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PSS administrators developing leadership skills
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Posted on Sep 29 2004
Administrators within public schools are currently attending a three-day workshop intended to enhance their leadership skills.
According to workshop facilitators Sandra Taosaka and Monica Mann of the Hawaii Department of Education, the training would improve or shape school leaders’ behaviors in addressing issues currently tackled by their respective school administration.
“We are trying to have people realize the importance of working with others and tapping the creativity of other people, and it is important, especially in times of tight resources, where there isn’t enough money or materials,” Mann said. “[In tough times] we can only tap the people and that’s our one resource that we have, so this is just basically giving them strategies on how to work with other people.”
Taosaka said that among the goals of the workshop is to train administrators on how to hold effective meetings; ways on encouraging participation and collaboration from other members of the group; and creating safe environments “where people want to contribute and feel valued.”
Mann said the workshop focuses on several issues, including sharing and inspiring vision, looking at results process and relation, appropriate ways to involve others in decision making, designing pathways to action—different ways to get to solutions—how to facilitate agreements, how to bring large groups to come to an agreement or how to make decision, coaching other people for performance, and how to celebrate for success.
Public School System commissioner Rita Inos explained that the workshop will “refine our skills in working with groups of people.”
“A lot of us here are in the position in which we need to work with groups of people,” she said. “We have constant agendas to improve our system [and] our students and their learning. I like the fact that this workshop brings together the school leadership team, program managers, and the central office to refine our schools.”
Participants include principals, vice principals, program managers, key staff of the commissioner, and associate commissioners. Principals from Tinian and Rota were also present.
The training, conducted on Saipan for the second since 2001, ends today.
