NEA Leadership Competencies · PDF fileNEA Leadership Competencies Guide Table of Contents ......

NEALeadershipCompetenciesGuide

NEA Leadership Competencies GuideTable of ContentsNEA Vision, Mission, and Values 5Setting the context for leadership competencies 6Leadership competency framework explained 6 Essential elementsIdeas for using leadership competencies 8 National (NEA Headquarters) Stateandlocalaffiliates Constituent Groups Individual membersLeadership Competencies 12 Advocacy Business Communication Governance and Leadership Leading Our Professions Organizing

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The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders, and continually develops them.

John C. Maxwell

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Equal Opportunity. We believe public education is the gateway to opportunity. All students have the human and civil right to a quality public education that develops their potential, independence, and character.

A Just Society. We believe public education is vital to building respect for the worth, dignity, and equality of every individual in our diverse society.

Democracy. We believe public education is the cornerstone of our republic. Public education provides individuals with the skills to be involved, informed, and engaged in our representative democracy.

Professionalism. We believe that the expertise and judgment of education professionals are critical to student success. We maintain the highest professional standards, and we expect the status, compensation, and respect due all professionals.

Partnership. We believe partnerships with parents, families, communities, and other stakeholders are essential to quality public education and student success.

Collective Action. We believe individuals are strengthened when they work together for the common good. As education professionals, we improve both our professional status and the quality of public education when we unite and advocate collectively.

Vision, Mission and ValuesAdopted at the 2006 NEA Representative Assembly

The National Education AssociationWe, the members of the National Education Association of the United States, are the voice of education professionals.

Our work is fundamental to the nation, and we accept the profound trust placed in us.

Our VisionOur vision is a great public school for every student.

Our MissionOur mission is to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the

promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.

Our Core ValuesThese principles guide our work and define our mission:

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Setting the context for Leadership Competencies

The National Education Association recognizes that today’s education leaders are making, and will face, some of the toughest decisions in the history of our Association and public education. They must be mobilized, unified and equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to meet these new challenges. Consequently, NEA has come together like never before to develop a more unified and interdisciplinary approach to leadership development. The NEA believes that investing in the development of great leaders is a powerful investment.

Nearly every aspect of the Association plays some role in leadership development, making it even more important to have a common vision and understanding of what we are collectively working toward.

NEA leadership development was, until recently, viewed as being part of individual programs or as a conference or event, but that view is quickly changing within the organization.

Leadership development at NEA is now evolving to have its own language and standards, its own following and brand. More and more, leadership development is being defined as a journey, not as episodic events. More importantly, the definition of leadership is expanding and changing. Leadership is no longer necessarily defined by an elected role or position, but by key characteristics, actions and influence used to lead within and beyond the Association. The catalyst for this change is a new set of NEA leadership competencies.

The NEA Leadership Competency Framework Explained

NEA has defined, for the first time ever, what it means to be a “NEA leader” through the development of a series of six leadership com-petency domains. While NEA continues to invest in specialized leadership development opportunities for specific membership cate-gories and roles, these leadership competencies are intended for the benefit of all current and upcoming leaders, regardless of role, level, or experience. The competencies are designed to prepare NEA members to lead relevant and thriving education associations and become world-class education leaders.

Over the course of the 2012-13 year, NEA engaged leaders across the Association to discuss the current and desired future state of NEA leadership development. NEA also established a leadership development advisory team, consisting of member and staff-leaders to review member input and ideas and to develop a common vision for what NEA leaders should know and be able to do. It is out of this work that the NEA’s leadership competencies were born.

The leadership development competency framework reflects the NEA strategic framework and was developed through multiple leader and member engagements, interviews, focus groups, and a review of benchmark models in union, public sector and corporate environments. These competencies define for our association what leaders should know and be able to do in the areas of professional practice, organizing, advocacy, communications, business, as well as governance and leadership.

