Do You Have a Vision?

08/15/2005

Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Vince Lombardi

In the newly revised Exchange book, Staff Challenges: Practical Ideas for Recruiting, Training, and Supervising Early Childhood Employees, Margie Carter, in an article entitled “What Do Teachers Need Most from their Directors?” suggests that teachers need to work for directors who have a vision…

“It's striking to hear teachers describe the contrast between directors who work with a vision and those who settle for how things are. The word "vision" isn't always used, but they excitedly describe how their director really inspired them to work at the center, how "she's usually got a twinkle in her eye," is always "showing us pictures or little quotes to expand our thinking," or "keeps her eye on the prize even when our budget comes up short." Perhaps some of this is related to the dimension Bloom calls "innovation" or "goal consensus." Teachers can sense when directors are moving their program forward toward a bigger dream, even as they are thwarted by the crisis of the week. The climate is quite different than one limited to following the rules and regulations or resigning the program to the limitations of the moment.

“Teachers acknowledge that directors with big dreams can sometimes overlook the trees for the forest. They can get caught up in grant writing, meetings in the community, or calls and visits to their legislators and neglect a child, parent, or teacher requiring immediate attention, film waiting to be developed, or a promised professional training opportunity. Most teachers don't just want to be kept informed of where the director is heading; they want a role in shaping a vision for the program. When they are offered this involvement, their energy and talents can be tapped and their commitment to the program grows. This is a very different experience for staff than merely delegating responsibility for some tasks the director can't get to. Teachers not only want to work with visionary directors, they want to dream and plan along with them.”

This week, Staff Challenges and all other Exchange books are on sale at a 20% discount. Check them all out at https://secure.ccie.com/catalog/cciecatalog.php?cPath=40

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