Attending to the Small Things

Great accomplishments are made possible by attending to the small things. It’s a compilation of many details that leads to success.  As the great Coach John Wooden said, “Big things are accomplished only through perfection of minor details.”  

Wooden’s championship successes in basketball began with him teaching his players – college players – how to put on their socks and shoes.  Talk about basics.  Attention to this level of seemingly minor details resulted in numerous championships.  Nothing fancy. Wooden’s philosophy was simple.  And it led to big wins. 

I think his philosophy is appropriate for our school, as well.  Attend to the details and the big picture – the goal – the mission – will be ultimately fulfilled.

This philosophy asserts that excellence is a by-product of commitment to doing all the small things well, of giving maximum performance 100% of the time, focusing on doing all the little things well consistently and conscientiously. Consistency, never slacking off, never letting down, is indispensable when working toward excellence. 

If you’re here, then it’s at least partly because you want to be the best, to be associated with excellence. Mediocre is not an option.

So, where do we find these little things at our school that add up to excellence, to the brand that our community recognizes as Baconton Community Charter School?

• The little things are found in our family atmosphere. We love each other and we love our students, and it shows. 

•  The little things are found in caring, compassionate teachers who get to know their students and their parents, who treat them as their own children, as family, offering both encouragement and correction with love in their voice.  Our character is not measured by how well we love the easy-to-love kids, but rather, by how well we love the hard-to-love ones.  Love for students sets us apart from other schools. 

• The little things are found in knowledgeable, competent teachers maximizing instructional minutes with engaging bell to bell instruction to ensure every child learns to his potential.  Consider the compound effect of the lost opportunity for learning every time a lesson runs short. Do the math: 5 minutes of free time at the end of the period times 5 days a week times 2 weeks equals a full 50 minute class period times 36 weeks equals 18 class periods. Can anyone afford to give up 18 class periods? 

• The little things are found in modeling respect for others through our words and actions, respect for property through keeping our campus and our classrooms clean and free of litter and our equipment in good repair, and holding our students and ourselves accountable. Consider the message we send when we walk past litter, when our classrooms are cluttered, when we allow students to draw on desks, or chew gum that lands on the sidewalks or under desktops.

• The little things are found in customer service.  Our students and our parents are our customers.  Without them, we have no business.  Our responsibility is to serve them, and each other, cheerfully.  Consider the difference in how you feel when you leave Chic-Fil-A and the cashier says cheerfully “See you again tomorrow” versus how you feel when your server doesn’t refill your drink before you empty it and your food takes nearly an hour to arrive.

•  The little things are found in expecting 100% performance from ourselves each day.  Giving our all.  Being on time and prepared.  Our lesson plans are a to-do list; they keep us on track, making forward progress through our curriculum and ensuring students have the opportunity to learn. Revision is natural, but we can’t revise what we don’t have to start with.  It is cliché, but oh so true:  We are only as strong as our weakest link; if any among us gives less than 100%, we will not achieve the excellence our mission drives us toward. We must be accountable to each other.

Art Linkletter once said, “Do a little more than you’re paid to. Give a little more than you have to.  Try a little harder than you want to.  Aim a little higher than you think possible.”  That’s our challenge: our opportunity to contribute our full measure to our students as individuals and to our school as a collective organization.

In a Nutshell

Our brand is differentiated by the little things.  How are you/me/we attending to the little things?