Direction, Alignment, and Commitment

From February 2017 through October 2017, I was a member of Cohort 1, of the Margaret Waddington Leadership Initiative (MWLI), a collaborative effort of the Center for Creative Leadership and the Vermont Principal's Association. This piece is adapted from the reflective writing I produced about the MWLI.

A couple of years ago, I finally heard the feedback that I needed to set a vision, or Direction, for my old school. It was time; I was finally able to feel confident setting a vision. My last year at that school was filled with my struggles to Align the staff and the programs to the vision. I knew then, and now have the words for the idea, that I did not have the Commitment of others to make this vision a reality. 

Fast forward a couple of years and things are different. At my current position, I’d planned to set a vision for the school after my first full year (and a process of much listening and observing). The craziest thing happened – Brownington Central School was totally ready and waiting for a vision to be set before Christmas. I had to double check my assumptions, and the staff confirmed that they were ready. So, I launched the Brownington Bridge to the Future. This Direction is to use Social-Emotional Learning and Student Engagement in Learning to lead all of our efforts. Since it already fit with our mission statement, it was an easy sell. I think that the staff was pretty well Committed to this, so that leaves only Alignment to worry about. That will be my role as supervisor – make sure that we stay aligned to the direction.



A CCL book on DAC can be found here.