A few days ago, I shared a post on SMART goals vs. DUMB and HARD goals. Shortly after that I ran across an excellent post from George Couros where he provides a set of focus areas and questions for superintendents to ask principals, but they could really be used with any educational leader. Check out the post, 5 questions you should ask your principal, for George’s detailed thinking.
- Fostering effective relationships – What are some ways that you connect with your school community?
- Instructional leadership – What are some areas of teaching and learning that you can lead in the school?
- Visionary leadership – What are you hoping teaching and learning looks like in your school and how do you communicate that vision?
- Developing leadership capacity – How do you build leadership in your school?
- Creating sustainable change – What will be your “fingerprints” on this building after you leave?
I really like these questions because I think they lend themselves to the HARD goal framework:
H – heartfelt (You’ve got to have an emotional attachment to your goal, it has to scratch an existential itch.)
A – animated (Goals need to be motivated by a vision, picture or movie that plays over and over in your mind.)
R – required (It needs to feel so urgently necessary that you have no other choice but to start acting on them right here, right now.)
D – difficult (Goals need to drag you out of your comfort zone, activating your senses and attention.)
What will your goals be for 2014-15? What is your plan to grow your school (or district) in these 5 areas?
Working at the edge 