What is Your Why?

Why do you do what you do? What do you miss family dinners and doing homework with your kids? Why do you work on the weekends and wake up in the middle of the night? Why do you come in early and stay late and spend your own money on school supplies or clothes or birthday cupcakes or clothes?

One of my colleagues asked me this earlier this week. "What is your why?" Why do I do what I do to the extent that I do it? The answer is pretty clear cut - I have to.

The passion that I feel for the students in my school is deep. I have two biological children and 800 other children that I feel equally as passionate about as I do my own. I did not know that urban education was my calling, however, once I started on this path I was completely taken.

You have to know your why. If you don't know what drives you, then you cannot have a clear vision and you cannot lead others.

In her book, The Leadership Muse, by Linda Cureton, she talks about determining your why. In this inspirational text, Cureton challenges leaders to consider what drives them and what inspires their leadership. Knowing what drives you and where that drive comes from is critical in inspiring others.

My teachers returned to school this week. We have the benefit of additional professional development before the students return. All of our work this week has focused first on the why. Why are we looking closely at our restorative practices? Why are we shifting our practices in mathematics instruction? Why have we aligned our writing instruction with our content instruction? The why has to be clear before the how or the what is ever discussed.

As a leader, knowing your why is essential. It is your vision. It is your messaging. It is your branding. And it is your drive.

What would you do if you could do anything?

What would you do if you had complete autonomy to structure a school where the only definite was that you had to dramatically improve student achievement? Would the student growth be enough of a motivator for you to change your practice or try something new? What would you need in order to have enough instructional mastery to take risks and fail forward? Daniel Pink, in his book, Drive, presents research that directly contradicts that "reward the top performers" mentality that is central to TIF (Teacher Incentive Fund) grants and other incentive based programs that have surface since the APPR legislation that has changed much about how we look at teacher performance.

 One of the key concepts in Drive, is that productivity is increased, not by monetary incentives, but rather by increased autonomy, higher levels of mastery, and a strong sense of purpose.

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This makes me wonder about the ways that we make decisions in education. If the teachers are actually charged with the task of dramatically improving student achievement, how are we as turnaround leaders increasing their autonomy, purpose, and mastery so that they can truly innovate within classrooms? I know that in my first months as a turnaround leader, I worked with teachers as we mapped out our first months of school, but I did not empower them to really be innovative. What's more, it can be difficult to feel like you have the autonomy to be innovative within curricular structures and with deadlines for assessments.

So, I am trying to reflect on Pink's work and challenge myself to increase the level of mastery in my teachers in order to be able to increase their autonomy. We have a clear purpose - we have to move our students from predominantly below level (2% baseline on state assessments before turnaround) to predominantly proficiency (we are charged with achieving 85% proficiency within three years on state assessments). But even that is more of a goal than a real purpose. My purpose is to provide the same level of education for the children I serve that I would expect for my own children, but Pink reminds me that I have not asked teachers to define their purpose - to articulate what they are working for. We have goals, but Pink challenges us to think about the purpose of goals in changing what we do. Without autonomy, mastery, and purpose, we will see very little impact in our day to day interactions despite clearly articulated goals.

Pink's work has significant implications for education - and particularly for turnaround schools. We lack innovation in education. We try to keep everyone inside the same box. Teachers are scared to try new things for fear of not being "effective" or "highly effective." Leaders are scared to stand alone in an approach for fear that it will not have the desired impact on student achievement. We try approach after approach that promises "significant results" from "research-based strategies." As leaders, we must be strong enough to get off the hamster wheel. Look at our teachers, our students, and our staff and ask them to be part of the solution. Slow down in order to go fast. Let's reach as high as we possibly can - not just settle for good enough.