The WHY of the why...

Why is having a clearly defined "Why" narrative so important to the success of an IT Department?

 I think that a clearly defined "why" is very important for the success of any department in a school or company, especially a school's IT department since its success (or failure) has an effect on the rest of the school.

 Now that I have watched Simon Sinek's TED talk : How great leaders inspire action I understand better why I feel the IT department of my school is not quite succeeding. (http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html)

I did not understand the problem at the beginning. I know the IT director personally and I can assure he is a very inspiring person. Great to talk to. Everyone's friend. The rest of the team are very well qualified and professional members, great personality too.... However, my school's IT department is not achieving what it could.

 Communication from my IT department is from the outside. Most of us know the what: what works, what does not work, what should be working better, etc. In other words: the end product. Very few of us know the how: how they get it to work, how we can report a problem, etc. However, I believe very few people (if any) in my school know the "why" of the IT department.

Personally I think that students' learning and teacher's support should be in the list of priorities, but I have the feeling that these two are hidden by others such as Marketing, Accounts, Business Plans...

 I believe that a school should be driven by the earlier, not the later and I would like one day to see how the Capital Letters are awarded to the Students and Teachers and not to our second God.

 Thanks for reading this post.

 Looking forward to your comments,

 Alvaro Serra