"By 'why,' I mean: What's your purpose? What's your cause? What's your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?"
- Simon Sinek -
By this point, I’m guessing you’ve heard of Simon Sinek. If you haven’t and you care about being an effective leader, drop everything you’re doing and use the next 20 minutes to watch his TED talk titled, “How great leaders inspire action.”
When I began my career as an urban teacher, I learned the hard way that it is essential to identify and communicate a compelling rationale for everything you do in the classroom. Classroom rules. Curricular objectives. Assessment formats. Knowing why you do what you do is an incredible source of strength, resolve, and clarity. And when your “why” is rooted in what you truly believe is best for students, you have the ability to form deep, powerful relationships with a wide range of young people and educators.
As school leaders, explaining the rationales behind the decisions we make should be our first communication priority. And if we’re unable to explain the “why” clearly and concisely, that should give us pause and force us to reconsider whether to proceed as planned.
How often do you communicate why it is your school or team does what it does? What difference might it make if you communicated that why more frequently or more clearly?