St. Margaret’s professional community engaged in another valuable in-service day on Tuesday, as faculty and staff from all corners of the school came together to have valuable conversations around the school’s strategic initiatives.

 

The day served as an opportunity for the professional community to connect across divisions and offices, providing diverse perspectives and a cross-pollination of ideas. While work on the school’s Innovation Strategy is continuous at St. Margaret’s—allowing for wide-scale and fast implementation of initiatives like the Every Tartan, Every Day pandemic response and other strategic priorities—Tuesday’s in-service day was a chance to have in-depth conversations on several different areas of short- and long-term focus that will be vital to the future of the school.

 

The professional community divided into seven self-selected areas of strategic focus on Tuesday:

Each area of focus had between 25 and 40 members of the professional community involved, as groups first met by division and offices before coming together for a larger combined conversation outdoors on St. Margaret’s campus. Faculty and staff discussed their strategic area and the progress made over the last several years, revisited action steps and language around their priority, and addressed new needs.

 

True to the design-thinking methodology at the root of St. Margaret’s Innovation Strategy, members of the professional community will next reach out to students (St. Margaret’s primary “end user”) as well as colleagues and parents to conduct ethnographic interviews around these topics. Future in-service days in January and March will bring the professional community back together to share end-user input and further define the school’s direction in these priorities. 

 

“It was so exciting to spend the day engaged in our Innovation Strategy work,” said Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives Ryan Dahlem. “These important discussions foster a culture of innovation and capacity for change, both of which have been invaluable throughout the pandemic and will continue to be leveraged with our strategic priorities moving forward. I am grateful for the creative energy and commitment of our professional community members who bring this work to life on behalf of our students and entire school community.”

 

The in-service day also included optional professional community affinity group discussions and a tour of the new Ortega Administrative Offices building now occupied by several departments recently relocated from Wallace Hall.