Leading with Zeal through Personnel Season

“Zeal is the great desire to make God known, loved, and served, and thus to bring knowledge and salvation to others…[Leaders] who possess it fulfill the duties of their profession with enthusiasm, love, courage, and perseverance…To reach it, [leaders] must neglect nothing. Without it, everything falls apart.”

- Blessed Basil Moreau

“We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.” - Blessed Archbishop Oscar Romero

School leaders function within dynamic and complex systems. No one day is the same as the next and there are always a number of plates spinning. To some this work may seem complicated and messy, but for those of us drawn to the vocation, we relish knowing that each day brings something new. How we manage the multiple and often competing demands of our work is one determinant of how successful our school will be. Principals of high-performing schools focus their attention on key areas when managing complexity. According to Chenoweth & Theokas, authors of Getting it Done: Leading Academic Success, there are three key leverage points to focus on: