever are we
focusing on?
• What is our strategy
for this work?


6. Family and Community Involvement
Standard: A New Leaders School has a comprehensive system in place to engage families
and the community in their children’s education, healthy development, and future
aspirations.

Expected outcomes:
- Frequent contact between families and their children’s home-base teacher, academic
subject teachers, and / or advisor includes grade report conferences and other meetings
and communications related to students’ academic and behavioral performance and
personal learning plans.
- Parent meetings, activities, workshops, and events are aligned with the developmental,
age-level, and postsecondary needs of their children and are responsive to the needs
and requests of parents.
- Parents are actively involved in supporting academic, behavioral, and mental health
interventions designed to meet their children’s specific needs and challenges.
- Parents are full participants in their children’s postsecondary planning process.
- Efforts are made to ensure high family attendance and involvement in school-wide
community events, celebrations, rituals, and school orientation activities.
- The local community directly supports the school’s educational mission and community
partners provide services and resources that enhance the school’s educational program
and contribute to students’ healthy development.


Cycle Of Improvement

Adapt and Improve
What practices will we change?
The role of the New Leader and the leadership team
is to continuously make the case with all stakeholders
involved why this is the right work for the school,
to celebrate success along the way, to build the
capacity of others to lead and sustain the work and to
analyze the data and make changes in real time.
Analyze, Diagnose and Plan
What is the right work for our school at this
time?
The right work for a school touches the whole school-
every professional, every classroom, every day.
Diagnosis: Depending upon the focus—Data Driven
Reflect Instruction, Culture or Leadership Teams—utilize the
What have we learned so far? specific standards, assessments and diagnostic tools.
What new knowledge have we learned during Plan: A quality plan identifies clear and measurable
implementation? Do we have a new understanding goals, has a specific timetable, holds individuals
of our prior assumptions and practices? What accountable for implementation, identifies needed
changes do we need to make to our resources, and tracks progress along the way.
implementation plan?

Implement
How do we implement our plan with quality?
Quality implementation utilizes an efficient process to
build the expertise of staff as you go, direct resources to
your focus area, and changes practices.


School Climate and Culture Survey

Purpose: The purpose of the climate and culture survey is to assist in gathering the
data necessary to identify what should be the school’s focus for culture change this
school year.

Details: The survey is for all faculty, staff, parents and students.

Steps: Implementation of this survey is recommended as follows:
1. Announce that the school will be conducting a climate and culture survey,
including when the survey will be distributed and expected back.
2. Distribute the survey.
a. For Parents, preferably allow no more than one week for parents to get it
back and provide positive reminders throughout the week including an
incentive for the students to encourage their parents to complete the
survey.
b. For students, provide sufficient time for them to complete the surveys in
class and ensure their anonymity (be sure to use the K-5th or 6th-12th
grade versions).
c. For faculty, provide sufficient time for them to complete them during a
faculty meeting and ensure anonymity.
3. Compile the data and calculate the percentage of answers for each question1.
Using the data from faculty, student, and parent responses, we recommend that the
principal and leadership team take five minutes to circle data that jumps out, both
positive and hopeful as well as surprising or somewhat disturbing. Look particularly at
clusters of responses that add up to large numbers: (AGREE-STRONGLY AGREE
number clusters and DISAGREE-STRONGLY DISAGREE number clusters). Use two
different marker or pen colors to distinguish

Sample Target Goals and Outcomes

Sample Target Goals: What's the big picture change you want to see in students,
faculty, and / or within the school culture?
 Increase positive perceptions of school environment as a place that feels safe, respectful,
friendly and welcoming to students and faculty.
 Increase the levels of civility, respect, courtesy, and positive interactions in public spaces.
 Increase student and faculty investment in the maintenance, upkeep, and beautification of
the school environment.
 Establish consistent enforcement and accountable consequences for attendance, school-
wide rules and procedures, and public space incidents.
 Establish consistent classroom disciplinary practices, referral system, and consequences
throughout the school.
 Increase the number of formal and informal opportunities and events that recognize
students’ academic achievement and other individual and group contributions and

1
A spreadsheet will be available via The Community where you can put in the results, and the percentages
will be calculated automatically.

accomplishments.
 Increase student attachment to school through participation in school-sponsored activities
outside of the normal course of study.
 Increase the opportunities for students and faculty to listen to each other, share points of
view, and problem solve collaboratively.
 Increase the number of adult and student driven initiatives that communicate the value of
learning, achievement, and career and collage aspirations.
 Increase the opportunities for student voice in the governance of the school.
 Fully implement the ASCA counseling model within the school culture.
 Increase parent involvement in their child's academic progress, personal and social
development, and postsecondary planning and preparation.


