Leadership as a Strategy
Leadership development is not the responsibility of an individual or a singular department or program, but it is something that must be understood, prioritized, and integrated in all aspects of the organization, including campaigns and programs. Leadership development is ongoing and not a single event.
Attacks on students, educators, public education, and unions, coupled with more systemic problems like inequities and institutional racism, are just a few of the challenges, threats, and opportunities the Association is addressing. To build the capacity needed to address these issues, the Association will need an effective strategy, beyond tactics, that supports the development of leaders.
This level of integration happens through asking strategic questions and by intentionally looking for opportunities to:
Explicitly use the language of the framework throughout the Association;
Highlight the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed in the competencies and;
Communicate to educators how application of these skills makes a difference in their day-to-day lives.
“If you don’t ask the right questions, you don’t get the right answers. A question asked in the right way often points to its own answer.”
The goal is to have more leaders who understand their responsibility for the care and growth of the union. Leaders are not just responsive to issues but also understand and demonstrate a shift in their behavior to decision on the Association's role in enhancing the quality of public education and a proactive agenda that engages members that leads to success for every student.
Why should your affiliate invest in leadership development?
The evidence shows that investment in leadership development:
Leads to organizational success and builds organizational capacity; yielding a return on investment by increasing buy-in and engagement for organizations;
Attracts, develops, and retains member leaders, creating sustainability; helps an organization execute their strategic plan, and
Provides leaders with skills to manage change and lead in their professions; skills that are used to lead the organization in responding to and navigating change (internal and external).
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs):
A key component of leadership is to define leadership and frame for educators the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) leaders need to execute strategy, achieve organizational goals, and create a culture indicative of learning organizations. These KSAs must also be applicable to the day-to-day functions of Association leaders and practitioners, no matter their careers. The KSAs for education leaders are systemized in seven competency domains in the NEA Leadership Development Competency Framework.
Does your affiliate communicate to educators the competencies needed to excel as a practitioner and Association leader? Has your affiliate identified which competencies are most relevant to its organizational priorities?
Has your state and/or local association formally adopted and integrated the NEA Leadership Development Competency Framework?
If you are using the NEA Leadership Development Competency Framework, how might it be integrated into your programs and campaigns, as well as the organization’s strategic plan?
How to use the Leadership Competency Framework?
Are your current leadership development offerings competency-based? If not, how might they be?
Are the opportunities through your affiliate focused on the leadership development of members. If yes, how so?
Have you demonstrated for educators how the competencies are applicable in their day-to-day responsibilities and their functions as an elected leader?
Do you provide multiple, ongoing, and interconnected opportunities in person and "through" instead of "with" online learning?
Does the affiliate's budget reflect that leadership development is a priority?
Does your affiliate have a leadership development strategy?
What are some of the key questions your state or local affiliate should be asking in order to create a strategy for developing local leaders and building organizational capacity?
Below are a few key questions your state or local affiliate should be asking in order to create a strategy for developing local leaders and building organizational capacity.
Is the affiliate interested in leadership development?
How should your affiliate use the NEA Leadership Competency Framework?
Who needs to be involved to reimagine leadership development at the affiliate level?
What evaluation is needed to demonstrate impact and how will it be communicated?
Reflection:
Take a moment to reflect. What are some additional questions you might include when discussing leadership development strategy with your affiliate?
Write down your questions and add to them as needed.
Supporting the Strategic Framework and Achieving Organizational Goals
The most effective organizations closely link their organizational budgets with their strategic plans, have a short- and long-term vision, prioritize their resources given the complex and varying needs of their members, and are successful at monitoring performance and budgetary controls (Bianca, A. 2017). The most effective organizations look at their organization as a system and understand the relationship among its components including its leadership. Effective organizations invest in leaders and prepare them to assume responsibilities to address short- and long-term issues and lead change.
In this section, you will...
Explore how the NEA Leadership Competency Framework is used to inform the organization's strategic framework, program, and budget.
How can you determine if your leadership development practices are working and getting the results you want?
There are many tools organizations can use to measure the impact of their leadership development efforts and transform their work into a strategy. Leadership development practitioner and author, Jennifer Mackin, created such a tool: The Leaders Development Maturity Tool™ . In the tool, Jennifer lists four drivers of leader development success. These drivers are particularly helpful for auditing leadership development efforts for our organization. Using Mackin's framework, we've explored how these drivers are applicable to the Association.
If you are an affiliate leader and are interested in using the Leadership Development Maturity Tool, please contact the NEA Leadership Development Team at leadersdevelop@nea.org.
The core of the NEA Strategic Framework is leadership development. The NEA, across most objectives and all its priorities, invests in the development of leaders.
The success of the NEA Strategic Framework relies on trained, skilled, and responsible leaders at all levels of the organization.
Factor the pace of change, internally and externally, and the the increasing demands on educators' time. Coupled with the fact that so many educators feel overwhelmed when assuming leadership positions, investing in leadership development is even more important. Additionally, measuring that investment is critical to sustainability and progress.
Simply put, leadership development has to meet the needs of educators and help advance the mission of the Association.
Leadership Development Practices
