There is rarely a car on fire in the parking lot.
The many pressures on educators and educational leaders are significant. The nature of our work carries with it expectations for results and those results are reviewed, tested, critiqued, and analyzed. There is pressure from supervisors and students and parents. There is pressure to be right, all the time. There is pressure to get things done.
There is pressure to be agile, to be quick, to be fast.
In order for educational leaders to do their best work, they should resist most pressures.
This last one, the pressure to be fast, should be ignored altogether.
Educators can and should slow down.
When sharing advice with newer administrators and teachers, I have repeatedly offered a variation of this advice: “There is rarely a car on fire in the parking lot. When there is, you have to move fast. But, unless there is – unless someone’s health or safety is at stake – slow down.”
Educators can and should resist pressure.
Educators can and should be deliberate.
Educators can and should slow down.