Change. We’re living in a world
that’s changing so rapidly, and
you can’t just change for change
sake. You can’t change every
day and every week and every
month, or people don’t have
clarity, and systems lose their
effectiveness.
When we understand that we
need to make a change, we
bring departments together. We
look at the requested change
and fully analyze it. Is it good for
the children? Is there a return on
that investment? Do you have
the capability on a daily basis to
implement this? Are we going to
have to get new equipment?
Have we got the professional
development tools developed to
be able to launch it? Have we
gotten clarity about why we’re
going to do it and given people
time to embrace it? Have we got
ambassadors out in the marketplace who were engaged in the
idea in terms of piloting and
launching it?
Because we’re in the school
business, and it’s very cyclical,
every spring, we launch changes
at one time for that next school
year. Unless it has to do with the
health, safety and welfare of the
child, it’s done in a systematic
way on an annual basis with a
lot of forethought, research and
communication processes to
make sure everybody understands why we’re doing what
we’re doing and how it will
impact them.
Don’t expect perfection. Most people who are leaders are type A
personalities. They’re driven,
and they’re perfectionists. I am a
reformed perfectionist. From
day one, I’ve wanted to see
excellence.
When you focus on the quest
for excellence, people have a
tendency to believe that you’re
asking for perfection. Then
you’re creating an atmosphere,
since we’re human beings and
not perfect, where people are
disappointing themselves or
others. Then they begin to work
in an atmosphere of fear that
they’re going to let you down.
During the first several years
that I was president, I couldn’t
understand why, with my passion for excellence, people were
reacting negatively. At a conference one year, the light just
came on. I didn’t plan this — I
just got on stage to say, ‘I’m talking a lot about excellence here,
and it’s really important for me
that you understand that it’s not
perfection. We don’t have a
desire to be a perfect company
— we just want to be the best.
Being the best means that mistakes are acceptable, and that
we learn from mistakes, we
respect each other when we
make mistakes, and we admit
that they happen.’
That was one of the greatest
learning curves that I had. It’s a
very simple thing, but most of
the things in leadership that are
effective are simple.
HOW TO REACH: Primrose School Franchising Co., (770) 529-4100 or www.primroseschools.com
