 | In Chapter 1 of The Savvy EdTech Leader, I wrote the section “Persist with Consistency.” I discuss the importance of consistency in leadership. When you are consistent in leadership, you keep doing the right things you know will work. It is an action that your team knows they can continuously expect and doesn’t leave them guessing as to how you will react. - Diane Doersch |
Build a cadence of essential meetings
As the school district's CTIO, I fostered consistency by establishing a schedule of key meetings with our department's essential voices. This approach ensured the right people were at the table, enabling collaboration, feedback, and innovation. The regular cadence of meetings created clear communication channels from classrooms to the Board of Education and back, aligning efforts across all levels.
Throughout the week, many groups from our technology department met with various partners or collaborators. Each meeting served a distinct purpose, addressing classroom instruction, technical needs, policy, purchasing, systemic commitments, and tactical/strategic planning.
By establishing standing meetings with non-negotiable attendance, we avoided struggling to align schedules or delaying decisions for weeks due to scheduling conflicts. It was expected that other meetings would be scheduled around key departmental meetings. I, as CTIO and part of the Superintendent’s cabinet, also had a cadence of meetings to follow, which our departmental meetings built around.
In our district, we created the meeting cadence so that we could count on all decision-makers attending the sessions. With the cadence, we always knew we would be consistent in our decision-making and foster innovation by having the best thinkers (with the voices of their teams) at the table when needed.
Here are some of the groups of leaders with whom we met:
By establishing standing meetings with non-negotiable attendance, we avoided struggling to align schedules or delaying decisions for weeks due to scheduling conflicts. It was expected that other meetings would be scheduled around key departmental meetings. I, as CTIO and part of the Superintendent’s cabinet, also had a cadence of meetings to follow, which our departmental meetings built around.
In our district, we created the meeting cadence so that we could count on all decision-makers attending the sessions. With the cadence, we always knew we would be consistent in our decision-making and foster innovation by having the best thinkers (with the voices of their teams) at the table when needed.
Here are some of the groups of leaders with whom we met:
District Level:
Department of Technology:
- Superintendent’s Cabinet - Tactical and strategic planning for the district by key leaders of the departments, including curriculum and instruction, special education, legal counsel, facilities engineering, school leadership, and technology. Meets weekly on Tuesdays 9-11a.
- Expanded Cabinet - Key leaders from all schools and expansion on the teams from the Superintendent’s cabinet. Monthly meetings.
- Board of Education - Key panel of elected representatives making tactical and strategic plans on behalf of the district. Bi-monthly meetings.
Department of Technology:
- SALT (Senior Advisory Leadership Team): Tactical planning and joint calendar review (CTIO, Central Registration, Director of Technology). Meets Mondays, 8:15–9:30.
- EXTRA SALT: Strategic planning with edu specialists (CTIO, Central Registration Lead, Director of Technology, Lead Technology Integrator, Technology Coordinator). Meets Wednesdays, 8:15–10:00.
- TRCT (Technology Resource Coordination Team): Cross-functional team (EXTRA SALT + Purchasing, Technician Lead, Network Lead, Technology Integrator) for strategic/tactical tech Research and Development, systems planning, and purchase approvals. Meets Wednesdays, 10:00–11:30.
- Department of Technology Meeting: Monthly, all-hands updates, celebrations, and systemic changes (led by EXTRA SALT). Meets first Thursday, 7:30–8:00 AM or 3:30–4:00 PM.
- Weekly Team Meetings: Tactical planning led by SALT members with their teams.
We also put together task forces who met on various topics to meet our district's immediate needs. Here are some examples:
- Apps - Review new apps or extensions to introduce to the District.
- Student Data Privacy/Security - Builds plan for educating all students and staff on what it means to be a citizen of our digital age
- iPad - Discusses device management, the viability of new apps, the purpose of the iPads in schools
- Data - Building a process for the use of data in our school district
- Management Teams - Teams put together to design a process for launching new technologies or applications
- Solutions Task Force - Addresses internal needs of our department that team members bring up. We have an anonymous suggestion box where suggestions are taken, and concerns are addressed promptly.
Here is what a typical meeting cadence would look like for the Director of Technology:
Here is what a typical meeting cadence would look like for our instructional technology coordinator:
You can see how our schedules incorporated each other’s meetings and allowed for time for the director and technology coordinator to meet with their teams. With this weekly cadence of meetings, we could move information acquired from our Board of Education meetings and Superintendent down to the teachers who use technology in the classroom. We used the structure to move information and experiences from the classroom to the boardroom and back again.
Our cadence of consistent meetings supported efficiency and transparency in our work. It brought the voices of the end users and the decision-makers into the room, and as a result, each meeting built practical follow-up actions. It was a way we got stuff done.
As a Savvy EdTech Leader, this is your opportunity to optimize the time you have with your team members to build efficiency and transparency. I encourage you to devise a cadence of meetings and standardized meeting protocols (which my next blog will talk about) so that you can help your department be one of the most innovative and collaborative teams around!
Our cadence of consistent meetings supported efficiency and transparency in our work. It brought the voices of the end users and the decision-makers into the room, and as a result, each meeting built practical follow-up actions. It was a way we got stuff done.
As a Savvy EdTech Leader, this is your opportunity to optimize the time you have with your team members to build efficiency and transparency. I encourage you to devise a cadence of meetings and standardized meeting protocols (which my next blog will talk about) so that you can help your department be one of the most innovative and collaborative teams around!