I see information plus the capacity of every organizational/community member as potential. When apt streams of information collection, analyses, synthesis, and development are in place that potential is exponential. With that in mind, how and why might organizations take the time to think deeply about information share and development.
Let's take a school system for example and specifically look at one grade level. Lots of educators, assistants, and leaders are thinking about how to best teach all the children at that grade level. Each is thinking from their own perspective which is made up of their past experience, current experience, knowledge, skill, bias, vision, expectations and more. When information is not shared and stays in silos there is lost potential because all of those educators, leaders, and assistants may be asking the same questions and spending lots of time looking for answers when if there were good streams of information share including information about what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen, then the work of each member of that team contributes to other members of the team.
What might this good information share look like?
First amongst the team at one grade level in one school, there might be regular meetings and some online share. For example our team of grade level teachers shares an open doc where we add information and questions in an ongoing fashion, then when we meet, we use the list to discuss what's important. Later we share our thoughts, questions, and information with the greater team mostly via PLC and student service meetings and sometimes by email too.
Across schools there is little share so that's an area we need to think about-it could be that system leadership supports a simple tool for cross-school share or that leadership serves as the conduit for that share by sending out a regular communication that highlights the good work and big questions that exist. Similarly there needs to be regular communication and easy to access vehicles to keep the main mission of an organization up front. Without regular attention to what the system as a whole is working on, has done, and is presently doing, there's the potential that work will be less powerful and strong.
Good communication is essential in this age of so much potential and so much information. How systems, organizations, and communities face this challenge is a critical component of successful organizational work and an important consideration for every community leader, team, and member.
