Do you want to increase shared understanding and focus? If so, develop, document, and discuss your organization’s philosophy. Below is Christian Academy in Japan’s philosophy statement which school staff discuss in meetings.

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Our vision for education is to equip students for a life of loving, obedient response to God and of care for and restoration of His creation. Through education, students are equipped to discover God's grace and truth, to embrace their identity as human beings created in His image and for His glory, and to develop their God-given potential.

To this end, we aspire to be a school where, in reliance upon the Holy Spirit: 

Parents assume the primary responsibility for their children's education, with CAJ assisting them in providing Christian education. CAJ exists to educate children of evangelical missionary parents, and also welcomes other families desiring their children to have a Christian education. 

Students are valued as persons created in God's image, are responsible for their learning, and can influence it by diligence, prayer for wisdom, and the application of God's Word to their lives. We recognize and value student diversity seen in ways of learning, abilities, and cultural backgrounds and identities. We believe that students mature spiritually, intellectually, aesthetically, physically, emotionally, and socially. 

Teachers model a Christ-like lifestyle; teach all subjects from a Biblical perspective; implement CAJ's school philosophy in order to inform, motivate, direct, encourage, and discipline students; and avail themselves of resources and training opportunities for ongoing professional growth. 

Learning occurs as students are equipped with knowledge, skills, and attitudes so they can love and serve God and others. Students learn best within a nurturing environment which fosters an enduring joy in learning and the desire to honor Christ through learning; and where teachers pray for students and use Biblical principles and sound, current educational research and practice to determine what students learn, how they are taught, and how they show what they know. 

Our program fosters the development and application of a Biblical worldview to all of life by grounding students in Biblical practices and values; training them to use Biblical discernment as we expose them to selected non-Christian worldviews and ideas; and encouraging them to apply God's truth in daily life. Our program is communicated in the English language and is based upon an American approach which uses United States educational standards, course sequences and options (college preparatory and career), instructional materials, standardized tests, educational research, and co-curricular activities.

Keep in mind that organizational change is both uncomfortable and doable.

Want to improve your organization? If so, make sure your staff members understand what’s involved in organizational improvement. Make sure your staff understand that:

• The purpose of organizational improvement is increasing achievement of the mission.
• Improvement plans target mission achievement.
• When implementing improvement plans, staff are to live out organizational values, use organizational best practices, and collaborate with other stakeholders.

Question: How well do your staff members understand what’s involved in organizational improvement?
 
To get an idea of how well your staff understand what’s involved in organizational improvement, take the following assessment. Rate each item, using the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sometimes • 1: Rarely

___ Staff members understand our values.
___ Staff members understand our mission.

___ Staff members understand our best practices.
___ Staff members understand our improvement plans.
___ Staff members understand the importance of stakeholder collaboration.

___ Staff members understand how values, mission, best practices, improvement plans, and stakeholder collaboration are connected.
___ Staff members understand what’s involved in organizational improvement.


3 questions:

1. How well do you want your staff to understand what’s involved in organizational improvement?
2. How can you help your staff better understand what’s involved in organizational improvement?
3. What are you going to do?

Bottom line: Pursue excellence. Help your staff understand what’s involved in organizational improvement. Today.


*To learn more, explore these 5 questions.

Meetings are an important tool you can use to achieve your mission. I’ve participated in good meetings. If you want to participate in good meetings more often, answer this question: What makes a good meeting good? Good meetings are on TARGET in terms of:

• Team purpose
• Assessment
• Results
• Guidelines
• Effective facilitation
• Types of meetings.

To get an idea of how you can make your meetings even more effective, complete the following assessment (download). Use the following scale:

4: Strongly Agree • 3: Agree • 2: Disagree • 1: Strongly Disagree
 
Team purpose
___ Our team’s purpose is documented.
___ Our team’s purpose targets mission achievement.
___ Our team’s purpose is understood by each team member.
___ Our team’s purpose statement is user-friendly.
___ Our team’s purpose is used as the filter for what gets on the agenda.
 
