When you have no idea where to go, you end up places where you do not want to be. Any car driver knows that. It may result in an interesting drive but normally, not on vacation or anything, it would be a foolish thing to do. Ideas, visions, convictions help us to identify and label what we want; thus helping us to formulate and attain objectives to go for (1). So, having a vision makes a (wo)man and gets you where you want. This may be true from a life-orientation perspective but pragmatically it is not easy to forward a vision or idea you have, especially when you have to share them with, or convince other people. Imagine a meeting with colleagues or a get-together with friends, and try to sway them behind a position you take. Then you experience the poverty of sharing ideas in an interactive arena. The things you cherish can be altered by others, captured by another position, or refurbished completely without any reluctance. Ideas or visions beyond the personal realm are shaky elements. Nevertheless, we need them to set up a (shared) route or to point out a (common) direction. And it takes a (wo)man to hold and stick to a vision.
Will it work pragmatically? For instance, take a school principal with strong convictions and a clear vision on the direction and position of his/her school. A positive answer comes from an Israeli study. A small set of high achieving schools were monitored. Talks with school leaders on their orientation on managing the school and with teachers about their satisfaction to work at the school showed that a strong vision by principals was favored highly. Of course, there were other factors that came into play, like: enhancing students’ choice, developing a student-oriented class schedule, organizing an exam system, and mapping each student, but exertion of a strong vison by the principal was paramount.
This is not to question the frequently found conclusion from leadership studies that clarity of vision promotes activity, i.e., get things done (2). It is more about how we attribute having a vision, i.e., how the gap between dedication and decision is resolved. Is it by having a strong person in charge, The Man, or is it essentially The Process of establishing a common language? Any reform at the school is most likely to succeed when all involved adhere to a shared conceptual framework. Not ‘having’ a vision by someone may be the crux but far more mounting a vision that will be recognized. In that respect principals have a great invitational responsibility.
Source
School Success as a Process of Structuration, by Dorit Tubin
Educational Administration Quarterly 2015, Vol. 51(4) 640–674, 2015
Reprints and permissions:sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0013161X15569346
Referencing
1. http://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/8918/what-is-the-difference-between-an-idea-and-a-concept
2. http://www.leadershipnow.com/visionquotes.html
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