The Five Shifts: Helping School Leaders Think Differently, Act Boldly, and Embrace Transformation
One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn’t as individuals. When we pool our strength and share the work and responsibility, we can welcome many people, even those in deep distress, and perhaps help them find self-confidence and inner healing.
– Jean Vanier
INTRO
The way we educate students hasn’t changed much in 150 years—but the world around us has transformed at breakneck speed. School leaders today are tasked with navigating outdated systems, increasing demands, and a constant flood of challenges. The hard truth? Small tweaks and quick fixes won’t cut it anymore.
OBJECTIVES
- Motivate leaders to rethink outdated systems and drive meaningful transformation.
- Define the Five Shifts and highlight key changes that help schools thrive.
- Provide practical steps for leaders to implement these shifts effectively.
The Future of Schools Starts with Bold Leadership
To truly help schools thrive, leaders need to think differently, act boldly, and embrace transformation. That’s where these five critical shifts come in. They’re not about working harder; they’re about working smarter—breaking old habits, reimagining possibilities, and creating lasting change.
Ready to take the first step? Let’s dive in.
For schools to thrive, leaders need to make 5 Shifts
Uproot, rethink, and rebuild
The best school leaders know that the system is broken and bandaids don’t work. Meaningful, lasting solutions won’t be found by duct taping a system that was built 150 years ago. We help leaders find bold solutions to nagging problems by breaking old habits and igniting new thought.
Find your people
You know what it’s like to sit in the big chair, feeling completely and utterly alone with nowhere to turn to for advice or support. Every single one of your principals is fighting the same lonely battle. We give them the community of peers they need to make better, bold, and more informed decisions.
Get busy on the right stuff
Being a school leader means dealing with 100 urgent fires every day. It’s so easy to get distracted from the really important work that will get results. We help your people identify what is truly important and give them proven strategies that keep the most critical initiatives moving forward no matter what else is going on.
Move from me to we
Like every community, schools work better when everyone is united around a common purpose and shared values. We help principals lead their schools from unhappy and disconnected cliques of self-interested people to a thriving hub of people who feel part of something bigger than themselves.
Invest in coaching
Education is the only industry where coaching and professional development aren’t routinely offered to its leaders. And yet, it is crucial to success. In the business world, 84% of CEOs said coaches had helped them avoid costly mistakes, 84% of CEOs grew into their positions more quickly, and 69% of CEOs said they were making better decisions.
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This work by Inflexion is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
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