The scientific research is unbelievably clear – leaders who set big goals get more significant results.  If you want to be a more successful education leader, this is the first place you should start. To begin, set one or two big goals, not 10, to ensure you’re successful. After you achieve those goals, you can set the next one or two.

As the old saying goes, “Go big or go home!” We were not put on this earth to do small things, we were put on this earth to shine brightly. So go ahead and start one or two significant goals, and put your energies and resources behind them. It’s a better plan than spreading your attention and resources across 15 different things.

What do I mean by big goals? 1. Raising 10 million dollars for a new state of the art gymnasium; 2. Starting a scholarship fund for high school graduates; 3. Building a new state of the art middle school; 4. Creating a new initiative aimed at closing the achievement gaps in your district; 5. Using donations from private businesses to increase teacher salaries. These are just a few goals that I would consider significant. You must decide what a big goal looks like for you.

Ask yourself, do we have the capacity to accomplish our goals?

One point of order. To go after big goals, you have to make sure that you and your leadership team has the resources, capacity, and skills to accomplish them. If not, you might not be successful, no matter how long or how hard you work towards the finish line. How will you know? Don’t worry, to find out if your organization has what it takes, first, think deeply about what you want to accomplish. What resources, skills, and expertise will you need to leverage to see your goals through?

Now take out a piece of paper and create a T-chart, with the first column labeled “resources, skills, and expertise,” and the second column labeled “current capacity.” In the first column, you should list the things that need to be in place in place to realize your goals. In the second column, list whether or not you have these things already in place. This will let you know if you currently have the capacity to realize your goals.

Next, you can begin to decide if the goal is viable. Just because you currently don’t have the pieces that you need to get the job done, does not mean that the task is not worthwhile. You can always hire people with the skills and expertise that you need, and the district has various ways that it can commandeer the resources that you need.

As long as you have a commitment from your school board to provide the necessary personnel and resources, you are ready to go full steam ahead.