You're Fired! I Quit! How to Avoid Horror Stories in Board and Administrator Relationships

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherI don’t like horror films.  I find nothing redeeming about them and I don’t like leaving a movie theater feeling worse for the experience. Therefore, I don’t watch horror films.

But there is no escape—the horror stories still manage to find me.  I frequently receive calls and emails from frustrated board members, administrators, and pastors concerning alleged bad governance and inappropriate interference by the school board or the alleged ineptness of the school’s administrator.  I’ve heard some pretty horrible stories and I’ve seen some pretty bloody outcomes.

Of all of the challenges facing Christian schools, tense relationships between the school board and administrators rank in the top five. Why is this the case and more importantly, how do we turn these horror stories into love stories?

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."  (Joh 13:34-35)

There is very little I like about growing older and “more experienced”.  The one redeeming blessing is that, by God’s grace, one gains perspective and at least a modicum of wisdom with age.  With the prayer that the Lord might grant a bit of wisdom in the writing of this short article about fostering effective and positive relationships between the school board and chief administrator, I will share a few insights I have gleaned through God’s word, careful observations, and personal experience.

To Administrators

I am a school administrator so one could naturally assume that I would tend to side with administrators when dealing with poor school board relationships.  Although there is plenty of blame to go around, I begin with administrators because frequently it is the failures of administrators that precipitate problems with school boards.  Not always—sometimes administrators are the victims of boards—but too often administrators create unnecessary problems for themselves, for the board, and for the school.

Rather than writing a lengthy narrative, I will provide a simple, but I trust not simplistic, list of do’s and don’ts that the reader can contextualized for his or her situation.

Do’s

• Nurture your spiritual growth so that you increasingly manifest the Fruit of the Spirit in all of your relationships, including those with your board.

I am not starting with this in an attempt to “be spiritual” or “politically correct” for my Christian readers.  I start with the Fruit of the Spirit because it is foundational to fostering a godly perspective and godly responses.  Carefully study each of the fruit listed: to what extent do you consistently demonstrate this fruit in every interaction with school board members?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Gal 5:22-26)

• Pray for board members who mistreat you--and I do not mean imprecatory prayers either! 

Board members are usually not your enemy but even if they prove to be, pray for them, remembering that the “Lord turns the king’s heart like the rivers of water.”  I did not write pray for your situation or for yourself; I wrote pray for the board member(s) who are treating you like an enemy.  Pray for him or her.  Pray that God will bless them, will grant them wisdom, and that they will manifest the Fruit of the Spirit.  I find it difficult to remain angry or bitter against those for whom I am actively praying. 

"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. (Luk 6:27-29)

• Listen and invite

One of the first things I do each year is take each new board member to lunch.  My purpose is NOT to share with him or her my vision, my concerns, or my agenda.  My purpose is NOT to “sell.”  My purpose is to invite the board member to share with me his or her vision for the school and any concerns that he or she may have.  I am there to listen and to learn.  Inevitably I  have an opportunity to share my perspective but my primary motive is to carefully listen and learn from the new board member for the Scriptures teach that we are to be “Quick to hear and slow to speak” (James 1:19) and that “There is wisdom in many counselors.” (Prov. 24:6) 

To stimulate fruitful discussion I typically ask several questions:

--How long have you been interested in serving on the school board?

--What do you see as the primary strengths of the school?

--What do you see as the primary weaknesses of the school?

--What are one or two things you would most like to see done to enhance the school’s program and ministry over the next three years?

--What can I or my staff do to assist you as a school board member?

--Do you have a particular concern that I can address?

--Is there anything else you would like to share with me?

• Integrate the board’s vision and concerns into your planning

Although it is the administrator’s primary responsibility to chart the long-term course for the school’s development, the planning should always incorporate input from board members.  The perspective of the board as a whole should be enthusiastically integrated into any plans whenever appropriate and feasible.  There should be a bias that says, “We can do that!”  School administrators are never to operate as “lone rangers” with the idea that they are to lead and the board is to follow.  Yes, the administrator has primary responsibility to lead but effective leaders will honor the board by honoring the vision, desires, and concerns expressed by board members whenever possible.

• Under promise, over deliver

Have you ever had the experience of having great expectations for a new restaurant only to be disappointed in the food and/or service?  It is very unlikely that you will frequent that restaurant again.  On the other hand, if you go into a restaurant with no particular expectation and discover that the food is wonderful and service is outstanding you are likely to do two things: 1) tell your friends about this wonderful new restaurant and 2) return for another meal.

The principle is simple: if our modest expectations are exceeded—we are pleased.  If our expectations are not met we are disappointed, frustrated, perhaps even angry.  The same principle applies to the expectations of our parents, employees, and board members.  It is far better to under promise and over-deliver than to disappoint.

In our zeal to placate, to impress, to ‘sell’, or to demonstrate our competence, it is tempting to make promises or commitments to board members, employees or parents that we cannot keep.  If we over promise we will disappoint.  Disappointment leads to lost credibility, diminished trust, and the loss of good will.  It is far better to be conservative in one’s commitments and then to exceed those expectations. 

• Provide energetic, visionary, positive leadership

Be passionate.  I am not referring to personal charisma or coming off like a used car salesman.  Sustainable excitement arises from casting an achievable (remember—under promise/over deliver) vision for the future of the school.  In other words, the administrator should make a priority of articulating exciting new initiatives designed to enhance and expand the school’s programs.  The administrator should be future orientated while simultaneously dealing with real day-to-day issues. 

Providing such a vision requires that the administrator work hard at being creative or to use a worn out cliché, practicing “thinking outside the box.”  Board members want to know that the administrator is actively planning for the future—a future in which the school is stronger, more vibrant, and with an increasing impact on students and the surrounding community.

Board members are not encouraged when the administrator focuses on problems and/or “administrivia”.  Good boards want future oriented administrators who are moving the school forward.

• Do your job

No excuses—the buck stops with you.  Although board members can “step over the line” by attempting to deal with issues that properly fall under the administrator’s purview, most do so out of ignorance and the best of intentions.  More often than not board members begin to micro-manage the affairs of the school when they are losing or have lost confidence in the administrator. This is not always the reason—sometimes board members have inappropriate and self-centered agendas (which I address to board members below), but I believe this is the exception rather than the rule.

Most board members do not want the administrator’s job.  In fact, most board members would give a big sigh of relief if they thought they no longer had to worry about how the school was being led.  It is the administrator’s responsibility to lead so competently that the school board never has to concern itself with managerial matters.  This is only possible when they have learned that their administrator will properly handle any issue that arises and is providing competent, visionary, proactive, and positive leadership.

• Recruit and vet potential board members

Although the school’s bylaws determine how the nomination and election of board members is handled, it is the administrator’s responsibility (along with other board members) to encourage potential board members to prayerfully consider serving.  Potential board members should reflect these qualities:

--Have demonstrated Christian maturity in all of their relationships

--Consistently reflect the Fruit of the Spirit in their lives and relationships

--Have a solid, if not comprehensive, understanding of Christian education

--Currently have (or if their children are older, had) their children enrolled in the school

--Have behaved appropriately in their dealings with teachers, school staff, and other parents, e.g., they have followed Matthew 18

--Do not have personal agendas; they are not interested in serving because they want to “change this or that.”  They are kingdom focused and love the school ministry.

--They are men and women of integrity; they have demonstrated that they do what they say, they do not gossip or backbite. 

--They are not “small minded”, i.e., they are focused on important issues for the school and for Christian education, not on relatively minor matters

--They are trustworthy; they will not share confidential matters with others, including a spouse.

--They have demonstrated Christian service and leadership in other venues, e.g., serving as a deacon, elder, teaching Sunday School, going on a missions trip, serving on a committee, etc.

• Do Unto Board Members as You Would have Them Do Unto You

This is simple and self-explanatory: do not say anything about or do anything to individual board members or the board that you would not want them to say about or do to you.  More positively, be intentional in supporting and encouraging the board and in promoting the reputation of each board member and the board as a whole.

Don’ts

• Do not paint an inaccurate rosy picture

Every leader wants to convey to his or her superiors that everything is going well and that he or she is competent.  We always want to put the best face forward.  Consequently, the natural temptation is to report the good news and ignore or diminish the bad news when reporting to the board.  Although this is a natural and understandable temptation, it is both wrong and unwise. The truth will surface, the bad news will become evident.  You owe it to the board to tell them the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

If enrollments are likely to decline—tell the board sooner rather than later.  If you made a bad hire, admit it, explain how you are going to address the issue, and then fix it.  If you made a mistake regarding how you handled a disciplinary or personnel matter—be the first to tell the board.  The board should never hear bad news from others that they have not first heard from you. 

This does not mean that you share every detail of every issue with the board.  They neither need nor desire to know this much detail.  In fact, your job is to shield them from small matters.  However, if the matter is consequential and if it is likely to be an issue ultimately deserving of the board’s attention, then you owe it to them to inform them up front. 

• Don’t surprise the board

Likewise, if you believe a matter that would normally not go to the board but nevertheless is likely to affect them (or church pastors if your school is a church ministry), then immediately alert the appropriate board members and pastors.  Normally, it is the administrator’s responsibility to discipline students or terminate employees.  These are matters that fall under the jurisdiction of the administrator, not the school board. Nevertheless, if you have a situation that you have reason to believe will come to the attention of board members or pastors and that may cause them concern, or that may put them in an awkward situation—call them immediately.  In other words, do not put board members and pastors in the awkward and  unfair position of being confronted in the parking lot by a disgruntled parent or employee about an issue that they know nothing about. 

You will need to use judgment as to what situations should be brought proactively to the attention of board members and/or pastors.  Here are a couple of real-life examples to illustrate how I tend to address “dicey” situations.

