Both-And

Both-And

Last weekend's Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity highlighted a keystone aspect of our Catholic faith: both-and.

The Most Holy Trinity posits God is both three Persons and one God. The Paschal Mystery combines both death and life. In the Incarnation, Christ is both fully human and fully divine. The Eucharist reveals the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood: we experience both the outward appearances (accidents) of bread and wine and the essence (substance) of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. The Annunciation proclaimed both Mary's virginity and her pregnancy. The Holy Spirit unites us both as one and maintains our unique gifts.

Both-and.

Catholic schools and the diocesan/network offices that support them would do well to embrace this theme as an approach to many aspects of school administration: both-and.

DuFour and Fullan (2013) argue that schools should be both autonomous and directed by a larger system. In what they describe as "The Loose-Tight Dilemma", they document the dangers of both too much local-level control (loose) and overly-restrictive district controls (tight).

Site-based management has a negative correlation with student achievement (Marzano & Waters, 2009). Similarly, top-down approaches to motivating people to change with punishments and rewards has a negative impact on the organizations under such a heavy handed approach (Pink, 2011).

The right balance of loose-tight, however, provides a degree of autonomy within the context of direction, coordination, and accountability (DuFour and Fullan, 2013, p. 38). DuFour and Fullan (2013) suggest that organizations define the non-negotiable priorities and parameters within which schools and personnel must operate. Within these tight parameters, local level leaders and educators can creatively work to accomplish these expectations.

Catholic schools and offices of Catholic education should work together to clarify that which must be tight across the network which can then allow for more understanding as to what can be innovatively pursued at the local level. These are exercises that should also occur at the local level - clearly defining both what must be tight - like ensuring students' safety and security - and the loose areas in which employees will be empowered to use their professional and apostolic gifts and talents to advance the mission of our schools.

Loose-tight.

Both-and.

Who We Are

As a Catholic school leader, I would often remind teachers, staff, parents, families, students, and other community members that maintaining the safety and security of the school stood as my top priority. In a sense, I considered it a pre-requisite in order for us to do the work of formation in the Catholic faith and intellectual tradition.

A safety concern remains the only time that I yelled in the presence of students as a principal. While I can imagine handling that situation differently at this point in my career, I see my tactic at that time as justified and in accord with my fundamental responsibility as a school leader.

Along these lines, a number of schools from across the Diocese of Cleveland invested in the safety and security of our schools during a recent Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) Training. Even though it may have surfaced more questions than answers, our engagement with the threat assessment forms, case studies, and dialogue with colleagues from our schools and across the diocese has provided a template for us to use in these incredibly emotional, high stakes, time consuming, and important situations.

As we take this system back to our school communities and use it as our process for identifying and documenting threats, and designing and implementing plans to ensure and restore safety and security in our schools, I also hope that it inspires other deeply held convictions and detailed plans that will allow us to live them out.

For example, Dr. Frank O'Linn, Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Cleveland, often describes the goal for our schools to be "irresistibly Catholic, academically excellent, operationally sound and geographically accessible." We would do well to embody these goals as the non-negotiable covenants that we make with our school communities. As we do this, we can stand with confidence upon the guarantees to teachers, staff, students, and families that our tactics will allow us achieve these noble ends.

It will give new life to our efforts to celebrate the Eucharist, offer a comprehensive program of retreats, and turn service hours into opportunities for our students to build the Kingdom of God on earthy by performing corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Rallying together in this way will provide even greater focus to our efforts to form and support teachers to enhance learning in our classrooms.

Working as a network of Catholic schools will multiply best practices regarding finances, advancement, marketing, communication, enrollment management and other administrative functions that will ensure the operational vitality of our schools.

Finally, as a system of schools spanning across the diocese's eight counties, the longevity of the Catholic schools in Cleveland remains essential to Bishop Malesic's vision for providing Catholic education in geographically accessible areas.

This is who we are. 

This is who we must become: irresistibly Catholic, academically excellent, operationally sound and geographically accessible Catholic schools forming students in the Catholic intellectual and faith traditions. 

Alignment and Coherence

Alignment is structure; coherence is mindset. Shared mindset equals system coherence.

