Value your Mission & Vision

Your mission and vision have been reviewed. You have analyzed your Mission and Vision and reflected on where you currently are on your PLC journey after year 1. You make plans on how you can better align your future actions to the mission and vision and these discussions naturally lead to your values. 

How you behave is based on what you value.  Throughout the year at every campus in America, problems arise that either conflict with the campus values or haven't been addressed in the value statements. As the team digs deeper into the source of the problems, the team will find that sometimes the pressure of the day dictated how they solved the problem rather than pulling back and looking at the MVV (Mission, Vision and Values) for guidance.  When leaders let the pressure of the day guide them to the solution, campuses stand a chance of getting off course in their quest to meet their mission and vision, and sometimes it causes teams to go backwards and never reach their goals.  When personal emotions, rather than commitment to the values, guide teams in resolving problems, the team will develop fractures in its culture that will take much time to heal.  If the problem gets extremely personal, culture can be broken, and once the culture is broken, the campus can no longer focus on kids.

As your team reviews the value statements, I would strongly recommend that leaders guide their team to rate the campus' adherence to the values to see where the campus must improve.  This data must be posted next to the value statement and used as a reference point anytime the team comes to an obstacle in their campus planning.  This data can also be used for teams to fine tune their norms for planning, meeting, and reviewing data. Focusing on this qualitative data will take the "I think" and "I feel" out of problem solving and force teams to plan with laser-like focus on what's best for kids while molding the team's behaviors to reflect this detailed focus. 

Last, make a plan to promote your values next year. It can be in your weekly newsletter.  It can be discussed in teaming meetings or posted throughout the building.  Whatever you decide, schedule it on your calendar, commit to your values and most importantly, regularly assess if  you, your leaders and your campus are staying committed to your values.  After all, our true mission and vision reflects what we value.