My action research question is:
What is the impact of personalizing professional learning for the members of the Waterford.org Professional Learning team of consultants?
I'm searching for references and sources describing how strong leaders have empowered their teams and researching how educators and other professions have successfully implemented innovative and ongoing professional learning plans. I have looked for all forms of references and have had to dive into various forms of media, including videos, podcasts, audiobooks, research guides and articles, and books.
In How to Become an Inclusive Leader, Dr. Pollock (n.d.) shares her experiences of not having the vocabulary to speak the truth during her early career and how a statement from a fellow engineer left her feeling like she didn't belong. This led to her work in inclusive leadership, and she outlines her Inclusive Leadership Development model, which consists of four parts: Individual, Lens, Practices, and Outcomes.
In Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe, Simon Sinek (n.d.) explains why and how good leaders make their teams feel safe, leading to greater loyalty, ownership, and responsibility. He explains how one company saved $20 million while also saving jobs. He also describes the Marine tradition known as "Officers Eat Last," which brings unity and loyalty to a team.
In his book, "Leaders eat last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t," Sinek (2014) includes various real-world examples and case studies from military, corporate, and other organizational settings to illustrate the principles of effective leadership and the impact of creating a Circle of Safety. "Leaders Eat Last" advocates for a leadership style that values trust, empathy, and service, leading to stronger, more cohesive, and successful teams.
In their book, Teacher Collaboration In Perspective: A Guide to Research, Schleifer et al. (2017) discuss the impact of collaborative professional learning for teachers. It highlights that teachers learn best through ongoing, collaborative, and context-specific professional development. The report emphasizes the importance of creating supportive environments that foster experimentation, reflection, and shared practices. It also notes that collaborative efforts can improve instructional practices and enhance student outcomes. As my team consists of former teachers who will always be teachers at heart, I find the practices described here also relate well to my intended audience.
Foltos's (2018) article, "Teachers Learn Better Together," reinforces the idea that teachers learn best from each other in collaborative settings. These environments enable continuous professional growth and lead to improved instructional practices and student success. Ways to measure achievement and set norms and milestones are discussed. I want more information on how learning from peers and measuring achievement in this model can favor my team's professional development.
While learning much about collaboration and preferences, I continue to seek information on how the strategies are measured. I started with a Google form to learn more about my colleagues' needs. This survey was a launching pad for our summer (peer) learning series and collaborative opportunities this past school year. More formally, my organization shares progress toward achieving team goals and satisfaction scores every quarter. While my team's satisfaction scores are generally high, we have pockets of lows, including feeling supported and having opportunities for professional growth and development, which is why this topic is timely and pertinent to my work. We partner with schools and family-focused organizations and ask them for annual feedback via an NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey. According to Grigore (2024), this simple questionnaire "aims at predicting whether a customer will repurchase from a company or refer it to someone else. NPS surveys are thus actively used to measure customer experience, customer satisfaction, and loyalty to a brand, as well as its dynamic over time." I'll receive our NPS results at the end of August and use them to guide SY 2024-2025 plans.
References:
Foltos, L. (2018, January 29). Teachers Learn Better together. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/teachers-learn-better-together
Grigore. (2024, June 10). 20 NPS Survey question and response Templates for 2024. Retently. https://www.retently.com/blog/nps-survey-templates/
Pollock, M., PhD. (n.d.). How to become an inclusive leader [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/meagan_pollock_phd_how_to_become_an_inclusive_leader
Schleifer, D., Rinehart, C., Yanisch, T., Public Agenda, & Spencer Foundation. (2017). Teacher Collaboration in Perspective: A Guide to research [Book] In Teacher Collaboration In Perspective: A Guide to Research. Public Agenda. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED591332.pdf
Sinek, S. (n.d.). Why good leaders make you feel safe [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_why_good_leaders_make_you_feel_safe?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
Sinek, S. (2014). Leaders eat last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. Penguin UK.
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