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Bess Sullivan Scott (bscott@lps.org) is the principal of GoodrichMiddle School in Lincoln, NE. She cofacilitates a DevelopingThoughtful Leaders group with Mary Beth Lehmanowsky forLincoln Public Schools’ secondary principals.

DevelopingThoughtfulLeaders

BY BESS SULLIVAN SCOTT

PREVIEW

An ongoing professional development program builds skills and relationshipsamong participants.

The program requires little financial support but strongparticipant commitment.

Participants learn how to leada learning organization.

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Never have time to think and reflect? Want to collaborate with your colleagues toincrease student achievement instead of competing with them in a stressful, stan-dards-based environment? Tired of reacting to the unintended consequences ofyour own and your district’s decisions? Striving to be a healthy, fulfilled school

leader? Lincoln (NE) Public Schools has begun to address these issues through an ongoingprofessional development program called “Developing Thoughtful Leaders.”

The goals of Developing Thoughtful Leaders are as follows:• To foster intellectual development in systems thinking and educational leadership• To examine action research on educational leadership and continual school improvement• To build collaborative support through sharing information and practices, solving prob-

lems, and examining emerging issues in educational leadership• To increase the interconnectedness and sustainability of learning organizations in

the district.

Program DesignIn 2002, Lincoln Public Schools was one of three school districts in the nation that were selected by the Institute for the Development of Educational Activities to design a coherent,sustainable professional development learning community for principals and other leaders.Using funds from DeWitt Wallace–Reader’s Digest, the institute provided the framework forDeveloping Thoughtful Leaders, a participant-driven program that requires little financialsupport and strong participant commitment. Initially, six facilitators were trained to runthree groups: an elementary principals’ group, a secondary principals’ group, and a district office administrators’ group. Because of the success of the program, the original facilitatorstrained six additional facilitators to lead two new groups for associate principals, coordina-tors, and district office curriculum specialists. Each month, the groups meet for an entireschool day—away from their buildings—to reflect, study, and talk about leadership.

To form the groups, the superintendent invited all

principals and district office directors to indicate their

interest in being part of a role-alike learning group.

He also asked for volunteers to facilitate each group.

Participants were asked to make a once-a-month com-

mitment for two years to ensure that the program had

a chance to work. The superintendent’s executive com-

mittee selected the facilitators. All principals and direc-

tors who showed interest became participants. Then

the superintendent stepped back so the facilitators and

group members could develop full ownership of their

own learning. The superintendent’s noncontrolling

support has been an essential element of the success of

Developing Thoughtful Leaders.

The elementary principals’ group has 25 members,

the secondary principals’ group has 15 members, and

the district directors’ group has 12 members. The 25-

member elementary assistant principals’ group and the

17-member secondary assistant principals’ and district

office specialists’ groups are in their first year of mem-

bership and were formed in the same open, inviting manner.

At the beginning of the school year, members volunteer to

facilitate different parts of the agenda each month. The

facilitators always lead the closure activities and discussion,

and they coplan and facilitate the Leadership Learnings

section of the agenda with another principal.

The five different Developing Thoughtful Leaders’

groups share the same goals and use The Fifth Discipline

(Senge, 1990) as a primary source of new leadership knowl-

edge. Developing Thoughtful Leaders is

not a cookie-cutter model. Each group has

developed its own agenda according to its

participants’ needs and wants to meet the

program goals. Addressing racism, building

professional learning communities, and

embracing change are examples of organiz-

ing themes for the different groups. Facili-

tators of the groups meet monthly to learn

from one another by sharing strategies, re-

sources, and agenda ideas.

Essential Agenda ComponentsThe following essential agenda compo-

nents are part of the Developing Thought-

ful Leaders program develops leaders:

Reconnect. At the beginning of the day

and after the lunch break, all the partici-

pants gather their chairs into a circle. The

participant volunteer asks a question that

each participant answers in two to four

minutes. Questions are carefully crafted to

elicit thoughtful answers that facilitate

authentic relationships. Sample questions

include, What event or person caused you to choose edu-

cation? Who are your mentors and why? What is your

most memorable family holiday gathering? and What is

causing you the most stress right now? Although the

stereotype of secondary principals might suggest that the

reconnect is excessively touchy-feely, the evaluations from

the principals in the group identify the reconnect activity

as the basis for the honest communication that has re-

duced barriers to collaboration.

