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| Sailing to Success |
Creating a Climate of Civility: A Self-Assessment Example for Program Improvement
Recently I had a conversation with a friend about character and ethics in the workplace. She spoke of particular challenges within her organization, but also spoke of the proactive steps being taken to remedy this situation. Her organization had developed a special relationship with a consultant who annually spent time with the organization to keep the mission and vision of their organization "front and center." In addition, the leadership weekly completed a a self-reflection survey (mandatory) to determine how they were remaining true and focused on their mission. This self-reflection helped the leader gauge who was still "on board" and "sailing smoothly." More importantly, it reinforced personal reflection as an empowering and self-determining learning strategy (Pajaras, 2002).
This conversation made me think about my own areas of interest: character education, restorative justice, and systemic change in organizations, particularly schools. How could this apply? Here is a rationale that might pique interest or generate motivation. A school character initiative most effectively produces sustainable change when it is a "top down" model embraced and practiced by leadership and promoted to stakeholders. The core values comprehensively practiced, promoted, taught, and reflected upon consistently keep the "winds of change" from throwing the organization off course. These perceived soft skills vie for their place among the activities that must give hard evidence of accountability and measurable growth. Currently, the social-emotional needs of students, families, and school personnel are creating a renewed awareness of the necessity of a holistic environment. Academic success alone, without intentional focus on mental and emotional health, falls short.
One application for "course correction" is the idea, taken from my friend's organization above, of weekly self-assessments of all personnel. Such a survey "rolled out" by the leadership would subliminally communicate its importance. It could be utilized to "get the boat in the water" or to navigate change by "keeping an eye on the compass." Staff meetings could routinely begin with one or two personal insights or the leader could assess the feedback for system trends, problems to be solved, or victories to be celebrated. Self-assessment is supportive of the types of best practices we know to be effective with students, so why not model that among adults?
What are we self-assessing, one might ask? The self-assessment (Johnson, 2007), in one example, is based on how each member of the organization is progressing in the areas of character, ethics, and restorative justice in what I call the overarching idea of "civility" (p 249). Your organization may consider using its core values to script your own quick self-reflection assessment survey. The assessment could be static, dynamic, or could target one dominant area of needed improvement. A weekly version of the survey cited above could be adapted for quick response. Employees would access the survey online in a data storage format (e.g. google docs, survey monkey), giving employees and employers powerful realtime feedback. This data is useful for climate studies and is a valuable resource for personal and program improvement. Something to think about!
Bon Voyage!
References
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=198100
Institute for Civility in Government Co-Founders, Cassandra Dahnke and Tomas Spath
http://www.sandiego.edu/soles/centers-and-research/character-development-center/
http://www.character.org/key-topics/school-climate/
Reflections are powerful tools
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