Yesterday, I talked to principals of three of the schools that I recently began working with. All three had the variation of the same story. On the second day of school, they sat in on grade level / content area planning sessions. Quickly realizing that no one intended to do any actual planning, they jump started the process. The immediate question was, “Why the rush?”

To which the universal response was, “This is the second day of instruction. In twelve days we will have our first common assessment. Our students will be ready.”

All three were surprised by lack of initial urgency, yet excited by how the teachers responded after the issue was addressed.

This is a concrete example of a theme that is constantly touched on in the blog posts. People will do what they are allowed to do and people respond to more positively to inspired hands-on leadership than they do to remote managerial mandates.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…