For every community to become great, we must have clear identification of roles and responsibilities for everyone on the team. Then we must let people do their work within each role. Earlier I shared nine stakeholder roles. I believe every stakeholder has important responsibilities. These nine roles combine to form a puzzle for student success. I believe this solved puzzle paints a bright future for our students. I refer to this picture as the G MIRACLES puzzle. This puzzle reinforces my value that students are cherished and at the center of all our actions.

Shared Understanding and Acknowledgement of Collective Desires

Each letter in G MIRACLES clarifies roles and responsibilities of the team to make its people great. For example, how can we understand what School Board Members may want? We must understand their feelings, thinking, and actions. How? By asking and understanding their answers to three questions: why, how, and what. For School Board Members, I label these responsibilities as “Grace, Guide, and Govern.” The model above shows what the acronym MIRACLES represents for the other eight roles.

Individuals may serve in multiple roles on the team. Sometimes there is an overlap of responsibilities in relation to other roles. For example, a principal may be a parent. In both roles, they care. It helps when they say why and how they think something. Sometimes there is a conflict of responsibilities in relation to other roles. For example, a board member may be a parent. They should not generalize their personal experience as a parent in one school with one teacher to a practice that exists across the system. Yet, all could be working toward the same desired outcome. By understanding such tensions, we can overcome persistent challenges in schools. We motivate action toward growth and development.