Dreamer to Finisher

Any clown can read a book and regurgitate summarized thoughts from the text and create campus improvement initiatives.  A great public speaker can present this clown created campus improvement initiative and rally the troops around this idea.  He or she can invoke staff to understand the need for improvement, can clearly communicate the vision for the initiative, and will inspire others to join in this mission.  However, I have found through my experiences with improvement initiatives that it takes a true leader to see an idea through, from the formative stages to its successful completion.

I am an idea guy, I always have been.  I romanticize journeys to success.  I am an eternal optimist.  I will read a book, watch a documentary, or hear someone’s story, and immediately begin to plan to make a change in my personal life and/or my professional life.  The ability to visualize change is a gift.  Additionally, the God given creativity to formulate out-of-the box ideas is an equal blessing. What I am currently developing, and continue to develop, however, is my ability to see an idea to completion.  The true gifted, in my opinion, are the finishers.  How many of us have already broken our New Year’s resolution?  How many of us have set out to eat better, pray more, and be more, and have failed miserably?  I see you raising your hand, me too.  So now dreamers, here we are, let’s take a look at the lessons I’ve learned through my experiences in public schools with campus improvement initiatives.

I will begin assuming the following:

• You have collaborated with others in establishing the vision, mission, and goals (short term and long term) for your idea.
• You have presented your idea in such a way that you have inspired your staff to join you in your initiative (or at least have someone that can do it for you).
• Your idea aligns with your passion.  It’s easy to spot the leaders that are faking it.

Now that you have successfully rolled out your plan, now it is time to see this idea to completion.

1. You must formulate some sort of evaluation tool for your plan.  You must be able to formally and/or informally assess the progress of the success/completion of your plan.  The plan has to be monitored continuously to make sure short term goals are being met.  Remember the success of meeting short term goals fuels long term perseverance.  This generates a culture of achievement and continues to motivate staff that are “on board” with the mission.
2. Don’t be a prisoner to your short term goals/long term goals.  Many of your goals will be fluidly changing throughout the process of seeing your plan to fruition.  One warning though:  don’t make excuses and modify your goals if they sacrifice the integrity of the success/completion of your mission.
3. How will you support the individual efforst that are not meeting expectations?  How do you plan to make adjustments if there is failure?  There must be a safety net in place to keep your eyes on the prize, as it has been said, "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst."

Take a minute to reflect on a dream, idea, or goal in which you have failed to see through to completion.  Think about how you plan on making sure the dreamer in you becomes a finisher.