-Richard DuFour and Michael Fullan, Cultures Built to Last, 2013, p. 31

This past year my ministry has focused on the theme of alignment. Much hard work has gone into - and will continue to go into - designing structures and systems to streamline the implementation of Bishop Malesic's vision for Catholic secondary education in the Diocese of Cleveland.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wheel_alignment_on_a_Ford_Focus_1.jpg

These systems from the diocesan level have the ability to impact student learning (DuFour and Fullan, 2013), which in our context of Catholic education also includes formation.

However, even the best of systems - the most user-friendly observation form, the most detailed performance management tool, the most comprehensive dashboard to collect and analyze data, etc. - depend upon people to use them and to work together in doing so.

As such, our systemness requires coherence in addition to alignment.

Put another way, while we need policies and procedures that are effective and efficient, we also need people who have a shared sense of why using these systems is important.

Coherence entails sound logic and understanding among those of us within the system. DuFour and Fullan (2013) call this the "social glue that makes people's commitment and work" stick together and succeed (p. 31).

Coherence requires that we continue to build a shared purpose as a network of Catholic schools while also doing the same within our respective school communities. We must clarify our goals, strategies, and progress, strengthening and edifying the system itself as we build a collective mindset.

As we clarify these components of our network and individual schools, we must communicate and overcommunicate "clearly, repeatedly, enthusiastically, and repeatedly (that's not a typo)" (Lencioni, The Advantage: Why organizational health trumps everything else in business, 2012, p. 3).

With this in mind, let us take up the dual work of alignment and coherence.

Let us commit to our shared purpose of carrying out the educational mission of the Catholic Church to form disciples to build the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us continue to take action steps to design the systems of measuring the effectiveness of our missions, observing teachers, creating budgets, working with boards and committees, and gaining approval for hiring and temporal goods requests.

And, let us strive to accomplish the goals of increased enrollment, higher teacher retention, improved standardized test scores, more favorable net promoter values, greater financial viability, and - most importantly - stronger Catholic identity and faith formation.

Alignment and coherence. Systems and a collective mindset. Mind, body and soul. Scholars and saints. On earth and in heaven.

The Lukewarm Go Elsewhere

 “It is necessary for us to undergo hardships...” (Acts 14:22).

We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song!

Once of my favorite parts of the Easter season includes hearing the stories from the Acts of the Apostles. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles work to establish the Church by being Jesus to others in word and action. From huge conversions to miraculous healings to living in community to prison breaks to earth shaking prayers, listening to these pioneers of our faith fills me with zeal and conviction.

This Easter, one theme has resonated with me in new and compelling ways: ministry entails hardships.

Put another way: Good Friday precedes Easter Sunday. This is the Paschal Mystery. 

The apostles "rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name (of Jesus)" (Acts 5:41).

They encourage each other to "continue in the faith, saying 'It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God'" (Acts 14:22).

In his second letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul boasts of the following: "Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:24-28).

This reminds me of a line from Fr. Ron Nuzzi, who served as the Director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program when I joined in 2007. As a way to recruit aspiring Catholic school leaders to this graduate-level course of studies, he quipped, "The lukewarm go elsewhere."

*jump to the 7:27 minute-mark:

In so many ways, we are conditioned to avoid hardships and difficulties - and for good reason. Air conditioning/heat keeps us comfortable. Snacking staves off "hanger." Online shopping saves time. Frequent communication with teachers, families, and students can prevent all sorts of problems. Detailed plans for events such as assemblies, standardized testing, open house can mitigate real-time mishaps and errors. Building systems - enrollment management, moves management, observation cycles - and aligning our efforts to mission should improve efficiency and effectiveness across our organizations.

But, the tales of these early Church ministers should remind us that we work in enemy occupied territory. Therefore, expect difficulties, embrace opposition and rejoice in toiling for Christ's kingdom here on earth.

The work is hard but we can do hard things. 

We should reframe challenges as opportunities for us to grow and minister, literally replacing the words challenges, hardships, difficulties, etc. with opportunity or even blessing!

Let us find encouragement from the apostles as we work in the vineyard of Catholic education. Let us support each other in the efforts expended to advance the Church's vision for Catholic education - to form students who will go out into the world and make it more aligned to the principles of the Gospel.

And, let us rejoice - I say it again, rejoice - for being found worthy to endure whatever comes our way in Catholic education for the Holy Name of Jesus.

The lukewarm go elsewhere.