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The framework has the following essential elements

• Six Competency Domains: the core functions of the a ssociation. Each competency has a definition that explains/de-fines the essence (overarching purpose, goal and objective) of the competency

• Key themes: under each competency there are multiple themes that convey the topic areas that the competency addresses

• Proficiency progression (labels adapted from language shared by the AFL-CIO): progressions convey a brief profile of the leader and their capabilities. They include Foundational (leading of the self), Mobilizing & Power-Building (leading the organization) and Agenda-Driving (leading others).

• Behaviors: how leaders demonstrate the competency at increasing levels of proficiency

Key

1- Competency Title

2- Definition

3- Theme

4- Progression

5- Behavior

BUSINESSBuilds the brand and accomplishes the goals of the association through effective financial management and understand-ing of fiduciary responsibilities.

Competency Theme

Acts strategically to support the

association’s value proposition

Manages budget development and

business policy

Promotes steward-ship and financial

integrity of the organization

Manages risk

Utilizes data and ana-lyzes trends to inform

decision making

Level 1: Foundational

• Understands the value of membership in the past and how it may need to change to meet new challenges

• Understands business, planning, and bud-geting processes

• Understandsfiduciaryrequirementsanddemonstratesintegrityinfinancialtransac-tions

• Understandsriskprofile of the organization and recognizes early warning signs

• Recognizesimplicationsofunion,financial,and education trends on organizational sustainability and decision making

Level 2: Mobilizing & Power Building

• Builds support for the value of membership by tying directly into member needs and creating new business models that provide addedbenefits

• Develops a culture that appreciates the importanceoffiscalresponsibility;andensuresbusinesspoliciesreflectfinancialbest practices

• Accomplishes the goals of the association bystrengtheningitsfiscalhealth

• Increases others understanding of risk mitigation and implements applicable processes and policies

• Builds support for strategic objectives through member awareness of trends and data analysis

Level 3: Agenda Driving

• Usesthefinancialresourcesoftheorganiza-tion wisely and strategically to demonstrate association relevance and the value of membership

• Uses strategic planning and the develop-ment of outcome based goals/metrics to create budgets, develop infrastructure, and increase investments, thereby ensuring long-term sustainability of organization

• Increases association resources and infra-structure to accomplish strategic objectives

• Manages association brand and risk through effective oversight

• Utilizes business/organizational trends and data analysis to make decisions that maxi-mize goals, plans, and strategies for growth

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Ideas for Using the Leadership Competencies: National, Affiliate, and Individuals

The competencies are a vehicle to support continuous learning and are intended to be broadly applicable across the organization for NEA, affiliates and individual members. The competencies are a very robust and are not meant to be completed over the course of a single event or a single year. The competencies support the notion that leadership development is a journey, not an event. The compe-tencies serve as a guide and a tool to show what association leaders know and are able to do over the course of their careers in order to lead thriving and relevant organizations. Below are some activities that may be considered across the entire Association.

Ideas for National Headquarters

• Through www.NEAAcademy.org, create a Leadership Management System as a hub for leadership content and talent that will provide NEA and affiliates the opportunity to pool and share their leadership development content, courses, and trainings in a single system.

• Use the LMS to identify any offerings (state, local or national) that align with and support the leadership competencies.

• Enable individual members to utilize the leadership management system as a means to develop their own individualized learning pathways and to create leadership portfolios based on their trainings, skills, areas of expertise and activism.

• Identify, develop and deliver content, online or face-to-face (e.g. National Leadership Summits) that reinforces and supports the leadership competencies

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Ideas for State and Local Affiliates

• Endorse, adopt or customize the leadership competencies for use as a tool to enhance for state or local leadership development efforts. Help bring about a greater alignment of goals across the entire Association.

• Identify affiliate leadership trainings that can be shared with NEA to support the competency framework and leadership management system.

• Recommend to NEA excellent books, resources, training/trainers whose content supports the competencies

• Infuse key leadership competencies, themes and behaviors into the development and delivery of state and local content

• Collaborate with NEA to make state or local leadership develop-

ment training and/or trainers and expertise available nationally.

