Change the Conversation

I was inspired by finding out about “A Day in the Life of a Principal” day. #APrincipalsDay It prompted the question “What if you were to change the conversation”; wherever you’re at and whatever field you are in. By that I mean to reconsider what it is we’re doing, both in what we just happen to be doing and in what we plan on doing, to look at how those activities move us forward towards our goals. It’s moving away from a conversation that’s about “what do we need to get done today/this week/month/year” to “what story do we want to tell?” Going back to ‘A Principal’s Day’, I think about what I would find if I were to search out my principal and take a picture. What would she be doing right now? And then I wonder, if I were to go ask her, what picture would she want to take to illustrate what she does as principal of this school? I then also think about what I’m doing throughout the day. In one sense I’m thinking this is a perspective to take to view what we do in a better light; on the other hand, it’s reevaluating our time and energy to focus on the things that actually matter.

Everything, or just about everything, has some level of importance or impact towards where you are heading, towards reaching your goals. It can be moving you in a positive, forward momentum. It can be a movement that creates a standstill. (Call that a non-movement) It can move you backwards. Generally, actions are going to be one of those three. Forward movement isn’t usually accidental and if it is, you’re probably not noticing it or unprepared to take advantage of it when it happens.

Lately, I’m really attuned to the idea of creating culture; in my case, creating campus culture. What’s struck me perhaps the most in relation to that is the degree to which we are task-driven and short-sighted. There’s a definite correlation between the two; I think they drive each other. As a campus, and as a district, we have both an MMVV: Motto, Mission, Vision, Values, and goals. The primary component of all of it is student achievement/success. In public education right now, you really can’t get away from defining success in terms of data (test scores). “College readiness” in our district is even based primarily on data derived from the series of tests leading up to the SAT. At the same time, however, as a campus we have to deal with student and staff culture which, in my opinion, weighs heavily as a determinant of real success, bearing on knowledge and academic skills. Yet, cultivating campus culture is seemingly not so much a concern at any level of operations (I’ll acknowledge that there may be some behind the scenes reflection going on that we don’t know about). We’re left with the conundrum wherein all that surrounds testing really takes the bulk of our time, energy, and focus while at the same time encountering behavior, morale, and academic issues that inhibit those very test scores. Thus the need to build campus culture to address those issues. So I begin to think about how we can build culture within the framework of the necessary and planned activities we engage in day-to-day. Here’s what I’m thinking:

What story do you want to tell? I think if you are not telling the story yourself, it’s going to be told for you. What do you want to be known for? What do you want people to think when they think about you? So then, what are you doing to create that? Consider all the tasks you are engaged in as a campus and how the various tasks relate to one another. For example, what part of the motto, mission, vision, values, or goals does each support and how? Then consider how can you place those tasks within the context of the story you want to tell; how is what I’m doing contributing to the story and what’s the best way to do the task in that light? Rather than be a taskmaster, be a storyteller!