PRINCIPALS AS PROJECT MANAGERS
BY : CATHERINE O ’ FARRELL
1 . Develop learning and teaching 2 . Launch a new intervention 3 . Recruit staff
Let ’ s take these as an example and delve deeper .
Key Objectives
Once our starting point is established and our goals are set , we need to look at what , precisely , are our key objectives and how are we going to measure them ?
This is achieved by clearly laying our project ’ s ’ deliverables . For examplerelating to our 3 sample projects :
It is estimated that on an average day a principal makes 300 impactful decisions . That is 1500 important decisions a week and 54000 in an academic year !
This bears not only huge responsibility , but also huge processing power .
On reflection it seems obvious that every principal is a project manager at heart- how else could we manage students , parents , campus , curriculum , and the myriad other projects that are running simultaneously on any given school day ?
We are like the conductor with a hugely complex orchestra . Guiding dozens of individual sections to perform in synchrony to produce one fluid , melodious harmony ... most of the time anyway !
Though this seems an obvious observation , principals rarely take any kind of training in project management in their Principals ’ courses - are we missing out ?
Recently I completed a Diploma in Project Management with Oxford , and it has completely changed , dare I say improved , how I tackle messy situations and large projects like educational leadership .
Here are some of the top tips I took
from that course that have helped my practice a lot - I hope they will do the same for other school leaders .
Project Initiation
For any project , whether it is joining a new campus , reviewing a curriculum or rolling out staff development , we should start with an accurate appraisal of where the school is now and where we want the school to be in 3 months , 6 months or 1 year .
This can be accomplished in a variety of ways - SWOT , SODA , PESTLE , PERT … all of which are project management tools that are easy to use and can be googled and applied to help give insights into a school ’ s current position relating to ANY project .
Just as you would establish an academic baseline for a cohort of students , this is of utmost importance in beginning your project right .
Trajectory
Once this starting point is established , we can then look to our project trajectory .
What do we hope to achieve with this project ? Some of the more common projects that are taking place in any given school , on any given day , include :
1 . Improve literacy results in G5
2 . Implement and deliver Read Write Ink in Grades 2 to 6
3 . Locate , interview and place 18 elementary homeroom teachers
Deliverables
Deliverables can begin with global overarching ideas which , as the project unfolds , should be iterative , and cascade to more detailed key deliverables . What exactly do we want to see from each of these objectives ?
For example :
1 . Student outcomes will improve by 5 % in literacy from January to June
2 . Read Write Ink will be established and operational , with all students allocated to their groups accordingly , tracked and monitored , 2 months from launch .
3 . 20 teachers will be interviewed and offer letters exchanged by June
Once you have decided on your global overview of key objectives , you can dig deeper and get into the granular processes that can help achieve them .
Quality Plan
With this global overview of deliverables in mind , we should set out a quality plan - analysing certain indicators that can affect success , including ; time , cost , risk , stakeholder buy-in , communication and delivery .
22 Term 3 Apr - Jun 2022
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