· Following a recent Administrative Staff meeting, your superintendent shared her concerns regarding the morale of all district employees. She cited a general tone of apathy and asked for your help in developing a plan for improving internal communications and morale. As a school principal, what suggestions and rationale might you provide to her to improve human relations? Be sure to address internal communications within your response.
In looking at a breakdown of employee morale, one must first evaluate the effectiveness of internal communication within the organization. If a teacher feels that they cannot turn to a colleague or administrator for support or guidance a feeling of isolation prevails and acts to reduce overall employee morale. Bagin, Gallagher and Moore (2008) reason the importance of effective internal communication for three reasons. First, the necessity of internal communication is in support of external communication. The superintendent must understand that without effective communication in the building the result will be a break down in the ability of a school to reach outside their walls and support the greater educational community. Second, ideas that can lead to improving educational outcomes can be both developed and fostered through positive communication within the building. The collective mind has the ability to reason and find solutions at a much higher rate than the individual. Third, it is human nature that the individual must feel supported and a member of a team. Through recognizing positive impacts brought to the educational community by the individual it has the positive effect of increasing productivity. By increasing professional recognition and professional collaboration the superintendent will see a positive shift in overall staff morale.
ReplyDeleteMorale of the staff in a school district can be the most important aspect for a school. If the morale is low or negative then that will spill out into the general public and vis-versa if it is high and positive. The text states that the human skills are equally important to administrative and supervisory roles. It is important to treat the staff as an important part of the school. With this in mind, I would suggest to the superintendent to use internal communications for more than just giving directions to the staff. Send out birthday wishes, anniversary notices, etc. to the staff. Try and celebrate each individual on staff. Let him/her know that you appreciate them on more than just a professional level. Let everyone know their accomplishments (earning Master's degree, accomplishments in a professional organization, etc.). Many times, the superintendent is seen as the person sitting in the office that has little interaction with people in the school. Getting out of the office for some face-to-face communication is good. I would advise that she sit down with each department chair, grade level leader, or every staff member if possible (size of school may limit this) and get a good feel for what they believe the biggest issues that the school faces are. Once you get an idea of what the main issues are for the school, meet with them again to get ideas on how they would confront them. Give the staff some ownership and you will get more buy-in by them. Set up committees that deal with certain issues to try and get them corrected.
ReplyDeleteA plan to improve internal communication and staff moral will need to be open and honest, recognizing faults of administration, implementing a plan of corrective measures, and sharing evaluation criteria. The plan will also need to recognize employee achievements and worth. This can be done by administration sending out emails to employees reinforcing positive behavior or good news sharing time at staff meetings. Collaboration between administration, teachers, and support staff should also be included in the plan. If change is the problem with the moral, being part of it and having by-in helps sell the plan to the rest of the group. Peer salesmen (teachers) are the best kind. The entire process needs to be open and transparent. Change needs to be done with groups, not to groups for better results.
ReplyDeleteMaintaining a positive moral among school employees is of absolute importance. As parents are great advocates for the school in the community, so also are teachers and other support staff. Nothing destroys a school's credibility in the community than employees who are consistently unhappy and voicing such opinions to all who hear. Obarski (2008) states that there are several things a good employer can do to improve the moral of the employees. Some of these suggestions include making sure all employees understand what is expected of them, holding all employees accountable for these expectations, communicating the expectations, and rewarding success in meeting the expectations. In the schools that I've been a part of, staff moral suffers when the staff feel there is no vision (or expectations) for what they are doing, where the school is going, or what they expect of students.
ReplyDeleteOften people feel apathetic when they feel powerless or voiceless. By giving district employees a voice in decision making processes, they will begin to have a greater stake in policies and initiative brought forth from the superintendent’s office. There are three key actions that I would advise as first steps to build a feeling of empowerment. First I would survey the district. I would give each department a three question short answer survey that basically asks their concerns. It is important that the survey be short to ensure a greater response and open ended as their may be a disconnect between employees’ possible areas of concerns and what survey makers might consider to be important concerns. I would publish those results that were reoccurring. The second big action would to have forums with different groups of stakeholders with the purpose of bringing their concerns to them and brainstorming what they see as possible solutions or roadblocks to solutions. Finally, I would suggest a page on the district website where employees might provide suggestions for solutions to district issues concerning their departments. I would emphasize that any of these steps would be ineffectual if the superintendent ignored the information provided when making decisions. While it is necessary to make unpopular choices at times, understanding the views of the people for whom the decision will have the greatest impact, will allow the leader to anticipate questions and provide assistance in implementing new plans.
ReplyDeleteDavid Sirota, co-author of The Enthusiastic Employee stated that there are three basic goals of people at work: They want to be treated fairly, have a sense of accomplishment from work, and have camaraderie. I might say to the superintendent that we should be asking our employees which one of these goals do they feel are not being met. And suggest that if we opened up the lines of communication we might be able to solve the problems and bring up the moral. While reading our book I really liked the One-Three-Six Workshop idea. I think I would suggest this technique to try and find out where the problem lies. In this workshop all employees of a school or school district meet and list anonymously their likes and concerns then each employee makes a group of three and combines their lists. Those three join another group of three and combine lists. Then the coordinator of the session takes the lists and writes on an overhead or flipchart the likes and the concerns. The top ten likes and the top ten concerns are voted on and then the group is formed in to committees to develop strategies for eliminating the concerns and maintain the strengths. I think this was an excellent way to hear from everyone while not calling attention to anyone. It opens lines of communication and also helps people get to know one another.
ReplyDeleteI would advise the superintendent to get some baseline measures of communications and morale within the district. Those measures could be obtained through a survey of working conditions, including communications effectiveness. Some of the specific questions on the survey could address the extent to which employees are aware and understand the district’s educational values (through its vision, mission, and goals) and related policies, the board of education’s role and impact on learning, the district’s commitment to professional development, the employee’s degree of awareness of and satisfaction with district publications and related communications, employee feelings of recognition, administration-employee relations, instructional practices and staff perception of facilities and equipment. A single survey instrument may not accommodate all of these areas. A district improvement committee or key communicator group may need to address some of these items through meetings and suggestion systems. The goal is a motivated, well-informed community of practice that carries out the work of the district in an environment that supports increased student achievement. The superintendent must be brave enough to find out whether she is setting the right tone for this to happen.
ReplyDeleteMaintaining positive staff morale is crucial to a successful school system. When staff morale is negative, it impacts the entire school. The students and parents feel it and it bleeds out into the community. Negative comments from staff will hurt the credibility of the school with parents and the community. It is critical that staff members feel valued by their administrators. Administrators need to be aware of the factors that motivate staff. Studies have shown that appreciation of their work, recognition and feeling informed motivates people. Staff must believe that the administrators are being sincere and honest to generate mutual respect and goodwill. The superintendent sets the tone for the district but each school administrator must demonstrate their commitment to positive staff morale. Once staff doubt their administrator’s commitment to them, it is difficult to change that opinion. I would suggest to the superintendent that she communicate to all staff her desire to improve internal relations in the district. It is critical that all staff be included. Too often, administrators focus on the teaching staff and exclude support staff, to the detriment of the district. I would recommend that administration conduct an internet survey asking the staff what they are pleased with in the district and what they would like to improve upon. Following the survey, I would establish a committee to review the results and make suggestions for improvement. The superintendent should be part of the committee and be prepared to take action when possible on the suggestions. At the same time, the superintendent should stress the need for individual administrators to talk one on one with their staff members to gain a better understanding of their workplace values. On an on-going basis, the district should encourage suggestions and input from staff, recognize staff accomplishments and celebrations such as birthdays and work anniversaries, and communicate activities/plans of the district to make staff feel included and part of the team.
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