Student Outcomes: Use SMART criteria to develop your outcomes: Are they SPECIFIC,
MEASURABLE, AUTHENTIC, REASONABLE, AND TIME-SENSITIVE?

 Reduce the weekly number of late arrivals by _____%.
 Reduce the weekly number of during school tardies by _____%.
 Reduce violent and dangerous incidents (code of conduct levels 4-6) by ______%
 Reduce incidents of bullying, harassment, and exclusion by ____%.
 Reduce number of public space referrals and incidents by _____%.
 Reduce the number of classroom referrals by 20%.
 Increase by 20% the number of students who report out 4's and 5's and decrease by 20%
the number of students who report out 1's on the safety, civility, respect section of the
annual school climate and culture survey.
 Increase the number of students by _____% who are involved in the maintenance, upkeep,
and beautification of indoor and outdoor public spaces.
 Reduce incidents of property vandalism, destruction, and graffiti by _____%.
 Increase the total number of students to ________, who receive some form of written
recognition, appreciation, congratulations, thank-you from an adult in the building.
 Increase the number of students who are involved in academic support and enrichment
initiatives by ______%.
 Increase the PASS rate by _____% for _____ grade students enrolled in __________.
 Increase the number of students by ____% who receive
 Increase the numbers of students who participate in at least one school-sponsored activity
by ____%.
 Increase the number by ________ of out-of-building learning experiences and non-
traditional independent learning courses for which students can receive credit.
 Increase the number of “cool scholars” by _____ who are academically at risk students.
 Increase the number of events and activities by ______ that explore, explain, and
showcase teen culture.
 Increase the number of local people (respected and admired by students) who become
“school is cool” advocates by ________.
 Increase the number of students by _____ who enroll in summer school and pass their
courses.



(Thank you to Dianne Meltesen in the Bay Area for these tools.)

Purpose
The purpose of these tools is to help a leadership team lay a strong foundation for its team. The
first tool asks each member of the leadership team to create a profile and the second tool
captures and organizes each team member’s profile in a matrix so that team members can
share with each other what they need from their colleagues in order to do their best work.

Details and Steps
Each member of the leadership team should complete the first page. Their responses can then
be added to a large piece of chart paper or dropped into a table created in Microsoft Word and
then displayed through a laptop and LCD projector.

Facilitation Tips
This tool will be most effective if it used after the leadership team has created its team charter
so that norms for group interaction and communication have been clearly established.

It could prove useful to have leadership team members revisit their and their colleagues’
responses at least one other time during the school year to see if individual’s responses have
changed. If a new member is added to the leadership team it would be important to give them
the opportunity to complete the profile, review with his or her colleagues the profiles of the other
team members, and talk through as a team how the new member’s profile adds to the team
dynamics.

Variations
Any team in the school can use this tool, including grade-level and department teams.


Think about what it takes to give you the feeling of power or control over the events for which you
are responsible. Answer the questions below about yourself in your role as a team member. This
will create an individual profile of you as a team member.

What motivates me as
a team member?

What unique
perspective,
strengths, or skills do
I bring to the team?

What opportunities
can I take to assume
greater responsibility
or make a greater
contribution to the
team?

What additional
information or
assistance do I need
to work productively?

In what ways can I
work best with others
on the team?

Make a power profile of your group using the profile on the next page.


Team Profile
Team member Skills / Areas of Responsibilities What is
strengths / learning or or roles willing needed to
contributions growth to take work most
effectively?

What are the strengths of the group?

