Recent events in my personal and professional lives have served to reinforce the wisdom of what I like to call the ‘slow down to go fast principle’. The idea behind this philosophy is that by slowing a process down to make sure we have all the facts, we actually increase the speed at which we can implement a new idea or call to action.
Often times my principals or charter school directors want to get into the job and make a mark quickly. They want their school to be what they believe it can be in the shortest time possible. While this is a good thing as I would much rather have someone I have to reign in rather than someone I have to spur into action, the problem is that sometimes these focused, well-intentioned people simply move to too fast.
As I write this, I can already hear many of you screaming at the computer, “What??!! Move too fast? You can’t move too fast to help a child!” The truth is that you can. In fact, the damage that is done by well-intentioned motives and overly fast implementation cannot only hurt a school in the short-run; it can also damage the organization for years to come. Here’s how.
Say you are a new Superintendent to a district with a history of less that stellar achievement. You come in and propose a reading program that worked in your previous district, but is very expensive. You don’t bother to consult with anyone, you just mandate it to be done and start gearing up to implement. But what have you really done?
For starters, you just told every teacher in the district that they are not the ones who teach kids – programs do. Because you spent millions on bringing it in, you also told them that the program has more value than they do. And, because you didn’t really consult with them, that you don’t respect or value their judgment. And, by the way, you just told the parents and the community the same thing.
Two years later, the budget goes bad. The program is just now being fully implemented because you had to negotiate certain aspects of implementation and the program required a certain level of training and redeployment of resources. You need to make some hard decisions, but you also need some help.
However, because you where in such a hurry to make the change that you forgot to bring everyone on board with what you are doing, you end up having to dump the program, the teachers hang a no confidence vote on you, and the board refuses to renew your contract. Teachers are more focused on how to get rid of you than on teaching kids. The teachers and parents who are tired of all the drama have organized around the idea of your demise and elect board members sympathetic to their cause. This, in turn, creates a situation where no qualified candidate for Superintendent will ever want to go there to get it all straightened out because the teachers are the ones really in control now. Eventually, the cause that united will become the cause that separates and bad feelings about the district will start running through the ranks, in the community and with parents. It will take years to get things all the way back on track. {Note: Any persons or events depicted of this scenario are purely coincidental and meant to illustrate a point. ;)}
Is there a better way? Yes, and I will write about ‘fixing the leaky sink’ next week. However, for this week just know that when someone comes to you with a great idea, slow down and really think about the costs, the benefits and what you are really saying through your actions.
Until then, just remember that procrastination gives you a plan for tomorrow.
