Thought for the week: SHOW your belief in your school!

Term 4 is about to arrive and no matter how you view it, it is always busy and pressured - day to day, recruiting, new students, budget meetings, board meetings, resource analysis and planning, planning for next year, final ceremonies such as concluding assemblies, presentation nights etc, etc.

At this time of the year a Principal can start the day with such a large list which is hard to prioritise and knowing the “ship” must be kept on an effective course and the culture, with its focus on good morale amongst staff and students, effective learning being a good priority and the school community well cared for etc.

The mind is a strange “animal” and ideas can pop up in a random way - hence the following two paragraphs. As I have written previously, I enjoy playing my mandolin. My ancestors were Scottish fiddle players who wrote a heap of tunes, some of which I enjoy playing. One lament is particularly sad, written in memory of this ancestor’s brother. The tune sounds sad as a lament should be, but the sadness is enhanced by the presence of one particular note. Yes,s one note. When I first played it, I was “wowed” by the effect of this note, even though the tune made sense without it.

I didn’t necessarily always do what I’m about to describe, during my time as principal, though I wish I had. That is, faced with the feeling of “heck where do I start, “and then succumbing to someone else’s agenda because they made the loudest noise or being attracted to some “busy “work which could have waited or been deflected to someone else and ultimately not achieving much of significance. Why? Because achieving something is better than achieving nothing, even if it is unimportant. However, this is not the most effective way to start the day.

Back to that Note of Music. If I was Principal again, I would start the day by deciding which Note I could “play” which might make a real difference - not any Note but one which would be effective. I had to make a decision (My Decision) - which valuable note! There would probably be a heap to choose from, but the idea is to discipline myself to one. After putting that into action I could then wade into the chaos with the knowledge I had achieved something valuable for the day which sure boosts personal morale. This also helps to avoid that hollow feeling which sometimes occurs after being really busy for the day and at its conclusion, feeling nothing of significance had been achieved. Mind you, some people don’t mind that feeling though their day has not made a huge difference to the school.

Term 4 brings with it many pivotal decisions that have to be made for the coming year. Such decisions may include the need to promote a staff member into a position of responsibility. This can be a tricky one but making the wrong decision can result in grief for the Principal and the school. The Principal must make sure they are really certain about the criteria for the job. It is not advisable to pull the job description off the computer without, each time, reflecting as to whether this is how the job should be performed at this particular time of the school’s journey. The school may have different requirements from the last appointment and this is the chance to make an understandable change. It is easy to be swayed towards a popular appointment. This may turn out to be a good one or perhaps a disaster. Such an appointment may be met with enthusiasm - you may be pleasantly affirmed, but if the appointee is a non-performer it will only give you grief - trust me!

Beware of making a decision of convenience, where someone seems to have the time to do the job, but clearly doesn’t have the proven capacity or experience. This also ends in “tears” and the school suffers and you as the principal have a major headache! Where there isn’t an easy solution there is a temptation to make such decisions and perhaps on the basis “they’ll be right, or they’ll grow into it” If they don’t have the capacity they may not and you will have a problem.

The use of Committees to make appointments may work and it may not and it is favoured by many schools. If a Principal doesn’t like making decisions they may fully defer to the committee and if the decision doesn’t work out it is then the committees fault. Well, sadly no! The Principal is ultimately responsible and if the committee’s decision is not to the Principal’s liking then it should not proceed. The Principal is likely to be blamed anyway. I have seen competent Principals make really effective appointments and I’ve seen some make woeful appointments. Sure a good Principal can get it wrong from time to time but everything should be done to avoid this.

Part of the appointment process is having a clear idea about what the Principal really wants the person in that position to achieve. If unclear the Principal is sure on dangerous grounds.

I would expect most Principals still have to weather the budget meeting with their board this year. This is a super important meeting and relates to the school’s strategic plan, its present circumstances, what Principals feel they want to achieve in the coming year. I’ve seen boards change the Principal’s KPIs and then give them few resources to achieve these. The Board must have good knowledge of how the school is truly going, not a vague notion and the Principal must be able to communicate information effective and accurately with the board including what is possible and what is not.

The wise Principal knows how to read and understand the accounts, though it is accepted that the Principal is unlikely to be an accountant. The Business Manager has that detailed responsibility, but the Principal must not say they don’t understand the fundamentals of it. If they have a lack of knowledge they should sit down with the Business Manager and become knowledgeable. The Principal must be able to effectively participate in the budget discussions and not simply be silent and leave it to the Business Manager.

Whilst the pressure is on in Term 4, it is still important that even though there is usually a lot of office work, including thinking, planning, interviews and meetings to be run, visibility in the school is important, though it helps if it is strategic and not random so the necessary office work can be done. It is, I believe, a mistake to try do it all after hours.

“Delegate, delegate, delegate if able” during this busy time should be a Principal’s mantra, enabling them to tackle the tasks that are most important and will have a significant effect on the school. The art to good and thorough delegation is to be clear about the task you are delegating, briefing the delegate thoroughly and following up at stated points so the delegate knows when the task has to be completed and that it will be checked. Checking of course is a sure sign of interest in the task and emphasises that it is important. Few people want to do an unimportant task. Care must be taken not to wear out staff goodwill and a reward of some sort (e.g. Allowance or time off) may be in order as good will often has an end point. Staff like to know they are appreciated.

Obviously these are my thoughts coming from my own experience and there are certainly many ways of approaching a busy term four. If you can draw some helpful ideas from these thoughts or if my writing stimulates other ideas or perhaps ensures you are tracking well, then that is really good. In any case may your term 4 be as truly successful as you would wish.

Quotes:

“Our future growth relies on competitiveness and innovation, skills and productivity-and these in turn rely on the education of our people.”

- Julia Gillard Former Australian PM.

“Be eager in your desires but humbly patient in their accomplishment.”

- Mary MacKillop RSJ was an Australian religious sister who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

“Stop leaving and you will arrive. Stop searching and you will see. Stop running away and you will be found.”

- Anne Geddes is an Australian - born New York City - based World renowned photographer.

“The right person is the one who seizes the moment.”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe A German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman theatre director and critic.

“Yes, you can have it all, but not all at the same time. Set your own priorities, trust your gut and follow your heart.”

- Quentin Bryce, Former Governor-General.

“To be driven by passion is more likely to bring success than to be driven by money.”

- Carolyn Creswell is an Australian businesswoman and TV host.

“Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.” “The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.”

- Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India.

“It’s a very Aboriginal thing to do, to give younger people greater responsibilities within the community as they become able to take those responsibilities on. It is a culturally appropriate transfer of roles that involves respect in both directions- from younger to older and the older to younger.”

- Jackie Huggins AM FAHA is an Australian Aboriginal Author, historian, academic and advocate for the rights of Indigenous Australians. She is a Bidjara/Pitjara, Biarritz Gabba and Juru woman from Queensland.

“Congress has known for a long time that if we get the start to life, right, we can change a child’s entire life story.”

- Donna Ah-Chee CEO Central Australian Congress.

Chris Tudor

Principal Liaison & AISNT Historian