The RenewaNation Review 2018 Volume 10 Issue 2 | Page 34

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 Recalculating So how do you recalculate your school’s vision, mission, and culture to either revamp or overhaul an outdated statement?  1.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