Significant Student Disciplinary Matter

If the disciplinary matter is severe (e.g., multiple-day suspension or expulsion), I will typically call the board chair and inform him or her of my disciplinary decision (or that of a dean or principal)  and the reasons behind it.  I will then ask the chair if he or she has any questions or suggestions on how better to handle the situation.  Typically the board member expresses appreciation for being alerted to the situation and concurs with the decision.  In some instances, the board chair has provided very helpful suggestions.  There are several positive results of taking this approach:

1. The administrator gains wisdom and insight form the board chair

2. Trust is reinforced—the board chair (and the full board) know that I seek to honor them by avoiding unpleasant surprises

3.  Should a parent corner the chairman or other board member, he or she is able to say in effect, “yes, the superintendent consulted me about that…decisions of this nature fall under his jurisdiction…we support his decision….”

Terminating an Employee

The board should not be surprised by the termination of employees.  While it is the administrator’s responsibility to make hiring and firing decisions, the wise administrator will alert the board well in advance of potential dismissals.  My general approach is to highlight any personnel concerns I have in my monthly report to the board, including the reasons for my concerns, the steps I am taking to address them, and the potential of terminating or not renewing the employee(s).  Such forthrightness has the advantage of inviting the wise counsel of the board,  avoiding surprises, and fostering trust and support.

If a situation arises suddenly requiring an immediate response, I call the board chair (and appropriate pastor(s) if the matter may concern the church-e.g., if the employee has deep connections with the church) to alert him or her to the situation.  Depending upon the situation we may decide to convene the Executive Committee of the board to pray about and discuss the matter in more detail. 

Here is a concrete example.  I once had a situation in which the employee’s conduct was such that it justified termination.  The employee had long standing and deep connections with the school and the church.  Rather than handling the matter in isolation, I proactively called a meeting of the Executive Committee of the board and appropriate church pastors.  I reviewed the entire situation with the group—honestly and objectively, outlined my intended course of action, and solicited their prayers and godly advice.  I then proceeded to handle the situation based on the advice I’d received. 

Sure enough, the spouse of the employee setup an appointment with one of the pastors.  The spouse, after explaining what had happened asked, “Did you know about this?”  To the spouse’s surprise, the pastor was able to say, “Yes, I am aware of the situation.  The superintendent met with us to inform us of the situation…..” 

The result?  Trust and confidence were maintained with the board, the positive relationship between the school ministry and the church was reinforced, godly counsel was sought and received, a very hard decision was made, there was minimal fall-out because key leadership was informed, and our students and staff ultimately benefitted from the decision.

Do not mischaracterize or minimize a parent’s concerns

Although board members should never entertain the concerns of individual parents without going through the administrator, it happens.  If asked by a board member about Mrs. Jones’ concern, the temptation is to put the best spin on the situation, usually by downplaying the legitimacy of the concern. Doing so is dishonest and unfair to Mrs. Jones’ and to the school board. 

To avoid the problem, I ask the parent put to put his or her concern in a letter to the board for me to take to the upcoming board meeting.  The parent’s written letter reduces the likelihood that I will misinterpret or misrepresent the parent’s concern.  During the meeting I ask the board to read the letter, I provide my perspective on the matter, answer any questions that they have, and solicit their advice.  A decision is made and I communicate that decision to the parent. 

Obviously, parents will sometimes go directly to a board member with a concern.  Board members should always refer the parent back to the administrator for a response.  I address this matter below.

• Don’t sweat the small stuff

Although attention to detail is important, do not take up the board’s valuable time with relatively minor matters.  Stay focused on the larger picture—school development and growth, long-range planning, major new policies, school finance, curriculum development, staff training, etc.

• Do not die on the wrong hill

There are some matters worth fighting and dying for or being fired over.  Most matters do not rise to this level.  Choose your battles carefully.  Is it really worth creating ill will and conflict with the board over the school calendar, the dress code, the bylaws, or some other relatively minor issue in the grand scheme of things?  Probably not.  I for one, am going to be very careful where I “plant my flag.”  

• Do not be defensive

As a rule, I have found that the more competent, self-assured, and humble (no that is not a contradiction) the administrator, the less defensive he or she is. If confronted by a board member with a concern or even an accusation, listen!  Don’t immediately jump to justifying yourself or the situation.  Ask questions.  Seek to understand.  One of my favorite quotes from Steven Covey is, “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.”  Be honest.  If you screwed up—admit it, fix it, don’t do it again, and move on.  If the board member is mistaken, provide accurate information in a godly, calm, and professional manner.  DO NOT GET EMOTIONAL AND ALWAYS MAINTAIN THE HIGH MORAL GROUND REGARDLESS OF HOW THE BOARD MEMBER (OR BOARD) IS RESPONDING.  Stick to the facts and only the facts.  Do not assign motives to others.  Do not editorialize.  Do not react—instead, respond.

• Do not throw the bylaws in their face

  It is not wise to “throw the bylaws” in the face of the board, even if the board is violating those bylaws.  Bylaws are important and should be followed.  However, I do not believe it is the administrator’s responsibility to enforce the bylaws—it is the Board’s responsibility.  What if they are violating the bylaws?  I recommend setting up a lunch meeting to discuss your concerns with the board chair and leaving it at that.  In most instances the violations are relatively insignificant in the scheme of things.  Ultimately, adherence to the bylaws is not the key to healthy administrative/board relationships nor to the health of the school. 

What if the violations are of such a nature that they materially compromise the integrity of the board or your integrity?  Under such circumstances, if the board chair or board are conducting business in a manner that is illegal, immoral, unethical, and/or in clear violation of the Scriptures and if the behavior is not being addressed by the board chair and/or church leadership, you may have to resign.  I caution, however, that you should consider carefully the nature of the “violations.”  Are they substantive? In the grand scheme of things does it really matter?  If the answer is no, address it with the board chair and then let it go.  If, on the other hand, the violations are important, substantial, and threatened the health of the school, church (if applicable) or  the testimony of the Gospel, and if there is no evidence that the board will correct the problem, you may need to resign.

• Don’t speak negatively about the board or board members

Unless you have reason to be dealing with a Matt. 18 issue with the appropriate individuals, you should never speak negatively about the board, individual members of the board, or board decisions—period.  You should never go home and criticize board members or board decisions to a spouse.  You should never go to school and express disappointment, disagreement, or any other negative sentiment or comment about  a board member, the board, or board decisions to anyone.  When you leave the board meeting, it is your responsibility to support and implement board decisions to the best of your ability.

If you cannot in good conscience publically support the board’s decision, and the matter is of a substantive theological, moral, or legal nature, and you have exhausted appropriate steps to address the matter, you may need to prayerfully consider moving on.

• Don’t say “they”, say "we”

Similarly, unless the matter is a substantive theological, moral, or legal matter that you cannot in good conscience support (in contrast to a personal or professional preference), use the plural “we decided” when communicating board decisions and actions to parents and employees, even if you disagree with the decision.  If you say, “The board decided….”, you imply disagreement (perhaps in an effort to retain the good favor of those with whom you are speaking) thus fostering division. 

You may ask, “isn’t that dishonest?”  No.  You are an ex officio member (or should be) of the board.  This means you “own” the decision, it is “our decision” not “their decision.”  In other words, do not play “good cop, bad cop.”  In a board meeting you should vigorously and respectfully share your perspective and even disagreement.  Once a decision has been made and you leave the board meeting, it is “our decision.”

To Board Members

If you have had several administrators over a relatively short period of time, if the school continues to struggle after several years of operation, if there has been a history of tension or conflict with the heads of school—the problem probably lies with the board.  Take a moment to reflect prayerfully and candidly on the following list of typical mistakes.  Are any of these true of your actions?  Has or is the board making any of these mistakes?  If so, sustained action needs to be taken to correct the problem(s).

Typical mistakes boards make:

--Failing to recruit and retain a competent administrator

--Failing to disclose (being dishonest about) the true status of school operations to a prospective administrator during the interviewing process

--Failure to properly compensate the administrator

--Treating the administrator in an unbiblical manner

--Developing policies that make it difficult for the administrator to keep the school on a financially and academically sustainable course, e.g., setting tuition rates too low to support excellence, not properly capitalizing school operations, etc.

--Failing to consistently follow school policy and the bylaws

--Making decisions based on personal preferences or agendas

--Interfering with administrative affairs, trespassing upon the prerogatives of the administrator

--Attempting to micro-manage the administrator and/or school operations

--Spending too much time on relatively minor matters, e.g., dress-codes, uniforms, the calendar…

--Electing board members because of friendships or to gain allies in promoting a personal agenda or personal preferences rather than making selections based on the spiritual maturity and expertise of the board member and his or her demonstrated support for the school and Christian education

--Permitting board members to have their children enrolled in other schools

--Giving an ear to complaining parents or employees rather than directing them back to the administrator to address

--Surprising the administrator with a difficult matter during a board meeting

--Gossiping about or back stabbing the administrator

--Overturning decisions made by the administrator unless his or her decision was immoral, unbiblical, illegal, unethical, or threatens the stability and sustainability of the school

--Failing to pray for and encourage the administrator

--Failing to cover the administrator’s backside when needed

--Failure to engage in board member training

--Failure to support difficult and sometimes controversial decisions, e.g., the expulsion of a student(s), holding parents accountable to pay their tuition bill, or the termination of an employee regardless of his or her school or church connections

--Failing to hold individual board members accountable for their actions, e.g., not fulfilling his or her responsibilities or fostering division

--Focusing on the short-term rather than long-term plans and programs

As I stated above concerning administrators, the board has a biblical obligation to “Do Unto the Administrator as You Would have Him/Her Do Unto You.”  This is simple and self-explanatory: do not say anything about or do anything to the administrator that you would not want him or her to say about you or do to you if the positions were reversed.  More positively, be intentional in supporting and encouraging the administrator and in promoting his or her leadership, welfare, and reputation.

When Boards Behave Badly is an excellent companion article highlighting problems facing many school boards.

