1.6 Step-up-to-excellence:a change navigation protocol for transforming  (Page 12/20)

Now it is time for the central office and supporting work units to join the transformation journey. The corework of the district is classroom teaching and learning. The core work process is embedded in the academic clusters that justcompleted their redesign activities (Cluster Engagement Conferences followed by Redesign Workshops). To be an effective district, allother work in the school system must be aligned with and supportive of the district’s core work processes (i.e., classroom teaching and learning); therefore, the central office and supporting work unitsmust be redesigned to clearly and unequivocally support the changes that were proposed for the academic clusters

The central office and supporting work units participate in the same redesign process that the academic clustersjust completed; i.e., they participate in Cluster Engagement Conferences and Redesign Workshops. The major outcome of theCluster Engagement Conference and Redesign Workshops for the central office is to transform that unit into a central servicecenter that acts in support of the academic clusters and the schools within those clusters while simultaneously supporting thedistrict’s grand vision and strategic framework. The major outcome of the Cluster Engagement Conference and Redesign Workshops for thesupporting work units is to devise ways in which the work of these units can best support the academic clusters and the individualschools within them while also supporting the district’s grand vision and strategic framework.

The Strategic Leadership Team now has redesign proposals from each of the academic clusters, the central officecluster, and the supporting work unit cluster. These proposals are consolidated into a master redesign proposal for the entire schoolsystem, which is then submitted to the district’s school board for review and approval.

Next, the Strategic Leadership Team and Change Navigation Coordinator have the challenging task of finding themoney to implement the master change proposal. Earlier during the Pre-Launch Preparation phase the Strategic Leadership Teamscouted-out funding opportunities by identifying some state and federal agencies or philanthropic organizations that could besources of money to support their district’s transformation journey. Now, they approach these agencies and organizations bysubmitting grant proposals requesting financial support.

Money from outside agencies is often characterized as“extra”money because it is above and beyond the money in a district’s normal operating budget. Even though extra money may be needed to sustain the first cycle of a transformationjourney, money to kick-start a transformation journey can be found in district’s current operating budget using budget reallocation strategies. Further, future cycles of SUTE should also be funded bypermanent dollars in a district’s budget. Additional information about how to pay for systemic change is found near the end of thisarticle and in Duffy (2003).

Once the district has“seed”money to kick-start the transformation journey, the Strategic LeadershipTeam distributes the financial, human, and technical resources to the Cluster Design Teams so they can implement their sections ofthe master redesign proposal. The Cluster Design Teams delegate implementation responsibilities to the Site Design Teams withintheir domain. The implementation activities are managed on a daily basis by the Site Design Teams in each building and work unit andcoordinated by the respective Cluster Design Teams in collaboration with the Change Navigation Coordinator. The Strategic LeadershipTeam provides broad strategic oversight of the entire implementation phase.