Are there areas where individuals or the whole group will need some assistance?


Leadership Team Standard IV: Effective Team Processes

Leadership Team Action Minutes

Purpose: The purpose of this tool is to provide a template for leadership teams to use
during their meetings. The action minutes track the tasks to which members of the
leadership team agree and include a date for completion to ensure accountability.

Details: Action minutes can be tracked on chart paper over the course of the meeting or
tracked by the facilitator (or a designee responsible for action minutes) during the
meeting. It may be helpful to teams if the facilitator sends the action minutes
immediately following the meeting via email to all members of the team.

Steps: In the Who column, there may be more than one person indicated with the
primary person responsible signified with the asterisk.

Facilitation Tips: Action minutes can be used in all school meetings; for example, in a
parent meeting, grade level team meeting, student study team meeting, IEP meeting and
student council meetings. This is a simple practice that can be used effectively
throughout the school.

Variation: Specialists can use action minutes in their meetings with New Leaders or
when they work with a New Leader and his or her leadership team to model the practice.


Action Minutes
Date:
Who? Decision To Be Made / Final Tasks / Resources By
Asterisk (*) Decision When?
indicates
leader
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*



Leadership Team Charter

Purpose
The purpose of this tool is to provide a process for the New Leader and the leadership team
to lay a strong foundation for their team. The purpose of a team charter is for all team
members to be in agreement on their team’s purpose, decision-making process, the role of
the members and the working agreements that guide how the team does its best work
together.

Details
The team charter is best established before the school year starts but can be established at
any point during a team’s existence. A team charter can be created within one hour. It is
best if the New Leader comes to his or her leadership team with a proposed team charter.
From the start, the New Leader will need to be clear with the leadership team in regards to
which parts of the charter can be changed based on the team’s input and which parts cannot.
For example, the New Leader may have a non-negotiable point within the purpose statement
—The purpose of the leadership team is to ensure that all students at our school reach high
levels of academic achievement.

Facilitation Tips
The leadership team charter should be shared with the entire school community. It is helpful
for teams to revisit their team charter throughout the school year to make any upgrades to
the charter and to remind themselves of their charge and their agreements to each other. It
is an effective practice for leadership teams to review their working agreements at the
beginning of meetings and / or include the working agreements on agendas to keep them
top-of-mind for all members.

The leadership team charter should include the following:

Purpose
• What is the purpose of our team?

Decision-Making Process
• How will we make decisions? If we chose consensus, what is our fall-back
position should we not be able to reach consensus?

Roles and Responsibilities
• Each meeting should have a facilitator, recorder, time-keeper

Working Agreements
• Given the purpose of our team and our responsibilities, what working
agreements do we need in order to do our best work together?
• What is our process for resolving conflict?

Variations
All teams within a school can have a team charter. It is important that the New Leader and
the leadership team engage in the purpose of other teams and their decision-making process
so that teams other than the leadership team are clear about their role in the school and what
they have authority to decide.



Plus / Delta Evaluation

Purpose: The purpose of this tool is to provide a process and template for leadership teams
to evaluate their meeting at the close of the meeting.

Details: The meeting leader should have chart paper and markers so that this will be a
public activity for the team.

Steps and Facilitation Tips: The last ten minutes of each meeting should be reserved for
the team to evaluate its results, processes and relationships.

Step 1: Begin with the plus column. Ask the team to share what worked for them during the
meeting. List their contributions exactly as offered, without commenting (a simple “thank
you” is fine) or editing so that the feedback can be viewed exactly as it was given.

Step 2: Continue to the delta column. Delta is referring to the Greek symbol for change;
therefore all contributions should be considered action-oriented upgrades and stated by
beginning with a verb. For example, “less complaining” can be rephrased as “be more
focused on what we can control.” Again, do not comment or edit, but write the deltas exactly
as stated (as long as they use a verb).

If team members give a very long plus or delta, it is OK to ask them to make it more succinct.
Also, it is OK for team members to offer opposing views (one person’s plus can be another
person’s delta); just capture them on the chart paper.

Step 3: When planning the next meeting, try to address the deltas, if possible.

