Fulfilling the urge to address what is put in front of you at the moment rather than meeting the important commitment of that time is an addiction. And that addiction is rampant in the part of India where I am currently living. The ramifications at the school are profound and, I think, shake the core of the school's foundation -- stability in the teacher workforce. The urgent matters at a school are rarely the things that directly impact the wellbeing of the teachers or the quality of life for the people working at the school. There is a lack of attention to preventative and planful care, the result of which is a rise in the number of urgent matters (teachers quitting without warning, for instance) that further delays the opportunity to take care of the important things, like communication with teachers about upcoming events and work-related concerns.
The way time is dealt with here in Sikkim has a large role to play in this issue (see my post "The Order of Things"). Time expands and contracts here at the individual's whim. People believe there is enough time in the day to address both the important and the urgent, which means the urgent gets first priority and the important gets the dregs of time.
I realize I bring my western sensibility to this environment, and I have been hesitant to impose my notions of how to do things for fear that I may offend. For example, my leadership style would most probably fall in the category of servant leadership -- what can I do to help my supervisees do their best work? Here the Principal of a school is served by all others. The level of deference is off the charts, comfort with giving feedback to the Principal is non-existant, and everyone simply lives at the whim of the person at the top.
I don't know if I will be able to help this institution move off its addiction to urgent. My first step is to set up some administrative positions so that the work of running the school can be shared with more people. I don't know if that will help, though. I'll keep you posted....
The way time is dealt with here in Sikkim has a large role to play in this issue (see my post "The Order of Things"). Time expands and contracts here at the individual's whim. People believe there is enough time in the day to address both the important and the urgent, which means the urgent gets first priority and the important gets the dregs of time.
I realize I bring my western sensibility to this environment, and I have been hesitant to impose my notions of how to do things for fear that I may offend. For example, my leadership style would most probably fall in the category of servant leadership -- what can I do to help my supervisees do their best work? Here the Principal of a school is served by all others. The level of deference is off the charts, comfort with giving feedback to the Principal is non-existant, and everyone simply lives at the whim of the person at the top.
I don't know if I will be able to help this institution move off its addiction to urgent. My first step is to set up some administrative positions so that the work of running the school can be shared with more people. I don't know if that will help, though. I'll keep you posted....
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