This month's question was "What are ways that you are INTENTIONAL in allowing your staff to feel empowered?" To be honest, I have not spent much time thinking about that previous to this post. My days seem to be filled with putting out 'fires', making plans for students/staff/parents, and supporting learning from one moment to the next. So I asked a few staff members what they thought.
Two questions came to mind:
1) Do you ever feel empowered? If yes, when? How do you use the power or leadership opportunity that has been made possible?
2) What can I do to facilitate opportunities for staff to feel that they are empowered?
Interestingly enough, the majority of the responses for #1 stated that they do not feel empowered. The responses were sad, but sadly not shocking. I thought that I had given a few staff members opportunities to assert themselves as leaders, but this did not come across from their perspectives. A hard pill to swallow, but definitely food for thought. This brings me to response #2 which helped me unpack why staff empowerment isn't something that the staff feel is present.
One staff member said, "Staff will best feel empowered when teachers are given opportunities to see positive impacts they have on students. Teachers often do not get positive feedback on the work they do or interactions they have with their students in their classrooms... Being asked for an opinion or feedback is a great way to begin to feel empowered."
Another staff member wrote, "Do I feel empowered? To be honest, not really. I often feel underused. In fact, I've been recently told by someone that I am underused. However, I don't let that get to me because I find ways to feel empowered. I don't wait for the admin to come to me. I am more of an intrinsic person and find my motivations from within. If I do something, it is because I want to do it. If I help a teacher, it is because I feel that I can positively contribute and collaborate with this individual. I also set myself goals each year. "
What can I do? I am the vice principal and am not in control of where the ship is headed. I am the person who tries to hold the captains course and gives input from time to time. This made me question how empowered I am. Maybe I am incorrectly using the 'power' that I have been entrusted with. With all of the latter in mind, I decided that I have a few more months to begin to make a change during this school year. I am partially responsible for the lack of empowerment so, I am going to actively seek out staff who are willing to share their expertise and place themselves in leadership roles. I want to help provide opportunities for their innovations to be shared. More specifically, we are implementing a 1:1 initiative at our school and I am hoping that I can provide opportunities for staff to share their knowledge and expertise with their colleagues. This is just a start, but this month's question forces me to keep staff empowerment in the forefront of my thoughts.
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