Event Management

Friday, August 28, 2015

... the THEORY

There are two basic ways to manage communications ... hierarchical streaming [faculty meetings] ... or event interruption [this blog]. The advantage of the former is that everyone knows THAT an important communication is taking place. The advantage of the latter is that everybody is free to go about their own business UNTIL an unforeseen event interrupts normal protocol at which point the minimum [but sufficient] degree of limited action can be taken by the one suffering the interruption based on known protocols and/or comments from one or more peers.
 
What you would normally see here is an event which

• you are unable to resolve on your own,
• occurred at Northfield or potentially involved our school,
• was observed by [or became known to] one or more faculty members who
• were unable to address it on their own according to established protocols or
• believed it to be something of which all faculty should have official awareness,
• and needs comments and/or suggested guidance from one or more other faculty members
• until such time as the reporting member[s] consider the event to be closed.

Events should be reported by simply:

• copying the Event Report Form [below] into an email
• filling in the blanks and
• emailing the report to office@northfieldschool.com
• Office will then post the event on the protocol blog for comment and resolution.
• You are responsible to watch the blog.

A new event report will remain open until office is able to determine that it has been addressed to the satisfaction of the reporter[s] at which time office will add the solution to the original event posting and move it from the Open Events listing to a Closed Events archive which will still be available for review [the form of which is yet to be determined].

EVENT REPORT FORM
[email to office@northfieldschool.com]
Reported by:
Event Name:
Parties:
Time and Place:
Facts:
Existing Protocol Violations:
Attempted Solution:
Proposed Solution:

... everyone PLAYS

Fate is sometimes a harsh master. If you are the observer of an event, you are responsible to report it and see it thru to closure. If we see that one person consistently has too many open events [think stay-at-home mother with 6 kids], we will examine why this is happening and, if there are good reasons, offload some of the open events to others who are willing to tke them. However, each faculty member must learn to be responsible to all the others for knowing and following protocols that are designed to enhance the sense of school we are able to instill in everyone at Northfield.

... complete CANDOR and strict CONFIDENTIALITY

After we have all faculty emails, we will enter them so that ONLY those who have been entered can see or engage in this blog. Candor and confidentiality in the use of this blog are vital for all our sakes ... so please observe both practices strictly. Willful misuse will be considered as an attempt to subvert the management of the school and dealt with accordingly.

... any QUESTIONS

This is just a start to get something in front of us. Much more will come as we grow with this concept of faculty management by event. But it is important to work at it from the start of the year. As Becky recedes from daily supervision, she must be succeeded by an entire faculty

• united by common protocols [which we will develop, post and observe] and
• dedicated to promoting the well being of the school with all the strength and humility they have.

  ... getting STARTED

To be sure we are ready to go, please try to enter a "comment" to this posting or let me [or somebody] know you were unable to do so.  To leave a comment you will first need to have a userID that can "sign in" [upper right]. A blog without your ability too comment will not be useful. Sometimes a browser setting may need to be adjusted to permit you to comment ... we will work together on that !!