Thank you for writing to us with your question. We think it’s a natural and not surprising question, as it can easily occur in any organization, especially in a relatively new one, if your charter school fits that description. The good news is that your issue is certainly solvable, through open and transparent and honest dialogue among those who are part of your shared leadership model.
The basic problem-solving process here is quite simple, at least in theory. Can you think of a basic matrix, with a listing of key decisions that need to be made as one axis, and the people who should make them on the other? The basic logical task is to fill in the matrix, or chart, until you have a rough consensus, assuming that shared leadership model. You’d want to keep in mind that it may take more than one discussion session to achieve this. But that is to be expected when you are still developing an organizational structure for the school.In this sense, the answer to your question is found in the question itself.
There are also several variations that might make your process more effective:
* You could distribute your chart in advance, and invite each staff member to fill in the cells in the matrix with their own viewpoint. Those comments could be made public, though still anonymous. You could do this online through interactive digital whiteboards such as Jamboard or Miro.
* You could hold your discussion sessions in the form of a retreat, such as a planned weekend retreat in a pleasant and neutral location, when people have an extended time to work these issues through.
* If needed, you could bring in an outside consultant, not necessarily to give advice, but rather to facilitate the process.
* You could Look at other charter school structures (do you belong to an organization of charter schools?), and borrow or adapt features of those features that you think would work well in your own setting.
We hope this much may be helpful to you. We cannot provide a full response in a few short paragraphs, but we hope what’s here may give you some ideas that you can develop and begin to implement where you are. Thanks again for writing, and all best wishes as your important work continues.
