A personal vision and mission for leadership in education helps teacher leaders focus their attention on those aspects of leadership that are most closely aligned to beliefs about leadership and what the teacher strives to accomplish when leading from the classroom.

 

The leadership vision and mission also inform the creation of an action plan that guides the teacher's learning, so that the teacher grows as a leader of learning, improving teacher practice and student learning within and beyond the classroom walls.

A culture of trust and collegiality is an environment in which there are productive working relationships among colleagues and people feel comfortable sharing their experiences and thoughts without fear of judgment.

 

Creating a culture of trust and collegiality includes facilitating conversations that help colleagues build trusting relationships and value diverse perspectives and using group processes to help colleagues work collaboratively to accomplish goals. When a culture of trust and collegiality is created, teachers collaborate more effectively to improve student achievement, communication is open and honest, and leadership is shared. 

Collaboration processes are procedures or actions that enhance relational coordination and trust while fostering participation by everyone in order to accomplish a task or achieve a goal.

 

Using collaboration processes sparks inventiveness by minimally structuring the way groups interact during decision-making, conflict management, and problem solving, resulting in the increase in a culture of trust, effective listening, understanding and valuing of different perspectives, and ownership for improved instruction and student learning. Teacher leaders use collaboration processes to make effective practices accessible to all while generating commitment to student learning.