Why is it Important for Administrators to Empower Teachers?

Barbara McSwain
Sep 01, 2008

The excitement of a new administration, a new year, or a new goal can make people feel excited and enthusiastic about school improvement initiatives.  Blanchard, Carlos and Randolph have referred to this as the "orientation stage" in their book, Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute. During the orientation stage is the time for administration to set the agenda and organize the team's efforts. Leadership must be strong and clear from the very beginning.  

As principals begin to prepare for next steps for school improvement initiatives, they need to realize that they must provide clear guidance up front, because stage two, "dissatisfaction" is coming quickly around the corner. School districts are faced with standards driven curriculum. How do administrators change attitudes from the mistaken idea that, "I can go page by page in my text book and be successful" to "Instruction must match state curriculum standards to be successful"? It is not enough for the building administrator to provide an agenda with clear benchmarks. Teachers and staff need to know that they have the support of their administration. This support for schools includes the professional development and materials needed for a standards driven curriculum. Once people are trained and given the necessary materials to do the job, it is imperative that they are held accountable for results. In this type of process, gradual control for problem solving is given to the teams.

Leadership and Board of Education members may find that the dissatisfaction stage is often an uncomfortable position.  However, everyone should remember that this is an important part of the change process, to reach the ultimate goal of becoming a high performing student achievement driven culture.  According to Blanchard, Carlos and Randolph, a team coordinator often emerges during this time.  In the school business, we often allow the discomfort of this stage to upstage our progress and give up too easily before the results of our efforts can be realized.  It is when we stay in the middle of the fray that progress speeds up the movement of self-directed teams, even if, as the administrator, you are unsure of how to help.  People tend to come forward when it appears that no one has the real answer.  Persistence is paramount to the change process.  

Part of the solution may be the "asking memo"   It would include the pertinent information regarding the pertinent information of a school problem and the department's or grade level's portion of the problem. For example, some school districts have initiated data rooms  where pertinent assessment information is posted and discussed. One question for data rooms is, "How do the data empower teachers so that it becomes an assessment for instruction and not of instruction only?" This is a difficult question that often depends on timing. If data are not received in a timely manner, teachers can run out of time in a given year. How do this year's scores affect the following year's instruction? Teams must have rules and procedures in place so that everyone can have a voice. The result of this type of team discussion would be solutions that the teachers could implement and decisions on what will be done.
 
Resources: Blanchard, Ken, Carlos & Randolph, Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute, Berrett-Koehler Publishers. San Francisco, 1998.

The authors of Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute referred to the third stage as the "resolution stage." It is at this point that the team begins to work together, and the role of the team coordinator changes to one of support and facilitator.  This position becomes a rotating position among the teachers with each preceding coordinator training the next. As everyone's capabilities and contributions increase, the whole becomes greater than the parts. This is when everyone just keeps getting better and better because each person involved is developing new skills and abilities. Each teacher is growing!

The bi-product of this type of team development is an increase in job satisfaction. I think of all the stories out of Silicon Valley where employees were working because they "wanted to" and not because they "had to" when technology was being birthed in the late 80's and early 90's. Communication improves between the administration and teachers with a more efficient decision making process.  The result is greater student achievement.  The end result also promotes cost efficiency, when we set the agenda for school improvement and are not side-tracked with issues that are not focused on the School Improvement Plan. To keep moving forward is the goal. Team empowerment is the way, but it will take more than a minute. It takes persistence.