Changes and modifications play an essential role while enhancing the relationship within the organization, as these approaches are the key drivers for the success of the educational institution while reaching the learning outcomes. Nonetheless, it remains evident that changes have to be implemented and accepted by the members of the faculty, as, otherwise, no alterations within the flow of events and the organizational structure will be modified (Defour, Dufour, Eaker, & Many, 2010).
In turn, in this instance, the engagement of the school staff in the process to support the new vision is the critical driver towards the professional learning community, as it contributes to finding the support among the members of the institution (Defour et al., 2010). The combination of these features will contribute to implementing steps towards the professional learning community.
Firstly, the professional learning community has to be defined. It is organizational structure, which enhances the efficiency of education, with necessary data availability, respect to communications, common values and mission, collective learning, and supportive leadership (Hord, 2015). The compliance with these principles will contribute to the establishment of the structure of the professional learning community in my organization. Nowadays, the development of the learning communities cannot be clearly defined by the particular measures, as the technology allows completing modifications endlessly (Satterfield, 2014).
The primary goal of the paper is to establish the right solution for the cultivation of the professional learning community of my institution. Firstly, the objectives and goals of the proposal are described in detail to understand the reasons of the essentiality of modifications. Then, the solution and the timeline for the implementation of professional development actives are proposed based on the principles discussed in the book Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work by Defour, Dufour, Eaker, and Many. In the end, the conclusions are drawn.
Objective
The key objective of this proposal is to propose the coherent solution with the timeline for the professional development activities to modify the values of the organization, change the structure, and to reorganize the organization into the professional learning community. In this instance, the outcome is to cultivate the changes in the organization to transform it into the professional learning community. The primary goal of the establishment of this modification is to increase the efficiency of the institution and to improve the learning outcomes.
Goals
In turn, the goals are defined and described in detail in this section, as they will define the solution to the issue and determine the coherent timeline while reorganizing the institution into the professional learning community. In this instance the critical aims can be formulated as
- the introduction of the new mission statement of the institution, which will contribute to the creation of modifications of the organizational perceptions and structure;
- creation of the knowledge-base to cultivate the necessity of change to engage the workforce in the process;
- conducting a set of small venues to propose change;
- establishment of coalition;
- individual and organizational goal setting to reach the status of the professional learning community.
In the end, reaching these goals will contribute to the understanding of the essentiality of the major objective.
Solution
Nonetheless, the solution for the cultivation of changes within the organization has to be proposed by using Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work by Defour, Dufour, Eaker, and Many, as a guide to generate the understanding of the essentiality of changes within the organization. Firstly, the mission statement has to be modified. The vision of the organization has to be modified as the primary goals and intentions change (Angelica, 2001). While changing the structural organization of the institution, it is essential to evaluate its values (O’Brien & Hauser, 2015). In this instance, the mission is modified towards the delivering the equal educational opportunities to all students and aiming at maintaining GPA on the high level.
Provide access to the information, as the members of the institution will be able to come to the similar conclusions while analyzing the information individually (Defour et al., 2010). In this instance, the principles of the shared leadership will be implemented, as each participant will be able to analyze the information individually (Thornton & Cherrington, 2014). Having the information available online will be one of the solutions to this issue as the employees will be able to come up to the similar conclusions simultaneously. Consequently, the establishment the online database with the modified mission statement and rationale for this decision will be the start of the engagement of the employees into the decision-making.
Next step is to conduct the small venue to propose the new modified mission statement to the workforce of the organization. Small venues allow each participant to take part in the discussion equally, and this fact contributes to the reaching the common goal (Davidson & Hyde, 2014). Consequently, the set of the small meetings has to be conducted to propose the desired changes towards the professional learning community.
In this case, the meetings will contribute to the professional development as the information about the necessity for the modification will be provided during the meetings, and presentations will be conducted by the assigned staff with the elements of discussion in the small groups. Presentations and discussion will contribute to the participation of the workforce in the decision-making process (Duke Human Resources, 2015).
These aspects will contribute to the creation of the coalition committee to support the mission statement (Defour et al., 2010). Nonetheless, the creation of this committee is continuous process since it requires having the majority personnel to support the necessity of change. The support can be acquired with the assistance of the personal development workshops, which are aimed at the enhancement of the learning characteristics of the participants (Duke Human Resources, 2015). In this case, they will be targeted at improving the teaching principles and necessity to use the technology in the learning process. However, it has to be mentioned that the participation in this meetings will be voluntarily (Duke Human Resources, 2015).
Lastly, the commitments of each participant or group will be identified to support the modification process. It remains evident that coherent goal-setting will help move towards the right direction while following the particular plan of actions (Rouillard, 2003).
In this instance, the goals will be identified for each individual, as it will contribute to the personal development and reaching the common goals of the institution towards the introduction of the professional learning community. Finally, the monitoring of the progress is also necessary, as it contributes to the definition of the flow of the events within the organization. Setting benchmarks of each change is also critical, as it will allow seeing whether the members of the organizational institution are able to meet the goals on time (Defour et al. 2010).
Timeline
Furthermore, the timeline, which identifies the timespan of each professional development activities is illustrated in this section to determine the time, which is required for the reorganization of the institution into the professional learning community. Figure 1 presents the timeline of the events, which were described in the previous section. The following timeline provides the information about the flow of events, which the organization should follow within the given timeframe. The timeline provides the approximate timing only, as some changes might take place due to the presence of external forces.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it remains evident that the changes have to be modified and accepted by the members of the organization. Otherwise, the modifications of the mission statement will have no influence on the flow of information, learning, and the organizational structure of the organization. The establishment of the steps and stages of implementation clearly defines the process of implementation.
Following the developed timeline will contribute the cultivation of the values of the professional learning community, as, in this instance, the progress of each process can be monitored. Moreover, the principles of the professional learning community can be highly of generated and noticed in the professional development activities. These activities address the alterations of the mission perception and contribute to the engagement of the process of change since the plan follows the logical principles, which will help the modifications to be established without causing negative attitudes among the employees.
References
Angelica, E. (2001). Crafting effective mission & vision statements. Saint Paul, MO: Fieldstone Alliance. Web.
Davidson, R., & Hyde, A. (2014). Winning meetings and events for your venue. London, UK: Goodfellow Publishers. Web.
Defour, R., Dufour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. Web.
Duke Human Resources: Suggested human development activities. (2015). Web.
Hord, S. (2015). What is an authentic professional learning community? Journal of Staff Development, 36(3), 38-39. Web.
O’Brien, E., & Hauser, M. (2015). Supervision and agency management for counsellors. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, LLC. Web.
Rouillard, L. (2003). Goals and goal setting: Achieving measured objectives. Menlo Park, CA: Crisp Publications, Inc. Web.
Satterfield, A. (2014). An endless professional learning community. The Reading Teacher, 67(6), 478. Web.
Thornton, K., & Cherrington, S. (2014). Leadership in professional learning communities. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 39(3), 94-102. Web.