In our overly hurried world, urgency often feels necessary, driving schools to meet deadlines, achieve benchmarks, and respond to ever-changing demands. As school leaders, it’s easy to see urgency as essential for getting things done. But what if this sense of urgency undermines your school’s long-term success?

This week, the right to disconnect provisions came into force. The change has not come soon enough for some, but it was only a matter of time before these amendments to employment conditions were introduced. They are the first to directly address the impost of urgency upon employees and effectively trigger a slow-down warning to employers.

In this post, we’ll explore counterintuitive insights that challenge the conventional wisdom around urgency. By rethinking how urgency is applied in your school, you can foster a culture that meets immediate goals and supports sustained growth, innovation, and well-being for staff and students.

First, let’s review the pros and cons of urgency within any organisation.

The Pros and Cons of a Culture of Urgency

The pros are evident and well-established.

·         Accelerates decision-making

·         Drives focused action

·         Enhances productivity

·         Promotes innovation

·         Builds a culture of accountability

·         Aligns the school around common goals

School leaders gloat over these outcomes and readily hold them aloft when progress is waning. What leader wouldn’t want to achieve these? Yet, the opposing side is often ignored or discredited as though the pros were sacrosanct.

For some leaders, the cons are a list of dishevelled negativities bound to detour success and usurp achieving their objectives.

·         Burnout and stress

·         Short-term focus

·         Quality compromises

·         Erosion of team morale

·         Inhibited creativity and innovation

·         Unsustainable pace

·         Negative impact on relationships

·         Ethical compromises

So, how does innovation make it to both lists?

The reason is that urgency is not the devil; false urgency is.

False urgency is often rooted in anxiety, which drains motivation. A healthy dose of urgency can be a positive instigator, whereas false urgency can stifle innovation as educators become more risk-averse.

So, let’s explore those counterintuitive insights and rethink how urgency is applied in your school.

1. Urgency Can Undermine Long-Term Learning Goals

When misapplied, urgency can inadvertently shift the focus from deep, meaningful learning to simply checking boxes. When educators are constantly pressed for time, the temptation is to prioritise what’s easiest to measure—test scores, attendance rates, or completed assignments—over what truly matters: critical thinking, creativity, and long-term knowledge retention.

A culture of constant urgency often leads to surface-level understanding, where students are taught to pass the next test rather than grasp the underlying concepts that will serve them throughout their lives. This approach can create a cycle in which educators, under pressure to produce immediate results, neglect the deeper, more reflective learning experiences that are essential for students’ intellectual growth.

What to Do About It: As a leader, consider how you can create space for reflective teaching and learning. Encourage your teachers to step back from the immediate pressures and invest in activities that foster deep understanding. This might mean giving them more time for lesson planning, professional development, or collaborative discussions about best practices. You can help your students achieve more meaningful and lasting success by valuing depth over speed.

2. Slow Down to Speed Up

It might sound counterintuitive, but sometimes, the best way to accelerate progress is to slow down. Schools that rush to implement changes or adopt new initiatives without thorough planning often struggle to keep up with the demands they’ve created. On the other hand, schools that take the time to plan carefully, consider all options and prepare their staff thoroughly often see faster and more sustainable improvements.

This “slow down to speed up” approach allows educators to fully understand the changes, integrate them effectively into their practice, and avoid burnout from constant, frantic adaptation.

What to Do About It: Prioritise thoughtful planning and preparation over rushing to meet immediate goals. Allocate time for your staff to engage in professional development, collaborate on new initiatives, and reflect on what’s working and isn’t. By doing so, you’ll improve the quality of the work being done and create a more sustainable pace that supports long-term success.

3. Urgency Can Diminish Innovation in Schools

A sense of urgency can often stifle creativity and innovation, which thrive in environments with time to explore new ideas and approaches. When educators constantly race to meet deadlines, there’s little room for experimentation or trying out novel methods. Paradoxically, by creating a culture where urgency is balanced with time for exploration, you can foster more significant innovation, leading to more effective teaching and better student outcomes.

Rewarding an activity will get you more of it, and punishing an activity will get you less of it.

Daniel Pink’s insight that “rewarding an activity will get you more of it, and punishing an activity will get you less of it” applies perfectly here. If we only reward urgent, deadline-driven activities, we’ll get more of them—at the expense of innovation. But if we reward creativity, experimentation, and thoughtful problem-solving, we’ll see more of those qualities emerge.

What to Do About It: Create intentional “slow periods” where educators can experiment with new teaching methods, technologies, or curricula without the pressure of immediate results. Consider implementing innovation grants or awards that recognise creative approaches and reward risk-taking. Doing so will encourage a culture of continuous improvement that benefits both staff and students.

4. Urgency Can Erode School Culture

A relentless focus on urgency can damage school culture, leading to stress, burnout, and reduced collaboration among staff. While urgency may help achieve short-term goals, it can also create an environment where teachers and administrators feel constantly overwhelmed and disconnected from each other.

When educators are perpetually in “crisis mode,” there’s little time for the relationship-building and collaboration essential to a healthy school culture. Over time, this can lead to decreased morale, increased turnover, and a less supportive environment for staff and students.

What to Do About It: Balance urgency with a strong focus on maintaining a positive, supportive school culture. Invest in team-building activities, create opportunities for staff to connect outside work pressures, and encourage open communication about their challenges. By prioritising well-being alongside productivity, you can make a more resilient school culture that can withstand the pressures of urgency.

5. Urgency in Leadership Can Create Dependency

Your leadership sets the tone for the entire school. When you consistently drive urgency, you may inadvertently create a dependency where staff wait for directives rather than take the initiative. This can lead to a reactive culture where teachers are less empowered to make decisions and innovate in their classrooms.

In contrast, leaders who balance urgency with empowerment create an environment where teachers feel confident taking initiative and making decisions. This proactive culture fosters greater collaboration, innovation, and resilience.

What to Do About It: Empower your teachers by giving them the autonomy to make decisions and take initiative in their classrooms. Encourage a culture of shared leadership, where educators are not just following directives but actively contributing to the school’s vision and goals. This approach will reduce dependency and build a stronger, more adaptable school community.

Conclusion

While urgency has its place in driving progress and achieving goals, it’s crucial to recognise its potential downsides in a school setting. By rethinking how urgency is applied, you can create a more balanced, thoughtful approach that fosters deep learning, innovation, and a positive school culture.

Remember Daniel Pink’s wisdom: “Rewarding an activity will get you more of it. Punishing an activity will get you less of it.” By rewarding the right activities—creativity, thoughtful planning, collaboration—you can cultivate a school environment that meets immediate challenges and thrives in the long term.

As a forward-thinking leader, you can transform urgency from a source of stress into a tool for sustained success. It’s about finding the right balance, empowering your staff, and creating a school culture where urgency and innovation can coexist for the benefit of all.