This week’s reading about network relationships prompted me to recall an interview with a colleague about how she has used her networks in the course of improving her communication and the efficiency of her department at our school. Dr. Carola Wittmann is the head of the high school division in our private, Catholic school outside Seattle. She has substantial experience as either a head of school or a division. Within the last two years, Dr. Wittmann’s division has undergone a substantial curriculum change, moving from an AP-focused curriculum to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
This drastic change was not well communicated from the top leadership (which is the focus of my final group project) so in the weeks leading up to the beginning of this new school year (and the new curriculum), Dr. Wittmann had to do damage control. There was a great deal of misinformation among the high school parents about the new curriculum and, consequently, much angst among the parent group manifesting itself in angry parent meetings, a flood of negative messaging coming from parents, and a persistent rumor mill churning out bad information about IB.
Needing to act fast, Dr. Wittmann decided to use a group of high school parents as a strategic network through which she would improve the communication flow about IB, calm the larger group of nervous parents, and help push forward the new curriculum.
“I knew that when fully informed, most parents would welcome the new program because they would understand that it is an internationally known program that really just formalized what our school – as a Sacred Heart school – was already doing,” Dr. Wittmann told me. Parents had not yet “bought into” IB because they really had no idea what it was. In formalizing this parent network and putting it to work, Dr. Wittmann placed strategically important parents – those who were known by their peers for their thoughtfulness regarding school programming as well as their understanding that the school is already rigorous – received the information they needed to better connect the school to the parents who were questioning the wisdom of the curriculum change.
The group, called the IB Task Force, was charged with important work like researching in-depth information about the International Baccalaureate, compiling a list of FAQs for the school to answer, participating in informational meetings, and most importantly, using their position in the parent network to carry informational messages to the community. The group started an IB parent group and also worked with the school administration to create content for an IB informational e-newsletter and directed parents to rich sources of information on the subject. The result was a much better connection with the dissatisfied parents and, in fact, a dramatic decrease in the number of those negative parents.
Ibarra and Hunter stated that what “differentiates a leader from a manager is the ability to figure out where to go and to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there” (Ibarra & Hunter, 2007, p. 6).
Dr. Wittmann, in my opinion, is a leader.
Reference
Ibarra, H., and Hunter, M. (2007) How Leaders Create and Use Networks, Harvard Business Review, pp.1-9 (full article)
Hi Peggy,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have an effective division head, and trusted colleague, in Dr. Wittman. Its great to see stories like this where parents are still actively engaged with the developments in local schools.
One question that comes to mind is, was there a communication strategy in place to inform the parents of an impending curriculum change? If not, would it be beneficial to maintain the IB group in a more formal, and general, capacity to help roll out future initiatives?
Thanks, Peggy.
Peggy, what a great example. I'm curious if Dr. Wittmann consciously thought of her strategy as networking in the way we are talking about it this week?
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested to hear if Dr. Wittmann has served as an example for others in your organizations? Throughout the semester you have shared with us some of the communication and strategy challenges that your organization faces, and I would love to hear more about Dr Wittman's role as an effective leader.
Hi Peggy,
ReplyDeleteDr. Wittmann is an excellent example of strategically engaging the "proper" parents to communicate the message that she needed to disseminate about the IB. Seeing how effectively that worked, has Dr. Wittmann engaged school administration in a similar fashion to design a formal communication strategy? What have you seen in your organization that works in the way of "encouraging" a manager to consider utilize a strategy like this one, when they themselves may not see the success of it.