Vital Mindsets Reference Guide
Complete leadership framework for thriving schools
This comprehensive reference guide contains all seven Vital mindsets with detailed descriptions, practical applications, and actionable strategies. Click any mindset to explore deeper.
The Seven Vital Mindsets
Click to explore each mindset in detail
Joy Is Essential
What This Mindset Is
Sustainable leadership starts with joy. This mindset honors joy not as a distraction, but as fuel—for resilience, connection, and humanity in our schools.
How It Looks in Practice
Leaders create space to celebrate, stay present with their people, name their own learning moments, and protect the rituals that help teams stay whole and connected.
- Model this mindset for other leaders in your network
- Design routines that sustain joy during high-stress seasons
- Invite staff to name and nurture what brings them energy and purpose
- Begin the week by naming one joyful moment - however small
- Practice full presence in one daily interaction every day (eye contact, listening, pausing)
- Share one honest moment of not-knowing with your team to model humanity
We Learn Our Way Forward
What This Mindset Is
Experimentation and reflection are core to effective leadership. Missteps are learning opportunities rather than failures.
How It Looks in Practice
Leaders name their work as a pilot, not a finished product. They build reflection into team rhythms, share what they're learning (even when it's messy), and normalize iteration as a path to clarity.
- Coach others to view change efforts as experiments, not final solutions
- Create systems that support cycles of learning (e.g., mid-initiative debriefs, feedback loops)
- Facilitate team reflections that lead to real-time adjustments
- Start a meeting by saying, "Here's what we're trying out right now"
- Build in 15 minutes after a team effort to reflect on lessons learned
- Share one personal learning moment—what didn't go as planned, and what it taught you
- Ask "What did we learn?" regularly
Start Small, Start Now
What This Mindset Is
Clarity and agency grow through small, doable steps.
How It Looks in Practice
Leaders help teams pick a clear next step, take action even when things aren't perfect, adjust plans based on what's realistic, and make it easier for others to move forward.
- Celebrate small wins
- Prioritize clear, manageable goals
- Support others to break big goals into manageable actions
- Build in quick wins that build confidence and energy
- Choose one small action your team can take this week—and do it
- Look for one barrier you can remove to help someone else get unstuck
- Start an important project, even if the conditions aren't perfect yet
Change Sticks When It's Shared
What This Mindset Is
Culture change lasts when it's co-created (not imposed).
How It Looks in Practice
Leaders invite input early, not after decisions are made. They build shared ownership by co-leading with staff, make space for every voice in the room, and treat feedback as fuel, not a formality.
- Involve others in the design of goals and plans - not just implementation
- Share how staff input has shaped your leadership moves
- Create consistent spaces for shared decision-making and feedback
- Ask an open-ended question before offering your own idea
- Try a protocol that ensures everyone gets a voice in meetings
- Shift one leadership responsibility to be co-led with staff
Honesty Builds Trust
What This Mindset Is
Trust deepens when leaders communicate with candor, empathy, and consistency. Trust doesn't come from having all the answers - it comes from being real, even when it's hard.
How It Looks in Practice
Leaders name tensions instead of avoiding them, share what they're still figuring out, and give feedback with both honesty and empathy. They create space where others feel safe doing the same.
- Share how you're learning in real time
- Name gaps between current practices and values
- Be transparent about how and why decisions are made
- Model vulnerability by sharing lessons learned or moments of uncertainty
- Use reflection tools that encourage real talk - not just what's polite
- Acknowledge a challenge or tension out loud—and invite your team into the solution
- Practice giving feedback that's both direct and caring
- Ask someone you trust, "What's something I might not be seeing?"
- Celebrate small wins
- Prioritize clear, manageable goals
- Support others to break big goals into manageable actions
- Build in quick wins that build confidence and energy
- Choose one small action your team can take this week—and do it
- Look for one barrier you can remove to help someone else get unstuck
- Start an important project, even if the conditions aren't perfect yet
Change Sticks When It's Shared
What This Mindset Is
Culture change lasts when it's co-created (not imposed).
How It Looks in Practice
Leaders invite input early, not after decisions are made. They build shared ownership by co-leading with staff, make space for every voice in the room, and treat feedback as fuel, not a formality.
- Involve others in the design of goals and plans - not just implementation
- Share how staff input has shaped your leadership moves
- Create consistent spaces for shared decision-making and feedback
- Ask an open-ended question before offering your own idea
- Try a protocol that ensures everyone gets a voice in meetings
- Shift one leadership responsibility to be co-led with staff
Honesty Builds Trust
What This Mindset Is
Trust deepens when leaders communicate with candor, empathy, and consistency. Trust doesn't come from having all the answers - it comes from being real, even when it's hard.
How It Looks in Practice
Leaders name tensions instead of avoiding them, share what they're still figuring out, and give feedback with both honesty and empathy. They create space where others feel safe doing the same.
- Share how you're learning in real time
- Name gaps between current practices and values
- Be transparent about how and why decisions are made
- Model vulnerability by sharing lessons learned or moments of uncertainty
- Use reflection tools that encourage real talk - not just what's polite
- Acknowledge a challenge or tension out loud—and invite your team into the solution
- Practice giving feedback that's both direct and caring
- Ask someone you trust, "What's something I might not be seeing?"