Facilitative Leadership Reflection ELP 595: Special Topics Carol Mizelle, NELA/NCSU I think I have discovered that I constantly

need to practice facilitative leadership to become a better leader. Sometimes just reaching an agreement on one issue is more difficult that imaginable. All of the skills in facilitative leadership can be understood more effectively if I ingrain them in meetings constantly. The meetings do have to be a large group and/or a business group. The skills can be honed to use in many avenues of life. The tool I choose to practice and refine was the tool for reaching an agreement opening-narrowing-closing. I used this tool when my grade level team had to decide about an upcoming fieldtrip and the teachers that were going to be responsible. So beginning with the opening, I began by having a recorder record all the suggestions about having a trip for the 7th grade students. Many people wanted trips that dealt completely with their NCSCOS, and we also knew we could only have one trip with the students for the 2010-2011 school year. There were many suggestions, and the brainstorming was working well. I allowed time for everyone to express their thoughts. Next I allowed the recorder to combine any that the team felt were duplicates. This part was a success, for everyone thus far agreed. Next, I counted off the number of suggestions, and used the formula N/3 to asked the team to prioritize the suggestions remaining. Once again this moved fairly quickly, and the team seem to move in the same direction. I asked teachers to advocate for the trip suggestion that felt met their requests as well as the best interest for the students. Lastly, we all came together to poll our suggestions to find a final solution. In doing so we had a list of four remaining trips to consider. As we came together for the last time about the trip I had researched the data and costs of all four trips.

Upon our meeting, we discovered that there was only one trip that was cost effective and a higher level of learning for our students. At closing, I built up and present the information that everyone had decided on together. We had worked through the process and it was effective and achieved great results. In the end, all team members had an input and stated that they felt very much of the process. Most importantly that what I was striving for, I wanted to work through an issue, and have people input and feel ownership of the issue. We had a successful trip to the Ocean, aquarium, and many other places of interest. I believe it was such a success because it had a good start, and the team felt good about the process. Our students learned so much, and brought back more knowledge on ocean life, life cycles, and flight in motion, and erosion. Our students have used the gained knowledge in each Core Class of 7th grade. Becoming a better leader takes practice, and risk taking to my improve strategies of being the best leader possible. I will continue to use Facilitative Leadership, and strive to improve my leadership with these tools.