No one intends to obfuscate their communication. No one intends to confuse their school. Instead, we intentionally plan events and use tools that give clarity.

We know clarity prevents a toxic school culture.

Sometimes a map gives clarity. Sometimes a message gives clarity. A conversation, a plan, a meeting – these also provide clarity, sometimes.

Rarely do teams have clarity at the outset of a venture. Sometimes they don’t even know the quest has begun.

Teachers are gathered into a room, asked a few questions, and next thing you know, they are on a quest to boost some apparently random metric. Next week, the same team is in a different meeting with a different facilitator, discussing a different topic, and are pointed to a different metric. A month later, the pattern continues.

Meet. New topic. New metric. Each month or so, something new often under the guise of “flexibility” and “adapting to students”.

Questions to consider:

• If the target always changes, can there be clarity of purpose?
• If the topic always changes, does it muddy the message?
• If the leaders are lacking cohesion at the outset, what does this magnify along the way?

Obscurity. Opacity. Generality.

These are the enemies of clarity and are easy to come by if there’s no clarity at the outset.