Techniques Feb 2013 - 11

Leadership Matters

scale. The Institute was designed to
bring together these networks and build
relationships around the common cause
of CTE in Alaska, while working towards
the overarching goal of strengthening
the association and nurturing leaders.
Through the development of its members
into a statewide network of CTE leaders who support and are supported by
AACTE, the Board leadership believed
the goal of promoting the CTE movement
in Alaska would be achieved.

Building an Institute
To this end, the curriculum for the Institute was built using a case study learning
strategy, with the ideas of organizational
and member leadership development as
the basis of the case study. The learning activity would be to examine the
case study through the lens of Margaret
Wheatley’s writing on the “theory of
emergence” and Ed Morrison’s writing on
the practice of “strategic doing.” Through
this learning activity, the participants
would have an opportunity for leadership development through practice, and
they would make connections with each
other through their participation in the
Institute. Both Wheatley and Morrison
approach accomplishing organizational
work by linking and leveraging likeminded networks for rapid and innovative
systemic change. The combination of this
theory and practice fit into the goal of
leadership development and developing
and strengthening a statewide network of
CTE professionals.
Wheatley’s theory holds, “The world
doesn’t change one person at a time. It
changes as networks of relationships form
among people who discover they share a
common cause and vision of what’s possible.”1 These networks link together and
shift to form intentional communities of
practice, eventually evolving into innovative systems for change. Through the
application of this theory, the participants
came together from their respective networks to create a larger network of CTE
www.acteonline.org

professionals that would be an intentional
community of practice. Evolution into the
innovative systems for change, according
to Wheatley, happens suddenly, and we
continue to wait for that moment.
Morrison’s strategic doing is “a set of
principles, practices and disciplines for
implementing strategy in a network.”2 He
continues, “Once we learn the discipline
of strategic doing, the process of strategy
becomes faster, much faster … and a lot
more fun. Translating ideas into action
is no longer an obstacle, but an opportunity … Once we understand the process,
we can move ideas into action quickly.”3
Strategic doing enables both planning and
action by focusing on network assets and
linking and leveraging them for results.
Transformation is key as an organization
asks and addresses four strategic questions:
1. What could we do together?
2. What should we do together?
3. What will we do together?
4. When will we get together again?4
Institute participants applied this practice in order to transform AACTE and to
create a more engaged CTE community
in Alaska. The results were increased
membership enrollment in AACTE,
greater participation in the annual conference activities and a new AACTE website.

Lessons Learned
For the most part, the desired results were
achieved. However, a clear vision remains
a challenge, association leadership readiness and structural preparation for newly
engaged members is ongoing, and embedding the Institute into the practice of
member development for sustainability is
currently on the agenda for discussion and
decision of future institutes.
At the start, AACTE leadership had
the clear vision that the outcome of the
Institute would be a stronger association. Where the vision lacked clarity was
around the question of quantity or quality
in the development of future leaders.

Originally, enrollment in the Institute
was capped at 15. However, due to an
overwhelming response in applications for
enrollment, the Institute was expanded to
22 participants. The unintended consequence of expanding the enrollment was
that having too many participants caused
the experience to be less than satisfactory. The impact on AACTE was that too
many new and engaged CTE leaders were
looking for more to do and contribute to
the association, but the leadership in the
association was unable to muster the energy to fully engage the newly developed
leaders in meaningful ways. Structurally,
there was no mechanism for channeling
their newfound energy. There was some
lost opportunity for association growth;
however, AACTE did receive national
recognition for increased membership at
CareerTech VISION 2012 as a result of
the Institute.
As AACTE looks to the future of
leadership institutes, the topic of sustainability will drive the conversation. There
is a commitment from AACTE leadership
to a greater level of participation in future
institutes, and a retooling of the organizational structure to better receive the new
and engaged members is in the works.
As the launch of the second Leadership
Institute is imminent, hopefully the lessons
learned from the inaugural Institute will
lead to a strategic solution with an action
plan for future institutes and engaged
leaders to make it last. Stay tuned.
Cathy A. LeCompte is the associate dean
at UAA Community & Technical College in
Anchorage, Alaska. She can be reached at
calecompte@uaa.alaska.edu.

Endnotes
1.	 Wheatley, M., & Freize, D. (2006). “Using
Emergence to Take Social Innovation to Scale,”
www.margaretwheatley.com.
2.	 Morrison, E. (2010). “Strategic Doing: The
Art and Practice of Strategic Action in Open
Networks,” www.pcrd.purdue.edu/
What_We_Do/SD/wp.pdf. p.3
3.	 Ibid
4.	 Ibid
February 2013  Techniques  
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