Ideas for Constituent Groups (e.g. Councils and Caucuses)

• Endorse or adopt the leadership competencies for use as a tool to enhance any leadership development efforts being offered. Help bring about a greater alignment of goals across the enterprise.

• Recommend to NEA, excellent books, resources, training/trainers whose content supports the competencies.

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Ideas for Individual Members

• Seek out leadership opportunities within your profession that exemplify the competencies

• Identify knowledge, skills and attributes (abilities) needed for a particular leadership role or assignment. Consider questions such as:

- What leadership strengths can I build on through the competencies?

- What leadership challenges can I improve through the competencies?

• Assess your leadership proficiency across the competencies

• Develop a plan for your leadership development

• Develop a leadership development portfolio/transcript to track your progress

• Register or sign up to access resources and programs through the leadership management system

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LeadershipCompetencies

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ADVOCACYAdvances the cause of public education through social justice and how it benefits our students and members’ professional needs and rights.

Competency Theme

Leverages advocacy practice

Engages community

around issues supporting

student learning

Interprets and acts on social justice

initiatives

Leads public education policy

reform

Acts as a political

advocate


• Identifiesanddiscussesfundamen-tals of advocacy practice and theory within the community

• Researches advocacy issues to better understand content and share key messages with community

• Understands social justice initiatives from review of research and discuss-es the impact on education practice, policy, and the profession

• Understands and reports on national, state and local public education policy and reforms

• Participates in basic campaign actions, including canvassing, petition signing and e-mail


• Engages in power mapping and implements high impact and cultur-ally competent advocacy plans and strategies

• Creates and implements an advocacy engagement plan that supports student learning and leading the professions

• Designs advocacy plans and strate-gies formulated from social justice research that impacts educational practices, policies, and profession

• Develops credentials and experience in advocacy and collaborates to draft national, state and local public edu-cation policy and reforms

• Equipsmemberstobecomemoreeffective advocates by getting them involved in the political process (at the level that makes sense for them) and providing valuable education, information and research


• Ensures advocacy practices (e.g., synergistic partner relationships) are well integrated into the strategic plan and contribute to association’s goals

• Organizes a collaborative mobiliza-tion plan around shared interests of union, educational communities, and legislative bodies

• Analyzes and strengthens alliances with a diverse set of stakeholders to implement, support, evaluate and communicate social justice initiatives

• Engages and persuades all stake-holders around shared interests in national, state, and local public education policy and reforms

• Takes a leadership role in association, civic organization, PAC, campaign;and/orrunsforoffice

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BUSINESSBuilds the brand and accomplishes the goals of the association through effective financial manage-ment and understanding of fiduciary responsibilities.

Competency Theme

Acts strategically to support the

association’s value proposition

Manages budget development and

business policy

Promotes stew-ardship and finan-

cial integrity of the organization

Manages risk

Utilizes data and analyzes trends to

inform decision making


• Understands the value of member-ship in the past and how it may need to change to meet new challenges

• Understands business, planning, and budgeting processes

• Understandsfiduciaryrequirementsanddemonstratesintegrityinfinan-cial transactions

• Understandsriskprofile of the organization and recognizes early warning signs

• Recognizes implications of union, financial,andeducationtrendson organizational sustainability and decision making


• Builds support for the value of membership by tying directly into member needs and creating new business models that provide added benefits

• Develops a culture that appre-ciatestheimportanceoffiscalresponsibility;andensuresbusi-nesspoliciesreflectfinancialbestpractices

• Accomplishes the goals of the as-sociationbystrengtheningitsfiscalhealth

• Increases others understanding of risk mitigation and implements applicable processes and policies

• Builds support for strategic objec-tives through member awareness of trends and data analysis


• Usesthefinancialresourcesoftheorganization wisely and strategically to demonstrate association rele-vance and the value of membership

• Uses strategic planning and the de-velopment of outcome based goals/metrics to create budgets, develop infrastructure, and increase invest-ments, thereby ensuring long-term sustainability of organization

• Increases association resources and infrastructure to accomplish strategic objectives

• Manages association brand and risk through effective oversight

• Utilizes business/organizational trends and data analysis to make decisions that maximize goals, plans, and strategies for growth

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COMMUNICATIONBuilds an integrated communications strategy that drives the goals of our professions.

