There are five steps in planning your leadership journey.

Step 1: Understanding What it Means to be a 21st Century Education Leader

Understanding all of the competencies is key to determining how you will use your skills to advance your individual goals, assist other educators on their journey, and to advance the Association's priorities.

It is not necessary to learn all seven competencies at once. Likewise, it is possible to be a Level 3 leader in one competency and a Level 1 leader in a different competency.

We encourage you to download the leadership development guide planning tool and keep it easily accessible as you develop your leadership goals.

Take a moment to reflect and write down in your planning guide how this learning and application will assist you in your foundational journey.



Step 2: Undertake a Self-Assessment to See Where You Are in Your Leadership Journey

Together, the seven competencies define the knowledge, skills and abilities every educator should know and be able to do as 21st century education leaders.

We recommend that you complete all of the self-assessments to get a complete picture of your leadership strengths and areas of growth. Once you complete an assessment, record you score. No matter your score, remember leadership is a journey and not a destination. You should complete the assessments a few times during your plan's timeline to measure your progress. If you have not completed a self-assessment, visit: https://neapartnera.learnupon.com/users/sign_in Once you have created a profile and logged into the LMS, please type "leadership self-assessments" using the search function.




Step 3: Identify Your Leadership Goals

Now may be a good time to return to your why and begin to identity the competencies on which you will focus in your plan. The planning guide provides a set of questions to help in developing your goals.



Step 4: Come Up With a Plan to Work Towards Your Goal

Without taking action, your plan will only be a list of goals. To ensure greater success in accomplishing your goals, your plan should include exactly what you are going to do to practice the skills you have and learn new competencies that will help you become a stronger practitioner and Association leader.

If you are completing this course, and your goal is to coach other educators, think about what opportunities you will create for educators to learn and practice the skills they’ve outlined in their plan.

Now is a good time to contact your local and/or state affiliate leadership team to learn about the training opportunities currently offered by the Association for its members. To find your state affiliate, visit: https://www.nea.org/nea-affiliates. You can also visit www.nea.org/leadershipdevelopment to learn about national training opportunities.

Step 5: Engage in a Post-Activity Self-Assessment

Regular self-assessment creates opportunities to develop an important skill for leaders – the practice of reflection. Reflection is key for measuring impact and making adjustments. Reflection is also a time to celebrate your accomplishments, even if you have not yet reached your desired goal.

Some ways to determine your impact is to ask for feedback from colleagues and complete the leadership self-assessments again. Here’s a suggested prompt to use when seeking feedback from others: I’m improving my leadership skills with the NEA Leadership Development program. Can I count on you to partner with me and share your thoughts on my goals?

Reflection:

  1. Who can be your accountability partner(s) as you create and execute your plan?

  2. With whom can you share the leadership development guide?