One of the key leadership practices that forms part of the Instructional Leadership Cycle is the principal summit.   This annual practice encourages principals and department directors alike to capture and share the vision for the school or department, and lays out the strategic objectives that they anticipate will lead to improvement.  While most leaders carry an implicit vision in their minds, the summit is designed to make that vision explicit to the school community.  It represents an opportunity to practice and refine how you talk about your school and your focused efforts to improve.  It provides a general overview – what you are working on, why you are working on it, and what you are planning to do.  

The principal summit is also one of my favorite moments with members of my leadership team.  In the context of the Lincoln School where I currently am the General Director, we gather offsite and run through a protocol that allows each school principal and department director the opportunity to share their vision for the team and department that they lead.  We leave time for questions and feedback.  This process creates a collective sense of purpose and helps us better understand the priorities and improvement strategies of our colleagues.  

The day to day operational demands of a school can be so intense, that having the protected time and space to share such big picture thinking can easily get crowded out of the agenda.  Developing institutional clarity about plans for improvement and growth requires not only good ideas and clear thinking, but written overviews and opportunities to then share plans with stakeholders, get critical feedback, then revise and strengthen plans.  All of those steps require time and space.  

I look forward to the opportunity each year to hear and see the vision each of our directors has developed in collaboration with their teams.  Armed with our strategic plan for the entire organization, we can ensure that our areas of focus align with our strategic anchors, all in an effort to build coherency throughout the organization.