|
I hope you haven’t set any goals yet. In fact, I hope you don’t set any goals.
I have had numerous conversations with Heads and leaders, and they have all asked the same thing, “Is it just us, or are other schools also unusually busy?”.
This has been an incredibly busy start to the school year- or has it? The consensus regarding this feeling of intense business is that staff are taking on more than they normally would. Why? Because they can! They are embracing every opportunity to do more with their students and their colleagues.
Normally, I always advise against setting goals within the first 60 days of a school year. This year, though, it is even more important that staff take time to pause and reflect on everything they have learned since the school year started, and then engage in the goal setting process.
Don’t Blindly Set Goals
Firstly, it is too early in the school year to have already set any goals. Even if you have entered into this school year with a goal set from last year, it is still too early to have committed to it. Why? Because all of the various variables that will influence your goal are still surfacing, from understanding the capacity and capabilities of team members, to trying to balance the expectations from others with your own.
If you have set a goal, then you need to take a step back and reassess the desired result against the reality of your working environment. You should also take into your own, as well as others, personal circumstances, as these might have changed since the goal was set. If your goal requires collaborating with others, do you even know their personal circumstances? Do they have the emotional, social and cognitive bandwidth to begin pursuing this goal? Let alone continued interest in it?
It is too early to assume your goal is set. Setting a goal without properly assessing the systems and people that your goal will be dependent on is a sure fire way to fail. In fact, get used to reassessing your goal every month, as all of these variables (both professional and personal) are constantly changing.
Goals Shouldn’t Mean More Work
Secondly, like so many other words, the word goal means so many things to so many people. At the heart of the definition is to achieve a desired result. But, results can vary from just getting your most important work done to transforming the way you teach or lead, such that the change in practice positively influences learning or collaboration.
In my experience, most teaching and leadership goals are statements of what people should be doing regardless of whether it is called a goal or not. Most goals are really just priorities, the work that is most important and should have the most time and energy spent in pursuit of completing it.
Why am I anti-goals? Well, first, if you are setting goals based on work priorities, it is really just work. That doesn’t seem very inspiring or motivating. Secondly, if the purpose of the goal is to do something transformative, then I can assure you, backed by ample research, that setting a goal won’t result in the best possible outcome.
Click the link below to read the full article:
|