Step 4: Begin the next meeting with feedback on feedback, and remind the team to try to
keep the momentum of the pluses, while mitigating the impact of the deltas. Adjust norms /
ground rules if necessary.

Variations:
As the team becomes higher functioning, the plus / delta protocol will take less time.


Plus / Delta Evaluation
Plus Delta



A Collection of Effective Team Processes

(From the Bay Area’s packet on Building School Leadership Capacity)

Purpose
The purpose of this set of tools is fourfold:
• Assist the school leadership and leadership team in creating a stimulating and safe learning
environment for adults in teams / learning communities (Initiate the Learning Team),
• Provide ideas that can be matched to a variety of challenges a group is having with
regaining and maintaining focus (Ideas For Helping Groups Or Individuals Correct Their
Course),
• Outline steps that groups can take in problem solving (Actions And Interactions),
and
• Outline the Basic Building Blocks For Promoting Participation In Shared Decision
Making

Steps
The first three tools are informational materials that can be used as discussion pieces with
the New Leader and the leadership team.

The fourth tool, Basic Building Blocks For Promoting Participation, can be used as a self-
assessment tool that each member of the leadership team completes. The team can then
either tabulate the responses and share a summary of the findings, or if the group has
established the practice of open, honest, and reflective dialogue, then each member of the
leadership team can share his or her own response in a round-robin followed by a discussion
focused on action steps the team can take to ensure the building blocks are in place.


Initiate the Learning Team

The following guidelines are designed to assist the school leadership and leadership team in
creating a stimulating and safe learning environment for adults in teams / learning communities.

Elements Description Approach

Clarity Alignment between all group Make time at the beginning of each small
members about the purpose, group session to have team members ask
outcomes, roles and norms for questions for clarification, restate goals in
the learning team in general their own words and validate relevance or
and for each group session. value of the session.

Trust The degree to which all group Build trust over time by asking the group to
members believe that they can create operating norms that the team needs
speak openly, try new to follow to establish and sustain trust.
behaviors, give and receive
feedback and honor
confidentiality.

Boundary The ability of the team to Acknowledge that all participants have
acknowledge and then set many issues and concerns that they bring
aside issues or concerns that to each meeting. Provide a brief check-in
are not directly related to the at the beginning of the first small group
goals and tasks of the learning session to help the team express and set-
team during each session. aside concerns not relevant to the goals
and tasks of the day.

Accountability Agree on how the team and its The facilitator builds agreement with the
facilitator will hold themselves team to share accountability for the success
and each other accountable for of the team. The facilitator provides
reaching goals and honoring examples of tools or behaviors each team
norms that support learning / member can use to help keep the team
growth. focused, and ensures that there is time at
the end of each meeting for reflection and
feedback about the team’s progress.


Ideas for Helping Groups or Individuals Correct Their Course

The following ideas can be matched to a variety of challenges a group is having with regaining and
maintaining focus:

1. Revisit goals and instructions to increase clarity of direction.

2. Limit or adjust the time an individual or group is investing in a particular activity or discussion.

3. Use forms / formats / protocols to help remain focused.

4. Note on a flipchart any concerns or issues that may be important but not directly related to
the current goal or activity and address those during reflection time or at another time.

5. Increase listening and reflective questioning to ensure people’s ideas are heard and
validated.

6. Advocate less and inquire more.

7. Ask each person to state how the current group dynamic is hindering their learning or
participation.

8. Agree to drop a topic or issue that is sidetracking the group.

9. Create and honor a time limit for a brief venting of individual or group frustrations.

10. Ground the group in the value of their work with stories or personal reflections of success.

11. Keep record of actions and progress as well as next steps and individual responsibilities so
group can see its progress.

Ask your team / group to identify other ideas for keeping on task and achieving their goals.


Actions and Interactions

(Adapted from The Adaptive School: A Source Book for Developing Collaborative Groups
Robert Garmston, Bruce M. Wellman)

The actions and interactions shown in the chart below are steps that groups can take in problem
solving. These actions would occur in long-term groups that deal with complex challenges. These
principles can be used as steps in a process with the group recording the key elements or actions as
the group progresses.

