Before the Year Begins

Crystallizing Your Focus Before the School Year Starts

July is an interesting time for leaders in education.

There may have been a few days of vacation. There may be a few quiet moments on campus. But before long, many leaders find themselves standing in front of a fire hose of competing priorities: staffing changes, master schedules, professional learning, student data, parent communication, new initiatives, and countless decisions that need attention before the first day of school.

As I reflected on this year's Learning Forward Texas conference, I found myself continuing to think about Dr. Jill Siler's messages in Thrive Through the Five. While the specifics of our leadership challenges vary, one reality remains constant: there are times when our work is very difficult. The beginning of a new school year is often one of those seasons.

One strategy Siler offers when the pressure is high and when expectations rise is to "speak the vision." When leaders find themselves feeling underwater, she encourages them to "come up for air, think about what is most important at that juncture, and crystallize your focus around how you need to be leading and then share that vision with others."

That idea has stayed with me because, before the school year begins, many of us carry multiple visions at once. There is a district vision. A campus improvement plan. Strategic priorities. Professional learning goals. Department initiatives. Personal hopes for the year ahead.

None of those are unimportant. But when everything seems to deserve our attention, it can be difficult to know what to attend to first.

Crystallizing our focus doesn't eliminate competing priorities. It gives us a lens for navigating them.

Carrying the Vision into Everyday Leadership

Many of us have been influenced by leadership frameworks that encourage us to start with why, identify a north star, or begin with the end in mind. Those ideas remain powerful because they help us establish direction.

The challenge isn't usually creating a vision. The challenge is carrying that vision into the ordinary moments of leadership.

By late September, leaders are no longer writing vision statements. They're responding to emails, facilitating PLCs, making staffing decisions, supporting teachers, communicating with families, and adjusting plans when unexpected challenges arise.

Vision is rarely tested during strategic planning; it's tested on ordinary Tuesdays.

That realization made me wonder:

How might we translate a vision into something we can remember on an ordinary Tuesday?

I don't have a definitive answer, but Jill's idea prompted me to think differently about a strategy I've used for years when designing professional learning.

An Unexpected Connection

Several years ago, I began using what I call -ING words to clarify the purpose of professional learning experiences.

As I designed workshops and meetings, I found myself asking a simple question:

What do I want participants to be doing throughout this learning experience?

The answers became words like reflecting, collaborating, exploring, applying, or connecting. And those words helped me make design decisions.

If one of my purposes was connecting, I needed opportunities for participants to connect with one another and with ideas. If one of my purposes was applying, I needed time for participants to work with the concepts instead of simply hearing about them.

Over time, I found myself expanding this same strategy to other contexts. Identifying -ING words helped clarify the purpose of meetings, newsletters, conferences, and community experiences.

As I reflected on Dr. Siler's advice, I began wondering whether the strategy might have another application. Could the same process that helps clarify the purpose of a learning experience also help leaders crystallize their focus?

Not by replacing a vision statement, but by giving leaders a practical way to carry that vision into everyday decisions.

What Might This Look Like?

Imagine a first-year principal whose focus for the year is building trust.

Rather than trying to remember every goal on a strategic plan, she might ask herself, How do I want to lead during this season?

Perhaps the -ING words that emerge are listening, learning, and connecting.

Those words begin to shape decisions.

• How does she facilitate faculty meetings?

• How does she communicate with families?

• How does she respond when concerns arise?

• How does she show up in hallways, in classrooms, and during campus events?

Or consider a department chair bringing together two newly combined teams. The vision may involve creating a shared culture, but the focus word might become bridging.

That single word becomes a reminder to honor existing strengths, invite multiple perspectives, and intentionally build relationships before making assumptions.

A district leader responsible for implementing a new strategic initiative might choose aligning, continually asking whether presentations, professional learning, and communication reinforce the district's larger vision.

A professional learning designer under pressure to cover more content might choose protecting, intentionally safeguarding opportunities for discussion and collaboration because relationships are not separate from learning—they help make learning possible.

In each case, the words don't replace the vision. They simply help translate it into something leaders can carry with them.

Speaking the Vision

Of course, crystallizing our own focus is only part of the work. Dr. Siler reminds us to share that vision with others. 

That communication happens in more places than the opening convocation. It happens in faculty meetings, coaching conversations, during professional learning, in newsletters, and within the questions we ask.

Jill writes about the importance of communicating “what it is you are trying to do; why you are doing it; how you will do it; and how you want to be throughout it.”

When your vision becomes your way of being, it becomes something people experience, not simply something they read.

Crystallize Your Focus

Before the calendar fills and the urgency increases, consider taking a few minutes to come up for air. Spend time reflecting on these questions.

• What expectations or pressures are rising for you this year?

• What matters most during this particular season?

• What do the people you lead most need to experience?

• If you had to describe how you hope to lead through this season, what (-ING) words come to mind?

• How will that focus show up in your communication, your professional learning, and your everyday decisions?

The beginning of the school year will always bring pressure. It will always bring unexpected challenges and competing priorities.

But before the pace accelerates, leaders have an opportunity to pause, crystallize their focus, and communicate a vision that others can understand and move toward together.

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Kathryn Laster brings over 30 years of education expertise as a math teacher, instructional coach, and digital learning consultant. As an independent consultant, she creates and facilitates transformative learning experiences through intentional, human-centered, tech-infused design, with a goal of normalizing excellence in adult learning design.

Connect with Kathryn at kathrynlaster.info and at Refined Learning Design.