Competency Theme

Develops a two-way strategic

communications plan

Uses current media, technology and

social networks to communicate

Develops communication

approach and style to fit appropriate

audience

Acts as an effective speaker

Acts as a compelling

advocate for the organization

Identifies appropriate

messenger(s)


• Understands the fundamentals of communications strategy

• Understands the communication value of current media, technology and social networks

• Understands the various approaches and styles needed to communicate with diverse audiences

• Demonstrates effective presentation skills when speaking to a variety of audiences

• Connects association messages with audience

• Recognizes the importance of aligning the appropriate messen-ger(s) with the message


• Develops and implements communications plans with consistent and purposeful mes-sagesthatconsidertheuniqueneeds of different constituencies

• Develops and implements strategic and integrated engagement plans, that utilize a variety of media, technology and social networks

• Tailors communications to appeal todifferentaudiences;adjuststhepurpose, substance and style

• Delivers engaging and persuasive presentations that motivate audiences to take action

• Builds coalitions by forging pow-erful emotional connections with audiences

• Selects and guides credible messengers to inspire action


• Executes the communications plan in a persuasive and strategic manner to promote the goals of the association

• Evaluates and adjusts communications plans for maximum effectiveness

• Implements a differentiated com-munication strategy that rallies a diverse set of stakeholders

• Acts as a powerful and passionate speakerwhocaninfluence agendas and actions

• Unites disparate audiences around a common message

• Advances our association message using empowered messengers

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GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIPSets the mission and establishes strategies necessary for a relevant andthrivingorganization;empowers, motivates, and fosters a pipeline of talent for the future.

Competency Theme

Effectively executes

governance and leadership

responsibilities

Establishes and maintains

collaborative, effective

relationships

Advances the organization by internalizing its mission, vision, and core values

Sets strategic objectives

to guide long-term goals

Develops self and others as leaders


• Understands the roles and respon-sibilities of core team leadership positionsaswellasthespecificdutiesand legal obligations conferred on governance

• Establishes purposeful relationships to foster collaboration

• Uses the purpose, culture, and history of the organization, as well as educa-tional/uniontrendstoinfluencethedirection of our work

• Understands the implications of the organization’s strategy for own actions and tactics

• Identifiesownleadershipstrengthsand weaknesses and works to im-prove them


• Builds teamwork and consensus among leaders on governance activi-ties and strategic objectives

• Builds and maintains productive internal and external alliances

• Empowers others and promotes a culture that appeals to the different motivations of members while recog-nizing the contributions of all

• Educate others on association strategies and tactics to advance organizational long-term goals and priorities

• Builds a diverse group of leaders to take on greater roles and responsibilities in the association


• Executes plans, policies, and strate-gies to accomplish the short and long term objectives of the association

• Leverages internal and external relationships to accomplish strategic objectives

• Implements strategies that move people to act and uses the mission, vision and core values to drive our work and culture

• Creates value for members through clear and compelling long-term goals and priorities

• Develops succession strategies that ensure a smooth tran-sition in leadership and sustain the association’s vision over time

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LEADING OUR PROFESSIONSAdvocatesforqualityinside our professions and promotes our union’s role in advancing education transformation and student learning.

Competency Theme

Builds capacity for continual improve-ment and learning

Shows educational leadership and

understands union’s role in student

learning and leading our professions

Advocates for policies and

strategies that positively impact

our professions and student learning

Analyzes and applies research,

policies and trends to determine

potential impact on our professions and

student learning


• Understands the value of continuous learning and improvement in our professions

• Understands the historic, current and emerging role that the union plays in our professions

• Understands the policies and strategies that impact our professions and student learning

• Understands that research, policies and trends impact

public education


• Advocates for meaningful development inside our professions, thereby energizing members and our diverse set of education stakeholders

• Identifiesandpromotesown and members’ credentials and expertise, ensuring union leadership of our professions