Assessment
___ We assess completion of assigned tasks.
___ We assess meeting effectiveness in terms of team purpose.
___ We assess meeting effectiveness in terms of achievement of targeted results.
___ We assess meeting effectiveness in terms of abiding by meeting guidelines.
___ We use assessment at each meeting.
___ Each team member is involved in assessment.
 
Results
___ We identify results for a given meeting before the meeting.
___ We use the SMART goal format to list our targeted meetings results on our agenda.
___ Our targeted meeting results target mission achievement.
___ We achieve our targeted results at each meeting.
 
Guidelines
___ We developed our meeting guidelines collaboratively.
___ Our guidelines define our desired team dynamics.
___ Our guidelines support the achievement of our team purpose and our mission.
___ Each team member abides by the guidelines.
 
Effective facilitation
___ The facilitation focuses our team on achieving the team purpose.
___ The facilitation focuses our team on achieving the targeted results.

Types of meetings
___ Our team members understand that there are different types of meetings.
___ We use a schedule of different types of meetings to address tactics, strategy, and vision.


Now, ask yourself 4 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What satisfies/frustrates me about the data?
3. To improve your meetings, which 1-2 of the 6 TARGET areas could you address?
4. What will I do?

Pursue excellence. Improve your meetings Today.

Staff in Christian organizations face a challenge—to close the gap between the words of the mission statement and the reality of the current situation.

To meet this challenge, staff can do 4 things:

1. Focus on the mission
2. Empower others
3. Work smart
4. Pursue excellence

To what extent do staff in your organization do these 4 things? To find out, take the following self-assessment (download). Rate each item in terms of how well it describes what you staff do. Use the following scale: 

4: Definitely • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely


Focus on mission
___ We comfortably recite the mission verbatim in casual conversation.
___ We know what it takes to achieve our mission.
___ We can readily explain how each of our daily activities contributes to achieving the mission.
___ We know the current level of mission achievement.
___ We focus on closing the gap between current and targeted levels of mission achievement.
___ We focus on our God-given mission (instead of other good things).

Empower others
___ We listen (instead of talking).
___ We inquire (instead of giving advice).
___ We lead by asking questions.
___ We focus others on taking SMART actions (instead of letting others take undefined actions).
___ We encourage (instead of criticizing).
___ We empower others to solve their own problems (instead of solving their problems).

Work smart
___ We focus on doing right things, before focusing on doing things right.
___ We document our goals.
___ We reflect on our goals.
___ We determine the action steps we need to take to achieve our goals.
___ We schedule time for our big goals first, then schedule time for small goals (like email).
___ We track progress on our goals.
___ We focus on working smarter (not harder).

Pursue excellence
___ We are aware of best practices that help us carry our mission, strategic plan, and specific job assignments.
___ We have documented our best practices.
___ Our professional development program reflect best practice.
___ Our improvement system reflects best practice.
___ Our meetings reflect best practice.
___ We use best practice to care for staff.
___ We use best practice.
___ We pursue excellence.


Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What satisfies/concerns me about the data?
3. In terms of providing professional development, how would I prioritize the 4 areas?
4. What might happen if the professional development needs in the top area were met?
5. What will I do?

Pursue excellence. Improve your organization’s professional development. Today.


*Need professional development resources? Close the Gap Now offers live training (coach and productivity) and free tutorials/tools:

1. How focused are you on your God-given mission?
2. Explore getting coaching
3. How can you empower others more effectively?
4. Empower others to strategically pursue God’s calling
5. Lead by asking questions
6. Develop a coaching culture
7. How can you manage yourself more effectively?
8. Energize, focus, and unleash your staff
9. Enhance your organization’s improvement system
10. How can you enhance your organization’s professional development program?
11. What makes a good meeting good?

*This blog entry is part of a 6-part series:

1. What do you want to focus your organization’s professional development on?
2. What are the components of a professional development plan?
3. What do you believe about professional development?
4. How can you enhance your organization's professional development program?
5. How can you increase the impact of professional development?
6. What are your organization's professional development needs?

