From Wallpaper to Culture

• A vision without ownership is just wallpaper. It looks good but doesn’t shape behaviour.

• Fragmented vision is the core problem. Schools often say one thing but live another.

• Wallpaper vision disengages staff. When the words don’t match reality, people stop believing.

• Misaligned PD wastes capacity. Professional learning must build the skills needed to realise the vision.

• Culture drifts without a lived vision. Schools default to busyness, habit, and short-term firefighting.

• Vision must be translated, defined, and measured. Clarity of practice and evidence turns aspiration into culture.

• Alignment and line of sight are essential. Every staff member should see how their work connects to the vision.

• Realised vision requires three leadership shifts. Align PD, define practice, and create a clear line of sight.

“A vision without ownership is just wallpaper. A vision that is realised becomes culture.”

Let that sit for a moment.

Because here’s what I see, time and time again. I visit hundreds of schools every year, and almost all of them have their vision and mission proudly displayed. It’s on the website. It’s in the foyer. It’s even painted down the corridor walls in bold letters.

But when I sit down with staff, or walk into classrooms, I rarely see a school that is the school it describes itself to be online.

That’s what I call wallpaper vision. It looks impressive. It ticks a compliance box. It reassures people that, yes, the statement is there. But it doesn’t breathe. It doesn’t shape behaviour. And if your vision doesn’t breathe, it will never shape your culture.

Fragmented Vision

In the Culture of Excellence framework, we call this barrier Fragmented Vision. Fragmented vision happens when there’s a disconnect between what a school says it is and how it actually operates.

The vision and mission statements exist — but they are static. They’re something you have, rather than something you live. Over time, staff stop paying attention. They see it as compliance. Just wallpaper.

Leaders often admit this to me in frustration. They’ll say: “We have a vision, but no one really believes in it. It doesn’t guide decisions in classrooms, or how people approach their work day to day.”

That’s not because staff don’t care. It’s because the vision has been allowed to sit apart from the real work of the school. It’s fragmented. And the cost of this disconnect is significant.

The Cost of Wallpaper Vision

First, it leads to staff disengagement. When teachers see the vision as words on a page, not something that’s lived out, they stop relating to it. It doesn’t inspire them. It doesn’t inform their practice. And the bigger the gap between the words and the reality, the more cynical people become.

Second, it leads to professional learning that’s disconnected. I see schools investing heavily in PD, but often in areas that don’t directly link to their stated vision or strategic priorities.

That means time, money, and energy are going into things that might be worthwhile on their own — but they aren’t building the capacity of staff to actually live the school’s purpose.

And third, it means culture drifts. Without a vision that is realised, schools default to the path of least resistance. Short-term firefighting. Operating by habit. Leaders spending their energy on what’s urgent, rather than what’s important. The result is a school that feels busy, but not purposeful.

So when vision is just wallpaper, the cost is disconnection, wasted capacity, and cultural drift.

Realising Purpose and Vision

That’s why, in the Culture of Excellence framework, this aspect is not just “Vision.” It’s called Realising Purpose and Vision. Because having a vision statement is not the hard part. Realising it — bringing it to life so it shapes behaviour and decision-making every day — that’s the real work of leadership.

And what does that take?

It takes translation. Those aspirational words need to be translated into practice. If your vision says you’re committed to “empowering learners to be confident, creative contributors,” you need to define what that looks like in classrooms, in assessments, and in professional learning communities. Otherwise, it stays abstract.

It takes definition. Schools must get clear about what evidence will show they’re moving closer to the vision. What does “confident” look like in practice? How would we measure creativity? What would “contributors” be doing that proves we’re on the right track? Until you can measure progress — both quantitatively and qualitatively — the vision remains an aspiration, not a culture.

It takes alignment. Professional learning must be directly tied to the vision. I see professional learning as the single most important investment a school makes in building staff capacity. But for that investment to pay off, it must be clear: *This is our vision. This is how we plan to achieve it. This is the learning we’re doing to build that capacity. And this is how we’ll measure progress.* When staff see that alignment, the vision becomes real.

