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Next Step Educational Services

The most expensive mistake I see school leaders make

Published about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Hi Reader,

Welcome to the first issue. Quick promise: every issue should leave you a little better equipped to lead next week than you were before you opened it. If one ever doesn't, reply and tell me — I read every one.

Here's the most expensive mistake I've watched school leaders make for twenty years — and made myself more times than I'd like to admit.

It isn't a bad decision. It's a fast one — a confident, well-intentioned solution to the wrong problem.

A student is struggling, so the team writes more goals. Staff are leaving, so the district raises pay. A teacher's classroom is chaotic, so you send them to a training. Every one of those is reasonable. And every one of them can be a confident answer to a question nobody actually checked. The goals didn't help because the barrier was never a goals problem. The raise didn't stop the departures because people weren't leaving over money.

Here's the habit that's saved me the most, and it's almost embarrassingly simple:

Before you change the implementation, change the diagnosis — or at least challenge it once.

When a problem lands on your desk with an obvious solution already attached, ask one question before you act:

"What would have to be true for the obvious solution to actually work — and have I checked whether it's true?"

That's it. Most of the time, asking costs you sixty seconds and confirms the obvious solution. But maybe one time in four, it stops you from spending real money, real staff goodwill, and a semester of momentum solving a problem you didn't have.

This week: the next time a solution shows up already attached to its problem, pause and ask what would have to be true for it to work. Just once. See what it catches.

Eric Wicherski, M.Ed.

Next Step Educational Services

Reply anytime — I read every one.

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Next Step Educational Services

Practical professional development and leadership notes for school and special education leaders — one short, useful email a week from Eric Wicherski, M.Ed., founder of Next Step Educational Services. Ready-to-deliver PD your team can actually use, plus straight talk on what's changing in special education.

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