Checking Our Blind Spot: Staff Morale

In my book Culturize, I make the statement that each one of us is responsible for our own morale.  We cannot and should not allow others to live rent free in our heads. Having said that, I also know that all of us from time to time fall victim to allowing others to dictate our mood and our attitude. None of us is immune. There were times throughout my career when I allowed the words, actions or behaviors of others to determine my mindset and how I approached each day. I was most susceptible when I was tired, frustrated or felt like my work wasn’t valued or appreciated, especially by my supervisors, whether it was my principal when I was a teacher or my Superintendent when I was a principal. Maybe some of you have felt that same feeling or level of hurt.There are moments and days when I still get caught in this way of thinking, even though I know better, but they have slowly lessened over the years. Perhaps over time as I’ve aged and my experiences have broadened, I’ve learned not to let those emotions linger and disrupt my entire day. The good news is I no longer carry that burden for very long or let it control my entire day like I once did. Now in my new role as CEO of my company I do my very best to make sure my associates feel valued, appreciated and most importantly, cared for. Honestly and proudly, I can say I truly love them and want them to be successful in every aspect of life, both personally and professionally. I am not perfect by any means, but I do strive to model a standard of excellence that I expect from myself and the work we do today in serving the principals, schools, districts and organizations with whom we work.So why do I share this with you? Because we all have blind spots.These blind spots serve as reminders that regardless of our title in schools today, all of us still play a role in determining the morale of those who work alongside of us and for us. I still feel strongly that ultimately we are responsible for our own attitudes and the level of energy we bring to the table each day, but I also believe we can impact and influence others merely by the way we treat them. If we begin to see that how we treat others can have an impact on an individual, we can better understand how we can impact the overall mood and morale of an entire staff or team, which eventually leads to how people inside and outside of our organizations view our culture.I was reminded of this very idea again earlier today during a conversation with a principal colleague of mine. He shared how he had reached out to a director at central office this past week regarding a concern that he and others had and offered to help by sharing a possible solution and some resources. He shared that after he read the email response from this director, he felt dismissed and in some ways, not appreciated. To make matters worse, this director did a complete 180 after hearing from some others in the district, eventually deciding to move forward with the recommendation brought on initially by this principal, but then failing to acknowledge this person’s contribution to addressing the district’s problem.So this got me thinking. I wonder how often morale lingers in our blind spot and what role we play in creating the conditions that cause us to change lanes and miss it? More importantly, what steps can we identify that are needed in order to help us see the big picture and lead others in a more positive way that strengthens our morale and therefore our overall culture. So here are a few steps I would suggest:8 Steps to Acknowledge and Validate the Suggestions of Others

1. Upon receiving a suggestion(s) from a co-worker, thank them for investing the time to share their thoughts and ideas with you.
2. Call them or have a F2F conversation with them so you are clear on the amount of research that was done to help move an idea forward or to gauge the level of concern shared by this individual (ie: are they hearing this same concern from others?).
3. Communicate that you plan to reach out to others to get their view/perspective on things and then let them know you will get back to them.
4. Once you have collected more information on the issue, bring all parties together to thank them for their input/concern and share your thoughts on how you plan to handle the matter moving forward.
5. Gather feedback again before making a final decision on how you plan to move forward.
6. Communicate to the school community the process you used, who was involved and the reason behind your decision in order to provide clarity and reduce confusion.
7. Have a pre-established process for how you will handle calls and complaints so everyone is on the same page on how future communications will be handled.
8. Follow up with a personal phone call or visit to the individual who first brought this to your attention and thank them for their time and more importantly for their leadership and their willingness to help you lead.

When we fail to acknowledge or dismiss the contributions of others, regardless how big or small, we miss an opportunity to strengthen the core of our community; the value of what people bring to the organization. Trust is cultivated when we take the time to personally invest our time in others and confidence is built when we listen to others and validate their ideas not only by our words, but even more so through our actions. When we leverage the talents and strengths of those in our organization, not only do we build capacity by fostering more leaders, but we enhance the overall morale of those who work in our schools and districts.Yes, I still believe we are responsible for own morale, but I also believe we can have a positive overall effect on the morale of those around us by how we respond to their ideas and suggestions. We can’t always see everything, but we can expand our vision by being more intentional in acknowledging and validating the contributions of others so they are not left feeling empty like my colleague mentioned above did this morning.So I ask you, have you checked your blind spots recently?