An Invitation to Administrators and Board Members to Respond

What is your reaction to this article?  What advice would you offer to administrators?  What advice would you offer to board members?

You can leave your comments on this blog or on the Facebook discussion board for this topic.

Does Your Waiter Follow These Rules? What Rules Would You Write for Serving Your Parents?

October 2009

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do

NYTimes, Bruce Buschel

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherI found the following list of “rules” fascinating for several reasons: 1) It gives me a glimpse into the restaurant customer service world, 2) I found many (not all) of the rules outlined to be consistent with biblical principles of courtesy, and 3) it got me to thinking, “what would my list look like if I wrote one for Christian  teachers and administrators serving students and parents?” 

Here is an opportunity to share with our readers.  Read through the list below.  Then go to The Christian School Journal blog Facebook page, click “Discussions” and under the topic “100 Things Christian School Employees Should Never Do” post the items that you would include in a list of “100 Things Christian School Employees Should Never Do.”  Alternatively, you can post your list with the comment feature (left menu of this article).

If there are 100 for restaurant service staff, surely there are 100 for serving our parents.  After all, they are paying customers of the educational services we provide. 

Like the list below, keep each item simple and straight forward, including a touch of humor where appropriate. 

I will compile the suggestions and post them in a subsequent article.  Perhaps we can compile a list that will be of help to Christian schools and the parents they serve. 

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do

1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting.
2. Do not make a singleton feel bad. Do not say, “Are you waiting for someone?” Ask for a reservation. Ask if he or she would like to sit at the bar.
3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived.
4. If a table is not ready within a reasonable length of time, offer a free drink and/or amuse-bouche. The guests may be tired and hungry and thirsty, and they did everything right.
5. Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated.
6. Do not lead the witness with, “Bottled water or just tap?” Both are fine. Remain neutral.
7. Do not announce your name. No jokes, no flirting, no cuteness.
8. Do not interrupt a conversation. For any reason. Especially not to recite specials. Wait for the right moment.
9. Do not recite the specials too fast or robotically or dramatically. It is not a soliloquy. This is not an audition.
10. Do not inject your personal favorites when explaining the specials.
11. Do not hustle the lobsters. That is, do not say, “We only have two lobsters left.” Even if there are only two lobsters left.
12. Do not touch the rim of a water glass. Or any other glass.
13. Handle wine glasses by their stems and silverware by the handles.
14. When you ask, “How’s everything?” or “How was the meal?” listen to the answer and fix whatever is not right.
15. Never say “I don’t know” to any question without following with, “I’ll find out.”
16. If someone requests more sauce or gravy or cheese, bring a side dish of same. No pouring. Let them help themselves.
17. Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course. Wait, wait, wait.
18. Know before approaching a table who has ordered what. Do not ask, “Who’s having the shrimp?”
19. Offer guests butter and/or olive oil with their bread.
20. Never refuse to substitute one vegetable for another.
21. Never serve anything that looks creepy or runny or wrong.
22. If someone is unsure about a wine choice, help him. That might mean sending someone else to the table or offering a taste or two.
23. If someone likes a wine, steam the label off the bottle and give it to the guest with the bill. It has the year, the vintner, the importer, etc.
24. Never use the same glass for a second drink.
25. Make sure the glasses are clean. Inspect them before placing them on the table.
26. Never assume people want their white wine in an ice bucket. Inquire.
27. For red wine, ask if the guests want to pour their own or prefer the waiter to pour.
28. Do not put your hands all over the spout of a wine bottle while removing the cork.
29. Do not pop a champagne cork. Remove it quietly, gracefully. The less noise the better.
30. Never let the wine bottle touch the glass into which you are pouring. No one wants to drink the dust or dirt from the bottle.
31. Never remove a plate full of food without asking what went wrong. Obviously, something went wrong.
32. Never touch a customer. No excuses. Do not do it. Do not brush them, move them, wipe them or dust them.
33. Do not bang into chairs or tables when passing by.
34. Do not have a personal conversation with another server within earshot of customers.
35. Do not eat or drink in plain view of guests.
36. Never reek from perfume or cigarettes. People want to smell the food and beverage.
37. Do not drink alcohol on the job, even if invited by the guests. “Not when I’m on duty” will suffice.
38.Do not call a guy a “dude.”
39. Do not call a woman “lady.”
40. Never say, “Good choice,” implying that other choices are bad.
41. Saying, “No problem” is a problem. It has a tone of insincerity or sarcasm. “My pleasure” or “You’re welcome” will do.    
42. Do not compliment a guest’s attire or hairdo or makeup. You are insulting someone else.
43. Never mention what your favorite dessert is. It’s irrelevant.
44. Do not discuss your own eating habits, be you vegan or lactose intolerant or diabetic.
45. Do not curse, no matter how young or hip the guests.
46. Never acknowledge any one guest over and above any other. All guests are equal.
47. Do not gossip about co-workers or guests within earshot of guests.
48. Do not ask what someone is eating or drinking when they ask for more; remember or consult the order.
49. Never mention the tip, unless asked.
50. Do not turn on the charm when it’s tip time. Be consistent throughout.

51. If there is a service charge, alert your guests when you present the bill. It’s not a secret or a trick.

52. Know your menu inside and out. If you serve Balsam Farm candy-striped beets, know something about Balsam Farm and candy-striped beets.

53. Do not let guests double-order unintentionally; remind the guest who orders ratatouille that zucchini comes with the entree.

54. If there is a prix fixe, let guests know about it. Do not force anyone to ask for the “special” menu.

55. Do not serve an amuse-bouche without detailing the ingredients. Allergies are a serious matter; peanut oil can kill. (This would also be a good time to ask if anyone has any allergies.)

56. Do not ignore a table because it is not your table. Stop, look, listen, lend a hand. (Whether tips are pooled or not.)

57. Bring the pepper mill with the appetizer. Do not make people wait or beg for a condiment.

58. Do not bring judgment with the ketchup. Or mustard. Or hot sauce. Or whatever condiment is requested.

59. Do not leave place settings that are not being used.

60. Bring all the appetizers at the same time, or do not bring the appetizers. Same with entrees and desserts.

61. Do not stand behind someone who is ordering. Make eye contact. Thank him or her.

62. Do not fill the water glass every two minutes, or after each sip. You’ll make people nervous.

62(a). Do not let a glass sit empty for too long.

63. Never blame the chef or the busboy or the hostess or the weather for anything that goes wrong. Just make it right.

64. Specials, spoken and printed, should always have prices.

65. Always remove used silverware and replace it with new.

66. Do not return to the guest anything that falls on the floor — be it napkin, spoon, menu or soy sauce.

67. Never stack the plates on the table. They make a racket. Shhhhhh.

68. Do not reach across one guest to serve another.

69. If a guest is having trouble making a decision, help out. If someone wants to know your life story, keep it short. If someone wants to meet the chef, make an effort.

70. Never deliver a hot plate without warning the guest. And never ask a guest to pass along that hot plate.

71. Do not race around the dining room as if there is a fire in the kitchen or a medical emergency. (Unless there is a fire in the kitchen or a medical emergency.)

72. Do not serve salad on a freezing cold plate; it usually advertises the fact that it has not been freshly prepared.

73. Do not bring soup without a spoon. Few things are more frustrating than a bowl of hot soup with no spoon.

74. Let the guests know the restaurant is out of something before the guests read the menu and order the missing dish.

75. Do not ask if someone is finished when others are still eating that course.

76. Do not ask if a guest is finished the very second the guest is finished. Let guests digest, savor, reflect.

77. Do not disappear.

78. Do not ask, “Are you still working on that?” Dining is not work — until questions like this are asked.

79. When someone orders a drink “straight up,” determine if he wants it “neat” — right out of the bottle — or chilled. Up is up, but “straight up” is debatable.

80. Never insist that a guest settle up at the bar before sitting down; transfer the tab.

81. Know what the bar has in stock before each meal.

82. If you drip or spill something, clean it up, replace it, offer to pay for whatever damage you may have caused. Refrain from touching the wet spots on the guest.

83. Ask if your guest wants his coffee with dessert or after. Same with an after-dinner drink.

84. Do not refill a coffee cup compulsively. Ask if the guest desires a refill.

84(a). Do not let an empty coffee cup sit too long before asking if a refill is desired.

85. Never bring a check until someone asks for it. Then give it to the person who asked for it.

86. If a few people signal for the check, find a neutral place on the table to leave it.

87. Do not stop your excellent service after the check is presented or paid.

88. Do not ask if a guest needs change. Just bring the change.

89. Never patronize a guest who has a complaint or suggestion; listen, take it seriously, address it.

90. If someone is getting agitated or effusive on a cellphone, politely suggest he keep it down or move away from other guests.

91. If someone complains about the music, do something about it, without upsetting the ambiance. (The music is not for the staff — it’s for the customers.)

92. Never play a radio station with commercials or news or talking of any kind.

93. Do not play brass — no brassy Broadway songs, brass bands, marching bands, or big bands that feature brass, except a muted flugelhorn.

94. Do not play an entire CD of any artist. If someone doesn’t like Frightened Rabbit or Michael Bublé, you have just ruined a meal.

95. Never hover long enough to make people feel they are being watched or hurried, especially when they are figuring out the tip or signing for the check.

96. Do not say anything after a tip — be it good, bad, indifferent — except, “Thank you very much.”

97. If a guest goes gaga over a particular dish, get the recipe for him or her.

98. Do not wear too much makeup or jewelry. You know you have too much jewelry when it jingles and/or draws comments.

99. Do not show frustration. Your only mission is to serve. Be patient. It is not easy.

100. Guests, like servers, come in all packages. Show a “good table” your appreciation with a free glass of port, a plate of biscotti or something else management approves.

Product or Produce?

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherThis article has been reposted by request. 

