Your Vision is Just Words on a Wall

The Wallpaper Vision Problem

Every school has a vision.

It’s printed in strategic plans, displayed on websites, sometimes even painted across the foyer wall.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: in most schools, that vision doesn’t breathe.

It isn’t shaping teaching. It isn’t guiding professional learning. It isn’t influencing culture.

It sits there — polished words, disconnected from daily life.

I call this wallpaper vision.

It looks impressive. It ticks a compliance box. But if a vision doesn’t breathe, it cannot lead.

The Barrier: Fragmented Vision

In the Culture of Excellence framework, we call this barrier Fragmented Vision.

It happens when there’s a gap between what a school says it is and what it actually does. The vision and mission exist, but only as static statements. Staff may nod politely when asked about them, but in reality they don’t shape behaviour, professional learning, or decision-making.

One principal told me bluntly:

“We have a vision, but no one really believes in it.”

That wasn’t because the staff lacked care. It was because the vision wasn’t realised.

The Cost of Wallpaper Vision

The cost of a vision without ownership is enormous.

Staff disengagement.

When teachers don’t see the vision connected to their work, they stop relating to it. Instead of inspiring, it creates cynicism. A staffroom poster about “empowered learners” can feel hollow when daily practice never connects back to it.

Disconnected professional learning.

Schools invest heavily in professional development. But if it’s not aligned to vision, it becomes scattershot: a workshop here, a conference there — none of it building capacity toward a shared purpose. Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) call professional learning “the deepest cultural investment a school makes.” Without alignment, that investment is wasted.

Cultural drift.

Without vision shaping culture, schools drift. Urgency takes over. Leaders and teachers feel busy, but not purposeful. Strategic priorities exist on paper, but day-to-day decisions are driven by noise.

The bigger the gap between words and reality, the weaker the culture becomes.

The Stress of Fragmentation

The ACU Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey (2023; 2024) makes this even clearer. It found that principals’ highest stress factor was role conflict — being pulled in too many directions without clarity about priorities.

That’s what happens when vision is fragmented. Staff don’t know what matters most. Leaders juggle competing demands without coherence. The result is exhaustion and burnout.

But when vision is realised — translated into measurable behaviours and aligned professional learning — coherence replaces conflict. The vision doesn’t just inspire, it reduces stress by clarifying direction.

The Research Foundation

Educational research reinforces this.

Michael Fullan (2011) argues that coherence — aligning vision, capacity, and action — is the driver of reform. Without coherence, vision stays abstract.

Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) show that professional learning is not an add-on but the deepest cultural investment a school makes. Every dollar, every hour of PD should build capacity toward the vision.

John Hattie (2016) identifies collective teacher efficacy as the most powerful influence on student achievement. But efficacy thrives only when teachers believe their daily work is building toward a shared purpose.

The ACU Principal Surveys (2023; 2024) highlight role conflict as the number one stressor for leaders. Fragmented vision amplifies that tension; realised vision reduces it.

The evidence is consistent: clarity plus capacity plus evidence equals realised vision.

The Three Leadership Shifts

So how do schools move from wallpaper to culture?

It requires three shifts — each one transforming vision from static words into lived reality.

Shift 1: Align Professional Learning with Vision

Professional learning is where culture is built. Yet in too many schools, it’s scattered.

I once worked with a school where staff had attended workshops on growth mindset, literacy strategies, trauma-informed practice, and digital learning — all in the same year. Each session was well-intentioned, but none of it connected back to the school’s stated vision of “resilient, creative learners.” Teachers left feeling overwhelmed and unconvinced. The investment was real, but the impact was fragmented.

Contrast that with another school I worked with. Their vision prioritised student agency and creativity. Every professional learning session was aligned to those two priorities. Teachers built skills in project-based learning, formative assessment, and reflective practice. Each new initiative connected back to the vision. Over time, staff began to see their own growth as part of something bigger.

This is exactly what Hargreaves and Fullan describe in Professional Capital. They argue that PD must be seen not as isolated events but as the deepest investment a school makes in its culture (2012). When PD is scattershot, capacity is wasted. When PD is aligned, culture is strengthened.

“Every dollar spent should build capacity toward the vision.”