Principles of Effective Transactions

1. Distinguish between 5. Disagree openly with 9. Reveal and examine all
inference and data. other members of the group. relevant information.

2. Test assumptions and 6. Jointly design ways to test 10. Check for group
inferences. (Look for root disagreements and member understanding.
causes; gap analysis) solutions.

3. State assumptions, 7. Get agreement on what 11. Keep discussions
reasons, and beliefs. words and concepts mean. focused.

4. Explain reasons behind 8. Exchange relevant 12. Make decisions by
statements, questions, and information with non-group consensus. (Devise a back-
possible actions. members. up plan for decisions if
necessary.)

13. Engage in self-critiques and reflect on the process of the work. Examine the
results and follow the above principles in assessing and revising the work.


Basic Building Blocks for Promoting Participation

Y/N Basic Building Blocks Question Answered

Agendas for each meeting are designed What will we accomplish at the meeting? What
and distributed prior to the meeting. do I need to be prepared to discuss or do?

There is clarity on the roles and Who will be leading the meeting? Is there a
responsibilities for each team member, special role I need to play? How will
especially specific meeting roles like chair, information be recorded and distributed after
facilitator, and recorder. the meeting?

Ground rules for how the group will try to What are the expectations of how we will
interact and run the meeting are clearly interact in this meeting?
posted in front of the room (or clearly
understood by the group).

The group / team reviews the agenda, Will we build a shared understanding with each
purpose and outcomes for the meeting other about our goals and operating process for
and ground rules, and invites members to the meeting? Is it OK to ask questions for
ask questions for clarity and / or to add to clarity and / or to question the agenda?
the agenda.

The group shares a common definition of How will we make decisions as a group? Will
how they reach decisions. The process is we vote or build consensus?
made clear.

Agreements and action plans are clearly Are we accurately capturing the work of the
recorded on a flip chart or board in front group? Have we all agreed to the same
of the room. decisions and action steps?

Time is made at the end of each meeting Can we provide open and honest feedback to
to reflect on what the team accomplished each other? Can we acknowledge our
and to improve meetings in the future. successes? Do we use feedback as a tool for
Next steps are made clear including each continuous improvement? Do we know what
person’s responsibilities and results. we will do next?

Additional Resources
 Professional Development Kit, Bay Area New Leaders for New Schools
 “Building a New Structure for School Leadership,” Richard Elmore,
www.shankerinstitute.org
 Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement, Linda Lambert, ASCD, 2003.
 Nine Lessons of Successful School Leadership Teams, Bill McKeeer and the
California School Leadership Academy, WestEd, 2003.
 The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins, HBS Press, 2003.


5-Finger Consensus (a.k.a. Consensus Voting)

(Adapted from Keys to Successful Meetings, by Stephanie Hirsch, Ann Delahunt, and Sherry Sparks)

Purpose
The purpose of this tool is to clarify the definition of consensus and to provide New Leaders
and the leadership team a quick tool to help the team when it cannot come to consensus and
needs to find a solution that everyone can support.

There are many definitions for consensus, among them:
• “Consensus is a decision-making process in which all parties involved explicitly agree
to the final decision. It does not mean that all are completely satisfied with the final
outcome, but that the decision is acceptable to all because no one feels that their vital
interests or values are violated by the decisions made.”
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

• “Consensus is a general agreement in accord or with the sense of the group.
Consensus is often considered unattainable because it is mistakenly seen as
complete agreement or unanimity. In fact, consensus is simply an agreement to
move in a common direction for a certain period of time.”
Mirja Hanson, FACROLE

• “A consensus decision is one that each and every team member is willing to support
and help implement. All Key Stakeholders have had an opportunity to give their
opinions and to understand the implications of various options. All members,
including the leader, have the same formal power to support or block proposals."
Interaction Institute for Social Change

Steps
If a team cannot come to consensus, and it is very important to find a solution that everyone
can support, the leader can use 5-Finger Consensus as tool to get the team to resolution.

Post the proposal and ask individuals to react to the proposal by raising the number of
fingers that corresponds to their position. If a team member is at 3 or below, they should
make a proposal that will move them to a 3 or higher. “What will it take to move you to a 3?”

