Leaders and
Consultants
With all of the amazing new
technology we saw on the videos, I can’t help but think that our role as
leaders is going to be finding what is needed within our company and for our
employees. Sure there are amazing things being invented and coming out by
several different companies, but we as leaders need to look at it all and see
what is really useful and important within our own area. It is not necessarily
that the leaders themselves need to sort through the information. Rather, I can
see technology consultants becoming a very large business within the next
twenty years. The role of these consultants would be to look at a business or a
company and see what would help them become more productive, efficient, and/or
better serve their customers.
As leaders, it is our
responsibility to keep up to date with the technology and information being
produced. As we have discussed earlier in this course however, there is too
much out there for one person to be able to handle. That is where the
consultants and employees need to come in and be heard. I know in the school
setting we are asked nearly every year if there are materials, supplies, or
software we would like to order for the following year and as teachers we are
able to put in our ideas and proposals as to what we think would help us as
teachers. I am not sure if other companies run this way, but I think it is a
good idea. This provides the leaders an opportunity to stay current and it
provides the employees a sense of ownership in the company. With the employees
coming up with the ideas, they become vested in the company a little bit more.
It is also one of our roles to
make sure we hire these consultants and ask our employees about the new
technology at regular intervals. With the speed technology changes and improves
it is important that an evaluation of technology happens at least every two
years. While there may not be major changes for a company to make, sometimes it
is the smaller changes that can make a big difference. Updated operating
systems and basic technologies similar to that can help in everyday functions
within the office or classroom.
Leaders as delegators are going
to go hand in hand in the future. We need to stay up to date with the
technology in our business and asking others to help us do that will be vital.
There are definitely some amazing technologies emerging, but we need to truly
take a look at our specific needs within our companies and see which would best
suit our needs before jumping on the bandwagon.
As you indicated in your final paragraph, I too believe it will be necessary for leaders, to keep an operational knowledge of emerging technology, and how other "like" organizations are seeing it work. We must continue to educate ourselves and review necessary literature as new technology unfolds. We cannot forget that technology will not replace good sound management and leadership. You will still need to utilize your skills and training to manage your business, whatever field that is in. Technology must be seen as tools, just like someone mentioned the "Covey habits" in another blog. We must assess our business, where we want to see that business evolve to, and see how technology can help to get us there. In some cases, without evolving technology, businesses will not be able to grow, and others potentially will replace them in the marketplace.
ReplyDeleteRadman, what came to mind from your comment is the necessity for all of us to improve our "networks" - both person-to-person and on the web. Otherwise, it is difficult to stay in touch with and up to date with those "like" organizations you mentioned.
DeleteI definitely agree we need to be looking at these "like" organizations and working together for the better and not necessarily as a competition. I realize there will always be competition, but I fear if that is the main idea, then several companies will wither away for fear they will be giving hings and advice to their competitors.
DeleteOur Director of Technology (the head of the IT department) is already serving in the consultant capacity for my district. He does a nice job of researching the new "latest and greatest" technologies and incorporates all essential tools to benefit the students. In addition, our director does a nice job of training the administrative team on how each operates so that they can assist in the dissemination of the proper knowledge.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Director of Technology as well but I feel their role is more along the lines of keeping our current technology running and our websites up to date. I feel there is so much more out there our school could be tapping into and wish we could have a separate position for this view. Maybe something along the lines of Technological Future Director!
DeleteI like your post BuschED. I agree with the comment you made early on that it makes sense to solicit feedback from your employees. For one, these are often better ideas coming from smarter people who understand the relevance and practicality of what it is they need.
ReplyDeleteYou also make mention of IT consultants. Our school just hired our first Instructional Technology Specialist. Finding someone with the IT skills, software awareness, people skills, education background, and credibility was not easy to find. As it turns out, the person we hired was in-house already teaching in our IT Department. I am hoping he will transition smoothly especially since he is already respected by his peers. But Instructional Technology is not his area of expertise so there will be a learning curve. He and I just spoke this past week and as we talked we both realized more and more how much of a leadership role he is assuming in our school. If he does his job well, he could truly help take our school to the next level.
I wish him (and you) the best of luck with this new role! Have you thought of how you are going to deal with new technological requests? Are you delegating this responsibility to him first and then you or are you trusting him to make the decisions? What an exciting adventure for your school!
DeleteI agree with your premise as leaders we need to identify what is the priority within our area of responsibility and to obtain the most practical information necessary for us to complete the job. Yet, I do see us even entering the field as technology consultants to some degree. This is especially true in education because of the magnitude of available information already existent. We will need to at least be able to define what filters we need in order to have this information sorted in a manner that makes it useful.
ReplyDeleteThe consultants that you mention are often found in house. The example MJC gave of this being the case within his school is similar to what I have found. The combination of former educators who have an IT background has saved my school a tremendous amount of time and costs by having him as a district employee work on the information filtering and communication problems faced.
I think in house are some of the best people to use since they already have an idea of the district's and school's vision and current technology status. Do you have a team of IT people at each school or one for the entire district. I often feel that our district needs to have an IT director for each level in order to truly meet the needs of our entire district. It does not seem as though one person is getting the job done.
DeleteIn Virginia, most schools have an ITRT - an instructional technology resource teacher - whose job is to not only stay up to date as a teacher and techie, but help train their fellow teachers. One of the local school districts in in its 8th year as a 1:1 school and is on its third generation of laptops for all middle and high school students (with a 3:1 mix in elementary schools).
ReplyDeleteI too agree that we as leaders should priorities and use information and date to improve a company or organization. But what about improving or bettering society? Or, even yet, what about not using information that could help an organization at the expense of society?
ReplyDelete