“If you’re persistent you’ll get it but if you’re consistent, you’ll keep it.”

Here’s something I’ve noticed lately. There are a lot of schools in trouble (public and charter) and so they work really hard for one year to raise their test scores or reduce the number of suspensions, or address whatever “problem” that seems most urgent.

It takes a LOT of effort but at the end of the year, many of them actually see big gains.

They celebrate those gains and breath a sigh of relief.

Crisis averted.

Until the following year when they return to business as usual. Before long, they are back at square one.

Persistence will get you there but consistency will keep you there.

So when I work with schools, it’s not about getting the big flashy “win.” It’s about developing systems and organizational habits that will help you achieve win after win after win after win.

Consistency is key if you really want to transform your classroom, department, school, or district and maintain that transformation over time.

That’s why I teach the Four Disciplines of Buildership.

1. Discipline One: Feedback. Are you consistently giving teachers meaningful feedback. Are you consistently collecting feedback from teachers, students, and your data? Are you responding to data proactively (leading not lagging indicators) and making adjustments to stay on course to reach your goals

2. Discipline Two: Support. Do you have a professional development plan that directly supports your vision, mission, and core values? Do you have an instructional vision that keeps teachers focused on the school goals? Do you consistently provide differentiated supports to teachers so that they all are on the pathway to mastery?

3. Discipline Three: Accountability. Do you have a meeting rhythm where you meet daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly to review your SIP plan and make adjustments? Is your SIP plan a living document? Do you have systems in place that create collective efficacy so that everyone owns and is working toward realizing your school vision, mission, and core values?

4. Discipline Four: Culture. Do you have a system in place that helps you check the pulse of your school culture? Do you know what your key organizational habits are and have you mapped out the key systems that make your school run? Can you identify the constraint in each of the key systems and do you have a plan to remove that constraint?

Stop bouncing from one initiative to the next. Faithfully practice these four disciplines and you can consistently make progress toward your goals and sustain your successes over time.

Robyn

P.S. We’re going to show you how to put these four disciplines in place at Builder’s Lab 2019. Here’s the link if you want to take advantage of the Early Bird Special Ticket Price. https://mindstepsinc.com/builders-lab/

This post was last modified on December 6, 2024 4:58 am