Goal of the Nevada Administrator Forum

The goal of the Nevada Administrator Forum is to support Nevada administrators at all levels of the system in the development of generative leadership skills to achieve 21st century student outcomes.  We refer to it as the "Linear and Nonlinear Path to Ahas”, which is an inner and outer learning journey for co-creational school change and transformation…

This year, we are focusing on three interrelated strands (scroll down to view an index of discussion threads):

• Mental Models / Paradigm Shifts

  Embracing the new frontier - personal to organizational/cultural systemic shifts happening in education and the broader culture.

• 21st Century Student Outcomes

  Creating an innovative support system so that students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them. 

• Generative Leadership Evolution

  Viewing learning communities as "complex, changing systems" and focusing on "deepening personal knowledge, engaging in personal reflection, promoting professional conversations, harnessing creativity and innovation, and leading organizations toward a desired future" (Klimek et al). Unleash dynamic organizational leadership capacity by tapping into your organization's collective intelligence, talent and creative resources to let the best possibilities from the future emerge.

We are heartened by evidence in the end-of-year survey (June 2009) that substantial shifts are occurring among Forum participants. At the same time, we are mindful of the fact that most of the resulting intentions, and personal and cultural shifts remain out of sight, just below the surface. Thus, our priority goals for this year are to accelerate your personal generative leadership capacities and mine your story to share with others - just like has been done in telling the stories of "model schools" (International Center for Leadership in Education "model schools" and Nevada Mega Conference "model schools").

To this end, we are making three changes in the way we operationalize the Forum:

1. Getting to Know the Members. We will follow up on survey responses via phone and email to explore challenges and shifts in leadership and 21st century student outcomes. We will encourage the use of the recently-added user profiles. The more we know about your context, intentions, focus and challenges, the more dynamic the Forum will be for building "Quadrant D" organizational leadership capacity. 
2. Search Tool. We are adding a search tool to the Forum so it's easier to find postings you desire to read. 
3. Facilitating Breakout Groups. Just as with face-to-face conferences, we will give sub-groups a virtual break-out space. When three or more Forum participants desire to focus deeper about a specific question/issue related to 21st century leadership/student outcomes, we'll help them set up a thread. Then, they can "talk" as much as they want without filling everyone's email inbox. We will email everyone group outcomes, but the thread will be transparent for all members to access since we desire to highlight group process as well. We ask you to set and follow group norms. We suggest following norms based on high level social field skills to let the best possibilities from the future emerge (which we will be learning more about on the Forum): define a shared purpose/ intention/inquiry so attention is focused, be curious (and ask questions/elicit more), be open and hold space for new elements, explore for new discoveries, observe from your highest Self, listen deeply, be authentic (What do you really think?), honor each other and the gifts individuals bring to the table, be courageous, and learn.