I love dessert.  One of my favorites is pecan pie.  When I sit down to enjoy a piece of warm pecan pie Ala Mode there are two things that I am careful to do: 1) I eat slowly savoring each mouth watering morsel and 2) I am very careful not to waste a single crumb.  My dog can lick a plate clean but he has nothing over me when it comes to getting every last morsel of taste off of my plate! (yes that is my dog--like father like son!) 

When it comes to my dessert, I do not waste it!

Are We Wasting Our Lives and Ministry?

Dessert is trivial when compared with one's life and ministry.  One of my fears is that my efforts will be wasted.  I sometimes ask myself, "in the end, will all of my hard work and long hours, the stress in dealing with upset parents and the occasional recalcitrant employee, and the energy expended in creating a world-class Christian school prove to  be for naught?  What if the only thing that I have achieved is the creation of a great product--superior students, excellent staff, and an outstanding school--but I have not borne fruit?  What if I am doing many good things but ultimately not the essential thing?  What if I am building and running a very efficient factory rather than planting and cultivating an orchard?"

If I build a great school and produce great students but those students do not grow to love and obey Christ and if they do not learn to love their neighbors--and if the fault lies with me because I failed to do what was necessary to produce spiritual fruit rather than creating a great product--then I will have ultimately failed in my calling.  I will have wasted the ministry entrusted to my stewardship.  That would be tragic.

Distinguishing Produce from Product: What Does Fruit Look Like?

To ensure that we are cultivating produce and not merely producing a product we need to be clear what produce or fruit is.  What does authentic fruit look like in a Christian school?

In answering this question I would like to expand upon the typical definitions, which include producing students who: Love Christ, evangelize, raise godly families, and who are serving in a local church. All of these are essential evidences of spiritual fruit in the lives of our students.  Unless these things are true we clearly have not produced the desired fruit.

Nevertheless, I would like to offer a broader understanding of the fruit we desire to produce -- an understanding that incorporates and expands upon our typical definitions so that the spiritual completely engulfs the secular.

Below, for lack of a more creative title, is what I call the "Educational Pyramid" for Christian schooling.  The limitations of a blog article do not permit a comprehensive treatment of each component of the pyramid so a concise summary will have to suffice.

Each block of the Educational Pyramid builds upon the other. Beginning with the foundational understanding that Christ is the source and object of knowledge, the biblical doctrine of mankind's general call to exercise dominion and stewardship over creation is realized through each individual's vocational calling.  (for more information on this subject and the Creation Covenant, click here and see below.1)

Discovering and preparing for one's calling requires the development of a comprehensive course of instruction and co-curricular and extra-curricular programs.  Fulfilling one's calling for God's glory and in fulfillment of the Creation Covenant requires that one's time, talent, and treasure, realized through and arising from one's calling, be consecrated to God and to loving one's neighbor. 

Consecrating one's time, talent, and treasure through the dedication of one's vocation to God's glory and in loving one's neighbor inevitability leads to cultural transformation as Christians function as salt and light in this world.

More specifically, each block of the Educational Pyramid provides a rich framework for an expansive understanding of Christian education and for defining more comprehensively what we mean when we say we are striving to cultivate fruit, not merely create a product.

Christocentric Foundation

Christ is the ultimate source and object of all knowledge.  There is no knowledge, no truth, no harmony, no beauty, no freedom--nothing apart from Christ.  He is quite literally the Alpha and the Omega of existence and therefore of knowledge. 

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:36, ESV)

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Col 1:13-18, ESV)

Covenantal Mandate—General Call to Dominion and Stewardship (Gen. 1:27-30, 2:15)

Man has been called to the twin duties of exercising dominion and stewardship over creation. This is the raison d'être of his existence—to glorify God by engaging in creative and redemptive acts of dominion and stewardship over creation under the Lordship of Christ. To subdue and rule implies the sovereign exercise of control—the subjugation of creation to man. Cultivation is a stewardship activity—the process of preserving, nurturing, and improving creation for the purpose of increasing its beauty and benefit to man.

To aid him in this task, man invents tools--some simple like a shovel, some complex like a computer.  Some are cognitive like literature or mathematics.  Some are artistic like sculpture, music, or architecture. 

If the exercise of dominion and stewardship over creation for God's glory is the raison d'être for our existence, then preparing students to use the tools required for doing so must be an important component of the Christian school’s curriculum. Students who graduate from a Christian school lacking fundamental skills and understanding in theology, science and technology, in the humanities, or in the arts will be handicapped in their efforts to glorify God through the redemptive exercise of dominion and stewardship.

Calling—Preparing for Vocation (Exod. 28:3, 31:6)

The general call (Creation Covenant) is personalized by God’s calling and gifting of individuals for specific vocations.  Our ultimate goal is not to prepare students to be "successful" as defined by Western culture, it is to assist our students in discovering God's gifting and calling in their lives even if  fulfilling that calling means they will make less money and not climb the ladder of "success". For a summary of the definition of vocation as I am using it, click here or see below1).

Cultivation--Curriculum Content

The doctrine of calling provides the theological and practical basis for providing a rich curriculum that encourages and stimulates the cultivation of the varied interests and aptitudes of our students.  This is typically accomplished by offering standard and advanced courses and electives in the sciences, the arts, and the humanities.  Our curriculum must be deep and broad enough to help students discover their interests and gifts (which are usually indicators of calling) and to prepare them to pursue their callings through higher education and work.

Consecration

Our prayer and hope is that our students will consecrate their gifts, knowledge, and skills in service to God and in loving their neighbor.   Paul reminds us that, “whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, we are to do it to the glory of God.”  For most of our students, this is an abstract concept.

Using Our Gifts for God’s Glory: Making the Abstract Concrete

To make this concept more concrete for 21st century students and to help them grasp what it means to consecrate themselves, their gifts, and their vocations to God, consider the following questions for class research, discussion, and debate: 

• How do we use computers and other technology for the glory of God?
• How does the Christian’s use of such technology differ from the non-Christian’s, or does it?

Similar questions can be asked about most any subject from history to physics.  By answering such questions our students will gain a more concrete and practical understanding of what it means to consecrate one’s work and life to the glory of God.

Using Our Gifts  for Loving our Neighbors

Continuing with the technology illustration, consider that computers are great tools for problem solving, communication, modeling, research, and information storage and retrieval. As such, they can be used to aid man’s efforts to fight disease, speed communication, improve engineering designs and safety, make space exploration feasible, improve efficiency in the generation of power, and a whole host of activities too numerous to list here. All of these activities are redemptive in nature, i.e., they contribute to the alleviation of the consequences of the curse and promote the welfare of our community and world. Used in this way, computers become instruments of love.

Again, this same approach can and should be used for every subject we teach.  For example, how can an understanding of history be used to love our neighbors?  How can becoming proficient with a musical instrument be used to love our neighbors?

A Powerful, Living Example

One of my favorite quotes comes from Dr. Francis Collins, a committed believer and the father of the Humane Genome Project and as such one of the world's leading scientists.  Here is the statement he made standing beside President Bill Clinton when the announcement was made that the Humane Genome had been mapped.

"The human genome consists of all the DNA of our species, the hereditary code of life. This newly revealed text was 3 billion letters long, and written in a strange and cryptographic four-letter code. Such is the amazing complexity of the information carried within each cell of the human body, that a live reading of that code at a rate of one letter per second would take thirty-one years, even if reading continued day and night. Printing these letters out in regular font size on normal bond paper and binding them all together would result in a tower the height of the Washington Monument."

For the first time on a warm summer day six months into the new millennium, this amazing script, carrying within it all of the instructions for  building a human being, was available to the world …

Without a doubt, this is the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind…we are learning the language in which God created life. We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, and the wonder of God’s most divine and sacred gift …

It’s a happy day for the world. It is humbling for me, and awe-inspiring, to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book (Ps. 139:16?), previously known only to God” (Dr. Francis Collins, A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief: The Language of God, (Free Press, New York), 2006, pp. 2-3

Is this not how we want our students to fulfill their callings for God's glory and in loving their neighbors?  Does this not represent produce (fruit) and not merely a product?  Is this not for what we strive so diligently?

Cultural Transformation

Just as Francis Collins is doing, our schools should be designed to prepare our students to make positive contributions to their community and culture through personal witnessing and discipleship, scientific and economic progress, the acquisition, and dissemination of knowledge, and the amelioration of human suffering.  As Christian educators we have the opportunity to teach our students to use their learning for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors, not merely as Francis Schaeffer once put it, "for their personal peace and affluence." 

This is why Christian schools are so important--and why we must  bear fruit and not merely produce a product. 

Education in general and Christian education in particular can exert a powerful influence on our students and in turn, on the quality of our national life. To be sure, there are other powerful forces shaping our students and culture. The media, technology, and politics, to name a few, but it is the quality of the education received by those who will start families, fill pulpits, develop our technology, create our entertainment, and pass our laws that will shape the character and quality of each individual and in turn the quality of our national life.

Consequently, few callings allow one to contribute more directly to the shaping of lives and to the welfare of a nation than Christian education. Like raindrops falling into a pond, Christian educators shape lives and “drop” them into communities. Each life creates ripples—some small, some large—that radiate into the community affecting it for good or bad. Like a constant rain, the drops fall year after year all contributing individually and collectively to the national pool of talent and character that ultimately shapes our nation’s character and determines our national destiny.

So How Do We Ensure That We are Cultivating Produce, Not Making a Product?

So, with that as background, how do we ensure that we are cultivating fruit and not producing a product?  This may sound simplistic but Jesus provides the answer:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (Joh 15:1-5, ESV)

Without attempting to exegete this passage, let me simply suggest that to abide in Christ so that we may bear much fruit means at least the following:

Prayerfulness

I find that I must guard myself against living like a "practical  atheist."  That is, if I am not diligent about prayer I can find myself working harder than I pray.  If I do I may be productive but I will not bear fruit! 

