5 ways principals get vision wrong and how to fix it
Danny Bauer ??????
I talk about school leadership, reimagining education, category design, and bourbon. Top 0.5 % pod host. 3x bestseller. International speaker.
If your vision can fit onto a tee shirt, you have work to do …
If your vision is placed on a banner, it’s not real …
If your staff doesn’t know what the vision is, it’s meaningless …
If your vision is the same as the school down the street, and the next school, and the next, then your vision is unoriginal …
If your vision incorporates buzz words (e.g. 21st century learners, innovation, all learners, every child, global community, and so on …), then it most likely is NOT creating a buzz in your school …
Today I want to talk about the 5 ways principals get vision wrong and how to fix it.
Mistake #1: Vision that lacks depth.
Vision is not a slogan. That’s why it doesn’t go on a tee shirt.
A motto goes on a tee shirt like “When YOU get better … Everyone wins.”
There’s no way a slogan or even a “robust” 2-3 sentence vision statement can capture the hearts and minds of your staff and align their actions.
A Remarkable Vision is different in that it ultimately becomes a multipage document that you are proud to share far and wide. It touches every aspect of your school and becomes the roadmap for your next 3-years.
How to fix this mistake: Consider all the aspects of a highly functioning campus. Last time I did this, I identified 19 categories and five pages worth of questions to answer. The number here isn’t what matters. My point is that most school visions are shallow. A Remarkable Vision is not.?
Mistake #2: Vision created to look good or sound good.
It’s easy to make something look great and slap it up on the wall of the school. Unfortunately, vision can look pretty, but it doesn’t need to.
It’s difficult to create something that has a shared purpose and inspires all who think about it.?
If a vision exists in the halls, but not in the hearts of all the humans involved, then what is the point of the vision?
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How to fix this mistake: Stop thinking of branding, banners, and making things beautiful when it comes to vision. Instead create something so remarkable that spreads by word of mouth. If that was the challenge, how does your approach change?
Mistake #3: Vision that lacks direction.
A Remarkable Vision provides direction.?
Seneca said, “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, then no wind is favorable.”?
Leaders are often frustrated when their staff is rowing in different directions within the school. This lack of alignment illustrates a lack of vision.
If you truly had a meaningful vision and sticky core values, then you could ground every conversation in that context. It would provide the ideas of what to celebrate and what to correct.
How to fix this mistake: After creating your Remarkable Vision, consider all the different ways you can and will weave the vision into your communication strategy. As Jeff Weiner famously said, “Your people don’t even begin to hear you, until you are sick of saying it,”
Mistake #4: An uninspiring vision.
All kids … yadda, yadda yadda …
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Every student … bleep, blop, bloop.
These are platitudes. They are overused and have lost all meaning. And yet, many schools incorporate these ideas into their vision.
If these ideas do not inspire, then why do we include them?
They sound nice and the school down the street is providing a rigorous education for “every student” so we have to do that as well.
The funniest bit: your parents don’t care if every student receives an excellent education. They care that their child receives an excellent education.?
How to fix this mistake: Create a vision that is specific to your students and reflects their needs and diversity.
Mistake #5: Your vision lacks excitement
Many visions include buzz words, but do not create a buzz on campus.
Be wary of words like:
Just like mistake #4, schools often fall into the trap of writing a vision they think sounds good. The problem is that it is uninspiring.
“Inspiring,” looks like:
That is inspiring.
What if a school set out to eradicate hunger in their community?
Would that be worthy of figuring out? Would your campus rally behind that idea?
How would you approach solving that challenge?
What lessons in science, math, civics, and so on would need to be taught to live out that vision?
And if you accomplished it??
Now that would be remarkable!
How to fix this mistake: Incorporate real world problems that your school wants to solve in your vision. Nothing is more impactful than making education relevant -- not to your students’ future lives -- but to their lives right now.
Ready to create your Remarkable Vision?
The Remarkable Vision Formula: A Guided School Leader Retreat will teach you how to elevate the learning experience on your campus. You can read the book in an hour and the 3-years worth of reflection questions will help you stay on the path.
Get your copy today!?