The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was established in 1987 and is an independent, non-profit, and non-governmental organization that works to advance accomplished teaching. At the time of my residency, the National Board was in the midst of several significant changes: a major re-design of its board certification assessment, the launch of ATLAS – an online case library of accomplished teaching, the transition of a new president and CEO, and the wind-down of several large grant-funded projects. As it prepared to enter its 30th year, the National Board sought strategic renewal to more effectively scale accomplished teaching.
At its surface, my residency was about articulating a model of strategy development for the National Board and creating the conditions for an emergent strategy development process – a bottom-up process that leverages the expertise, leadership and entrepreneurial spirit of staff members to develop the National Board’s next-generation strategy for scale. However, my capstone also speaks to broader themes of change management for a mature organization, leadership through transition, and of course, developing organizational conditions and culture to support current needs.
I treat the development of my strategic project as a case study for how an organization in the ambiguity of transition can navigate forward towards strategic clarity. This capstone outlines the three stages of my strategic project where I refine a model of strategy development that calls out the need for top-down strategic guidance coupled with an emergent strategy development process. I rejected the binary between top-down or bottom-up and sought to articulate a top-to-bottom model. The metaphor of dripstone columns, which are formed when stalactites and stalagmites grow together symbolize the top-to-bottom model of strategy development I proposed.
To analyze the strategic project, I use an adaptive leadership framework. This framework allowed me to examine the way in which transition and change affected the National Board, its leadership, and its staff members. I conclude that strategy development must not be lost in the turmoil of transition. The discipline to step back from the demands of daily work and effectively communicate strategic direction and priorities provides the steady leadership that is critically needed for an emergent strategy development process and especially in times of change.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:harvard.edu/oai:dash.harvard.edu:1/27013336 |
| Date | 17 May 2016 |
| Creators | Callisto, Kristen Alana Wong |
| Publisher | Harvard University |
| Source Sets | Harvard University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | open |
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