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10 THINGS FOR NEW PRINCIPALS TO THINK ABOUT

Jul 11th, 2007 by vivek

In India there is a saying “Naya Maulvi zyada Allah, Allah karta hai;” the new priest invokes and proclaims God’s name much more than do the older ones.

First-Time Principals, especially if they have been appointed at a youngish age and/or have come from another school, could fit this description. I talk from experience, I was asked to head a school at 25. Some observations and advice:


Top Ten Things I would Do (when you reach the end don’t forget to download the inspirational story by Chinua Achebe)

1) Start by meeting every member of staff: Yes, every member. Teacher to Administrator to Janitor. Ask them what they like about school and what they didn’t. What could improve? What made them come to work here every morning. Make it personal- if you strike a rapport ask after their families. Its nice to be cared for.

2) Talk to at least 10% of the kids: Make sure you cover every age-group, have an good mix of boys and girls, of the studious ones and of the jocks.

Doing A & B above may take you 3 months or more. The information you gain from these conversations will give you years of vicarious learning.

3) If you haven’t done already, find out what your school board expects from you and the school. if you disagree on something, NOW is the time to tell them. Meet the parents council. Write to the rest of the parents. Tell them about yourself. Tell them you want to listen. Ask them to write. When they do, respond politely, but don’t rush action.

4) Reflect. If you’ve been keeping a journal as a teacher, read it. Find out what bugged you about Principals and administrators and resolve not to do any of those things.

5) Dream. Make a plan for what the school will look like 6 months from now. 12 months from now. 5 years from now.

6) Dream. Make a plan for what the school will feel like 6 months from now. 12 months from now. 5 years from now. Is it a place radiating with happiness? Smiling faces? Interested parents? Committed teachers?

7) Sweat the small stuff. Get into the details. Make a note of every little thing you want to see at the school. Every change you want to make, every practice you want followed, every value you would like cherish, every attitude you’d like honoured. Write it. Flesh it out. If it takes 50 pages or even a 100 to express- Do it.

8 ) Communicate your 10, 20, 50 page vision in One Page. Yes 1 Page. Then Distribute it to every member of your school.

9) Track your vision document. See how you are doing. If you don’t track it, you won’t achieve it.

10) Smile! You can enjoy anything you aren’t having fun doing!

Some other things to keep in mind

a) Don’t re-invent the wheel: You aren’t the first ones facing the challenges you are facing. Find support- ask other Principals. Read. Research. The answers are out there.

b) Don’t be in a hurry to Change: We may find things that are not working as we think they should. We believe there is a better way. But don’t brandish your diktat on the school in your early days. Schools are delicate ecosystems. Understand them before you begin tweaking.

c) Make every interaction and opportunity to convey your vision, your plan. Use every interaction to make sure you leave people better than you found them.

d) Don’t always take their word for it. Apply judgement. New Principals are often told they don’t know ‘how it works around here’ or worse ‘how it always has worked around here.’ Before you create negative perceptions about anything on anyone based on this information try and find out more.

e) Its OK not to know everything. Nobody does. I didn’t, but in the initial days I pretended to. Then I realised it was better to accept, learn from others and in sum, come up with a better idea.

If you have made it thus far, congratulations. As a young Principal, I could never have listened to someone else so patiently. After all, I did think I knew everything and was going to change the world!

However, if there is one thing you must take away from this post, it should be the story “Dead Man’s Path” by Chinua Achebe. You can download that story here. It is the story of a Young Principal, his over-inflated sense of self, his disenchantment with the ‘old ways of teaching’ and a disregard for tradition that leads to a sad end. The best work of fiction on school administration I have ever read.
Love for all of you to add to this post with comments and tips!

Posted in Teaching, Tips, Principals, Education, Literature, Work, Learning, Administration, School | 12 Comments
12 Responses to “10 THINGS FOR NEW PRINCIPALS TO THINK ABOUT”
on 12 Jul 2007 at 10:28 am
1 Indiamusing

Great post Vivek. Love the energy and passion that comes across in your thinking, your work..

on 12 Jul 2007 at 12:03 pm
2 Madhav

Dear Vivek,
The message I have found in your views is that don’t rush at all, be patient, and strike a relationship between school and yourself. To start with, the principal is an outsider and the onus is on him for acceptance in the community. All the steps, you have mentioned will help him to in his efforts, provided he is receptive and humble in his approach.
This post should not be taken as passport to authority, instead an opportunity to grow further in the filed of learning through collective wisdom of the school. I really appreciate your view on individual limits of not knowing everything. It may sound simple but is takes lot courage to accept your own limitations. This expression shows your maturity.
Congratulations on approaching the importance of ‘preparation’ before one embarks upon the desired course of action (I am hesitating to use the word ‘change’) in such a simple manner. After reading this, I really wonder why we make things complicated for ourselves and wearisome for others.
Keep it up.

on 12 Jul 2007 at 1:06 pm
3 Krishnan

Couldnt help but noticing that Point No. 5 is a complete subset of Point No. 6

Its really very interesting of the things we thought the Principal could do - smile for once, I cant recollect one Principal in my school who never instilled fear - he used to be like the master of punishments… Going to the Principal’s room was like - you have done “The Crime”

Commanding respect by fear is actually easier - I guess people choose the easier route out for shorter term gains.

