UTILIZING YOUR

HUMAN CAPITALDonna Peduto

WVDE Office of Leadership

“HUMAN CAPITAL”

Is arguably the most valuable asset held by any organization today … But

often the most elusive to manage

“THE STARFISH AND

THE SPIDER”

COMPARE: ‘Spider’ Leadership

Spiders are “centralized” in that they have a head that governs the rest of the body. If you cut off

the head, the spider dies.

‘Starfish’ Leadership

If you cut off a tentacle from a starfish, the starfish will

probably grow a new one. In some species, the tentacle

might even grow a whole new starfish.

WVDE 2009 SETLA

CHARACTERISTICS OF A SPIDER ORGANIZATION:

Top-Down Leadership

Centralized

Clear Organization

“You know who is in charge”

There is no one person “always in charge”

If you “thump it on the head” it survives

There’s an amorphous division of roles

If you “take out a unit” the community survives

Knowledge and power are distributed

The organization is flexible

CRAIGLIST

CHARACTERISTICS OF A STARFISH ORGANIZATION:

“The harder you fight this force, the stronger it gets. The more chaotic it seems, the more resilient it is. The

more you try to control it, the more

unpredictable it becomes.”

WHO ARE YOUR FORMAL TEACHER

LEADERS?

Teacher Leadership Institute

Special ED Institute

Technology Integrations Specialist

National Board Certified Teachers

Classroom Assessment for Learning

SKILLS OF TEACHER LEADERS IN WV

SCHOOLS

21st Century Teaching and Learning

Assessment for Learning

Co – Teaching Expertise

Collaborative Teaching

Technology Integration

Coaching

Teaming

SKILLS OF TEACHER LEADERS IN WV

SCHOOLS

Variety of Content Area Knowledge

Focus on School Improvement

Implementing PLC

Designing PBL Standards Based Assessment Units

Skilled in Depth of Knowledge/Unpacking Standards

HOW ARE YOU UTILIZING YOUR HUMAN CAPITAL?

How are you utilizing your human capital to positively affect school

improvement?

How are you utilizing your human capital to positively impact culture

within your school?

ROADBLOCKS

ROADBLOCKS TO TEACHER

LEADERSHIP:

Not utilizing or underutilizing

Praising a select teachers consistently

Inequitable Professional Development opportunities

Failing to allow time for collaboration

Micromanaging

Criticizing or devaluing leadership efforts

ROADBLOCKS IN UTILIZING HUMAN

CAPITAL:

Gravitating to teachers that think like us

Placing teachers in an isolated rather than a collaborative situation

Withholding/controlling power from teachers in decision making

Not ensuring well-defined roles

Utilizing teacher leaders as a source of administrative help:Fixing ComputersSupervising the cafeteriaSubbing for absent staff

WVDE 2009 SETLA

Time

Game Plan

Relationships

Anticipation

Interaction

Knowledge

Communication

Effective Leaders

“A principal assumes a new role – from an instructional leader to a

developer of community of leaders.  The relationship of the

principal and TL is one of the significant factors influencing the success of teacher leader.”

- Joe Murphy Connecting Teacher Leadership and School Improvement

THE CEO VS. THE CATALYST

CEO CATALYST“The Boss” A Peer

Command and Control Trust

Rational Emotionally Intelligent

Powerful Inspirational

Directive Collaborative

In the Spotlight Behind the Scenes

Order Ambiguity

Organizing Connecting

EFFECTIVE ROLES

Teacher

Leaders

Advocate

Change Agent

Team Leader or

chair

PD coordinator

Academic Coach

PLC Facilitator

Mentors

Data analyst

… AND YOUR OTHER TEACHERS

Informal Leaders

Connectors

Salesperson

Mavens

“THE TIPPING POINT”

INFORMAL LEADERS

A Yiddish expression meaning “one who accumulates knowledge”

Have information on a large range of topics that many of us do not

Connect us with new information

Become information brokers by initiate discussions

Al GoreRemember Al before he was

cool? He often spoke at length about global warming and the Internet. Very few understood it and even more made fun of him because of it. But when

the public began to care about climate change and “being

green,” Vice-President Gore’s wealth of knowledge and

PowerPoint archives inspired an Oscar®-winning film.

Mavens

National Service-Learning Partnership

INFORMAL LEADERS

Have a “knack” for making friends and networking

Connected to numerous types of people

Believe in the importance of “Global Learning”

Paul RevereHis ride was effective because he had a wide-range of contacts along the countryside. Rather than crying out in the dark, he knew exactly

whom to inform and where to find them.

Connectors

National Service-Learning Partnership

INFORMAL LEADERS

Have the skills needed to persuade others (stubborn teachers)

Often described as expressive, charismatic, “mesmerizing”

Oprah WinfreyIf I go to a movie or buy a book, it’s usually because Oprah “told

me” to do it. I’ve never met her—and probably never will—but she

feels like family and for this reason, I trust her opinion. Heck—

she’s the person who convinced me to buy The Tipping Point.

Salespeople

National Service-Learning Partnership

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

High Expectations

TEACHER LEADERSHIP

SURVEYCreating a Collaborative Team

for School Improvement

I. Involvement in School Improvement

II. School Professional Development

III. Leadership Abilities

IV. School Improvement Target Areas

V. Finding Time for School Improvement

- Institute of Educational Leadership

“Teacher leadership is not about ‘teacher power.’ Rather, it is about

mobilizing the still largely untapped attributes of teachers to strengthen student performance at ground level

and working toward real collaboration, a locally tailored kind of shared

leadership in the daily life of the school.”

How to Grow Teacher Leaders

How to Grow Teacher Leaders

Use the handout to brainstormeffective strategies for expanding

the teacher leaders in your school. As a group, share

your group’s top 5 strategies and place on the starfish using

Post-IT Notes.

Franklin Covey

“True leadership is communicating people’s worth and potential so

clearly they are inspired to see it in themselves”

THE STARFISH STORY

Starfish and Teacher Leadership