I was listening to the audiobook version of “Judgement” by Bennis and Tichy while driving between schools today and they started into a long conversation about how great leaders all have great visions. It made me wonder about my own approach to vision in terms of becoming a principal. It seems that everything I have been reading has repeatedly stated the importance of having a vision for the school. I can understand why vision is important as it drives the agenda of the school and I have been repeatedly drilled on how to create shared vision through my master’s process. Yet what I really wonder what the challenge is to create a vision in the face of so many external pressures on a school.
I find the literature draws a picture of a principal on a bench on a warm sunny day coming up with a wonderful vision for their school that is both well thought out and addresses the needs of all staff. From my own experience I have never seen a principal sitting on that bench. More often than not the principal is working hard to just keep the school running in the face of pressure from all of the constituents of the school. When is the visioning process occurring? Working in a state that the governor cycles on two year terms, there is a possibility that the agenda for schools in New Hampshire could change regularly. How can a principal create the type of vision espoused by the literature when things change everyday?
I also wonder about the interview process where the prospective candidate is asked the question about their vision for the school. Obviously it is difficult to give a complete answer about a school that may not yet be a complete picture, but in order to present the best face as a candidate it is required that one must have a good idea.
Any thoughts out there?
I have had this idea stirring around in my head for a few days now, but only now am I able to get it out onto paper. Today I find myself wondering about making decisions. My perception is that a principal needs to make a lot of decisions during the course of their day. Some of these could be termed as mission critical and others as not so much. In envisioning administering a school environment I am wondering specifically about decisions where everyone has made up their mind on the best course of action.
I came into this post through a group project I am doing for a course on organizational decision making to complete my Master’s. Our group has been tasked with examining the decision making process by the Bush administration post-911. As I said, a topic which everyone has some opinion on and middle ground is not so obvious. This got me thinking about the applicability to schools or more specifically; “how does the principal embrace collaborative decision making when the room is split in two?”. I personally find this instance the biggest challenge of becoming an administrator and I think that these discussions are often the points at which administrators “lose the room”. Is it simply a matter of identifying the most timely decision and going from there? In school, we termed this the dissatisfaction phase or the groan zone where pulling the staff out of it was simply a matter of turning the page in the book. As the Great Oz once stated “ignore the man behind the curtain”, but can we. What happens when theory becomes practice and you cannot simply turn the page? I think this is the struggle that goes on in my head especially when I see myself with the bright light shining on me. How can the principal embrace discourse and make people feel that they have been heard, but yet make a decision?
Any thoughts out there for an emerging principal?
