Leadership Investment Framework for Talent

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Set LIFT Goals by 9/30/2024

    The time to cascade priorities and set individual LIFT goals has arrived!  Through collaborative leadership, offices have named 2024-25 priorities that are based on the DPS Strategic Roadmap and the outcomes delineated in the Board of Education Ends Statements. We are committed to creating clarity and cohesion across the entire district to ensure our most important work moves forward. By establishing a strong cascade of goals, we will make certain that individual and team goals are aligned with the office priorities set by our district leaders. We encourage you to embrace and reflect on the Strategic Roadmap and the Ends Statements to recognize the meaningful connections to your own unique roles and contributions. 

    What’s next?

    1. Watch this short screencast offering a high-level overview of the process for cascading goals, the SMART model, and best practices and steps for effective goal setting
    2. Connect with your manager to get your Department’s Priorities and obtain a copy of the 2024-25 LIFT Tracker for your Department for you to document your goals

    1. Engage in a BOY conversation with your Manager (using the BOY tab in your LIFT Tracker)
      • Determine your individual goals and add them to your LIFT Tracker by SEPT. 30 

    Should any questions arise regarding the LIFT framework, upcoming LIFT training sessions, or the goal-setting process, we are here to support you.

  • LIFT Goal Setting 2024-25 [published 7/9/24]

    Central Office LIFT eligible team members are wrapping up the last performance year by making sure end-of-year self-reflections and manager evaluations are completed and submitted to HR using the links that can be found in the 2023-24 LIFT Tracker. 

    Looking Forward: 2024-25

    • Our senior leaders are in the process of establishing 2024-25 priorities aligned to the DPS Strategic Roadmap and the outcomes that are outlined in the Board of Education Ends Statements. Information from the LIFT Team and your leadership teams related to cascading goals will be shared in the near future. You can prepare by starting to reflect on the Strategic Roadmap and BOE Ends Statements and how they connect to your work. 
      • Cascading goals refers to the process of aligning individual or team goals with the overarching goals set by senior leaders. It involves translating and breaking down the higher-level strategic goals into specific objectives and targets that are relevant and applicable to different departments, teams, or individuals within the organization. This alignment ensures that everyone's efforts are directed towards achieving the larger strategic objectives. Essentially, it involves the flow of goals from the top down, ensuring cohesion and unity in pursuit of the common vision.

    • NEW! LIFT Guardrails for Implementation & Rating Scale [published 11/3/23]

      During the 2022-2023 school year, we saw a significant increase in the number of employees not receiving evaluations. Because the purpose of evaluation is to provide feedback and meaningful conversations that allow employees to improve in service to our students, we are putting guardrails in place to reinforce the importance of completing employee evaluations and improve overall implementation of our evaluation systems. 

      What’s New?  Starting with the 2023-24 school year:

      1. LIFT evaluators who do not complete end-of-year evaluations for their employees will receive no higher than Approaching on the People and Culture competency.   Please review Guardrails for Ensuring Effective Evaluation Implementation for details and to see similar changes to other performance frameworks.  
      2. The LIFT end-of-year performance evaluation will utilize a NEW streamlined LIFT Rating Scale. The scale has changed from a 5 point scale to a 4 point scale to align with all other DPS performance frameworks and is to be applied directly to the LIFT competency groups and goals.  
      3. LIFT has launched a Fairness Guide that includes the processes that DPS is committed to following when LIFT evaluations are conducted for team members. It also includes best practices that work toward improving the quality of feedback that employees receive.

      If you have not attended a New to LIFT session to learn about the LIFT growth and performance system, please sign up in Learning Space.

    • Leadership Investment Framework for Talent (LIFT)

      DPS has established a strong commitment to finding, growing and keeping great leaders across the organization who are committed to helping us achieve our vision that every single one of our students thrives. The Leadership Investment Framework for Talent (LIFT) is a tool that supports team members in their own development.  In LIFT, all team members are leaders, even when not leading people. The framework provides a shared vision and language for leadership across DPS, clarifies expectations and helps team members achieve goals through accountability, and fosters ongoing performance discussions to highlight successes and define growth opportunities. 

      LIFT aligns with LEAD and was built in consideration of the diversity of roles across Central Office/School Support offices. 

      Leaders in Finance, Operations, Facilities, Transportation, DoTS and every other critical role that ensures our kids, schools, teachers and principals have what they need to deliver excellence every day will find what is essential to DPS leadership in this framework.

      The LIFT framework consists of two main areas (goals and competencies) in which team members are evaluated on each performance year. 

      GOALS

      Goals are aligned to district and team priorities, provide a road map for the work we are engaged in and set deadlines and milestones for completion.

      Each goal is rated during the end-of-year evaluation. 

      COMPETENCIES  

      Competencies are the knowledge, skills and abilities, and other requirements that are needed to perform our roles successfully and how we go about our work. 

      The Framework includes five broad Competency Groups of leadership focus.   Each competency group is rated during the end-of-year evaluation.              

      • Personal and Values Leadership
      • Vision and Strategy Leadership
      • Operational and Organizational Leadership 
      • People and Culture Leadership
      • Community and Equity Leadership          

       

        Logo        50 50        

       

      Each Competency Group is then further defined through its corresponding Drivers (18 in total).

      These Drivers ensure our shared understanding of leadership is aligned across all levels of leadership. Each driver represents a specific area in which all DPS leaders should strive to display proficiency and consistency based on their level of leadership.

      COMPETENCIES BY LIFT LEVEL    

      Differentiation Grid

      1. Leader of Self 
      2. Leader of Others
      3. Leader of Programs 
      4. Leader of Teams
      5. Leader of Leaders 
      6. Leader of Functions 
      7. Leader of the Org
      8. Leader of the District

       

      PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT RESOURCES

      Performance Improvement Plan Tips

      Performance Improvement Plan Template

      Contact Laura Urban, Senior Specialist, in order to begin the Performance Improvement process.

    CONTACT US

    • LIFT@dpsk12.org 

      Office of Talent
      1860 Lincoln Street, 9th Floor
      Denver, CO 80203

      Marlyn Ruiz
      Site Manager

    QUICK LINKS

    Are you new to your role or to LIFT?

    • Information sessions are held monthly for new hires or those new to LIFT. To register for an information session, login to the Learning Space and register for an upcoming session.

      New employees and those new to their role should set goals within their first 60 days. Make sure to talk to your Manager about your goals during your next one-on-one.  

      If you are new to your role and have a year-end appraisal to complete, reflect on your progress to date and what you want to focus on moving forward. Although you are new, the appraisal process is a great time to check-in and level set on your performance.