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Collegial relationship building has been the best part of our Developing Thoughtful Leadersessions. Our group hasdeveloped a strong level of trust and mutual support. Ourmeetings have become a safeplace to share questions, ideas,and concerns.

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Read It, Liked It. This exercise pro-

vides the opportunity for principals to

share a synopsis of what they have been

reading professionally. Principals will of-

ten bring a book or an article, sharing

powerful excerpts and their application.

This review of current leadership litera-

ture helps the group prioritize their pro-

fessional reading and identifies important

resources.

Leadership Learnings. Often referred

to as the “cognitive piece,” Leadership

Learnings has concentrated on the intel-

lectual development in systems thinking.

During the last two years, The Fifth Disci-

pline has provided the new knowledge

members can use to make their schools

more effective learning organizations.

Studying the five disciplines of personal

mastery, mental models, shared vision,

team learning, and systems thinking has

changed the culture of district meetings

outside of the program framework. For

example, in the face of budget reductions,

principals used systems thinking diagrams

to try to fully understand their proposed

decisions before finalizing them.

Dialogue. The group explores a com-

plex, difficult issue from many points of

view, not to solve it, but to make participants aware of be-

liefs, mental models, and assumptions about it. The dia-

logue leader poses a question and participants in the dia-

logue respond. Participants do not debate one another

about their answers; they attempt to understand the mean-

ing of one another’s words. One of the groups most pow-

erful dialogues revolved around the question, What would

our district look like if I cared as much about your school

as I care about my school?

Professional Sharing. Because of the culture of learn-

ing present in the group, this part of the agenda has been

neither competitive nor boastful. This portion of the

agenda is time that principals can share the effective prac-

tices that they have implemented in their schools. Prac-

tices have ranged from pragmatic (e.g., how to effectively

organize the delivery of office messages without disturbing

instruction) to philosophical (e.g., how to reinforce school

values).

Closure. Each day ends with closure discussions and

activities. During this time, the next month’s agenda is

reviewed and adjusted as necessary. The lessons learned

during the day are summarized. Journaling is sometimes

used as a summary activity or as an evaluation tool. The fi-

nal activity is a roundtable discussion where participants

take turns identifying and committing to an application of

something new that they learned during the day that will

affect their leadership or their school. For example, after

learning about the ladder of inference, many principals

committed to being more aware of not jumping to conclu-

sions on the basis of their perceptions.

BenefitsCompetition has changed to cooperation and support

among middle level and high school principals who partici-

pate in the program because they systematically and pur-

posefully build relationships, acquire knowledge, and de-

velop new leadership strategies. Systems thinking has

provided structure and tools that participants can use to

reflect deeply on personal and organizational issues to gain

the inspiration to be courageous leaders. Developing

Thoughtful Leaders has increased the power of collabora-

tive work and diminished the feelings of isolation and lone-

liness of the principalship in Lincoln Public Schools by

building on principals’ skills and knowledge while nurtur-

ing their hearts and minds. PL

Reference❏ Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday.

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ResourcesThe Lemming Dilemma: Living With Purpose, LeadingWith Vision. D. Hutchens. 1998. Waltham, MA: PegasusCommunications.

Outlearning the Wolves: Surviving and Thriving in aLearning Organization. D. Hutchens. 1998. Waltham, MA:Pegasus Communications.

Shadows of the Neanderthal: Illuminating the BeliefsThat Limit Our Organizations. D. Hutchens. 1999. Waltham.MA: Pegasus Communications.

Tip of the Iceberg: Managing the Hidden Forces That Can Make or Break Your Organization. D. Hutchens. 2001.Waltham, MA: Pegasus Communications.

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools forBuilding a Learning Organization. P. Senge, A. Kleiner, R.Ross, C. Roberts, & B. Smith. 1994. New York: Doubleday.

Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook forEducators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares AboutEducation. P. Senge, N. Cambron-McCabe, T. Lucas, B. Smith,& J. Dutton. 2000. New York: Currency.