Take a moment to read the following wonderful statement on reliance upon God.  As you read through this substitute preacher/preaching for teacher (administrator)/teaching/administrating. (You can download this in PDF format by clicking here or read it online at Christian Classics Ethereal Library.)

The Letter Killeth

During this affliction I was brought to examine my life in relation to eternity closer than I had done when in the enjoyment of health. In this examination relative to the discharge of my duties toward my fellow creatures as a man, a Christian minister, and an officer of the Church, I stood approved by my own conscience; but in relation to my Redeemer and Saviour the result was different. My returns of gratitude and loving obedience bear no proportion to my obligations for redeeming, preserving, and supporting me through the vicissitudes of life from infancy to old age. The coldness of my love to Him who first loved me and has done so much for me overwhelmed and confused me; and to complete my unworthy character, I had not only neglected to improve the grace given to the extent of my duty and privilege, but for want of improvement had, while abounding in perplexing care and labor, declined from first zeal and love. I was confounded, humbled myself, implored mercy, and renewed my covenant to strive and devote myself unreservedly to the Lord.—Bishop McKendree

THE preaching that kills may be, and often is, orthodox—dogmatically, inviolably orthodox. We love orthodoxy. It is good. It is the best. It is the clean, clear-cut teaching of God’s Word, the trophies won by truth in its conflict with error, the levees which faith has raised against the desolating floods of honest or reckless misbelief or unbelief; but orthodoxy, clear and hard as crystal, suspicious and militant, may be but the letter well-shaped, well-named, and well-learned, the letter which kills. Nothing is so dead as a dead orthodoxy, too dead to speculate, too dead to think, to study, or to pray.

The preaching that kills may have insight and grasp of principles, may be scholarly and critical in taste, may have every minutia of the derivation and grammar of the letter, may be able to trim the letter into its perfect pattern, and illume it as Plato and Cicero may be illumined, may study it as a lawyer studies his text-books to form his brief or to defend his case, and yet be like a frost, a killing frost. Letter-preaching may be eloquent, enameled with poetry and rhetoric, sprinkled with prayer spiced with sensation, illumined by genius and yet these be but the massive or chaste, costly mountings, the rare and beautiful flowers which coffin the corpse. The preaching which kills may be without scholarship, unmarked by any freshness of thought or feeling, clothed in tasteless generalities or vapid specialties, with style irregular, slovenly, savoring neither of closet nor of study, graced neither by thought, expression, or prayer. Under such preaching how wide and utter the desolation! how profound the spiritual death!

This letter-preaching deals with the surface and shadow of things, and not the things themselves. It does not penetrate the inner part. It has no deep insight into, no strong grasp of, the hidden life of God’s Word. It is true to the outside, but the outside is the hull which must be broken and penetrated for the kernel. The letter may be dressed so as to attract and be fashionable, but the attraction is not toward God nor is the fashion for heaven. The failure is in the preacher. God has not made him. He has never been in the hands of God like clay in the hands of the potter. He has been busy about the sermon, its thought and finish, its drawing and impressive forces; but the deep things of God have never been sought, studied, fathomed, experienced by him. He has never stood before “the throne high and lifted up,” never heard the seraphim song, never seen the vision nor felt the rush of that awful holiness, and cried out in utter abandon and despair under the sense of weakness and guilt, and had his life renewed, his heart touched, purged, inflamed by the live coal from God’s altar. His ministry may draw people to him, to the Church, to the form and ceremony; but no true drawings to God, no sweet, holy, divine communion induced. The Church has been frescoed but not edified, pleased but not sanctified. Life is suppressed; a chill is on the summer air; the soil is baked. The city of our God becomes the city of the dead; the Church a graveyard, not an embattled army. Praise and prayer are stifled; worship is dead. The preacher and the preaching have helped sin, not holiness; peopled hell, not heaven.

Preaching which kills is prayerless preaching. Without prayer the preacher creates death, and not life. The preacher who is feeble in prayer is feeble in life-giving forces. The preacher who has retired prayer as a conspicuous and largely prevailing element in his own character has shorn his preaching of its distinctive life-giving power. Professional praying there is and will be, but professional praying helps the preaching to its deadly work. Professional praying chills and kills both preaching and praying. Much of the lax devotion and lazy, irreverent attitudes in congregational praying are attributable to professional praying in the pulpit. Long, discursive, dry, and inane are the prayers in many pulpits. Without unction or heart, they fall like a killing frost on all the graces of worship. Death-dealing prayers they are. Every vestige of devotion has perished under their breath. The deader they are the longer they grow. A plea for short praying, live praying, real heart praying, praying by the Holy Spirit—direct, specific, ardent, simple, unctuous in the pulpit—is in order. A school to teach preachers how to pray, as God counts praying, would be more beneficial to true piety, true worship, and true preaching than all theological schools.

Stop! Pause! Consider! Where are we? What are we doing? Preaching to kill? Praying to kill? Praying to God! the great God, the Maker of all worlds, the Judge of all men! What reverence! what simplicity! what sincerity! what truth in the inward parts is demanded! How real we must be! How hearty! Prayer to God the noblest exercise, the loftiest effort of man, the most real thing! Shall we not discard forever accursed preaching that kills and prayer that kills, and do the real thing, the mightiest thing—prayerful praying, life-creating preaching, bring the mightiest force to bear on heaven and earth and draw on God’s exhaustless and open treasure for the need and beggary of man?

A Few Practical Practices

I have a very long way to go in improving my prayer life but by God's grace I have made a habit, not a perfect one but a consistent one, of doing the following, which I offer to you with the hope that these practical suggestions may encourage you in your prayerfulness so that you and I might bear much fruit.

• Start each day with prayer.  I pray that God will "bless the work of my hands each day."  I take this prayer, believe it or not, from a statement by Satan concerning Job "Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land." (Job 1:10, ESV)  My interest in not possessions but God' blessing on my labor. I do not want to labor in vain.
• Pray at the beginning of each meeting and prior to small and large decisions alike.  By prayer I do NOT mean a formalistic, ritualistic, obligatory prayer said before the start of meetings because this is what is expected.  I do not mean a mere habit.  I mean sincere short prayers that recognize the need for divine wisdom, God's kind providence, and the truth that  "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psa 127:1, ESV)
• I often receive prayer requests by email.  In order to be faithful to pray, as soon as I read the email I stop to pray for the request.  If I do not pray then I am likely to forget.  Likewise, if someone asks me to pray for them at school or in church, I try to immediately say a silent prayer so that I keep my word that "I will pray for him or her."
• By God's grace I try to make a habit of continuous, silent, short prayers throughout the day as issues arise, needs become known, opportunities present themselves and decisions have to be made--even in how best to respond to an email.  I sometimes pray before responding to emails in which I am asked for a decision or when frustration is being expressed, "Lord, help me to respond with grace, truth, and in wisdom."  Paul instructs us that we are to "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit."  (1Th 5:16-19, ESV)

The Study of God's Word

It is disingenuous and self-deluding to expect God to grant wisdom if we are not willing to gain the wisdom and understanding that He has already given to us in His Word.  To neglect God's word is to neglect God's primary instrument for our sanctification and the source of divine wisdom and understanding.  Move beyond the five-minute devotional--read and study God's word so that you nourish your own soul and have something to give to others.

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  (Psa 119:98-105, ESV)

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (Joh 17:16-17, ESV)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom 12:2, ESV)

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ... (Eph 1:16-17, ESV)

The Worship of God and the Fellowship of the Saints

One cannot grow in wisdom, cannot abide in Christ, and cannot bear fruit apart from the Worship of God and the fellowship of His people.  Just as an ember will grow cold when removed from the flame, so too our souls will grow cold if not nourished through worship and fellowship.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (Joh 4:23-24, ESV)

Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb 10:25, ESV)

How Are You Doing?

If you are like me you desire to cultivate fruit in the lives of your students, your staff, and your parents.  We do not want to reach the end of our work and our lives and look back and simply see a "product." 

Anyone can create a product.  Look around you--there are many unbelievers who are doing great things-building great products and companies, establishing great schools, making great scientific breakthroughs, exploring space, and curing disease.

The difference is that you and I are called to bear fruit, which transcends product making.  Products of any sort will end with this present world.  Fruit will abide forever.

• How are you doing in abiding in Christ? 
• How is your prayer life?
• Are you studying God's word and not merely having a five-minute devotional? 
• Are you consistent in worship and when you are in church, are you worshipping your Creator and Redeemer or are you attending church?

Don't waste your life building and running a school or teaching a class.  Cultivate an orchard. 

Without Christ we cannot bear spiritual fruit.  "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me."

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1Co 3:6-15, ESV)

______________________________________________________

1 Vocation Defined, from Wikipedia

Definition

The word "vocation" comes from the Latin vocare, meaning "to call"; however, its usage before the sixteenth century, particularly in the Vulgate, refers to the calling of all humankind to salvation, with its more modern usage of a life-task first employed by Martin Luther.

Concept

The idea of vocation is central to the Christian belief that God has created each person with gifts and talents oriented toward specific purposes and a way of life. Particularly in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, this idea of vocation is especially associated with a divine call to service to the Church and humanity through particular vocational life commitments such as marriage to a particular person, consecration as a religious, ordination to priestly ministry in the Church and even a holy life as a single person. In the broader sense, Christian vocation includes the use of ones gifts in their profession, family life, church and civic commitments for the sake of the greater common good.

In Religious History

The idea of a vocation or "calling" has been pivotal within Protestantism. Martin Luther taught that each individual was expected to fulfill his God-appointed task in everyday life. Although the Lutheran concept of the calling emphasized vocation, there was no particular emphasis on labor beyond what was required for one's daily bread. Calvinism transformed the idea of the calling by emphasizing relentless, disciplined labor. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), Calvin defined the role of "The Christian in his vocation." He noted that God has prescribed appointed duties to men and styled such spheres of life vocations or callings. Calvinists distinguished two callings: a general calling to serve God and a particular calling to engage in some employment by which one's usefulness is determined.