One thing my friend Sidharth told me is that even though many of my classmates who had done average or below average in school, were doing decently in life. He said that these were the very guys who were taunted like crazy for not being able to grasp Physics or score marks and labelled as “gone cases”.

He said that there needs to be a revamp of the system to build personalities and not mark-scoring machines… Our schools are too academic oriented - the mindset change is slowly coming in but ous system still ails with outdated curriculums and mode of teaching!

I guess the Principal in the school should try to change the above mindset by setting examples - however it is a really slow process and cannot happen overnight as you rightly pointed out!

on 12 Jul 2007 at 2:57 pm
4 vivek

Indiamusing: Thank you very much! I look forward to your being here more often

Madhav Sir: Of all the people, you are the one who has no use for this post. I see that, as usual, you have distilled it beautifully and captured its essence. Maybe you could add a few points to it, too?

Krishnan: Thanks for the observation viz points 5 & 6. I was debating on whether I should have both there and then decided I probably Should. Doing 5 is a critical Key- it helps you visualise all the things you’d need to write in 6.

I am not sure one commands respect with fear. Discipline, maybe. Fear, I dont think so. But yes, it sure is easier.

Thinking about your comment on the “gone cases” doing well. Equate your ‘master of punishments’ principal with the closedness of the economy. Who thrived? Those who got around the law. The abiding ones did well, but maybe not as well. Isn’t that what you say you’ve found? Now think of a school where the system was designed to motivate students to perform an an atmosphere that encouraged it. Wouldn’t many many more benefit? It’s a leap in logic, but I hope i’ve expressed my point.

on 12 Jul 2007 at 9:36 pm
5 ebrown

Wow! This is good and very applicable. I am a firm believer in application as a result of information. If we do not apply what we learn, what good is it?

As much as I like 1-10, I REALLY like a-e. I too have written about these very same things on WeirdGuy. The one item that transformed my old staff was “E”. I started asking them what they thought.

Keep blogging,
-ebrown

on 13 Jul 2007 at 8:45 pm
6 Scott Elias

These are awesome, Vivek! Thanks for sharing! I’m adding your blog to my reader immediately!!

on 13 Jul 2007 at 10:44 pm
7 vivek

Scott, thanks for dropping by and thank you for the commendation! I look forward to a sustained conversation.

on 14 Jul 2007 at 7:49 am
8 Mike Waiksnis

These tips are wonderful. Thank you for sharing your insight!

on 14 Jul 2007 at 8:21 am
9 Kari

I had my first principal interview this week and am hopeful for a callback. I wonder about the dissonance between presenting your one page vision manifesto and your admonition not to be in a hurry for change. Your thoughts?

on 14 Jul 2007 at 10:00 am
10 vivek

Kari: Thank you for your comment! Yes, schools are sensitive ecosystems- best to handle them with kid-gloves until one gets an understanding of them. The one-page manifesto I talk about is an outcome of vision, reflection and conversations throughout the ecosystem (refer points 1-4) that should take you 4 months to get through. Only then, I believe, can one think about expressing desire for change.

Also, if one’s vision if significantly different from the status quo and the participants have been working in a particular manner for a while, gain acceptance and then opt to change. It will work better. It may take time, but it will. That’s my point about not hurrying. Thanks for clarifying. Look forward to seeing you around here often.

All the best with the interview. Hope you get called back!

Mike: Thanks for dropping by. I visited Ed LeaderWeb for the first time yesterday, and feel I am going to spending time there more regularly! Do keep dropping by, look forward to a sustained conversation.

on 19 Jul 2007 at 12:42 am
11 Bharati Kapoor

Dear Vivek,
Good thinking and good points. Was pleasantly surprised to see the article on readability statistics in this blog. I only wish that along with the other things you’ve advised the prncipals to do, you’d also talk about the importance of giving a thought to the underachiever. The child with average or above average intelligence, with or without learning disabilities who is not given a thought to inour schools.
The day Principals start doing that is the day education in our schools will be true education.
Regards,
Bharati Kapoor

on 24 Jul 2007 at 7:50 am
12 11th Edition of the Carnival of Leadership Growth « The Organic Leadership Blog

[…] khemka presents 10 THINGS FOR NEW PRINCIPALS TO THINK ABOUT posted at The Red Pencil, saying, “Article on how to manage your first leadership role. […]

http://theredpencil.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/10-things-for-new-principals-to-think-about/

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 7:10 PM