That’s the first shift: stop treating PD as a series of disconnected events, and start treating it as the cultural investment that realises vision.

Shift 2: Define What Vision Looks Like in Practice

Vision statements are often filled with big words: lifelong learning, resilience, excellence. But unless those words are translated into concrete practice, they remain abstract.

I remember asking a group of teachers what their school’s vision of “lifelong learners” looked like in Year 5. Silence. Then someone said, “Well, they enjoy learning?” Another added, “They do their homework?” No one could define what “lifelong learning” meant in observable terms.

Now imagine if that same vision was defined like this:

• Lifelong learning in Year 5 means students set personal learning goals, reflect weekly, and demonstrate persistence in problem-solving tasks.
• Evidence includes goal-setting journals, reflective writing samples, and persistence in collaborative projects.

That changes everything. Suddenly the vision isn’t abstract. It’s visible. It’s measurable.

This is where Hattie’s work on collective teacher efficacy is crucial. His research shows that efficacy — teachers’ shared belief in their ability to impact students — is the single strongest factor in achievement (Hattie, 2016). But efficacy only thrives when staff know what success looks like and can measure their progress toward it.

“If you can’t see it, you can’t measure it. If you can’t measure it, you can’t realise it.”

That’s the second shift: define your vision in observable, measurable terms so staff and students can see it alive in practice.

Shift 3: Create a Line of Sight from Classroom to Culture

When vision is fragmented, staff feel disconnected from it. They may see it as “the leadership team’s job,” not theirs.

I often test this by walking into a school and asking teachers:

“How does your work connect to the school’s vision?”

In aligned schools, teachers can answer clearly. They describe how their classroom practice supports the improvement plan, and how that plan connects to vision. In fragmented schools, I get blank stares or polite guesses.

The difference is line of sight.

The ACU surveys reveal that role conflict — not knowing what’s most important — is the top stressor for principals. But this isn’t only a leadership issue. When teachers don’t see how their work connects to the vision, they too experience role conflict.

Creating line of sight reduces this stress. When every staff member can articulate how their daily work contributes to the vision, coherence replaces conflict.

“Vision without line of sight is just decoration.”

That’s the third shift: make sure every staff member can see, and say, how their work connects to the vision.

Case Story: From Drift to Direction

At one school I visited, the vision spoke of “empowered, future-ready learners.”

But when I asked staff what that meant in practice, they weren’t sure. Professional learning was scattershot. Staff morale was low. Everyone was busy, but not purposeful.

The turning point came when the leadership team redefined the vision into three specific priorities: student agency, creativity, and resilience. They aligned PD to those priorities. They defined what each priority looked like in practice, and they built a line of sight from classrooms to culture.

Two years later, the vision was no longer wallpaper. It was visible in teaching, assessments, and student work. Staff could explain how their practice connected to the vision. Students could articulate what “agency” looked like in their learning.

That’s the transformation: from drift to direction. From wallpaper to realised vision.

Measurement: From Words to Evidence

This is why measurement matters.

When I visit schools, I always begin with the website. I read the vision and mission carefully. Then I spend the day in classrooms.

And I ask myself: Where do I see this vision alive in practice?

Too often, I don’t.

That’s wallpaper vision. The bigger the gap between description and reality, the more credibility the vision loses.

That’s why we created the Culture of Excellence Snapshot. It maps a school’s reality against the six aspects of excellence, including vision, and shows leaders where alignment exists and where it doesn’t.

It gives you an evidence base to close the gaps.

🔗 Take the free Culture of Excellence Snapshot

Leadership Principle

Vision without ownership is just wallpaper.

Vision realised becomes culture.

It guides decisions.

It connects professional learning.

It shapes daily behaviour.

“Vision is not a statement you make. It’s a culture you measure, invest in, and breathe every day.”

References

Australian Catholic University. (2023). The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2023: Data report. Institute for Positive Psychology and Education.

Australian Catholic University. (2024). The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2024: Data report. Institute for Positive Psychology and Education.

Fullan, M. (2011). Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform. Centre for Strategic Education.

Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school. Teachers College Press.

Hattie, J. (2016). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 1,200 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.