Page 32 - Journal 89-3 Full

Leadership for Collaborative

Decision-Making

By Kim Sekulich

This article shares leadership skills and strategies to encourage stakeholder involvement in
decision-making. Areas of emphasis include facilitating a collaborative visioning process,
developing shared understanding and ownership, and using data analysis and evidence from
research literature to guide collaborative decision-making. Communication and collaboration
among three stakeholder groups—faculty, parents, and community members—are enhanced to
improve acadmeic programs and maximize student learning.

eaders in the field of education are faced with countless decisions as they strive
Lto create excellent academic programs for students. Decisions are made when
analyzing data; facilitating alignment of standards, curriculum, instruction, and
assessment; selecting resources; providing professional learning opportunities; and
working with stakeholder groups. Involving stakeholders in the decision-making
process enables a variety of perspectives to be discussed that enhance program
develoment and support for the academic program. The purpose of this article is
to share decision-making processes leaders can facilitate to increase collaboration
among stakeholder groups to bring about positive learning outcomes for students.
Although many stakeholder groups can enrich a school, this artilcle focuses on
collaboration among three stakeholder groups: faculty, parents, and community
members.

Core Values, Mission, and Vision
Collaboratively developed and clearly communicated statements of core values,
mission, and vision establish the foundation for effective decision-making (Allen
& Blackwell, 2021). Core values are guiding principles for living the mission and
achieving the vision. The mission states the current reality, and the vision addresses
goals for future accomplishments. The vision is an extension of the core values and
the mission of the school. “A clear vision is written in terms of the school processes to
be implemented, including the curriculum, instruction, assessment, and the learning
environment components required to carry out the purpose of the school” (Bernhardt,
2017, p. 21). Academic system components such as curriculum, instruction, and
assessment; professional learning; parent and community involvement; and fiscal
responsibility are included in a vision. These components serve as category headings
under which clearly defined targets are written.
In learning-enriched schools, compared with learning-impoverished schools,
Rosenholtz [1989] found that teachers and principals collaborated in goal-
setting activities (or vision building) that ‘accentuated those instructional
objectives toward which teachers should aim their improvement efforts’ (p.
6), and that shared goals served to focus efforts and mobilize resources in
agreed-upon directions (Fullan, 2016, p. 108).
Collaborating with stakeholders to establish priorities is part of the visioning
process. Key leadership skills include “being an excellent communicator; being able
to build consensus around the vision, mission, and core values; and being deliberate

30 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators