You have probably seen this popular cartoon in one or more of its forms spread all over the internet.  It makes a good point though, and is worth reflecting on …

When I saw this cartoon, I thought of the many times as a school principal that I was so busy with my “nose to the grindstone” of daily tasks, crises and just “keeping the ship afloat” that I didn’t have time to stop and think, to evaluate where we were going.  As a result, I suspect there may have been times when I turned my back on the “game-changer” like the guy in the cartoon. 

I have seen this issue afflict individual principals and leadership teams in their sincere pursuit of the development and well-being of their schools; and it is equally a problem for boards in governing schools.

Individual principals and leadership teams

For individual principals and leadership teams, the urgency of the battle and the flying arrows are likely to be one or more of these:

• Time pressures of the stuff that just keeps turning up day-by-day.  I had one principal tell me “I feel like a chook on a conveyer belt – I lay an egg, it gets whisked away, I lay another egg … etc – there is no end to the demands of administration, planning, crises, etc – I feel like I just can’t afford to stop for a moment … “.  When we are feeling like this, any opportunity or suggestion to evaluate, rethink, re-tool, change directions, etc seems like “just another job to do” and, even though we can acknowledge that the re-think or changes might be a great idea, they just keep getting procrastinated – I’ll do them later – when the conveyer belt stops!!
• Having a static, encrusted, … then dying organization.  If we lead a school long enough without listening to (and effectively resolving) the criticisms, concerns, frustrations, and left-field creative ideas from within and around our staff, students, and parents, we will eventually see the emergence of symptoms such as:  leadership fatigue, disillusionment, lack of motivation, and loss of creative dynamic .. then, in due course, we find people leaving to find a new way to re-fire their enthusiasm for their teaching and leadership!  

In both of these scenarios, the only solution is for leaders somehow to push the “pause button” on the battle and spend a bit of time with the machine-gun salesman! 

Boards

For boards involved in the corporate governance of a school, the urgency of the battle and the flying arrows are likely to be one or more of these:

• We find ourselves dealing with the urgent issues of governance such as finances, facilities development, and processing reports … but we have that discomfiting feeling that somehow we are not attending to the big-picture purpose of the school – its mission and vision.  We’re not sure whether we’re still on track! 
• We find ourselves consumed with relational issues such as conflicts between board and management, inability to deal effectively with under-performance or misconduct, conflict between board members or “factions”,or community unrest.

Again, we can keep charging at the arrows in the same old way … or we can look for some proactive solutions – a chat with machine-gun salesman?

Getting better weapons – some proactive solutions:

Equipping Christian Schools can offer you a number of effective programs to address the issues that besiege boards and school leaders:

1. Performance reviews and development programs for board, principal, leaders, or the whole school – using performance rubrics for boards, principals, leaders, or schools, we can give you a comprehensive report of the “state-of-play” and a detailed set of strategic recommendations for development and/or remediation.
2. Mission-vision-strategy process. We can lead your board, leaders, and school community through a process that includes: a. Clarification of the “DNA” of the school’s mission (Ie, what God intended for it to be);  b. Resetting the vision based on the mission and the dreams & ideas of key stakeholders for tomorrow;  c. Developing clear mission/vision objectives;  and d. Developing detailed and specific development strategies for each of the agreed objectives.

… for more detail re any of the above, go to the EQS “programs” page and select the program you are interested in.

In the heat of the battle, the good thing about these programs, is that we can do the bulk of the work for you and deliver a “machine-gun” that will give you a better capability in what you are wanting to achieve.

If you want to discuss how we might help you, contact Ray Tiller – Email:  ray@equipping.com.au    Phone:  0409 646 279