Craig Hockenberry:
The Development of Core Values
Leading a
school district without identified Core Values is like flying a plane without
instruments. When I arrived as the Superintendent
of Three Rivers I was caught off guard about how little the district had
identified goals, mission, vision, and core values. Core values are the pillars that your
organization is founded upon and what drives the work that you do every day at
the board, district, and building level.
I knew this was going to be a huge task ahead and required some strategy
that I knew I was going to need help to complete.
I reached
out to a community member who owned a company called, Seek who worked with many
companies throughout the United States on core values and other leadership
work. I took our entire team off campus
to the Cincinnati Observatory on a Sunday and we turned this day into one of
the more productive days I have had at Three Rivers. We broke into groups of three and four and
spread throughout the observatory and spent hours upon hours reaching deep
inside everything we knew about Three Rivers to develop three lasting core values
that we could present to the Board of Education, the staff, students, and community. The team was incredible and so focused. The day was filled with mnay ups and downs,
but we stayed focused.
By the end
of the day we had our first rough draft of the potential Three
Rivers Core Values:
Inspire Innovation
Cultivate Excellence
Nature Inclusion
Once we
were complete our next steps included months and months of engagement with
staff, students, community leaders, alumni, supporters and friends. I went to every community council Cleves, Miami
Township, Addyston, and North Bend and presented to the communities to engage
our supporters and seek feedback. I did
breakfast, lunches, coffees, and dinners across the west side of Cincinnati
with key stakeholders and got the much need feedback. During these meetings I
could feel the excitement and realized the next steps was going to be the
development of the district’s first strategic plan.
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