Principal and Owner at Inquiry & Learning for Change (leadership & team development, organizational change consulting)
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- Principal and Owner at Inquiry & Learning for Change (Sole Proprietorship)
- Past
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- Owner at Selected Clients, Inquiry & Learning for Change (Sole Proprietorship)
- Adjunct Professor, Consulting Skills at Alliant International University Marshall Goldsmith School of Organizational Studies
- School Change Coach at Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES)
- Lead Coach for Small Schools Conversion Efforts at Los Angeles Coalition of Essential Schools, Small Schools Resource Center
- Program Director, Leadership Systems at Partners in School Innovation
- Team Leader & Coach at The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast & Islands
- Research & Evaluation Specialist at The NETWORK, Inc.
- Education
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- Harvard University Graduate School of Education
- Amherst College
- Phillips Academy, Andover
- Recommended
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6 people have recommended John - Connections
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- Industry
- Management Consulting
- Websites
John Watkins’s Summary
I coach and consult with schools, school districts, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to support innovative leadership, team development, and positive, planned organizational change. My work focuses on helping organizational leaders and staff members clarify their values, purposes, and vision, to guide conscious creation of programs and activities that enact those values and vision. I help build broadly networked learning communities within and across organizations. This leads to the ability to design programs that hold together in coherent and aligned ways that feel seamless, personalized, and responsive to clients and membership, and to the broader community in which organizations do their work. I help craft real time professional development and knowledge management systems that support new organizational structures and a culture of innovation and results. I work hands on and over the long term with organizational members to develop leadership, engage in strategic planning, and create emergent organizational systems necessary for effective implementation of a transformational (fundamental rather than incremental or piecemeal) change agenda. I hold high expectations for the learning and performance of people and teams, and believe that healthy, equitable, and wise organizations can be created to serve a more democratic, socially just, and ecologically sustainable community and society.
John Watkins’s Specialties:
Innovative leadership development in non-profits and public education; facilitation in complex systems; user-focused and collaborative research & evaluation; developing whole systems coaching and consulting organizations, professional learning communities; inquiry driven strategic planning; whole-system organizational change management; knowledge management for the new organization
John Watkins’s Experience
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Principal and Owner
Inquiry & Learning for Change (Sole Proprietorship)
(Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Management Consulting industry)
1994 — Present (14 years)
Coach and consult with schools, school districts, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to support innovative leadership, team development, and positive, purposive organizational change. I help to build wise networks in and across wise organizations to serve a more democratic, socially just, and ecologically sustainable community and society.
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Owner
Selected Clients, Inquiry & Learning for Change (Sole Proprietorship)
(Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Management Consulting industry)
1994 — 2008 (14 years)
Piton Foundation, Denver, 2007-present
Network centric organizational development; work with local organizations to clarify vision & values, reorganize to create an empowered membership community
LA County Office of Education, Los Angeles, 2007-present
Design district change consultant training program
Institute for Educational Equity, Denver, 2006-07
Design coach collaborative, evaluation system for school improvement coaches
Los Angeles Unified School District, 1995-2000; 2003-07
Consult, Design, Coach & Facilitate leadership, planning, & standards-based reform, Small Schools design, teacher workshops
Bay Area School Reform Collaborative, 2002-03
Create, Facilitate curriculum for urban school leaders
Kao & Co, 2002-03; 2005-06
Design, Facilitate, Consult, innovation process, Singapore Government, US Government, private sector
Santa Monica (CA) School District, 1995-2000
Consult, Coach, Facilitate district & school teams, social justice effort -
Adjunct Professor, Consulting Skills
Alliant International University Marshall Goldsmith School of Organizational Studies
(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Higher Education industry)
2006 — 2007 (1 year)
Consulting Skills for Systemwide Interventions in Large Scale Change Efforts
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School Change Coach
Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES)
(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Education Management industry)
August 2004 — June 2006 (1 year 11 months)
Coached the development of new small schools in Oakland and small learning communities in other school districts. Focus on equity and whole system change.
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Lead Coach for Small Schools Conversion Efforts
Los Angeles Coalition of Essential Schools, Small Schools Resource Center
(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Education Management industry)
October 2003 — August 2004 (11 months)
Led the development of a small schools resource center consulting with LAUSD on small schools conversions, particularly in South LA and Watts, Local District 7.
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Program Director, Leadership Systems
Partners in School Innovation
(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Education Management industry)
July 2000 — June 2002 (2 years)
Research & Design new school leadership systems;
Research & Design internal inquiry-based knowledge management system;
Coach school leaders & teachers. Member, Leadership Team. -
Team Leader & Coach
The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast & Islands
(Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Education Management industry)
June 1990 — November 1994 (4 years 6 months)
Lead Action Research Team & “Learning-Teaching-Assessing” Team; Facilitate & Coach school-based reform efforts;
Provide technical assistance; Write proposals. -
Research & Evaluation Specialist
The NETWORK, Inc.
(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Education Management industry)
August 1987 — June 1990 (2 years 11 months)
Research & Evaluate national early childhood technical assistance system & Project 2061: Science for All Americans.
John Watkins’s Education
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Harvard University Graduate School of Education
EdD & EdM, Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, Research Specialization, 1986 — 1997
Focus on research methods appropriate for self study by schools involved in restructuring change efforts (inquiry-driven change), ethnographic evaluation, organizational change, consulting theory & skills.
Doctoral Dissertation: "Change Teams in Restructuring Schools: Critical Friends in the Fray," a study of ten schools participating in The Trek, a change management "year of study" at the Coalition of Essential Schools at Brown University- Activities and Societies:
- Teaching Fellow. Led sections for Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods, Decision Analysis (including Intro. Statistics), & Ethnographic Research.
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Amherst College
BA, Art History, 1976 — 1979
Honors thesis on visual knowing
- Activities and Societies:
- Magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Anna Baker Heap Prize for an Essay in Art
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Phillips Academy, Andover
HSD, 1966 — 1968
Additional Information
John Watkins’s Websites:
John Watkins’s Interests:
leadership coaching, team development, small school development, organizational change consulting, urban education reform, educational equity, social network related organizational development, network theory, emergence theory, string theory, hiking, backpacking, Anusara yoga, social justice, local food & sustainable living
John Watkins’s Groups:
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Amherst College Alumni member
John Watkins’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
