Shift your school culture by trying to miss Mars!

Over the weekend I enjoyed a back-patio chat with a good friend and colleague. As we enjoyed a nip of what my wife describes as "spicy dirty water" we discussed all things school and education and music and, well... Mars.

The culture of a school is critical. If you do some research you quickly understand that there are a lot of people talking about it. Writing about it. Presenting about it. Voices describing how important it is. What it is. How to build it. Where to start. What not to do. The five or seven or nine or three hundred and fifty-seven sure-fire do-this-right-now secret-steps to building school culture. 

Through that research you will find the term “school culture” generally refers to the beliefs, perceptions, relationships, attitudes, and written and unwritten rules that shape and influence every aspect of how a school functions. Two words that encompass everything that happens at a school that you don't plan for or that happens accidentally. Or does it? Or do you let it?

Welcome to the stage... Mars.

During the back-patio chat I was talking about the ongoing Mars rover mission, sharing an anecdote that I remember hearing throughout all the "how did it get there" press surrounding the landing. I remembered one expert explaining the trajectory, and specifically, the significance of being 0.01 degree off. The expert was explaining that if the angle of the trajectory was off by the smallest margin at critical points in the journey from Earth to Mars, the rocket could miss Mars by millions of kilometres.

For the first stages of the journey, the error in trajectory would almost be indistinguishable from what was planned, but as the journey continued, gradually the size and the significance of the error would become obvious. At the expected time of arrival, the probe would be millions of kilometres off course. An ever so, ever so slight misalignment at the start and then a miss of millions of kilometres at the end. As I pondered this astrophysicistical [sic] catastrophe I thought, "that's exactly what we need in a school!"

Changing a school culture is about deliberately choosing elements of that culture and misaligning them by 0.01 degree. Rather than the word misalign, let's use the word "re-align".

Changing a school culture is accomplished by deliberately choosing elements of that culture and realigning them by 0.01 degree.

At the time of realignment, the change is relatively insignificant. One practice shifts or one new process is introduced or one habit is discouraged. That semester there is a small impact. By the end of the year some are starting to notice a change. At the end of year two people talk about how different it is. By the end of the fifth year it is no longer different, it is the way in which things are done.

Shifting a culture requires small realignments, maintained over time until they become embedded and are no longer realignments, but are aligned with all the other realignments. 

The culture of a school is not a thing. It is dynamic, constantly changing, ever pulsing with the energy of the people in the school and the alignments and realignments that are taking place.

So as you begin to consider how to change the culture of your school, aim to miss Mars!