Sustaining Vision
I was recently talking to a Deputy Headteacher, who had been in the same role for nearly 25 years in the same school – they were approaching the moment of a celebration and were reflecting on that time they had invested. During the conversation I asked them whether they’d ever thought to move on to headship, or another school, as they were such a great leader. In reply, they said something really important about vision, and the idea of hope which really stuck with me: “Hope is sticking around”. They went on to explain the importance of consistency for families and communities of constant presence, and even that they were now teaching the children of students they had taught at the very start of their career. Literally thousands of young lives impacted by this incredible teacher and their passion to serve this particular community.
 
Often, in leadership discourse, we can become easily fixated on the ‘new’ – the creation of new vision, the sharing and implementation of new ideas – and in many ways this is crucial, not least in a system which is so constantly changing, and metrics that schools are regularly having to re-adjust their practice to meet. We might consider, for example, how many significant changes of education policy there are likely to be during the usual 7 year journey of a primary or secondary student. In both cases it seems highly unlikely that our new Reception or Year 7 students in September 2019 will be spared that constant change. However, an issue that sells far fewer leadership books is simply ‘sustaining vision’ – not simply going round the track repetitively without thought or evaluation, but the longer term view that will ultimately result in deeper and more sustained impact.
 
Sustaining Vision means understanding that school improvement is rarely a uniformly upwards straight line graph (even though that’s what it’s supposed to be), and that there will be twists and turns, highs and lows. Schools are sometimes forced into much shorter term thinking in one year cycles because of the pressing staffing/budget/performance issues they are facing. However, a vision (defined as ‘do we know where we’re going?’) needs to be sustained long after it’s been announced and painted on the walls. This is a key role for governance in the school, not least in empowering leaders to hold their course in a stormy season.
 
In the Bible there are lots of examples of things changing very quickly, miracles and lives changed in very quick order, and that is of course a wonderful part of our Christian narrative. However, there is also a deeper patience and longer narrative which features strongly, and can be seen in the longer term leadership journey of Moses or Joshua, for example, in the Old Testament. On taking up his new role following the death of Moses, Joshua is told multiple times in the same chapter: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1.9). One could also consider the growth of the early church, which despite its very early energy and dynamism, needed many generations to really establish. 
 
Equally, the new Ofsted framework and its focus on curriculum has unsurprisingly provoked a huge amount of thinking in schools about the curriculum, and this is sometimes unfortunately presented as a brand new concept, as if it is something schools have not thought about before! In the midst of the rushing to articulate the curriculum in a new way, there’s a danger of thinking everything needs to be new, and thought through from scratch. However, part of sustaining vision is being grateful and celebrating that which is already good, and sustaining it. This requires courage and patience in the leader, but is crucial for students, particularly those who crave stability and structure in a chaotic world.
 
So let’s throw ourselves into really evaluating how our vision is translated into practice, and indeed what difference it makes to our day-to-day leadership decisions. Much of this will lead to new things and creation of new vision. However, let us also recognise that sustaining vision is quite different to just implementing new policies, and requires us to take the longer view together, and in the words of my perceptive colleague above – to ‘stick around’.