Cultivate Staff Motivation
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As a building leader, one spends a lot of time trying to create the best environment for student achievement. Principals focus on countless topics, including analyzing and applying assessment data, supporting parents, finding ways to better motivate students, and establishing social emotional learning. In fact, Hattie (2016) argues that these are all secondary concerns to what has the most important impact on student achievement. One of the most important factors is actually the school leader’s ability to build shared purpose among all staff and a belief that, by working together, the team as a whole can make a difference.
Jen Schwanke (2021) explains 5 steps principals can take to build staff motivation. Those areas are:
Listen: Use active listening to identify if staff conversations reflect a team orientation. If this is not the case, model plural language focused on teamwork.
Remove competition: Limit competitive reward systems that elevate individuals. Instead, focus on rewards and feedback that is more centered on a team or the staff as a whole.
Present expectations with care: Reframe expectations to be more motivating. For example, rather than stating, “Lesson plans are expected to be turned in Friday,” say something like, “If we use our collaboration period, we can have our lesson plans completed before leaving for the weekend.”
Look Inward: Actively celebrate the school’s successes in a way which engages and motivates staff.
Build teachers up: Regularly thank teachers for specific efforts.
You can read each of these steps in more detail in the article, First Engage the Teachers: A Principal’s Role in Cultivating Staff Motivation.
Schwanke, J. (2021, June 17). First, Engage the Teachers: A Principal’s Role in Cultivating Staff Motivation. ASCD. Retrieved January 28, 2022.