Leftover Spaces
What if...the pandemic were to force new health and safety regulations that result in a reduction of what the maximum capacity of a space is? What if, instead, we considered what it would mean to measure spaces by their 'ideal capacity,' and what would that look like?
On Rules
One wonders whether our 'school rules' (think: practices and processes) might benefit from updating, in order to keep schools fit for purpose. Let us keep in mind that rules (policies, procedures, processes) were put into place with the current, temporal context in mind: that was the backdrop, and the rules corresponded to it. Rules tend to be designed to address specific issues; the intent behind rule-making is that those rules will apply for years to come. Some rules may indeed stand the test of time (for how long, one wonders?), yet others have lingered beyond their usefulness.
What Boards Really Want From the Next Director
Too many boards don't know what they want from the next director, when there is a transition. They aren't short on ideas of what they *think* they want, but one wonders whether what they think they want and what the school needs align in ways that are beneficial to all involved. Let's be honest: 100% success of the new director is never guaranteed. Sometimes things just don't work out the way that the board thought they would. There are also those boards which continue to be shocked and appalled when their director choices fail repeatedly.
Aggregation of Individuals?
Senior leaders looking to effect organisational change can serve as champions of that change, provided that they go system-wide and motivate people to learn and change, create the conditions for them to apply what they’ve studied, foster immediate improvements in individual and organisational effectiveness, and put in place systems that help sustain the learning. To make it work correctly, we need to acknowledge that an organisation is not simply an aggregation of individuals.
A Flawed Question
I encountered a thoughtful comparison in a recent magazine article. A futurist had written about how difficult it had become to explain one’s job to one’s parents. He wrote, “I think you have to treat the world like one of those drone flights. Drones are small and, although quite feisty, can be blown about by the wind. Getting one to where you want to go involves setting a course, yes, but also reacting to the local conditions as you fly. Sometimes you’ll be blown one way, and sometimes you’ll be blown another, and you’ll never really ever be directly on course” (Business Life, June 2017, 26).