Get Really Good at What You Do

"Get really good at what you do."

This line has haunted me ever since a colleague uttered it as advice in a recent meeting. Get really good at what we do.

We can spend much time, energy, and resources in pursuit of excellence yet remain stuck in lower forms of performance.

New programs. New technology. New equipment. New facilities. New events. New activities.

New. More. Lots more. But better? Not necessarily.

Get really good at what we do.

Bishop John Mussio, Bishop of the Diocese of Steubenville in the 1950s, had this to say about staying committed to the core purpose of Catholic education in the midst of so many distractions:

Given the new and ever-widening range of resources available to educators today, some might advance the argument that schools require-albeit teachers may demand-better materials. All well and good, but buildings, stadia, desks, chalkboards, and even books do not a school make, for the teacher is the soul of the school.

Teachers are the soul of the Catholic school.

And, teachers teach. Catholic school teachers do so in the context of our proud intellectual and faith traditions. They teach. When done really well - when we get really good at what teachers do - our students and our schools flourish.

Take our own Cleveland Guardians as an example. The lowest payroll in baseball - 30th out of 30 teams. Yet, they remain one of three teams left in the hunt for a World Series Championship.

They have found a way to get really good at what they do - the basics of baseball: pitching, fielding, hitting, baserunning. The fundamentals of the game. A system built to form and develop players through coaching.

Get really good at what we do.

As we near the end of the first quarter of the 2026-27 academic year, let us renew our collective commitment to get really good at what we do: teaching and faith formation.The other, ancillary parts of our school communities - finances, marketing and communication, fundraising, facilities - need to be at the service of our main purpose. Undoubtedly, we must get and be really good in those areas as well. They matter for sure, and everyone across our campuses should adopt this mantra - get really good at what we do - in their respective areas of responsibility and duty.

Excellence in one area can lead to excellence in others. A rising tide lifts all ships. And excellence is a direction, not a destination. No matter how good we get at what we do, we always have room to grow. 

So, let's get really, really good at the core of what we do: teaching and faith formation. Lets also get really good at the other functions, too.

For our students to flourish. For our schools to flourish. 

For God's greater glory.

Lets continue, unceasingly, to get really good at what we do.

Better

Prior to 2024, any time I cut a green, yellow, or red pepper, I would inevitably litter my cutting board, knife, counter, and floor with seeds. I would try countless techniques, but always walked away with similar results.

Then, I came across this hack:

https://youtube.com/shorts/eh8znunrYSc?si=DwOeBqMYF6-LZERT.

I have experienced pepper cutting bliss ever since.

Before discovering this hack - or way - to cut peppers, my approaches varied but my results stayed the same. I would expend time and energy thinking about how I would cut the pepper followed by time and energy cleaning up those silly and sticky seeds after my messy attempt.

This way of cutting has become habit for me. Now I no longer waste time thinking of new methods or cleaning wayward seeds. While insignificant in the grand scheme of life, every time I cut a pepper I remember what it used to be like. 

Similarly, my son's travel soccer team recently participated in "Silent Sunday" during which coaches and parents have to refrain from any sort of coaching. We can cheer and encourage effort, but not offer any advice on tactic or technique. While the educator-coach in me found this exercise excruciating, it provided a powerful look at how many systems the team had successfully implemented and those that remain unestablished - who should take a throw-in, where he should throw it, where players line up for a corner kick, where a goalie should distribute the ball, how to maintain spacing, etc.

While our Catholic schools contain so much more complexity than kitchen hacks or travel soccer strategies, our communities would benefit from the creation and implementation of more systems to help us advance our missions. For example, instead of having to put time and energy into which reports to generate for every finance committee meeting, we can lean on the system in place to produce the right reports at the right time. Similarly, we can rely on systems to identify and provide supports to students struggling academically and/or behaviorally. While the specific strategies deployed may differ, the approach to catch and assist a floundering student can remain consistent - sticking to consistent checkpoints and criteria to identify and intervene accordingly.

As we continue to develop systems for reporting information, partnering with various diocesan personnel, and doing the work of academics, finances, advancement, enrollment, and faith, may we provide our communities with hacks, ways, and approaches that will ensure our success now and for many years to come.

As stewards invited to toil in the vineyard of the Lord, let us leave our respective portions - through the creation and execution of systems - even better than we found it.