The System Leader Toolkit: Tools for Growth includes two resources for leaders: the Mini 360 Feedback Tool and the Personal A3. These instruments help system-level leaders gain additional insight about their strengths and opportunities to grow as leaders of transformation, reflect on how they might further develop as a driver of systemwide continuous improvement, and act on their learning by crafting an action plan for growth. This toolkit is the second of four companion resources to the publication Transforming Educational Systems Toward Continuous Improvement: A Reflection Guide for K-12 Executive Leaders.
The Tools for Growth in this toolkit enable leaders to collect feedback from trusted colleagues about their leadership related to systemwide transformation toward continuous improvement, and then to use that information to craft a plan for personal development. The toolkit is grounded in the elements of leadership – key dispositions, core practices, and system levers – introduced in Transforming Educational Systems Toward Continuous Improvement: A Reflection Guide for K-12 Executive Leaders. While the two tools in this toolkit work best when used together, they are still effective if implemented separately.
The Mini 360 Feedback tool enables K-12 system-level leaders to gather feedback from others about their strengths and areas for growth in the key dispositions and core practices of system leadership and the extent to which they have acted on system levers in their quest to drive continuous improvement across their organization. This feedback gives K-12 system-level leaders a snapshot of their current leadership and the state of their organization from multiple perspectives. The holistic picture that emerges can serve as a vital source of data to guide leaders in the development and implementation of a personal growth plan.
A Personal A3 offers leaders a framework for organizing and acting on their learning about their leadership. This tool prompts individual reflection and helps leaders engage in evidence-based thinking to identify changes they need to make in their own behavior to advance organizational transformation. Completing a personal A3 is the first step in implementing a growth plan for personal development.
It is strongly recommended that you review the full reflection guide and work through the System Leader Toolkit: Diagnostic Tool for Reflection before using the tools in this toolkit. By first becoming familiar with the elements of leadership described in the guide and completing your own self-assessment, you will be better able to understand the results of the Mini-360 surveys and will have more data to draw on to develop your Personal A3.
To use this System Leader Toolkit:
- Access the toolkit using the link below.
- Follow the instructions in the toolkit to complete the Mini-360 feedback Tool. When prompted, access the Mini-360 Feedback Tool below by downloading a Microsoft Excel version of the tool (recommended), or opening a version using Google Sheets. Use the Making Sense of Your Results section in the toolkit to help you analyze and interpret your results and reflect on what you learned.
- Follow the instructions in the toolkit to complete the Personal A3. Use the reflection questions in the toolkit to synthesize your learning.
Download the System Leader Toolkit: Tools for Growth (PDF)
Mini-360 Feedback Tool (Microsoft Excel download, recommended) | Mini-360 Feedback Tool (Google Sheets link)
