Do Your Job
DO YOUR JOB. Maybe the one word that isn't in that's implied is 'Do your job... WELL." It could be enough to make the difference." - Bill Belichick
This sounds like the simplest advice for everyone in a school or any organization. To some teachers and/or staff this sounds offensive. We sometimes get too complex and education is no different with all of our educational jargon and sophisticated lingo. But the process of winning, as an organization, is so simple if everyone will just do their job. When someone doesn't do their job, what they are really doing is making it harder on their co-worker or colleague. A teacher that wants to be "cool" by letting kids come in class late, or leave early, or not work from bell to bell, or not have high expectations consistently and constantly......is simply making it tougher for the teacher next to them and the teacher down the hall to do their job in upholding expectations. We have simple "Non-Negotiable" expectations like teaching from bell to bell, the 10-min rule, have a lesson plan everyday for instruction, etc. that are actually designed to prioritize instructional time and make life better for everyone. What most people fail to realize are that these expectations are the minimum requirements for everyone and designed to make it more effective for everyone by providing continuity and consistency.
One of the things you learn in educational leadership is to treat every teacher like they're your best teacher and to make decisions around your best teachers. The one thing that frustrates your best teachers is someone next to them not doing their job or not pulling their weight, and being allowed to do that by administration or peers. This is part of the culture of a successful school in high expectations from and for all in the building so that everyone in the school is actually working on the school's goals. High achievers don't like mediocre people and mediocre people can't stand high achievers. Do your expectations promote high achievers or allow mediocrity? Does the culture of the school have high expectations or is being "okay" acceptable?
Good has always been the enemy of great. An example for a principal is when a teacher comes to complain about a student and your response shows if you really treat ALL teachers like your best. When the teacher talks about a student not turning something in or not working in class, do you allow them to shift the monkey by handling it for them or do you say "you ought to call a parent"? Or do you treat them like your best teachers in asking "what did the parent say when you called them" because we all know the best teachers would've always called parents first and taken every step possible before a referral to administration?
When a student is out of class during an unauthorized time, do you take them back to the class and ask the teacher for a discipline referral for skipping because the best teachers wouldn't allow students to leave their class during unauthorized time, especially without a note? Have you ever noticed, as an administrator, that the teachers in a staff meeting that are the most vocal and complain the most are usually the ones doing the least to reach the school's goals or the most ineffective? This is because the best teachers have all of these things under control and they wouldn't complain anyway because their goal isn't to try to make it easy for them but always doing what is best for kids. Why should administrators always get input from their best teachers prior to decisions, or at least as much as possible? Because your best teachers always make their decisions around what's best for kids, kids are always the top priority to them.
It's amazing what schools and organizations can achieve if everyone simply does their job! It's really not rocket science, an organization can be great if everyone will "just do your job"!