Your School Has Too Many Priorities. Which Two or Three Will You Commit To?

“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do." - Michael E. Porter, What Is Strategy? (1996)

At the beginning of a school year, most principals can name a long list of things their campus needs to improve: reading, math, attendance, behavior, PLCs, interventions, school culture, and more. All of them matter. The question is whether a principal and staff can give each one enough attention to make meaningful change.

In our coaching work, we often see schools begin with two or three clear goals. Then the year gets busy. A new set of data comes in. An urgent problem takes over the calendar. The goals are still on the improvement plan, but they are harder to find in the school’s weekly work.

A school might have many responsibilities, but its principal and staff usually have the bandwidth to commit deeply to only two or three areas of change at a time.

Get aligned on what the goals mean

Before the work gets underway, the principal, central administration, and anyone coaching or supporting the principal need to understand the goals in the same way. What should look different as the year progresses? What are the specific targets? What evidence will tell us whether we are making progress? What will we hear from teachers, students, and other stakeholders?

The answers should guide coaching conversations, campus meetings, and the principal’s calendar. They should also be communicated throughout the year. If staff hear about a goal in August and never see it again, it is difficult to expect a change in practice by spring.

Make room for the urgent without losing the important

Coaching conversations do not always stay on the original plan, and that is okay. A principal may arrive with a problem that needs attention today. Processing that problem can be the most useful work we do in the session.

One question I often ask is: What is the highest leverage thing you would like to focus on in today’s conversation? In other words, what is one thing that, if we could solve it or give you some direction, would make your work as a principal better or help students grow?

At the end of the conversation, we come back to action. What is one doable next step? What would progress look like? What might get in the way? What support is needed, and when will we follow up? Sometimes that step directly advances a campus goal. Other times it clears an obstacle so the principal can return to the goal.

If the same step does not happen, that is worth a conversation too. We can explore why, adjust the support, and decide what happens next. Coaching gives leaders room to think while helping them follow through on what they said matters.

Know when to hold the line and when to adjust

Goals should not be static. As the year unfolds, new data and feedback may show that a strategy needs more support or that a goal itself needs to change. But changing direction every time new data arrives can leave staff wondering what they are supposed to commit to.

This is a question for principals, their supervisors, and coaches to revisit together: Are we seeing a reason to change the goal, or do we need to improve how we are working toward it? Look at the evidence, the actions taken so far, and the context of the school. If the focus changes, explain why and make the new expectation clear to the people doing the work.

An October check-in

October is a good time to pull out the two or three goals you set at the start of the year and look at your calendar from the past few weeks.

• Where did your time actually go?

• Which meetings and actions moved those goals forward?

• What did you say you would follow through on, and did it happen?

• If you asked your staff to name the campus’s main focus, what would they say?

Choose one doable change to your calendar or your follow-through this week. Start small, monitor what happens, and build on it. When people see positive results from a change in behavior, they are more likely to keep going.

There will always be more important work than a school can take on at once. The discipline is choosing what matters most right now, making that work visible, and checking whether your actions match your goals.

Two or three goals can build commitment. When the list keeps growing, it can become compliance.