That One Thing - A Friendly Mirror for School Leaders


 

It’s been on your To-Do List for a long time. It’s not a small task you can simply hand off, so you continue to cut and paste it onto each new To-Do List. You promise yourself you’ll deal with it. But you don’t.

I get it. I’ve been there.

You run through the reasons you haven’t dealt with it: too much work, politically dangerous, too expensive, difficult to implement, people won’t accept it, you’re already juggling a million balls; maybe it’s not that important – or – maybe it’s only important to just a few people.

Perhaps you’ve made a few small moves that have bought you some time and lowered the temperature. But it’s still on your list for a reason.

And there are costs to leaving something this important unresolved.

·     The people who need this product, service, or program are still waiting for you to act
·     You carry the professional and psychological weight of knowing there is something important you need to address.
·     Other members of your team must continue to pick up the pieces caused by your inaction.
·     Your school may pay a price for not doing something that others see as necessary.

For many school leaders, that one thing might be tightening admissions criteria, dealing with a difficult donor, creating consequences for problematic student behaviors, working on curriculum alignment, or creating stronger boundaries for board influence.

Whatever that one thing is, here are some suggestions for moving forward.

·      Talk it out with a friend or colleague that you trust. Name your fears. What are you most worried about?

·      Challenge your assumptions. What are you assuming about the issue, the people involved, or the consequences of taking action?

·      Examine the roadblocks. Which ones are real, and which ones might be more manageable than you think?

·      Imagine the gains and losses. What might happen if you act? What might happen if you don’t?

·      Set a deadline for your first action step.


I hope you’ll find comfort knowing that you have already done incredibly hard things, and you’ve been successful.

I’m rooting for you to erase that one thing from your To-Do List – soon.

Good luck in the new school year!

 

Rabbi Jim Rogozen

 

 

 

 

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