Superintendents and their teams are faced with making many of tough decisions right now regarding the upcoming school year. The challenge with these decisions is that we are in uncertain times, guidance from the state and federal levels shifts frequently, and our stakeholders are not on the same page in terms of their desires.
School districts are conducting surveys and gathering as much information as possible to ensure the decisions they make best serve the needs of their students, staff and community. The problem is that we can’t always conduct a survey on every issue we encounter, but we can employ other tools to assist us in assessing stakeholder perspectives prior to making tough decisions.
One such tool which school district leaders and their teams can use is the Windowpane Model for Analyzing Constituent Perspectives (Eller & Carlson, 2009). The model was borne out of guidance which came through my mentor in the superintendency, Dale Knott. Dale would tell me as a young administrator that to make effective decisions we must see through the entire window to understand all potential perspectives, not just one pane. In other words, if we only focus on the view seen by one stakeholder group, likely the loudest, we will be missing out on making the most effective decision for all involved – especially our students.
I have attached both an example of the Windowpane Model being used to address an issue and a blank copy for your use. The concept as you will note is very simple and taking yourself or your team through the process will enable you or your group to gain a broader perspective regarding stakeholder viewpoints, which ultimately makes the decision-making process stronger.
I hope this tool is of use to you and as always I encourage you to share in the comments section below any methods which can assist others in assessing stakeholder perspectives. Please remember that we all gain wisdom when we share our thoughts, ideas and methods with each other.
Thank you for sharing this resource! Another superintendent shared with me using the Empathy Map (picture of a head with questions to ask from that stakeholder’s perspective). It helped our DLT to look at situations for the fall from different perspectives rather than just solving the problem from ours.
Thanks for sharing! The Empathy Map sounds like a great resource and I know it will be helpful for others reading your comment.
Great resource, Howard–thank you!
Thanks, Deb! I hope it helps.