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What is the most innovative feature of this program?

  • What makes this Culture Club Innovative is that new leaders are being provided support during their transition into the district with senior level management. The support includes explicit district cultural knowledge of underlying values that can help new leaders navigate the unwritten rules, norms and expectations that they encounter within the district community.

    Additionally, classified managers are being provided professional development around leadership not simply training on skill specific tasks. Classified Managers often lead hundreds of employees with little or no formal leadership training. The Culture Club provides this type of leadership training. 

INNOVATION DESCRIPTION

  • Culture Club is an innovation that builds leadership capacity, enculterates new members into district values, and supports  new managers and administrators in the district. New managers and administrators are placed in clusters of 3-6 along with a senior cabinet members and a supporting veteran manager or administrator for both formal and informal meetings throughout the year. Culture Club meetings encourage mentoring and coaching conversations between executive cabinet members.  These mentoring opportunities and coaching conversations between new managers/administrators and the executive cabinet are made possible through the creation of a culture of safety, trust, and vulnerability brought about by the Culture Club.  Some of the activities each month include field trips, breakfast meetings, shared readings and discussions, and actual case studies. These activities central around the following district core values: Collaboration, Integrity, Respect, Communication, Lead Learner, Empathy and Student Centeredness. Additionally, the district identifies a theme each year at the management retreat. The theme is then integrated into the activities and discussions of the Culture Club. For example this year’s theme is based on the book Culture Code where managers explore creating a sense of safety and belonging within the district’s community. Each meeting the aforementioned topics are discussed in light of particular challenges that face new managers and administrators.