Quality in Education

One of the core values of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence is Visionary Leadership.  Many school districts have adopted this core value as their own (as we have in the Cedar Rapids Community School District).  I often ask the question "what exactly is Visionary Leadership and how do we define it?"  It is not until we define it that we can achieve it.

Thomas Sergiovanni characterizes vision as an "educational platform" that incorporates the school's beliefs about the preferred aims, methods, and climate, thereby creating a "community of mind" that establishes behavioral norms.

Kathryn Whitaker and Monte Moses call it "an inspiring declaration of a compelling dream, accompanied by a clear scenario of how it will be accomplished." A good vision not only has worthy goals, but also challenges and stretches everyone in the school.

Robert Fritz says that organizations advance when a clear, widely understood vision creates tension between the real and the ideal, pushing people to work together to reduce the gap.

Some interesting web sites on visionary leadership:
- http://www.visionarylead.org/visionary_leadership_article.htm
- http://www.motivation-tools.com/workplace/visionary_leadership.htm
- http://cepm.uoregon.edu/publications/digests/digest110.html

How do you define visionary leadership?  How do you practice it and deploy it?  Is vision top down or bottom up?  How do leaders facilitate vision?

Why don't you weigh in and post your comment?

Jay