Which 24 Months Will Define Your School's Future?

Which 24 months matter most in your school leadership career?

Most leaders figure this out too late, after they've already wasted their most critical window.

If you're a new principal, you're in one of those critical windows right now. If you're planning your exit, you're in the other. Either way, what you do next determines whether you build a school that runs without you, or one that collapses the moment you leave. This post will show you how to evaluate where your systems are broken (or missing entirely), so you can leave with a runway, not a hole.

Think About This

It's Tuesday morning. Your inbox has 47 unread emails. Three parents want meetings. The board chair needs the budget update. A teacher called in sick. The boiler is making strange noises. Your spouse texts: "Will you make it to dinner tonight?"

You stare at your to-do list: 50+ items, all marked urgent. Which one matters most? You have no idea. So you do what you always do, react to whoever is loudest and hope you're building something that lasts.

Sound familiar?

The Real Problem Isn't Your Effort, It's Your Systems

Here's what most principals miss: you're not failing because you don't work hard enough. You're failing because you're building on heroics, not systems.

Heroics look like this:

• You answer every question

• You make every decision

• You're at every event

• The school can't function when you're gone

• "Just ask [Principal Name], they'll know"

Systems look like this:

• Clear processes are documented

• Decision-making authority is delegated

• Staff are empowered to solve problems

• The school runs smoothly when you're away

• "Check the playbook / Ask your team lead"

Here's the cost of heroics: You burn out. Your family gets your leftovers. And when you try to leave? The school collapses.

A thriving Christian school isn't built on one charismatic leader doing everything. It's built on systems that run without you, anchored in your Christ-centered mission.

Before You Can Evaluate System Health, You Need to Know What Systems Matter Most

Most principals don't know where to start because they've never seen a complete picture of what systems a school actually needs. Here are the five essential systems every Christian school must have:

1. Leadership & Vision Systems \\ Mission alignment processes, strategic planning cycles, leadership development pipelines, and board relations frameworks.

2. Academic Excellence Systems \\ Curriculum management, assessment and progress tracking, teacher development programs, and parent communication protocols.

3. Student Life & Discipleship Systems \\ Student discipleship frameworks, behavioral management systems, extracurricular coordination, and college and career guidance.

4. Operational Excellence Systems \\ Financial management processes, enrollment and admissions pipelines, facilities management protocols, and technology integration systems.

5. Community & Culture Systems \\ Communication, staff culture development, parent engagement strategies, alumni relations programs, and community outreach frameworks.

If you're a new principal, you're probably discovering that some of these systems don't exist at your school. If you're planning your exit, you're realizing that too many of these systems depend entirely on you.

Either way, you need a diagnostic tool to figure out where to focus first.

How to Evaluate Your System Health: The POWER Assessment

Most principals don't know where their systems are broken because they've never evaluated them. The POWER Assessment gives you a simple framework to diagnose system health across all five essential areas.

Here's how it works. For each of the five essential systems, rate them using these five criteria:

P - Purpose Clear: Does everyone understand why this system exists? ___/5

O - Outcomes Delivered: Are we getting the results we designed for? ___/5

W - Workflow Smooth: Do the steps make sense and flow logically? ___/5

E - Energy Positive: Does this system create or drain energy? ___/5

R - Results Sustainable: Can we maintain this long-term? ___/5

A perfect score is 25/25 per system. Anything below 15? That system needs your attention.

Here's what's powerful about this: it shows you exactly where to focus. You're not guessing. You're not reacting to whoever complains loudest. You're measuring system health, then filtering your priorities through your mission.

What This Looks Like Practically

If you're a new principal (First 24 months):

Use the POWER Assessment in your first 90 days to identify which systems are missing or broken. Don't try to fix everything at once, focus on the 2-3 systems scoring lowest. Build them right from the start.

Maybe your Operational Excellence system scores 10/25 because there's no enrollment pipeline. Or your Community & Culture system scores 8/25 because staff culture depends on personality, not process. Start there. Build systems that will scale as the school grows.

If you're planning your exit (Last 24 months):

Use the POWER Assessment to see where your school will struggle when you leave. If Operational Excellence scores 12/25 because financial management runs through you? That's your priority. Document it. Delegate it. Make it transferable before you go.

Maybe your Leadership & Vision system scores 14/25 because there's no leadership development pipeline. You haven't raised up the next generation. That's the work of your last 24 months, building the systems that ensure the school doesn't need you to survive.

The goal for both audiences is the same:

Move from scattered to strategic. Build a school that runs without you. Leave with a runway, not a hole.

Ask Yourself:

If I left tomorrow, which systems would collapse? Which ones would keep running?

A thriving Christian school isn't built on heroics, it's built on systems that run without you, anchored in your Christ-centered mission. Your leadership should create lasting impact, not just another transition.

What You Do Over the Next 24 Months Dictates Everything

What you do over the next 24 months dictates the future viability of your school. Whether you're starting strong or finishing well, the answer is the same: evaluate your systems, build what's missing, and lead strategically—not reactively.

You can walk away on Fridays knowing the school is growing. You can build a leadership pipeline that doesn't depend on you. You can get your family back without guilt.

Your mission deserves nothing less.

Ready to See Where You Stand?

Take the 5-minute Clarity Scorecard (https://5minclarity.scoreapp.com) and discover if your school is too dependent on you. Then book Your Fog-Lifting Debrief. We’ll map the 3 systems you must build now.

Building stronger schools,

Steven Barker