Sunday, April 3, 2011

"OPEN MIC"

How does one keep an open mic session from becoming a heated gripe session?  The positive component in using  a publishing tool like this blog as part of your open leadership approach, is you too should exercise your right to post; in doing so you must make it a point to constantly speak of the mission of your organization.  By repeating the mission statement and living it,  unrelated "gripes" should be minimal.
On the other hand, giving teachers the power to voice their opinions and suggestions is what open leadership is about.  As Leaders, if we know what our employees are thinking, we can then address our concerns as they relate to our mission.
Many companies have teams that are employed for the sole purpose of updating and managing the companies web sites.  I do not foresee this being something my current school district would even consider including in our school budget.

Open Leadership!!!

The more I read Charlene Li's Open Leadership, the more eager and anxious I get to witness open leadership in Education.  She does a great job illustrating the benefits of Open Leadership in various industries.  She spells out how providing customers with a platform to voice there concerns or grips, gives employers opportunities to select or prioritize then address issues before they become problems.
My biggest question, is what if your "customers" are students? How can we field what I anticipate to be an over abundance of postings?  The policing of the site is also a question I wrestle with.  Parents will be invited to participate, but will also have to do there part monitoring the site.
Im aware that we have to start somewhere, but are schools prepared to Open the technology flood gates? What do you think?  Or should we keep "open gate" slightly closed?