Part One - Level Five Leadership
 
Level Five leaders trust and empower people who understand and are committed to the
mission of the organization to make good decisions.
 
Level Five leaders promote cooperation and collaboration by softening internal and
external boundaries.
 
Part Two - Who's on the bus?
 
·        Extension educators are community focused rather than idea focused.
·        Extension educators are passionate about teamwork.
·        Extension educators have the skills and the desire to work with teams of professionals and
   non-professionals.
·        Extension educators have an area of expertise they apply in team projects.
·        Extension educators are passionate about collaborative learning.
·        Extension educators are passionate about empowering their "students".
·        Extension educators are results oriented.  Extension educators are passionate about
   measuring and communicating the impact of their educational programs.
·        Extension educators are knowledge gatherers and processors.
·        Extension educators are focused on the integration and application of knowledge in
   practical social, economic, and natural resource management systems.
 

Part Three - The Extension Education Hedge Hog

Our Passion: We are passionate about developing non-hierarchical education programs that
empower communities of place to solve their own problems in the areas of youth/family and
natural resource development.
 
What we are best at: We are the best organization in the world at assembling and supporting
local, collaborative, self-managing learning teams of professionals and non-professionals that strive
to meet the educational needs of sustainable communities of place.
 
Attachment to our economic drivers: We are the highest value education investment available
to government and non governmental funding agencies because:

     Our educational programs have impact, and we can prove it with credible measures.
     The positive impacts of our educational programs are multiplied by thousands of volunteers
     that apply new knowledge and skills in service to their communities.
     We are the preferred-partner of governmental and non-governmental institutions that are
     committed to an engagement-model of education.

Part Four - Culture of Discipline

·        We stay focused on our two-fold mission to deliver research-based knowledge and put it to
   work in the community.  Although we often discover new ideas in the process, we focus on
   putting knowledge to work in the community.  We are not teachers; we are Extension
   educators.

·        Our faculty members understand and are committed to Extension education and are free to
   apply their ingenuity and creativity in program development, implementation, and evaluation.
 
·        We are an empowerment-education organization.  Although we nurture new ideas and new
   programs, planning for transformation is a component of the program development.  As our
   educational programs mature, they become increasingly self-sufficient or they complete their
   purpose and end.
 

Part Five - Technology Accelerators

·        We are skillful at listening, consensus building, and non-linear analysis of complex community
   and natural resource development issues.
 
·        We are skillful at assembling and managing teams of professionals and non-professionals that
   have specific, relevant technical expertise and practical experience.
 
·        Although we put distance-learning technologies to work for communities of interest, we
   recognize that the primary purpose of distance learning technologies in our educational
   approach is to liberate our faculty members to deploy relationship-intensive educational
   activities for communities of place.
 
Part Six - Our Flywheel
 
Our commitment to participatory and non-hierarchical education is reflected in our organizational
structure.  Our administrative structure assists independent regions and self-motivated and
self-managed learning-teams to manage what they choose to do rather than telling them what to
do.  Our organizational structure is nimble and responsive.  This allows us to learn fast and artfully
manage change.
 
Part Seven - Conversation Starters
 
Brutal Fact:   The Oregon University System (OUS) professes a need for flexibility,
innovation, and creativity in a fast learning organization, yet most of the reoccurring State
and Federal dollars in the system are committed to tenured faculty. Energetic and
enthusiastic untenured and fixed term faculty members are the first to go during a budget
crunch.  Keep hope alive: We do not need to abandon tenure, but we must transition to a
mixed staffing model (tenure track, faculty, fixed term faculty, program aides, and
personal service contracts) for OSU Extension on and off campus.
       
Brutal Fact:   OSU Extension professes a need for flexibility, innovation, and creativity in
a fast learning, organization, yet most of the reoccurring State and Federal dollars in the
organization are tied to "tenured programs".  Innovative and creative new programs go
begging. Keep hope alive. We do not need to eliminate traditional programs, however, as
programs mature, we could transition them toward increasing self-sufficiency or sunset.
 
Brutal facts:.   OSU Extension professes collaborative values, yet as an organization we
are not good at teamwork or partnerships.  Keep hope alive: We are ready to restructure
our organization to focus on teamwork and partnership.
      
Brutal fact:   OSU Extension professes non-hierarchical, non-paternal educational methods
focused on community-based education, yet the majority of the financial, program, and
decision-making authority is concentrated on the OSU campus. Keep hope alive.  We could
change this in a playful, experimental way and invent effective, decentralized management
strategies.
      
Brutal Fact:   It is unrealistic to expect every faculty member to be an excellent teacher,
volunteer program manager, research scientist and scholar, grant writer and accounts
manager, evaluator, and web page designer.  Keep hope alive: We would have greater
success if we devoted 30% of our program efforts to team projects where all the needed
skills are highly developed and present.
      
Brutal fact: The communities we serve recognize that the Oregon State University does not
have the answers to today's problems.  OSU has part of the answer, rapid access to
research-based knowledge and expertise.  Keep hope alive.  Fortunately, we are committed
to, ready, and capable of implementing a collaborative learning model.
 
Brutal fact: OSU Extension does not have access to much of the intellectual resources of
the Oregon University System (OUS).   Most OUS campus-based faculty members do not
understand the role or mission of OSU Extension Service or do not value Extension
education.  Keep hope alive.  If they fully understood Extension education, they would
embrace it.