Trust in the Emergence

Hans: Pixabay

"Trust in the emergence" is what Julia told us last week. How many times have I repeated these out loud to others and to myself as self talk since then? It has to become a mantra in the lead up and probably well into the first year of opening a new school. 

Starting a little later than most NZ schools, we are opening up to the new learners and their families tomorrow afternoon. The truth is, I am in awe of where we are right now. The team has worked effortlessly for the past 4 weeks. Firstly in an off site induction and then this week on site unpacking, setting up the learning environments and planning.

The biggest learning curve for the entire team has been to keep considering what is urgent and what is important. That's been hard because the urgent things can have a tendency to distract us from what is actually important. 

What's important for me right now? As a leader, I hope that the learners are feeling safe and happy, that the mentors are feeling supported and happy and the environment is one that supports learning, is engaging and promotes the culture of learning. There have been a few disappointments this week with orders arriving incomplete or incorrect. Initially, I was hugely disappointed and felt a rising panic in not having the urgent things ticked off and ready. But then, I had to stop and think through... Which of these things will actually have impact on the things that are important to me when we begin on the 9th of February? Just that one question put many things quickly into perspective for me and the overwhelming list of things to address was suddenly reduced significantly. Oh, I still got those things to work through but they won't stop us in creating that learning environment that we are working towards...

So, from this massive roller coaster that I am riding right now - I urge anyone to learn to trust in the emergence. It's okay if it's not perfect from the start! And also, try to remember what's important and what's urgent! Keep the 'why' firmly in your vision.