This blog post is part of a series on your improvement engine—make sure you have a great improvement engine (purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices) before you start working on your improvement goal! (See also School Improvement Reflection Protocol).
For school improvement, what you do matters, how you do it matters, and why you do it matters. So leaders, be sure to overcommunicate all 3—what, how, and why!
(1) What: Overcommunicate “what” to ensure that everyone understands what your school’s improvement goals are. One way to help is to give 1-3 word titles for each action plan, for example: data usage and curriculum development.
Quick check: If I ask each staff member and leader at your school what your school’s improvement goals are, what percentage of people will answer correctly within 10 seconds?
(2) How: Overcommunicate “how” to ensure that everyone has shared understanding of school improvement in terms of:
- Perspective: What’s your school’s understanding of school improvement and what mindsets does it use for school improvement?
- Process: What collaborative process does your school use?
- Planning: How are plans developed?
- Practices: What best practices do you use for school improvement?
Quick check: If I ask each person at your school, what your school’s improvement perspective, process, plan, and practices are, what percentage of people will readily provide correct responses?
(3) Why: Overcommunicate “why” to ensure that everyone has shared understanding of the purpose of school improvement. For me, the purpose of school improvement is to get students, staff, and leaders flourishing. What’s your school’s documented purpose?
Quick check: If I ask each person at your school, what your school’s purpose for improvement is, what percentage of people will readily provide the correct response?
In my experience with school improvement, schools seem to start with “what” (the major recommendations or action plans), pull in “how” as necessary, and incidentally address “why.” Simon Sinek suggests the opposite: start with why, then explain how, and finally address what. Using this order helps people engage:
Here are some related blog posts:
- Why: How galvanizing is your purpose for improvement?
- How: To what extent do your perspective, process, plan, and practices actually help you improve?
- How: When doing school improvement, when are you and your international Christian school colleagues at your best?
- How: The accreditation visit is finished—what do you & your colleagues need to do before implementing your school’s updated improvement plan?
- What: How do you feel about implementing a separate action plan on getting flourishing?
Bottom line: Leaders, overcommunicate the why, how, and what of school improvement!
Get flourishing!
Michael
Get Flourishing 