• Forges alliances and agreements that positively impact our profes-sions and student learning

• Collaborates with our diverse group of stakeholders to conduct, evaluate and communicate education research and practices


• Builds a culture of professionalism that illustrates the association’s commitment to continuous learning

• Drives collaborative decision making and policy on our key professional issues

• Leads our professions by anticipating challenges and putting in place proactive strategies

• Drives effective policy content based on deep understanding of research

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ORGANIZINGMobilizes to influence successful organizing outcomes, strengthen internal and external rela-tionships, and membershipcapacity; as well as recruit and identify new members and potential leaders into the association.


• Understands the theory and best prac-tices associated with organizing

• Engages different and diverse audiences in the community to iden-tify common issues

• Analyzes and compiles reliable research data to formulate organizing strategies

• Identifiesandengagesinhigh impact and actionable organizing opportunities

• Understands processes and strat-egies for member recruitment and retention

• Identifiesandengages emerging association leaders who reflectourdiversity


• Develops a successful campaign using organizing skills to engage members in key issues

• Collaborates with different and diverse community audiences, and educates them on key issues

• Utilizes valid data to formulate a foun-dation for long term plans including objectives, strategies and goals

• Rallies others around key organizing opportunities by appealing to member passions and interests

• Develops imaginative recruitment and retention strategies that grow the association’smembershipandinflu-ence others to become more actively involved in the talent management process

• Mentors emerging leaders and encourages them to put plans in place to accelerate their level of participation


• Evaluates campaign strategies to con-tinually improve the impact of future campaigns and organizing approaches

• Transforms the relationship with the community to harness the power of collective action

• Implements strategic plans to increase membership and support key objectives

• Makes organizing on key issues more systematic and process driven, to im-prove their impact

• Influencesmemberstoowntheagendaof the association through their active participation and attitude towards collective action

• Advocates for new and diverse member strategies and actively supports leader-ship succession planning

CompetencyTheme

Utilizes organizing best practices

Builds meaningful community

partnerships

Makes strategic plans that rely on data and analysis

Engages in collective

action to identify and address

pivotal issues

Creates conditions for continuous

association growth and strength

Fosters the development of

leaders at all levels of the orga-

nization

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NEA thanks the following member and staff leaders for their expertise in developing the NEA Leadership Competencies.

NEA Leadership Development Advisors (2012-2013)

Lily Eskelsen-Garcia, Chair, NEA Vice President

Daaiyah Bilal-Threats, Staff Lead, Sr. Director, NEA Center for Governance Earl Wiman, NEA Executive Committee

Christy Levings, NEA Executive Committee (2012-13)

Sherry Tucker, NEA Board of Directors (Alabama)

Doreen McGuire-Grigg, NEA Board of Directors (California)

GladysMarquez,CommunityHighSchoolDistrict218(Illinois)

BlakeWest,BlueValleyHighSchool(Kansas)

Timothy Ema, University of Missouri, Saint Louis (Missouri)

Mary Steinhauer, Riverside Middle School (New Jersey)

Adrienne Bowden, Pickerington Local Schools (Ohio)

Sandra Bell-Duckworth, Westerville City Schools (Ohio)

HasheenWilson,YoungstownState University (Ohio)

Alicia Priest, Oklahoma Education Association (Oklahoma)

RitaHaecker,TexasStateTeachers Association (Texas)

ErickHuth,MetropolitanNashville Education Association (Tennessee)

Shannon Rasmussen, Federal Way Education Association (Washington) KimAnderson,Sr.Director, NEA Centerfor Advocacy and Outreach

Bill Raabe, Sr. Director, NEA Center for Great Public Schools

Bill Thompson, Sr. Director, NEA Center for Business Operations

Secky Fascione, Director, NEA Center for Organizing

Steven Grant, Associate Director, NEA Center for Communications

Sheala Durant, NEA Center for Governance, Leadership Development Team

Laura Gross, NEA Center for Governance, Leadership Development Team

Donald Washington, NEA Center for Governance, Leadership Development Team

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