5 I’m all for the idea – I can be a leader.
4 I’m for the idea – I can provide support.
3 I’m not sure but I’m willing to trust the group opinion.
2 I’m not sure – I need more discussion.
1 I can’t support it at this time – I need more information.
Fist No – I need an alternative I can support.



Problem Solving and Action Planning

Purpose
The purpose of this tool is to provide a New Leader and his or her leadership team with
a structured process for identifying a problem, understanding the root causes, and
coming to agreement on solution steps. The tool is designed to keep the New Leader
and the leadership team from jumping to an inappropriate or incorrect solution when
faced with a problem.

A New Leader and a leadership team could use this problem-solving and action-planning
tool in conjunction with the Cycle of Improvement tools when the team is faced with a
problem or challenge and is not sure how to address it and / or previous efforts to
address the problem have not been effective. This tool provides a step-by-step
approach to taking a critical look at a problem and potential solutions. It is important that
the action plan from this tool be folded into the larger implementation plan that school
builds in the Cycle of Improvement.

Details
Depending on the capacity of the New Leader and the leadership team, a Specialist can
either facilitate the process outlined below or serve as a process observer while the New
Leader and the leadership team lead themselves during the process. It is important that
there be clearly defined roles for this meeting—a facilitator, a recorder, and a
timekeeper-- and that members of the leadership team understand the levels of decision
making prior to the problem-solving and action-planning process. Specifically, as
solutions and next steps are identified, the leadership team can make what decisions
and the New Leader should make what decisions?

The time needed to complete this protocol depends upon the scope of the problem and
the capacity of the leadership team. Leadership teams that are tightly aligned in vision
and mission and have clear decision-making processes will be able to complete this
protocol in a high quality way in a shorter amount of time that a leadership team that is
still forming.

Steps
1. Identify the problem: what do we want to change?
2. Analyze the problem: what’s preventing us from reaching the desired state?
3. Force field analysis: what could help or hinder our efforts?
4. Brainstorm solutions: how can we make the change?
5. Select and plan the solution: what is the best way to do it?
6. Action plan: who, what, where, when, and how to evaluate? Who to involve,
enroll, and get input?

Variations
This tool can be used by any other team in the school (for example, a grade-level team
that has identified a grade-level challenge whether it is related to their team functioning
and collaboration or student learning).


This tool can also be used by a Specialist in the leadership development of a New
Leader by jointly identifying an area of growth in which the New Leader has struggled to
improve and analyzing the root causes in order to take new action steps.


Problem Solving and Action Planning
Issue of Concern:

Current State Desired State
Identify the problem. What do we want to change?


Causes Effects
Analyze the problem. What’s preventing us from reaching the
desired state?

Clear, concise problem statement (identify sub-problems where applicable):

Before we go any further…
Control – Are we the right people to tackle this problem? List other stakeholders.

Importance and difficulty – How much does it matter whether this problem is solved?
Is it possible? Do we` have the will?

Time and resources – How long will it take to resolve this problem? Have we got what
it will take to do this job?


Return on investment – What is the payoff? Does it justify the investment of
resources?


Helping Forces Hindering Forces
Force-field analysis What could help or hinder our efforts?


Brainstorm Solutions
How can we make the change?
How can problem causes be eliminated?
How can barriers be minimized?
What positive forces can be maximized?


Select and Plan the Solution
What’s the best way to do it?
Criteria for evaluating solutions
• Resources (budget, people, materials, etc., available to group)
• Time (length of time it takes to solve problem)
• Acceptability (stakeholders and organization will accept solution – and
changes involved)
• Return on investment (expected pay-off from solution)
• Control (implementation is within control of group)
• Appropriateness (solution solves problem)

Solution(s) Chosen:


Action Plan
Who, what, where, when, and how to evaluate?
Who to involve, enroll, get input?
Who? What? By When? How
Monitored?

Problem Solving process taken from Continuous Improvement: Problem Solving
Manual, Montgomery County Public Schools Summer Leadership Conference, 1997.

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