If there is one thing establishing and tending to a large veggie patch has taught me, it is that change is about the long game. It is about the ebbs and flows and the daily intentional practices.
I have had seasons of success and absolute disaster each with their own significant learnings, trials and tribulations. Even more so when I threw beekeeping into the mix.
For 10 years I have eaten seasonally, built an ecosystem that has its own biodiversity (not all complimentary to gardening mind you!), caught swarms of bees, disposed of dead flora and fauna – yet, through it all been nourished by the continual abundance of fruit and vegetables.
The change has come slowly through insistence, persistence and in many seasons,
consistency.
In changing school culture, these three traits serve us just as well when planning and playing the long game. Applying the strategies from our RP2.0 Framework insistently, persistently and consistently will begin to shape the culture we wish to create.
Like tending any garden, this takes intentional daily work, through positive priming, stored responses and affective language – going into every interaction with curiosity and using ‘past-present-future’ to guide the conversations. Soon you’ll be abandoning your attachment to outcomes and seeing the fruits (or veggies) of your labour! This too will feel seasonal at times, and you may have to throw out a dead practice or two! You may get bitten, but through it all the long game will nourish not only your staff, but your young people and those who frequent your community.
Playing the long game (and collecting antidotes along the way) is so rewarding when you get to look back. This is why our notion of partnership is so integral.
So, ask yourself, what are you planting and tending to create that shift in culture? What are your daily intentional practices?
Which practices, as a school, are you deliberate about in providing predictability for everyone within?
Warm regards,
