Setting the Tone for the New School Year

Classroom teachers instinctively understand the impact of a first impression. They greet students as they walk through the door and carefully plan the first days’ work to ensure a strong foundation for the learning to come. They know, too, that the space they teach in also communicates their values, from the way they arrange their classroom furniture to the posters they hang on the walls. 

So when teachers become Academic Leaders, they know how important first interactions are to shaping their relationships with faculty, staff, students and families. At the same time, they have a much smaller range of direct interactions with stakeholders than classroom teachers do. To set the tone for the new year, Academic Leaders need to approach the start of school by acting with intention–one of our key Competencies for Academic Leaders. 

1. Be as transparent as possible. Trusted leaders are effective leaders. When you explain how you gather information, set priorities, and make decisions, you focus on the process of making decisions, not your outcomes. Academic Leaders know that almost every decision has its detractors, but if people understand your process, they can often accept a decision they disagree with. 
2. Talk about your values. Humans use stories to make sense of the world–and if the world doesn’t make sense, they create stories that construct sense. Academic Leaders  make decisions every day that impact an entire school community. Sometimes, your choices are based on information that’s available to few of your colleagues (and none of your students). These are the moments when you can’t be transparent.  As a result, the stakeholders in your community can superimpose a narrative on your choices that misinterprets your actions. When you talk explicitly about your values, you articulate the context and motivation for your decisions. In other words, if you tell the story that gives meaning to your actions, you build trust with your community.
3. Choose one small action that puts your values into practice. It is a truism that actions speak louder than words. As an Academic Leader, however, much of the action you take happens in small meetings and one-to-one conversations. While the impact of your decisions is felt every day, your actions often go unseen. At the start of the year, commiting to a concrete action that makes your values visible is a powerful way to lead. One head of school sees his primary mission as creating a sense of belonging. Every morning for fifteen minutes, he greets students arriving on campus with a handshake, transforming the moment into a ritual of recognition and acknowledgement. Another Academic Leader, committed to creating a culture of intellectual curiosity and inquiry, begins every faculty meeting with a poem. As these small actions are repeated, they bring meaning and purpose to a community.