Trajectories-the role of the interim head/leader

Having served several schools as an interim head, I have begun to develop my own vocabulary to describe the sort of work that I and my colleagues in this specialized niche undertake at our schools. In recent years I have become enamored of 'trajectory' by which I mean objects/projects that are given an initial impetus by the interim leader, but, whose outcomes are often uncertain.

Examples of trajectories range from the mundane [reviewing policies and procedures and issuing new directives as needed] to the consequential [advocating and securing board approval for major investment in a key new position or program]. If the horizontal x-axis above represents time and the vertical y-axis could be thought of as amount of change. The other factor, if I remember my 1964/5 physics correctly, is the initial angle of the launch....my science goes no further!

The 'trajectories' that are the most important vary from school-to-school. If there has been a period of internal turmoil it's often necessary to put major emphasis on rearticulating the traditional roles and responsibilities of the head/staff and board. Conversely when succeeding a founder or long-serving head the interim's most important trajectory might be to initiate and facilitate a process of testing long held opinions or reviewing dispassionately existing protocols, policies or programs.

The area where it is important to tread most carefully is the initation of trajectories that represent a total reversal of past practice and which may be at odds with the school culture or with the reasonable expectations of current parents or potential applicants. While it may be reasonable to ask an interim to help 'shape things up' [implement policies that have lain dormant, for example], it is beyond the purview of the interim to effect a sea change--converting a 'warm and fuzzy' school based on team leadership and consensus to an efficient, top-down player in the 'hot, flat' world of the 21st Century.