The Puritan minister Cotton Mather, in A Christian at his Calling (1701), described the obligations of the personal calling as, "some special business, and some settled business, wherein a Christian should for the most part spend the most of his time; so he may glorify God by doing good for himself." Mather admonished that it wasn't lawful ordinarily to live without some calling, "for men will fall into "horrible snares and infinite sins." This idea has endured throughout the history of Protestantism. Three centuries after John Calvin's death, Thomas Carlyle (1843) would proclaim, "The latest Gospel in this world is, 'know thy work and do it.'"

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Remarkable Times, Remarkable Blessings

Remarkable Times, Remarkable Blessings

by Zach Clark, Westminster Christian Academy, St. Louis

There is always a non-voodoo explanation.
From the TV series, Monk

In January of 2009, news began to spread that our nation and world truly was suffering the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression”. The first week of January I was on the phone with Barrett Mosbacker, and I said to him, “I believe 2009 is going to be a remarkable year!” Barrett asked, “Remarkable in what way?” And I replied, “That’s what I like about that word…remarkable…I’m going to be right whether things get worse than anyone imagines or better than anyone dares hope for.”

2009 has been truly remarkable, and it’s not over yet. At the Christian school (grades 7-12) where I serve we faced the threats of major shifts in our region and world. From what I hear, it is possible that every Christian school in America faced some unique challenges this year, and many are struggling. At Westminster Christian Academy, we have been greatly encouraged by how God is leading us through these challenges. We are trying to determine what we are doing right (so we can keep doing it) and what we need to change or improve in the future (so we can stay strong).

I’m hopeful that some of my personal thoughts on the threats, strategies, blessings, and challenges that we have faced might be helpful to you.

We began the 2008-09 year having experienced the following in previous years:

1. Ongoing enrollment growth.
2. Ongoing income growth and record levels of giving.
3. Constant programmatic improvements and reputation for increasing quality.
4. The beginning of a capital campaign calling for transformational facility expansion, an entirely new campus.
5. A projection for another year of enrollment growth in 2009-10.

Only six months later, by February, we realized reality had changed:

1. A tuition increase was in place, although lower than in most recent years at 5%, it was still noticeable and felt by parents.
2. Shifts in our inquiries for admissions data suggested that enrollment would most likely hold steady, and more re-enrolling families than ever before would be requesting financial aid for the first time.
3. Unrestricted giving providing important dollars for the budget was the lowest in seven years. We projected our budget giving would be as much as 20% off of our budget.
4. Resistance to making any long-term campaign commitments was overwhelming.
5. A region-wide culture of fear and strong reactions was in place as we received constant advice on planning for such things as a possible 30% decrease in enrollment and 40-50% decreases in giving.

Another six months later, in August 2009, we started this school year with some amazing news of God’s provision through these difficult times.

1. Record enrollment, surpassing even our pre-economic crisis projections.
2. Record giving, and only a 10% drop in budget giving.
3. No significant cuts to people or programs that impact students and families.

Above I’ve provided a very general and high-level view of some of the key economic health indicators of a Christian school, and how dramatically they shifted. Perhaps your circumstances were more challenging or less so.

What I want to focus on in this piece is how we responded and the steps that we took because I believe they are instructive and helpful. Even though some may say the “crisis is behind us,” the basic steps we’ve taken and how we continue to move forward are based on core values and principles of effectiveness that should be helpful and transformative at any time. Our school leadership continues to discuss these, analyze these, and seeks to understand what is happening.

The aforementioned shifts literally seemed to occur overnight and our heads were spinning. There is no reason to pretend that we all “knew what to do.” Every person I talked to at the beginning of 2009 seem dumbfounded and awed by the changes that were occurring. I kept hearing people say, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” But, we took a deep breath, we prayed, we asked a lot of people for advice, and we tried to be steady and strong as we outlined how we intended to move forward during these strange times.

Firstly, we recognized that this is an overwhelming difficult time for so many people. Husbands and wives are facing fears and tests of faith they have never experienced before. Fathers and mothers are enduring major adjustments to their careers and lifestyles. Children are dealing with questions and uncertainty unique to this moment in history.

Secondly, we began by asking the question found in Ezekiel 33: “How should we then live?” We are finding strength in a renewed sense of our dependence upon God as we remember His faithfulness.

Thirdly, we made a conscious decision not to go into what we called a “hunker-down” mode. We wanted to be willing to make tough decisions but be proactive and not simply reactive.

Fourthly, we committed to communicate in an encouraging but straightforward manner.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, we asked the Lord to help us discover ways to make decisions with the right priorities in mind. We believed this is a time where we could make significant statements about who we really are as a school community. We prayed that we could seize opportunities to live out the truth that God, in His unchanging love through Jesus Christ, is the faithful, merciful, and compassionate Provider and Savior of the world.

One of the things I personally learned is that all of the above is really easy to talk about. It’s taking the time to establish priorities and then make tough decisions to back it up that is the truly hard and sometimes painful part.

So, we recognized reality, asked questions, prayed, resisted the urge to hit the panic button, prepared to communicate, and established priorities to guide our decision making...and I mean all of this in the most literal sense possible.

Here are the priorities we established, put in writing, and communicated.

Priority #1: Today and Every Day

Today and every day, we will hold to our mission and vision to see young men and women equipped to engage the world and change it for Jesus Christ. Our core values will never change. We will keep the main thing, the main thing: the Christian education of the individual student. We continue to strive to hire and keep the best teachers, coaches, and staff members. We constantly improve, offering better value to students and families through the years, always working to become better than we once were.

Priority #2: Stronger Tomorrow

We are making the tough decisions that help us stay financially strong over the long haul. We are holding fast to the families we serve, enrolling new students, and we will serve families in good times and bad. We are pushing forward on difficult decisions that pave the way for our future sustainability, ensuring a strong Westminster in the future. We will also introduce new technologies and programs that best equip our students for their future, not our past. We will not compromise the quality of today for tomorrow’s dreams, but neither will we make decisions that are so shortsighted that they compromise the financial stability of our future.

Priority #3: Moving Ever Forward

We will continue to implement our strategic plan and communicate our vision for the future, providing opportunities for people to make a difference and make decisions that move us ever forward as a Christian school. Planning will continue to be a dynamic part of our culture. We pray that God will move the hearts of people to give in order to keep Westminster strong and improving, and we will continue to wait upon the Lord for the sale of our current campus and provision of our future dreams.

It is usually easy to establish priorities, the challenging part is making decisions on a daily basis that honor your priorities.

Then, we took it a step further. We articulated, in very specific terms, the types of disciplined actions we would be taking to reflect those priorities. I’ve underlined here the key principles.

• Implement conservative spending and aggressive fund-raising, making some tough decisions along the way in our annual budgets.
• Support creativity and innovation among teachers.
• Continue to go the extra mile for students who struggle socially or academically.
• Promote even more personal involvement of teachers and coaches in the lives of students and families, as many will face unusual challenges.
• Respond to the unique economic problems that may be faced by our parents and teachers to the very best of our ability.
• Improve our processes and communications with parents, utilizing non-paper methods to improve speed and lower costs.
• Leap forward in technology integration at the classroom level and 21^st Century learning for students.

And then, we started moving forward on all these actions in very tangible ways. I won’t go into every action, but here are some:

• We communicated like crazy, even asking families to respond to a “Share Your Heart” survey so they could tell us privately how the economy was really affecting them and give us advice.
• We put our campaign on a short-term hold, because Priority 2 said, “we will not compromise the quality of today for tomorrow’s dreams.”
• We froze faculty/staff salaries.
• We increased our total financial aid budget to respond to many re-enrolling families experiencing dramatic economic difficulty.
• We asked teachers and staff to give us their ideas on how to save money without reducing quality.
• We looked for key ways to add value to families without adding cost.
• We made significant shifts in our costs of paper and printing.
• Every administrator became personally responsible for helping teachers, staff, and even volunteers focus on student retention and new family enrollment.
• We increased our focus and energies on improving the school through changes, innovations, improvements, and efficiencies. And, we continued to focus on the implementation our Strategic Plan.
• We made our most significant and visible investment in technology for teachers ever, with every teacher receiving a new Macbook.

Ultimately, it is God’s mercies and provision, by His grace, that sustains us. But, I also know that God works through people, their decisions, and their strengths and weaknesses. Many schools are facing far more difficult times than we have. We do not pretend to fully understand all of what has happened or what is happening now. But, I do challenge you to join us in the day-to-day discipline of asking questions and digging deeper down and climbing higher up in the understanding of this calling of serving in a Christian school in today’s times.

2009 is indeed a remarkable year, and remarkable times remain ahead. Let us go forward together.

They Are Coming After Your Students and Said So!

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherAt a recent Executive Symposium on Distance Education that I attended a public school superintendent, not knowing I was from a private school, said to the group (to paraphrase), "we are developing a robust online program and we fully expect to recapture students from home schooling families and private schools."

I just reread portions of Christensen's excellent book, "Disrupting Class".  I am particularly interested by his analysis of the "Dimensions of Agreement" and the "Tools of Cooperation".  I have attached graphics depicting the concepts.  These are particularly important to me because it can be difficult to get staff to accept change--I find this particularly problematic among conservative Christians, whom by definition, are "conservative."  :-)  In my estimation, moving forward, carefully and thoughtfully, with distance learning programs in imperative but it is not an easy task--the learning curve is steep, creating a feasible business plan is critical, and getting buy in can be tough.  But, Christensen argues, refreshingly, that consensus is not necessarily the goal--cooperation is!  I find that a refreshing approach given the emphasis on consensus building over the last several decades in the management literature.  I was also surprised by his observation that change is most difficult when there is wide agreement on the goals and processes currently in place.  Generally, one would think that this is a good thing. Upon reflection, however, it is easy to see why change in an organization can be very difficult when the organization is in the upper right quadrant of the dimensions of agreement chart.  This means that one of our challenges is to challenge the consensus on the goals and/or processes currently in place, which is all the more difficult when the organization is successful.  In other words, success can actually work against us, as in "good is the enemy of great."  It is what I'm calling the "Hobbit Effect."

