Lorena Rodriguez
My Learning Path
It is a pleasure to share my new digital adventure!
Great leaders stand out because they know how to inspire those who follow them into action. These leaders, mentors, or people we hold in high esteem know how to produce a strong sense of belonging without needing external incentives. Good leaders look for the people around them to take the initiative; they do not need to use rewards or sanctions because they can inspire others who want to act. The motivation is deeper because they know why they should do it.
As a leader, you face the challenge of leading the school so that the teachers change their mentality and behavior in the way of educating the students of this 21st century and adapting to the demands that education needs to achieve the expected results. Only in this way can people grow to adapt to an increasingly demanding and dynamic environment. Administrators and teachers must understand that change is inevitable, but growth is optional. Those who see this as an opportunity to improve are the ones who finally achieve success, opening themselves up to new learning possibilities.
Every organization has ideas, projects, objectives, goals, and more to be successful. Some leaders help organizations succeed. But how should they begin to propose their ideas? Sinek's book Start with Why explains that we need to focus on the why of wanting to do things. For Sinek, leadership requires two prior promises: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate it. All decisions must be able to explain why, and why must also be in each message transmitted. When analyzed by the author, great leaders such as Steve Jobs and Apple, Martin Luther King, or the Wright brothers could verify that they acted, thought, and communicated in the same way and that this was opposite to the others. They all achieved success because they were clear about why they were doing what they were doing and codified it into what he calls the "golden circle." "Golden circle" consists of three concentric circles with the why in the center, followed by the how and what. He provides us with a working model that can serve as a basis for inspiring and directing others.
I want to implement my innovation plan in my school, but here is my WHY for my innovation plan.
Influence is crucial to creating change, positively or negatively. Based on the book Influencer, I learned that to change behavior; we start from the heart, then the leader must create the desired result, identify vital behaviors and influencers in the organization, and use the six sources of influence to increase the chances of success.
Every day we have to solve problems from a personal and professional level. Leaders must be able to influence behavior change to solve problems. Change is not easy, but the authors -K. Patterson, J. Grenny, D. Maxfield, R. McMillan, and A. Switzler- from the book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change presents proven skills, principles, and strategies that can be applied to create rapid, impactful, and lasting change in work and life.
In my Influencer strategy section, you can see a clear example of how to apply the skills at school.
The best strategies fail if it is not accompanied by a correct execution to implement the plans and systems that ensure the transformation and sustainability of the organization. As we know that no strategic result is achievable unless team members change their behavior. For this to happen, we will need to get commitment from the team amid the daily grind, which is not easy as there will always be a whirlwind to deal with: urgent activities required to keep things running on a day-to-day basis. This whirlwind will consume the team's time and energy, preventing future strategic plans from being executed.
Sean Covey, Chris McChesney, and Jim Huling solve this problem of strategic execution in the company, proposing the method of The 4 Disciplines of Execution. The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) is the training that provides the keys to generating habit and commitment in meeting objectives and getting teams and individuals to commit to executing what is most important.
In my 4DX section, you can see a clear example of how to apply the skills at school.
Change and being a leader are marathons that carry many challenges. With the strategies I learned in these eight weeks and good dialogue, I consider that everything should flow to obtain optimal results in any organization, in my case, at school. Although everything is a process where there will be difficult moments, I have always believed that everything has a solution. There are so many problems when we do not communicate properly, and this causes endless personal and work issues. Let us be aware that we are human beings and will make mistakes but at the same time, let us be sincere and respectful with other people.
A key theme for Friedman is the idea that leaders need to be self-differentiated. That means, in short, that leaders cannot be overly identified with the groups they lead, or else they will not have the needed perspective to make hard decisions. In other words, leaders need to have clearly defined boundaries. (Friedman, 2010).
In my Self-differentiated Leadership section, you can see a clear example of how to apply the skills at school.