And finally, it takes a line of sight. Every staff member should be able to tell me how the annual improvement plan is being actioned in their classroom, and how that plan connects to the vision and mission. Without that clear line of sight, realisation doesn’t happen.

“Vision is only real when it can be seen, measured, and lived.”

Story – The Website Test

Whenever I visit a school, the first thing I do is read the vision and mission on their website.  Then I spend the day in classrooms, staffrooms, and leadership meetings. And I ask myself: “Where do I see this vision alive in practice?”

And most of the time, I don’t.

That’s the problem of wallpaper vision. What you describe yourself to be online doesn’t match the lived reality of your school. And the further apart those two things are, the less credibility the vision has with staff, parents, and students.

The Role of Measurement and the Snapshot

This is where measurement becomes critical.

If your vision talks about developing resilient learners — what’s the evidence for resilience? How do you know if students are becoming more resilient? If your mission says you value creativity, what are the indicators?

That’s why we developed the Culture of Excellence Snapshot. It’s a diagnostic tool that helps schools map their reality against the six aspects of excellence — including Realising Purpose and Vision.

It acts like a mirror. It shows you where you’re aligned, and where there are gaps between what you say and what you live. And it provides the evidence base to start closing those gaps.

Research and Leadership Insight

This isn’t just opinion. The research is clear.

Michael Fullan (2011) reminds us that coherence — the alignment of vision, capacity, and action — is the key to meaningful school change.

Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan (2012) describe professional learning as the deepest cultural investment a school can make.

And John Hattie’s (2016) synthesis of over 1,200 meta-analyses shows that collective teacher efficacy — the shared belief that staff can deliver the vision together — has the single strongest effect size on student achievement.

The ACU Principal Health and Wellbeing Surveys from 2023 and 2024 add to this picture. They show that role conflict — being pulled between urgent demands and strategic priorities — is one of the biggest stressors for school leaders. And fragmented vision makes that worse, because the urgent always beats the important.

But when vision is realised — when it’s measurable, aligned, and alive — leaders report greater clarity, staff alignment improves, and culture gains resilience.

The Three Shifts Leaders Must Make

So how do we move from wallpaper vision to realised vision? It comes down to three shifts.

Shift 1: Align professional learning with vision.

Professional learning is often a scattergun list of workshops or whatever happens to be available. But if your vision is about creativity, then your PD must equip teachers with strategies to foster creative learning. If your vision is about resilience, PD must support that. If the learning doesn’t build capacity for the vision, it’s a distraction.

One principal told me: “We stopped treating PD as an optional add-on. Now, every session is designed to move us closer to our vision.” That’s alignment.

Shift 2: Define what vision looks like in practice.

Abstract words don’t change culture. Practice does. If your vision is about “lifelong learners,” what would that look like for a Year 3 student? What would you see in their work, or in their behaviour? Leaders need to describe it so clearly that staff can recognise it in daily teaching. Without definition, vision is just aspiration. With definition, it becomes a standard that staff can measure themselves against.

Shift 3: Create a clear line of sight.

This is about connection. Every staff member — from the newest graduate teacher to the most experienced leader — should be able to explain how their daily work connects to the annual plan, and how that plan connects to the vision. In strong schools, I can ask that question anywhere and get a confident answer. In most schools, I can’t. And when I can’t, that’s the sign that vision is still just wallpaper.

“Clarity plus capacity plus measurement equals realised vision.”

Challenge for Leaders

So here’s my challenge. This week, read your school’s vision and mission. Then ask three staff members: “How do you see this vision in action in your classroom?”

If they can’t answer, that’s not their fault. That’s the signal. The signal that your vision hasn’t yet been realised.

That’s where the work begins. “A vision without ownership is just wallpaper. A vision that is realised becomes culture.”

If you’d like to see how your school’s vision aligns with your lived culture, take the Culture of Excellence Snapshot. It’s free, it’s diagnostic, and it will give you clarity on where you stand and where you need to grow.

And if you’d like to explore how the Culture of Excellence Program can help your leadership team move from wallpaper vision to realised vision, book an exploration session or message me to explore possibilities:

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.

Fullan, M., & Hargreaves, A. (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.