You lose thousands of dollars every time you replace a faculty member. How many times do you have to do this per year? Imagine 5 or 10 years from now, you have the same faculty, they are excited to come into work every day, are beyond efficient, and you have students and families excited to be a part of the community.
How do you do create that future? Create an amazing school culture.
“Well, how the heck do I do that?” you may ask. If you are looking to build awesome school culture (or even just amazing quality of life) there are three things you need to focus on:
- Relationships
- Relationships
- Relationships
Relationship is defined as “the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected.” Key word: Connected. As humans, we have a relationship to everything external to ourselves, not just to people, but also to objects and ideas. We also have a relationship internally to ourselves; to our thoughts and feelings. On our teams and in our lives, how we connect is what cultivates relationship. The interaction in our relationships is what makes the difference in our company as well as personal success. There is even a relationship to success!
What does success look like to you, or should I say, what is your relationship to success? Is it happy faculty? An engaged student body? Both? Studies show that positive culture directly correlates to student engagement and well-being.
In schools, amazing culture isn’t built because they have dress down days, or better coffee in the faculty lounge. The best school cultures are built when every individual on every level is connecting and supporting each other authentically. If we hide and play alone, or put on facades and are dishonest, then we aren’t connecting. Thus, we break the connection and the relationship breaks down.
So how is school culture improved? Do the day-to-day tasks of faculty matter? Are the tasks at hand things that people enjoy doing? Does it matter if they enjoy it?
The school needs to have a Vision and a Mission. Leadership needs to ask themselves some questions:
What is our purpose?
What are we as a collective trying to achieve for our students?
Who do we want them to become?
Ideally, the faculty’s day-to-day tasks are in service of whatever those answers are; those beautiful school goals and dreams. For an individual as well as a team, this is your big “WHY” or “WHAT FOR”.
Does the faculty do it for the paycheck? Health benefits? Dress down days and coffee? What do they get out of being loyal and doing excellent work?
We as humans are WILLING to do almost anything if we are present to and invested in the end result (the “Why” or “What For”) we want to achieve. For example, not everyone enjoys the gym, but everyone is willing to go when they are present to and invested in looking good and/or feeling good or just achieving whatever health and wellness goals.
However, a clear vision and mission isn’t enough. They are useless if the leadership doesn’t engage and enroll the rest of the team in that mission. Mission must be grounded in Relationship. There is often a disconnect between the passion of heads of school and the passion, or lack thereof, from faculty. But if heads of school and other senior leaders connect with each other and with the faculty, then departments may go beyond willingness, and actually WANT to do the work and want to take on the difficult tasks to achieve the school’s goals. Contributing toward the Vision and Mission actually becomes the faculty “WHY” and “What For”.
Think again about the gym metaphor, but now about the strongest and fittest people at the gym. The people who crush it at the gym actually want the blood, sweat, and tears. They want the struggle. They want and maybe even enjoy the process, not just the result. The difference between WILLING and WANTING is the relationship to the tasks and the reason for doing them. Leadership has to be responsible for cultivating the faculty relationship to the actual work and the Vision and Mission the work is in service of.
So, for faculty to truly be successful, they not only have to be clear on the mission, they have to be enrolled in it. Honesty, Authenticity, Openness, Vulnerability, Trust are big buzz words, but are key in how we connect and how awesome culture is cultivated. Once this is modeled at the top, others down the line enroll in this way of being; truly connected. Disagreement and feedback become not only acceptable but encouraged! All team members not only can say the necessary things and do the necessary tasks, but they can also give people the space to do the same. Everyone can play a part and contribute fully.
This is how relationship is cultivated and is the foundation for total enrollment in mission, joyous and effective culture, and massive school achievement.
Relationships create trust and loyalty, not just in schools, but also in life. Relationships allow us to love and be loved.
This is why relationship matters.
Dress down days and better coffee are nice too.