You want your organization to achieve its God-given mission. To achieve the mission, you want your staff to carry out their job responsibilities, including implementing the strategic plan. And you want your professional development program to better support all of this.

What’s next? Look at the characteristics of your professional development program. To get an idea of how you can improve your organization’s professional development program, take the following self-assessment (download). Rate each item in terms of how it describe your professional development program. Use the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sometimes • 1: Rarely

Our professional development…
___ Is designed to help us achieve our mission.
___ Supports implementation of our strategic plan.
___ Addresses current/future job responsibilities.
___ Helps individual staff members achieve their annual growth goals.

___ Is ongoing.
___ Is research-based.
___ Is differentiated.
___ Is based on an assessment of our current reality.
___ Is designed using a process involving planning, implementation, and evaluation.

___ Takes place in a variety of ways, in addition to workshops.
___ Involves using new knowledge and skills during the training.
___ Involves reflection.
___ Involves teams.
___ Involves follow-up.

___ Results in us applying knowledge and skills (not in having knowledge and skills).
___ Helps us achieve our mission.


Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What excites/concerns me about the data?
3. How clear is our organization on what makes a good professional development program good?
4. To enhance our professional development program, which 2-3 line items could I address?
5. What will I do?

Pursue excellence. Enhance your organization's professional development program. Today.


*This blog entry is part of a 6-part series:

1. What do you want to focus your organization’s professional development on?
2. What are the components of a professional development plan?
3. What do you believe about professional development?
4. How can you enhance your organization's professional development program?
5. How can you increase the impact of professional development?
6. What are your organization's professional development needs?

You want your organization to achieve its mission. You know that a quality improvement system can help.
 
Question: What’s next?
 
Answer: Take time to reflect. Take time to reflect on key questions, for example:

1. How well does your staff understand what’s involved in organizational improvement?
2. How involved are your stakeholders in organizational improvement?
3. How focused is your staff on organizational improvement?
4. What drives your organization’s improvement?
5. To what extent do improvement plans guide staff work?
6. To what extent are staff accountable for improvement plans?

Reflect, then take action to enhance your organization’s improvement system.
 
Pursue excellence. Today

If you want your organization to more effectively carry out its God-given mission, increase your investment in your staff.

As an administrator at an international Christian school, you know that staff play a vital role in carrying out the mission. Because your care about your staff, want to be good a steward of the staff God has provided, and want your school to carry out its God-given mission, you ask yourself, “How can we energize, focus, and unleash staff both personally and professionally?”

To find out, take the following self-assessment. Rate each item in terms of how well it describes how you energize, focus, and unleash staff. Use the following scale:

4: Definitely • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely

Personal life:
___ 1. We have daily staff devotions.
___ 2. We have fun together throughout the year (for example, wedding and baby showers, meals, outings).
___ 3. We provide specials (for example, pottery classes and access to fitness equipment).
___ 4. We provide mentoring/life coaching to help staff balance work/home and maintain good health.
___ 5. New staff are assigned a buddy to help them get settled.
___ 6. We provide language instruction.
___ 7. We provide assistance with medical/dental visits.
___ 8. We support staff in their personal lives.
___ 9. Staff feel supported in their personal lives.

Professional life:
___ 1. An all-day help desk is available for the first week of school.
___ 2. New staff are assigned a mentor to help them with their work.
___ 3. We provide coaching to help staff grow professionally.
___ 4. Staff are assigned to a professional learning community/team.
___ 5. Staff participate in professional development each week.
___ 6. We reflect together about our work.
___ 7. Supervisors provide accountability/feedback to staff.
___ 8. Supervisors provide feedback to new staff within the first 2 months of classes.
___ 9. Principals demonstrate interest in what's happening in classrooms (for example, by doing walkthroughs).
___ 10. Principals invite teachers to share student work samples.
___ 11. Principals give teachers feedback on student work.
___ 12. We support staff in their professional lives.
___ 13. Staff feel supported in their professional lives.


Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

• How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
• What’s encouraging/discouraging about the data?
• What helps us energize, focus, and unleash staff?
• What hinders us from energizing, focusing, and unleashing staff?
• What will I do? (If you’d like to learn more about developing a staff stewardship plan, click here.)

Pursue excellence. Energize, focus, and unleash your staff. Today.

Remember what it was like the first month on a new job? Remember how you felt? You wanted to do a good job. You needed support so that you could get your questions answered. You needed support so that you could fully use your gifts.
 
Question: How can you provide new staff with support?
 
Answer: Here are 4 options for those working in Christian schools:

1. For the first week of school, have an all-day help desk. New staff can go here to get help with making copies, finding supplies, and talking over a lesson plan.
2. Provide mentors for new staff. These mentors can answers questions, help with learning to use rubrics to assess student work, and assist with learning software.
3. Throughout the year, have a staff resource center, where new staff can get assistance. This could be done, for example, on Tuesday afternoons.
4. Provide opportunities for new staff to gather and reflect on how it’s going.

3 questions:

1. What are some other ways you can provide new staff with support?
2. What will you do to support new staff?
3. How will you use new-staff support to show you care and want to be a good steward?

Pursue excellence. Support new staff. Today.

You like feedback. When you get feedback, you make better decisions and use your God-given gifts more effectively. Same with your staff.
 
Question: How can you provide your staff with feedback?
 
Answer: Here are 3 options for those working in Christian schools:

1. Take 1 class period each week to do walkthroughs. This means you’ll visit a class for 3-5 minutes. After you leave each room, write the teacher a note about what you saw students doing. Repeat the process until the period is up. Then put the notes in teacher mailboxes.
2. Encourage your teachers to give you samples of student work. Review the work. Then write the teacher a note about what you observed in the student work.
3. Review your teachers’ curriculum unit maps. Give teachers written feedback on what you found interesting and what parts of the map were done correctly. As necessary, give corrective feedback.

3 questions:

1. What are some other ways you can provide your staff with feedback?
2. What will you do to provide your staff with feedback?
3. How will you use feedback to show you care and want to be a good steward?

Pursue excellence. Provide your staff with feedback. Today.

Question: During staff meetings, how can you provide accountability and provoke reflection?
 
Answer: By asking questions. Here’s what happened at this morning’s high school staff meeting at Christian Academy in Japan:
 
To provide accountability, Anda Foxwell, high school principal, asked her staff to write a journal response to 1 or more questions:

• How have you applied what we talked about in past divisional meetings?
• How have you helped students use effective reading strategies?
• How have you helped students become more self-disciplined?
• How have you helped students become more proficient learners, thinkers, communicators, collaborators, or caretakers?

Good stewardship of staff involves supervision, supervision that results in staff understanding job expectations, meeting the expectations, and growing professionally.
 
Question: How can you provide effective supervision?
 
Answer: Here are 3 options:

1. Give each staff member a job description. Talk with each staff member about his/her job description.
2. Monitor the work of each staff member in terms of his/her job description.
3. Give each staff member a timely performance review that is consistent with the job description and designed to encourage professional development.

3 questions:

1. What are some other things you can do to supervise staff?
2. What will you do to supervise your staff?
3. How will you use staff supervision to show you care and want to be a good steward?

Pursue excellence. Supervise your staff. Today.

You want your staff to further develop common understanding of a key idea. You know that if this happens, your staff will be able to work together even more effectively.
 
Question: How can you help your staff further develop common understanding?
 
Answer: Ask a question. Ask a question during a staff meeting regarding how a key idea is currently put into practice.
 
Here’s what happened at this morning’s high school staff meeting at Christian Academy in Japan, where Anda Foxwell, high school principal, focused her staff the a key idea by asking a question:

• Key idea: Anda introduced a statement from the school’s philosophy statement: We believe that students mature spiritually, intellectually, aesthetically, physically, emotionally, and socially.
• Question: Next, Anda had her staff respond to the following question: How have you provided opportunities for all of these to develop in your classes this year?

Ask a question. Pursue excellence. Today.