In Building Community in Schools (Jossey-Bass, 1994), Thomas Sergiovanni characterizes vision as an "educational platform" that incorporates the school's beliefs about the preferred aims, methods, and climate, thereby creating a "community of mind" that establishes behavioral norms.

Louise Bywaters in her article " Walking on Water or drowning in it? The risky business of the Principalship" advises us all and especially those of us new to the Principalship role to do the following to build our survival strategies until time, experience and learning fill the gaps during the next 2-3-4 years….

develop a personal leadership statement that outlines your own values, beliefs, standards and bottom lines about your professional work… it is like a safety net during tricky times.

keep the focus on the core business of your school
form or join a network of others in the same position, preferably with a mix of experiences

read good texts of undertake a program on time management and personal organization. Design a plan for your day, week, term, year.

work on a realistic strategic plan of what is important and possible in a school year and stick to this religiously.

develop a set of steps for a "problem solving under pressure and duress" strategy

establish a life-line colleague

look at the power of leadership and know how you tick in relation to power and how you get it most effectively

join a professional association that broadens your network and stretches your perspective

mix with people from other walks of life, share their knowledge and learn and teach in a new context

learn about systems theory and its relevance to schools. Apply systems thinking to your work.

understand chaos theory – give up trying to control, and work on strategic influence.

gather a toolkit of processes for building dialogue, problem solving, creative thinking and participative decision making

start the conversations about leadership and shared community building in your school. Build leadership capacity in others.

work on a long-term leadership development plan of your own

make your home and family your haven and your personal space

spend time learning about what drives you.

take regular does of humour and don’t take yourself too seriously.

use time and space for reflection and planning, documenting and analysis of data, writing and creating new things.