Schools and colleges are communities; collections of people all living and working together. In order to thrive, a community must push in the same direction. It must also adhere to the laws of nature. These laws state that which does not grow, dies. It is the same with communities. Communities that stand still die.
Communities only grow when they are driven. Just as nature requires growth, physics states that anything stationary will remain so until something acts upon the object (and my physics teacher thought I didnt listen .). Communities are stationary until people provide the force to create motion. Creating a force requires energy. All good communities need energetic people.
Energetic people make things happen. They contribute. They provide motivation to others and move them to action. Communities full of energetic people grow, develop and evolve.
The best schools and colleges employ people for their energy and not their credentials. This energy permeates throughout the organisation. Other staff members feel it, students feel it and parents feel it. The organisation becomes dynamic and thrives.
Credentials and energy are not mutually exclusive. There are decorated teachers who ooze energy. We argue that their energy will make more of a difference to your school or college than their decorations. They will manage your football teams, they will organise trips, they will help students through tough patches and they will wow at open days. In short, theyll make your organisation a pleasure to be part of. Your school will buzz. As Malcolm Gladwell stated in Outliers, you only need to be intelligent enough. Character and personality attends to the rest.
Teaching takes energy, creativity and tenacity to achieve anything. High qualification does not indicate these qualities. Personal energy does. Amass a staff body of energetic teachers and your school will reap the benefits. Provide a group of energetic people a strong leader and your school will achieve great things. A thriving school is a game of consistency and not of moments of brilliance. Pay for people with the energy to maintain consistency and contribution; not for those who may produce sporadic glimmers of brilliance.