In the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits went merrily about their lives oblivious to the fact that Mordor was rising and threatening them.  Only a few saw the danger and acted.  I wonder if distance learning and charter schools aren't the "Mordors" of Christian education.  While we argue about uniforms, dress codes, and tuition discounts, the public system is installing a robust distance learning infrastructure and charters are multiplying.  Will we wake up in 10 years and wonder what happened to our market?’

Christensen (2008), Disrupting the classroom, p. 187

 

I am so impressed with Christensen's book that I've ordered two more:
The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do

The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth

Charter Schools Pass a Major Test!

I have posted several articles addressing the charter school movement (The Charters are Coming!; Can We Keep Up with the Competition?; Are You Spread Too Thin? How to Thrive and Not Merely Survive as a Christian School; and Leading Your School In Uncertain Economic Times: Practical Suggestions) because I see two major trends that have the potential to have a significant impact on our schools:

1) the rapid development of distance/online learning and

2) the growth of charter schools. 

It is our responsibility as school leaders to anticipate the future and to steer our schools in the right direction to ensure that they remain relevant and vital.

The following Wall Street Journal article is important because it shows the growing acceptance and credibility of charter schools.

Charter Schools Pass Key Test in Study

By JOHN HECHINGER and IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN

WSJ September 2009

New York City students who win a lottery to enroll in charter schools outperform those who don't win spots and go on to attend traditional schools, according to new research to be released Tuesday.

The study, led by Stanford University economics Prof. Caroline Hoxby, is likely to fire up the movement to push states and school districts to expand charter schools -- one of the centerpieces of President Barack Obama's education strategy. (emphasis added)

Among students who had spent their academic careers in charter schools, the average eighth grader in Ms. Hoxby's study had a state mathematics test score of 680, compared with 650 for those in traditional schools. The tests are generally scored on a roughly 500 to 800 scale, with 650 representing proficiency.

Ms. Hoxby's study found that the charter-school students, who tend to come from poor and disadvantaged families, scored almost as well as students in the affluent Scarsdale school district in the suburbs north of the city. The English test results showed a similar pattern. The study also found students were more likely to earn a state Regents diploma, given to higher-achieving students, the longer they attended charter schools.

This year, the Renaissance Charter School in Queens and the Democracy Prep Charter School in Harlem each had 1,500 applicants for 80 seats. Rennaissance co-principal Stacey Gauthier says 90% of students achieve proficiency in the state test and end up going to college. "We have to perform well or we lose our charter," she says. "It makes us step up our game."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued that New York City's charter schools aren't representative of the nation's, because the state caps charter schools and agencies vet them thoroughly before authorizing them, assuring they are of higher quality than elsewhere.

Charter schools are publicly funded schools, typically with nonunion teachers, that are granted more freedom by states in curriculum and hiring, and are often promoted as a way to turn around failing schools.

Critics of charter schools have long argued that any higher test scores were not necessarily attributable to anything the schools were doing, but to the students themselves, on the premise that only the most motivated students and families elected charters. Ms. Hoxby's study sought to address that argument by comparing students who attend charters directly with similarly motivated students -- those who sought to attend charters but were denied a seat through a random lottery. She concluded the charters did have a positive effect.

Charter supporters, including many conservatives, have often cited the school-choice research of Ms. Hoxby, a well-known economist who is also a fellow at Stanford's right-leaning Hoover Institution.

New York City's 99 charter schools are concentrated in poorer neighborhoods such as Harlem and the South Bronx. Some 30,000 students attend and another 40,000 are on waiting lists -- a small fraction of the 1.1 million students in the nation's largest school district.

Ms. Hoxby's study noted a strong correlation between achievement and charter programs with the following practices: a longer school day, merit pay for teachers and a disciplinary policy that punishes small infractions and rewards courtesy.

"We want to make New York City the Silicon Valley of charter schools," says schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who supports lifting statewide caps. "This study shows that when districts aren't antagonistic to charter schools, and instead welcome them, the results are very powerful."

But Ms. Weingarten, the union leader, cited another study this year from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes -- also at Stanford -- that looked at charters in 16 states and found that half did no better than traditional schools, and more than a third performed worse.

Pierina Arias, an Ecuadorean immigrant, turned to the Renaissance charter after her twins were rejected by a private school because they didn't speak English. "I was crying," says Ms. Arias. "I didn't know what to do." The twins won charter admission in a lottery, recently graduated with honors and are both in college, she says.

Patricia Hesselbach won a place in Democracy Prep's lottery for her 14-year-old daughter, Ayanna Mason, now a ninth grader. She had been at a traditional public school and needed to take outside courses to keep up with such basics as reading, her mother says. At Democracy Prep, Ms. Hasselbach says, her daughter is thriving. "They hold them to high expectations, and make sure they have discipline and dedication," Ms. Hesselbach says.

But Cynthia Lee, a hospital manager in Harlem, entered ten lotteries to get her 13-year-old daughter into Democracy Prep and didn't win a place. So, the single mother enrolled her daughter in a Catholic school for $3,100 a year. "I had no choice," she says. "I'd rather pay every last dime than put her in a public school."

Fl. Virtual School Enrollment Up at Least 50 Percent

The article below provides more evidence of the rapid growth in distance education. 

To proactively position itself for the changing educational market, Briarwood Christian School  is currently developing a distance learning pilot prototype.  The pilot will provide the needed data to assess what practices work and which do not, staff development requirements, infrastructure needs, formulation of a sustainable business plan, etc. 

Please share with our CSJ readers what your school leadership is doing to position your school for the changing educational marketplace.  Are you embracing distance learning or resisting it?  Have you added any distance learning courses?  What are the biggest challenges you face in moving forward with a distance learning program?

Click here to read the full article.

Funding Cuts Compel Florida Virtual School to Get By With Less
By The Associated Press

The Florida Virtual School is doing more with less under a new law that cut its funding while expanding online learning to every school district in the state.

A national leader in virtual education, the Orlando-based school has seen its budget reduced by nearly 10 percent with more cutting set for next year, while most other public schools in Florida have received a modest increase.

Enrollment, though, is expected to go up at least 50 percent. A small part of that is from expanding the school’s scope to include full-time virtual students from kindergarten through the 12th grade under contracts or franchise agreements with most of the state’s 67 school districts.

The bulk of the increase is coming from its customary role of providing dozens of supplementary online courses to middle and high school students enrolled in regular schools—a program now dubbed “Florida Virtual School Classic”—by operating as a statewide 68th school district.

“We’re not just coping, we’re embracing it,” said Sarah Sprinkel, the director of Florida services for the school….

Do Our Schools Need to Become Less Uptight?

WARNING: this article is provocative.  I am posting this article not because I agree with everything asserted (I don’t) but because it provokes thought and has relevance for how we are leading our schools during a time when the landscape of education is changing-perhaps dramatically.  At the end of this article I pose some questions for your consideration.

WSJ: September 29, 2009

By Gary Hamel

In most  organizations, change comes in only two flavors:  trivial and traumatic.  Review the history of the average organization and you’ll discover long periods of incremental fiddling  punctuated by occasional bouts of frantic, crisis-driven change.  The dynamic is not unlike that of  arteriosclerosis:  after years of  relative inactivity, the slow accretion of arterial plaque is suddenly  revealed by the business equivalent of a myocardial infarction. The only  option at that juncture is a quadruple bypass:  excise the leadership team, slash head  count, dump “non-core” assets and overhaul the balance sheet.

Why does  change have to happen this way?   Why does a company have to frustrate its shareholders, infuriate its  customers and squander much of its legacy before it can reinvent itself?   It’s easy to blame leaders  who’ve fallen prey to denial and nostalgia, but the problem goes deeper than  that.  Organizations by their very  nature are inertial.  Like a  fast-spinning gyroscope that can’t be easily unbalanced, successful  organizations spin around the axis of unshakeable beliefs and well-rehearsed  routines—and it typically takes a dramatic outside force to destabilize the  self-reinforcing system of policies and practices.

Let me  return, for a moment, to the topic of my last post, organized religion.   What are some of the inertial forces that have prevented churches from  reinventing themselves in ways that might make them more relevant to a  post-modern world?  A partial list  would include:

–Long-serving denominational leaders  who have little experience with non-traditional models of worship and  outreach.

–A matrix of top-down policies that  limits the scope for local experimentation.

–Training programs (seminaries) that  perpetuate a traditional view of religious observance and ministerial  roles.

–Promotion criteria for church pastors  that reward conformance to traditional practices.

–And a straightjacket of implicit  beliefs around how you “do church.”   For example:

• Church  happens in church.
• Preaching is the most effective way of imparting religious  wisdom.
• Pastors lead in church while parishioners remain (mostly)  passive.
• The  church service follows a strict template:  greet, sing, read, pray, preach,  bless, dismiss (repeat weekly).
• Believers, rather than curious skeptics, are the church’s primary  constituency.
• Going  to church is the primary manifestation of a spiritual life.
• Church  is a lecture not a discussion.

If organized  religion has become less relevant, it’s not because churches have held fast to  their creedal beliefs—it’s because they’ve held fast to their conventional  structures, programs, roles and routines.  The problem with organized religion  isn’t religion, but organization.    In the first and second centuries, the Christian church was communal,  organic and unstructured—a lot like the Web is today.  It commanded little power (it couldn’t  raise an army or depose a monarch), but had enormous influence.  (The Christian church grew from a handful of believers in AD 40 to 31 million adherents by AD 350, roughly half the population of the Roman empire. ) Today many mainline denominations  are institutionally powerful, but spiritually moribund—at least in the  U.S.

