Collaborative Leadership

WHAT IS COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP: 

"Collaborative leadership and practices, the fourth pillar of community schools, provides the relational “glue” that connects and reinforces the other pillars, making it foundational and critical for the success of a community school strategy. By developing a shared vision and goals and creating participatory practices for distributing responsibilities, a community school leverages the collective expertise of all of its stakeholders. In many schools, collaborative leadership and practices are central to the work of the professionals in the building—teachers, administrators, nonteaching staff, and union leaders. Examples of this include professional learning communities, site-based teams charged with improving school policy and classroom teaching and learning, labor-management collaborations, and teacher development strategies, such as peer assistance and review."27

Collaborative Leadership Implementation at Hoover:

Context: Hoover already had active collaborative leadership bodies (e.g., SGT, ILT, SSC, Departments, Academies) but lacked a unified meeting protocol. 

Purpose: Integrate consensus decision-making to improve efficiency in meetings (streamlining discussions and delegating proposals to working groups) and amplify underrepresented voices, especially students.

Our Journey with Collaborative Leadership: 

• Tested consensus decision-making in a low-stakes setting.

• Adjusted norms and protocols based on experience.

• Proposed and conducted a two-meeting trial of the consensus model.

• Aligned and reaffirmed SGT bylaws with the consensus model during the trial.

• Incorporated the consensus model during the trial window to further test and refine the process.

• SGT officially adopted the consensus model at the trial's conclusion.

• Next steps: 

  • Gauge interest from other decision-making bodies in adopting the consensus model.

  • Develop a simplified version of the model for use in working groups.

See below for consensus decision making protocols and helpful documents.