A process for Cabinet members to schedule visits with agency staff members was initiated during the 2007-08 school year. The purpose of these “field visits” was to learn more about what agency staff members do, what is working well and what we need to pay attention to. During the 2008-09 school year, staff field visits continued and some Cabinet members also visited agency partners such as district technology coordinators. This year, field visits occurred with Staff Advisory Council (SAC) members to provide learning opportunities for leaders as well as the opportunity to help shape the process for the future. This year’s approach was simple and conversational: 1) What’s working? 2) What’s not? and 3) What do we need to pay attention to?
During the field visits, SAC members expressed to Cabinet members a positive outlook for our agency and gratitude for the opportunity to work with dedicated and talented colleagues. Concerns included workload capacity, prioritization of our work, the budget and supervision of workgroups.
At the May 19 SAC meeting, members offered the following suggestions for 2010-11 field visits:
• Ask staff to volunteer
• Communicate the defined purpose of the visits
• Keep visits conversational
• Provide follow-up; close the loop on identified issues
• Attend discipline/workgroup meetings
• Provide opportunities for representatives of disciplines/workgroups to present to Cabinet and the Board of Directors using the format of “A day in the life of a _______.”
These suggestions will be shared with Cabinet as part of planning for 2010-11 field visits.
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