What’s true  for churches is true for other institutions:  the older and more organized they get,  the less adaptable they become.   That’s why the most resilient things in our world—biological life,  stock markets, the Internet—are loosely organized. 

To thrive in  turbulent times, organizations must become a bit more disorganized—less buttoned down, less  uptight, less compulsive, less anal.

As a start,  you’ll need to become more alert to the things that reflexively favor the  status quo in your own organization.   While no one’s going to stand up  and say, “I’m on the side of inertia,” they may nevertheless defend management  processes that reflexively favor the status quo.

All of the  things that allow little organizations to grow into big ones—scale, learning  effects, and accumulated expertise—are products of repetition.  When the environment changes, however,  the returns to repetition start to diminish.  Problem is, old habits die hard,  particularly when they’ve been hardwired into a company’s management  processes. 

–Hiring criteria that over-value  “expertise” and under-value diverse life experiences.

–A planning process that  institutionalizes orthodox thinking by using industry standard definitions of  customer segments and product categories

–Decision-making bodies that are  comprised mostly of long-serving industry veterans who tend to discount new  views.

–Highly conservative budgeting criteria  that starve unconventional projects of resources by demanding near certain  returns, even when the funds involved are modest.

–A single approval track for new  projects, where every new idea has to go up the chain of command.

–Large, monolithic organizational units built around a single, dominant, business model.

–A highly optimized but inflexible IT  infrastructure.

Large  organizations don’t worship shareholders or customers, they worship the  past.  If it were otherwise, it  wouldn’t take a crisis to set a company on a new path.

The most  extreme version of organizational inertia comes when those within a company  are no longer able to distinguish between form and function—when their  instinctual loyalty is to the “how” rather than the “what.”

If one  didn’t know better, it would be easy to believe that a lot of newspaper  publishers have been more committed to producing broadsheets than to  delivering the news in a convenient form, or making it easy for advertisers to  connect with customers.

Until  recently, music companies seem to have been more committed to stamping out  plastic discs than to giving their customers easy access to their favorite  tunes.

Many drug  companies seem a lot more interested in peddling temporary palliatives for  chronic conditions than in eradicating disease.

For years,  Kodak seemed more focused on making film than on leveraging new digital  technologies that would make photography simpler and cheaper.

Alzheimer’s,  arteriosclerosis and arthritis—these seem to be the inevitable byproducts of  old age.  But must organizational  maturity bring a similar set of maladies?  I don’t think so.  Despite all the evidence to the  contrary, I think a company can truly be “Forever 21.”

Questions:

• Is your school too “button down”, to wedded to tradition?
• Does the administration, faculty, board members, or parents confuse form with function, preference with principle, or truth with tradition?
• Has inertia set in at your school?  If so, how can you overcome it?
• How would you apply the arguments / principles in the above article to addressing 21st century skills, distance learning, technology integration, recent discoveries in cognitive science, and other innovative developments in education to your school?

Where is Your School in the Organizational Life Cycle? Why Does it Matter?

The School Life Cycle

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherSchools are organic and dynamic—they are not static. Like the human body, schools go through a lifecycle of change or stages of development. Although most schools go through a predictable cycle or series of stages, the cycle is not inevitable.

Below are typical organizational stages, which I have summarized and adapted from research on the topic.  I have not developed the last stage (renewing).

Why is this important?  Because understanding where your school is in the typical organizational lifecycle will help you understand the issues you are facing and how to adapt your leadership.

Birth/Infant Stage

• Characterized by a strong entrepreneurial visionary leader or small group
• Requires a strong visionary leader who can maintain a high degree of commitment
• The leader, or small founding group, must maintain control and have significant input into the infant school. It is normal at this stage that the leader be more hands-on and in control with little or no delegation.
• Visionary and pioneering staff
• Staff characterized by belief, hard work, high morale
• Tendency to latch on to a particular school of thought or philosophy of education, instruction, and/or curriculum
• School structure is minimal and informal
• Systems are developing
• Minimal policies, ill-defined roles (or well written but poorly followed policies)
• Group/committee/board micro-management of administrative functions, usually out of necessity in this infant stage
• Change can be quick and relatively easy
• Limited resources
• Potential for quick growth
• Establishing a reputation and market presence

Adolescent Growth Stage

• Beliefs, values, goals, structure, and actions become more formalized
• With growth, staff are added
• Delegation is increasing
• The challenges of growth are being confronted—facilities, resources, programs, personnel, school structure, board/administrator roles and relationships
• The original “feel” of the small infant school is being replaced with the feel and characteristics of a larger maturing school. This can result in a change in clientele, complaints that “we have abandoned our mission,” that “we no longer feel….,” “that we are becoming……”
• As structures begin to mature, the board grapples with its role relative to a changing school, added staff, and maturing leadership and administration
• Faces the danger of growing too fast with growth and vision outpacing current or projected resources (usually financial and physical)—Example: adding a high school too quickly
• Conflict and inconsistency can become more evident (there are more stakeholders; the original founders/entrepreneurs find their original vision and values being challenged and stretched. Conflicts arise from confusion regarding roles and responsibilities. Leadership must learn to share control and to delegate responsibility with concomitant authority.
• Problems can arise when conflict erodes or ends in a critical loss of mutual respect and trust among those charged with formal and informal control of the decision-making process. This can lead to concentrating on technicalities, legal and procedural issues rather than on strategic development.

Maturing Stage

• This stage is characterized by high visibility for the school. A strong understanding of its common purpose and mission continue to energize and drive school leadership. Leadership knows what it is doing, where it is going and how to get there.
• School leadership makes plans and then follows up on those plans
• Structures and policies have matured but are still developing and growing
• Bureaucracy and systems are increasing (note: not all bureaucracy is bad—there is good and bad bureaucracy)
• Leaders must continue to maintain the delicate balance between creating and managing. It is easy during this stage to get caught into doing what is customary, but forgetting the reason for doing it. This may lead to rigid clinging to something no longer suitable. A method may become more important than the mission.
• Increased specialization among staff and with programs
• Increased emphasis on high quality rather than “start-up” training
• Standards are raised for teachers and other staff
• Overall school quality is growing and there is clear evidence of excellence
• The school is confident and secure
• Morale is high

Aging Stage

• The aging stage can be characterized by a decline in stakeholders’  understanding of and commitment to the school’s purpose.  New parents and staff may not have a sense of ownership of the school’s purpose. They assume others to be responsible, so there is decline in involvement.
• As the aging stage progresses, the school moves from nostalgia to questioning. In the nostalgia phase the school community reflects on and longs for a comfortable past. You know the school has reached this phase when you hear: "I remember when." "We can't do that." "We've tried that and it didn't work."

In the questioning phase, school stakeholders initially question within themselves, concerning leadership and school problems. Then the questioning becomes more intense as groups begin to discuss problems. At this point, either the organization redefines itself and is revitalized by its dream, or decline sets in.

• Expectations for growth are lowered. There is little interest in development of new  new methods. The school starts to focus on past achievements instead of future visions. Emphasis is on how things are done rather than what and why they are done.
• Procedures and policies are kept in place even though they are no longer relevant.
• Changes are viewed with suspicion and met with increasing resistance. Fewer changes are proposed, and no change that radically departs from status quo or disrupts the peace is considered.

The Dying Stage

• This fifth stage is characterized by the total loss of purpose and hope. The mission is not understood. As questioning and polarization increase, the emphasis shifts to who caused the problem, rather than what to do about it.
• Conflict, back stabbing, and infighting abound.
• Focus shifts to the internal turf wars while newcomer, especially if they have a vision to try new things, to challenge the conventional wisdom, are seen as a nuisance, threat, or are ignored.
• Due to the lack of interest and participation, programs are eliminated. It is difficult to find volunteers with only 10 percent of stakeholders doing 90 percent of the work.
• Programs and structures are deleted for lack of funds and involvement. The primary goal is preservation and survival.
• Although there are many traditions, practices and procedures in place, they serve little to reach and develop people and to fulfill the mission of the school.
• Changes are nearly impossible. Excuses and rationalizations are made for why something can't be done.
• While dying is frightening, changing is more so. Any suggested change tends to fuel the fire of polarization.
• There is confusion between what constitutes an enviable principle and a personal preference.
• Morale declines to a deep low. Few have any sense of hope and optimism. No one knows what to do about the problem, but everyone thinks that it is the other person's fault.
• Leadership is extremely frustrated to the point of despair by not knowing how to stop decline and the infighting in this stage. Frequently the leader is perceived as the problem which may or may not be the truth. Leadership takes many hard hits in the dying stage, particularly if the primary influencers do not support the leader. If the leader is visionary, creative and aggressive, he or she will likely not last long.
• If the leader is passive and maintenance oriented, he or she may make the patient comfortable while it continues to die.

Where is your school in the organizational lifecycle? Are you adjusting your leadership to ensure that your school navigates the lifecycle successfully so that it continues to have a lasting impact?

Need Help? Who Do You Call?

Pro 27:17  Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Pro 11:14  Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

One of the wonderful things about being in Christian education is that we have access to Christian professionals who can provide counsel and assistance in dealing with the many complexities and challenges of leading our schools.  There are many consultants but few of them thoroughly understand and embrace a Christian philosophy of education.  There are many Christian consultants but many of them are not, in my opinion, cutting edge experienced professionals. 

Mr. Marsh and Dr. Drexler bring a wealth of experience, a deep commitment to and understanding of Christian education, and a knowledgeable professionalism to their consulting work.

Over the years I have had the privilege working with and learning from Mr. Jim Marsh (Head of Westminster Christian Academy, St. Louis) and Dr. Jim Drexler (Dean of Social Sciences and Master of Education Program, Covenant College).  I highly recommend them to you should you have a need for assistance. 

Click on the image above to go to their website.