Competency 4

Articulate and champion shared mission, vision, and values.

Educational leaders must have the ability to:

• Understand the role of mission, vision, and value statements.
• Communicate and champion the mission, vision, and values.
• Evaluate the impact on organizational behavior.
• Evaluate the capacity of the organization to align its behaviors with the mission.
• Understand the role of mission, vision, and value statements.

"For a school to be effective, administrators, teachers, students, parents and the community must share the vision" (Doverspike, Assay, & Vaiana, 2005, p. 27). What does sharing the vision mean? Does it mean the administrator develops the vision and others share it? Owens and Valesky (2007) discuss how important it is for leaders to empower the stakeholders to fully participate in the continual process of refining a vision or the mission of a school. Sharing the vision, then, is about involving others in the initial and continuing development of the vision; it is not about an administrator single-handedly developing a vision or a mission based on his or her values alone.

"Engaging staff in a collaborative process to develop shared values, or 'collective commitments,' is one of the most powerful tools for changing behaviors that can, ultimately, transform the culture of a school or district" (Kotter & Cohen, 2002, p. 2). To change the culture of an educational institution, the beliefs and values that drive the actions of the institution must be changed; it is not enough to focus only on the actions themselves. It is virtually impossible for people to effectively change behaviors that do not align with their value systems unless their belief systems or values are altered. When the leader understands the power that values hold over staff, learners, and all constituents, he or she realizes that any change that transforms the culture of the institution has to embrace the values held by every stakeholder (Calabrese, 2002).

Transforming the culture of the educational institution is a collaborative process. "We see an organization's culture in the assumptions, beliefs, expectations, and habits that constitute the norm for those working in it" (Schlechty, 1997, p. 136). Change that is not supported by cultural change will eventually be overwhelmed by the prevailing culture because the organization finds its meaning and stability in its culture. The educational leader, therefore, must work collaboratively with the stakeholders to champion shared mission, vision, and values in order for the organization to effectively evolve and grow.

References

Calabrese, R. (2002). The leadership assignment: Creating change. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon.

Doverspike, D., Assay, T., & Vaiana, P. (2005). Forming and communicating the vision.
Momentum. Washington, 36(3), 27.

Kotter, J., & Cohen, D. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people
change their organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School.

Owens, R. & Valesky, T. (2007). Organizational behavior in education: Adaptive
leadership and school reform (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Schlechty, P. (1997). Inventing better schools: An action plan for educational reform.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.