the school. 4 A school’s culture is directly shaped by the
climate that exists within it. When considering this,
intentionally fostering a healthy climate, as well as hiring
and retaining mission minded employees, becomes even
more essential.
The Detours
A common misconception is that school leadership
not only creates vision and mission, but it is also their
sole responsibility to fulfill them. While leadership is
certainly the most pivotal piece of successful vision and
mission fulfillment, it takes all the passengers
on the bus to safely journey towards the
destination. A lack of vision and
mission minded leadership, staff,
and faculty will surely lead
to detours that were never
intended to be a part
of the journey. These
detours can negatively
affect the school’s abil-
ity to effectively equip
students academically
and spiritually.
One of the most
common detours is two-
fold: an unhealthy climate
and culture and a lack of
effective leadership. “Cultures
do not lead; leaders lead. If the
culture is leading, the leader is only
managing.” Too often, unhealthy climates
have led to unhealthy cultures that have thrown
schools off the path of their vision. Many times, unbal-
anced approaches to programs, unhealthy governing
bodies, poor leadership, or lack of transparency have
negative and long-lasting consequences. “A muddy
vision or mission can help lead to continuing conflicts
and a school that has difficulty identifying priorities.” 5
This lack of ability to prioritize shows the disconnect to
vision and mission driven decision making, thus creat-
ing a circular pattern of repeated issues. This can lead to
wasted resources and time and cause irreparable damage
that has long lasting and possible permanent conse-
quences. Leading researchers Steve Gruenert and Todd
Whitaker went as far as to say, “If there is ever a conflict
existent between mission and culture, culture will always
win.” In many cases, this can be damaging to a school’s
sustainability when left unaddressed for too long.
Recalculating
So how do you recalculate your school’s vision,
mission, and culture to either revamp or overhaul an
outdated statement?
1. Implement effective leadership. Without effective
leaders to create, cast, and chase the vision and mission,
the culture of a school will follow and become inef-
fective to change. School leadership sets the
tone and expectations for staff, faculty,
and families. Marzano, Waters,
and McNulty encourage what
they refer to as “purpose-
6
ful community.”
With-
in purposeful commu-
nity, leadership involves
other staff and faculty
to create agreed upon
goals and processes in
order to reach those
goals. Within purpose-
ful communities, leaders
know their employees
on not just a professional
level but a personal level as
well. This allows them to see an
individual’s strengths and utilize
them in roles or tasks that highlight
those strengths. With a purposeful commu-
nity, everyone is striving towards vision and mission
fulfillment all while positively impacting and changing
the culture of the school.
“Cultures do not lead;
leaders lead. If the culture
is leading, the leader is
only managing.”
34
2. Assess your school’s climate. Before you can change
a culture, you must assess the climate. Gruenert said,
“If the culture is ineffective, there are probably climate
issues that were missed before they became rooted in the
culture.” Without addressing the attitude of the school,
the personality of the school will remain unchanged.
3. Be intentional. Good leaders are intentional in their
decision making, in conflict resolution, and in the hiring
and rehiring of mission fit and mission minded employ-
ees. Provide the resources your employees need in order