Often it is easier looking for a new position than it is accepting the new appointment. Once your decision has been made you have to come to terms with announcing your resignation. Often the announcement is a shock as no-one knows that you were contemplating a new job.
Some will be happy, some will be disappointed (happy for you but disappointed for the organisation), others will begin to reflect on how the leadership change will affect them and others will want to know what’s wrong; Why would you want to leave them?
For me, this was most confronting.
As a principal who has put their heart and soul into the school, leading from the front, assisting from the side and following behind, telling staff that I was leaving our beloved school to take up a new position in a foreign country was extraordinarily difficult.
There are a number of layers to announcing your decision to resign. For me , once I accepted the new appointment and determined a starting date, I followed the Stephen Covey’s principle of starting with the end point in mind. My end point was the date I fly out to my new school.
Working backwards four weeks from my last day at school I then had the final date to hand in my resignation. From there I was able to plan the timing of the resignation letter and then informing our staff and wider community.
Sounds straight forward.
Sharing the news with my staff was quite a task. Knowing how attached I was (and still am) to the school and after working closely with the staff on our learning platform has been an amazing experience. Reflecting on our journey together over the past ten years and witnessing the grow of our staff, both professionally and in their personal lives, has been a humbling experience. Luckily I had the foresight to write a brief resignation speech to announce my news and to capture my thanks for helping me to be more than I am.
The next big task is the farewell assembly with the students.
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