A few weeks back, I shared the story of Carl, a principal friend of mine who was frustrated with the pockets of innovation in his building.
While he knew that good work was happening at all grade levels and in all subject areas in his school, that work was inconsistent. Some teachers were running with technology integration but ignoring a school-wide reading program. Others had made PBIS work on their teams or in their classrooms, but did little to integrate the 4Cs into their day-to-day instruction.
My push back to Carl was simple: Pockets of innovation are almost always evidence of a lack of focus in a school building. Carl’s faculty wasn’t being resistant by letting important school-wide initiatives fall by the wayside. They just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to make several different significant changes at one time and had decided to prioritize some practices while tabling others.
That’s a survival strategy, y’all.
So what can YOU do to avoid falling into the same trap? Start by stealing an idea from Warren Buffet and developing an Avoid at All Cost list!
Here’s how:
1). Make a list of 25 things that your school is currently working on — or that you anticipate working on over the next few years.
Include everything that matters to you and/or your district. Are you rolling out new devices? Has your state mandated new diagnostic testing for students in specific grade levels? Are the NGSS science standards pushing their way into conversations in your district? Is your school tinkering with intervention or enrichment periods? Write it all down. And then have your teachers review it to be sure you haven’t inadvertently missed anything.
2). Circle the five most important items that you find on your current list of projects, programs and priorities.
Are some of the projects, programs and priorities listed in step one more important than others? Why? How do you know? Which ones are valued by classroom teachers? Which will have the most direct benefit on student learning? Are some mandates that can’t be ignored? Do some have the support of the communities that you serve? Is your school uniquely suited to implement some initiatives over others? Structure conversations — within learning teams, during leadership meetings, with parents and students — to get feedback about your five priorities.
3). Invest EVERYTHING into moving forward on your five most important priorities.
Now truly invest in your priorities. Every purchase that you make should have a direct connection to one of your five priorities. Every scheduling decision that you make should be tied to one of your five priorities. Every faculty meeting that you have, every professional development session that you provide, and every message that you share with your parents, teachers and students should focus on one of your five priorities. Practice what Doug Reeves calls lifeguard leadership and keep your attention on the things that really matter.
4). Turn the remaining 20 items that you have been working on into an Avoid at All Costs list.
The real mistake that schools make when trying to drive change is focusing on too many different projects all at the same time. That makes every single one of the remaining items on the list you generated in step one a potential pitfall. Sure, they matter — but when everything becomes a priority, nothing gets done.
So make it clear to everyone in your school community that those items are to be avoided at all costs until the five priorities you settled on in step two have become a part of the fabric of your school. No matter how much potential you see in the remaining 20 items brainstormed in your original list, you have to push them completely aside if you are truly setting priorities.
You see what’s happening here, don’t you?
The key to keeping your school focused and moving forward isn’t just identifying a small handful of priorities. The key to keeping your school focused and moving forward is identifying a small handful of priorities AND actively pushing against everything else that threatens to draw your collective time and attention away from the things that matter most. Developing an Avoid at All Costs list can help you to do just that.
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Related Radical Reads:
Pockets of Innovation = Lack of Focus
