Blazing New Trails - Connexions

70 CRITICAL ISSUES IN SHARED LEADERSHIP
useful in the combination phase of knowledge creation among members of an organization.
Combination contributes to the district’s ability to create and disseminate knowledge and
learning, transferring it across groups in an organization. District A assessment data were
utilized at the administrative and classroom levels to reflect on past practices and create new
ones. Principal Summits, meetings of all school site and district administrators, were powerful
venues for district-wide knowledge creation and dissemination. Principal B explained the
process at Summits:
We’re expected to present [data] and look very specifically at certain things that are
common between all of us over a course of time, and it’s not just we get to get up and
show it, the group is going to ask questions on any part of it to make sure it’s
understood.
The superintendent stated that during Summit meetings every district support person
who provided support to school site staff was in the room because they needed to hear about
the strengths and weaknesses at every site and understand what the needs were so they could
better support them. The superintendent elaborated on the benefits of the Summits,
The principals have learned so much from one another . . . . We have done this for
three consecutive years . . . . These guys are good . . . . The depth [of learning] has
developed because of that.
Technology was recently utilized in District A as an avenue to disseminate and share
information. The principal and teachers agreed that it would open the doors and engage
people in discussion across the district. According to the focus group’s response, the common
language within the district of the common direction and vision provided by the
superintendent ensured its successful implementation.
Table 2 provides the depth of the four conversations of organizational learning
revealed in interview and survey data suggesting an influence by the superintendent.
Table 2. District A Superintendent Influence on Organizational Learning.
District A Superintendent Influence on Organizational Learning
Socialization-deliberate structure built for socialization; learning as a shared
experience; group processing and focus on culture; knowledge shared beyond two
teachers through modeling, imitation, and demonstration
Externalization-superintendent establishes metaphor to support meaning of vision;
“professional learning community” label is “catalyst for change”
Internalization-“learn by doing” approach; incorporating beliefs and practices into daily routines
and beliefs; emphasis on a culture of collaboration
Combination-dissemination of new knowledge and opportunities for critique through
meetings, casual conversations, assessment data analysis, principal summits, and technology.