EPISODE 14


How to Write Your Strategic Plan
Like a Builder

Biggest Takeaways You Don't Want to Miss:
  • ​​Your SIP plan is a promise that you are making to your students and their families. It’s almost like a guarantee you’re offering that says, if you come into this school, here’s what we can promise you’ll gain from the experience.
  • If your SIP plan is a promise, then you cannot be content to focus on tiny incremental gains. Instead, you need to set goals that encompass every student in your school.
  • The reason that so many of us settle for insipid, meaningless SIP plan goals is that we are afraid to set big goals. This fear is called an “Upper Limit Problem.”
  • Until we face down our Upper Limit Problem, we will never write a meaningful SIP plan that makes a real difference in the lives of all of our students.

When was the last time you were truly inspired by you school improvement planning process? If you’re like most leaders, the answer is probably “NEVER!” That’s because the way that we typically set goals and plan school improvement is dead wrong. We settle for tiny goals when deep down inside we long to make a bigger difference for our students.

What’s keeping us from dreaming and reaching bigger? The truth is, we’re afraid to set bigger goals for fear that we won’t meet them -- or worse, get punished by our districts for not meeting them. So, we settle for puny goals when we know that we were called to do so much more.

If you’re tired of setting small, uninspiring goals and barely meeting them. Or, if you’re sick of writing SMART goals to satisfy your district when you know that your students are more than test scores and you’re ready to set more meaningful goals there is a solution. You CAN set and meet big goals for your students and make the difference you were meant to make, but first you’re going to have to conquer your “upper limit problems.”

Find out what “upper limit problems” are and how you can conquer them once and for all.

Check out these highlights:
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    The reason your current Strategic Plan is so uninspiring.
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    What is an “Upper Limit Problem” and why is it so dangerous?
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    Why our school goals are usually too small.
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    What a good school goal looks like and why it’s so important to have one. 
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    Why incremental improvement is a trap that keeps us from ever reaching our goals.
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    How I struggled and ultimately dealt with my own upper limit problem.
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    How the upper limit problem is like a bully.
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    How we unintentionally self-sabotage our goals.
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    A challenge to move beyond your upper limit problem and what happens when you do.
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