When it was sent to the superintendent, and subsequently included in
the Student Handbook, in the Teacher Handbook, and on a poster in the
school lobby, it included the following: “This Mission Statement was
created in the fall of 20xx, a collaborative effort of [the names of all
members of the committee, even those who rarely attended, were listed in
alphabetical order].”
In addition to seeing the importance of “giving the credit,” Mr. Pfizer
learned another invaluable lesson: It is virtually impossible to create
something from nothing. You can save a great deal of time and effort by
always beginning with a “draft” document.
Giving the credit also means giving thanks to all who contributed to
an achievement. When you become principal, begin your opening day
faculty meeting with a summary of the school statistics from the previous
year. For every success, publicly thank the person, office, or department
responsible. If the data of a particular department is poor, say nothing.
Your silence will speak louder than words. You will find that in almost
every case where a particular department received no accolade, that
department will try harder the next year to improve to have its success
publicly touted at the opening meeting.
“Take the blame” is actually the easier half of this principle. In just about
every school district, if anything goes wrong, it’s automatically the fault
of the school leader anyway. He may as well take the blame because he
is going to be given it anyway. Oddly enough, those in authority over a
school-based leader expect him to make excuses and point fingers, so they
are totally disarmed when he says, “Yes, it was my fault,” and follows
up with his plan to correct the situation. In Mr. Chen’s second year as a
principal, he had to take the blame.
In the early 1990s, the assistant principal of organization of a com-
prehensive high school in Brooklyn spoke to Mr. Chen about a costly
problem: unreturned textbooks. Texts in science, math, and social
studies were (and still are) very costly. Even hardbound paperbacks
used in English classes were costing more each year. As the allocation
for textbooks in the early 1990s was about thirty-five dollars per child,
almost all funds were being used to replenish stock rather than add
new titles. This assistant principal had an idea to encourage students
to return their books.
Give the Credit; Take the Blame 39