What Is the Whole School System?
The Whole School System
At its broadest level, the ‘whole system’ in your school refers to a representation of all internal and external stakeholder groups and a representation of different demographics across those stakeholder groups.
But the people in this ‘whole system’ can only be determined by reference to the purpose or focus of any initiative (eg if you were focusing on School Health, you would engage somewhat different people to say a focus on Teaching & Learning).
As one example, for a school focused on say strategic planning, stakeholder groups could include students, parents, the school executive, year co-ordinators, subject co-ordinators, teachers, administrative staff, faith, local community and other external partners (eg school district, academics, teachers union). Demographics might include age, gender, culture, etc.
[You can also apply this principle in everyday meetings by asking “Who else should be here”. A great way of doing this is to identify the people who have Authority, Resources, Expertise, Information and Need in the context of the purpose of the meeting.]
Why It Is Important to Get the Whole System into the Room
Here are 4 reasons why it is essential to involve the ‘whole system’ for maximum results:
- You can’t hope to change the system unless you understand it. And you can’t possibly understand it unless you hear the perspectives of others that make up the whole system.
- The key to organisational change in this Information Era is creativity. And the best way to generate creativity is diversity. And maximum diversity comes from a representation of the ‘whole system’ across both stakeholder groups and demographics.
- We now know beyond any doubt that it is only through giving others a chance to have their say, feel as though they have been heard, and ideally finding common ground for the future, that people will be engaged to action.
- Engagement of the whole system leads to the building of relationships amongst stakeholders (who don’t normally communicate) that are essential to effective implementation.
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Coming 2009!
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News and Events
Advanced Meeting Leadership Workshop for Leaders and Consultants, with internationally renowned US authors and consultants Marv Weisbord and Sandra Janoff of Future Search fame. Sydney. October 2008. Large discounts for first 20 registrants!
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