Leadership…..What’s in a Name?

Whats-in-a-name-Sermon-2014-e1420776806774

Day 4:

This morning at approximately 10:01 am there will be an Urgent Message which will pop up on every computer screen and mobile device in Thames Valley, with a subject line “Administrator Assignments”. Within seconds, literally hundreds of employees will open the attachment and begin to scan the columns and rows, reminding themselves of the structure of how the document is organized with the headings of “current” and “new” and begin to generate their own list of questions.  For current administrators, they will be wondering which of their colleagues are retiring, which ones are transferring to another school (and the size of the school), who is leaving their community of schools and who will be joining their community of schools.  For brand new administrators, this will be the first time that they are seeing their name listed with their new set of colleagues.  They will be scanning the list, looking to see where their cohort mates are being placed.  They may not realize it yet, but the names on this list will undoubtedly become some of their most trusted friends as over the years they call each other for advice, for someone to listen to their woes and for someone to celebrate their successes.

For classroom teachers, custodians, secretaries, EAs and ECEs, they will all be scanning the chart and looking to see if their school is listed as one that is receiving a new leader (either principal or vice principal).  School based staff are interested in knowing who this new person is, how much experience does he/she have, what type of reputation does he/she have and then undoubtedly emails will begin to fly back and forth between current and new staff members seeking answers to the above questions.  Decisions to stay or go may be based on the names on that chart.

From a system level, we are generating our own list of questions, based on this new information,  as we know all too well that the success of school embedded professional learning and school improvement are both directly tied to school leadership.

Such curiosity based on a single chart filled with names!

For those of you who are seeing your name for the first time, how does that feel?

Congratulations!!

giphy

 

 

 

 

For experienced administrators ~ do you recall the first chart with your name?  Reflections?

Come write with me…

One thought on “Leadership…..What’s in a Name?

  1. Great to see the chart today – so excited for many colleagues who are joining the admin teams. New beginnings for many!

    Sarah

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *