Page 8 - 和富慈善基金李宗德小學 知德集

Principal's Writing Corner

Do Less but be Focused

“Priority is itself a function of simplicity. It dictates that we
select, clarify, and then focus on only a few things at a time:what
is most likely to help us achieve our goals. Education has never
been so beholden to complexity, the enemy of clarity and priority.”
(Schmoker, 2018)

When I first saw the message from The Wall Street Journal (2018),
“The Key to Success? Doing Less”, I was wondering about why the journal
challenged us with this statement. Does this mean that we should stop doing
things or make necessary selection before action because doing more doesn’t
mean that we can guarantee an outcome success?

However, after reading the book, titled, “Focus: Elevating the Essentials to
nd
Radically Improve Student Learning” (2 Edition), written by Mike Schmoker in
2018, I immediately understood what the key message it wanted to inform the
readers. It is about ‘Being Focused’, not simply ‘Doing Less’ only! Especially in
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Chapter 2 of the book , I was much attracted by the three words of ‘Simplicity,
Clarity and Priority’, which sudden reminded me to reflect on what we have
done in the past years and why, what and how we should move forward in the
coming years!

As a school leader and a change agent, we cannot do everything at one
shot because, as Fullan (2001) comments, we cannot adopt all kinds of school
changes at the same time, just like hanging a lot of decoration items on a
Christmas tree! The lesson is: if we want improvement changes to take place,
we should be focused, and then simplify and clarify what we should and what
we should not do, and then prioritise them in the right orders, making reference
to the rules of “First things first” and “Sharpen the Saw” (Covey, 1994). Also
refer to Jim Collins, author of, “Good to Great”, who also said: “The real path
to greatness, it turns out, requires simplicity and diligence. It requires clarity,
not instant illumination. It demands each of us to focus on what is vital and to
eliminate all of the extraneous distractions…”

Therefore, as a leadership practice, we should take the principles of
“Simplicity, clarity, and priority” because they are intimately linked. If we want
to continuously improve and move forward, we have to maintain a clear focus
on its highest priorities. We must routinely clarify them so that everyone in the
organization can share the meaning of what to do and what not to do and its
priority! Then, sharpen our saw and get the task done!

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