What schools get wrong about workplace culture
Three years on from the pandemic and staff in international and UK schools continue to experience poor levels of workplace wellbeing that are placing many on the path towards burnout.
In previous articles, I have discussed how educator burnout is primarily shaped by the systems, structures, characteristics, and culture of the school and needs to be tackled at the organisational level. Over the last two years my work has involved a much greater emphasis on supporting schools to measure and improve the quality of their workplace culture as a way to maximise staff wellbeing.
The themes that are arising from my research point to a number of common mistakes that schools are making that negatively impact the workplace experience and wellbeing of employees.
Belonging and community
The foundation of a positive workplace culture is a sense of belonging to the school community. When we feel accepted and included we experience a happy hormone cocktail that is highly beneficial to our wellbeing and helps us to build resilience to weather hard times. Isolation, on the other hand, is more detrimental to workplace wellbeing than bullying.
This is particularly pertinent for international schools where most employees live away from their support networks and look to school to provide both friendship and support. Despite this, I have found schools increasingly disregarding the importance of shared purpose and relationship building, both key factors in creating belonging for staff.
Shared purpose gives meaning to our work and provides a set of goals around which we can connect with others. This increases our motivation and levels of engagement and positively affects workplace wellbeing. Shared purpose is created through a strong vision and mission that is supported by all and is embedded into the daily life of the school.
Too often school employees tell me that they feel no connection to the school’s guiding statements. They report having played no role in formulating the mission and vision, and feel the statements do not represent the reality of what is happening in school. This undermines their sense of shared purpose and impacts how they feel about their work. It is a missed opportunity on the part of leadership to build a sense of belonging.
When we feel accepted and included we experience a happy hormone cocktail.
The erosion of community in schools is the single biggest change I have seen in recent years. Staff describe going weeks meeting only their immediate colleagues, as opportunities for wider professional collaboration and relationship building are incrementally replaced by other priorities.
This undermines the trust that is built when colleagues know each other well, making misunderstanding and the presumption of negative intent more likely and increasing the chance of workplace incivility. Burnout researchers have found that poor staff community is a major factor contributing to burnout in schools, second only to workload.
Yet school leaders often fail to understand how instrumental positive collegial relationships are to staff wellbeing and school effectiveness, seeing collaboration and community as being nice to have rather than essential.
Leader-staff relations
Research shows that poor relations with leaders are the main reason employees leave their jobs. Positive leader-staff relationships are crucial to creating a sense of workplace belonging and maximising wellbeing for staff. As a former principal turned researcher, I am surprised by the extent to which staff want more human connection with their leaders.
Employees tell me that they want to feel that their leaders know them, and they also want to know their leaders – not only professionally but personally too. I know how challenging it can be for leaders to find time to build meaningful relationships with staff, but it is crucial that they try.
Poor relations with leaders are the main reason employees leave their jobs.
Top-down decision making is a key factor undermining leader-staff relations. Research also shows lack of control at work to be the third biggest contributor to burnout in school employees. While some international schools are wonderfully collaborative, this is the exception rather than the norm.
Most international schools still have very top-down cultures and at best engage in what I call “fake consultation” where time is spent soliciting opinions from staff when a decision has already been made. Staff tell me how this undermines their trust in leaders and leaves them feeling disrespected, as their time is wasted and their insights and knowledge disregarded.
Recognition, appreciation and feedback
Being recognised and appreciated at work has been shown to have a highly positive impact on workplace culture and wellbeing but is an area that schools often get wrong. Too much recognition and appreciation is formulaic, taking the form of bland, generic shoutouts or feedback that is unspecific, unpersonalised and seen as disingenuous.
While there is a role for shoutouts, most staff tell me that they prefer quiet, specific, in-the-moment praise for things they have done well. I call this “noticing and mentioning.” They also want constructive feedback and support to improve their professional practice and assist with their career development that is individualised and meaningful. Most feel there is insufficient time allocated to discussing their professional development with supervisors and many are hungry for greater mentorship.
Six steps to improve workplace culture and avoid the pitfalls
- Spend time collaboratively developing or reviewing the mission and vision with the whole staff (and the rest of the school community). Ensure that the guiding statements are embedded into the life of the school.
- Provide time for staff collaboration and community building during staff meetings and personal development days. Give employees more input over how they spend this time.
- Prioritise leader-staff relations and ensure leaders are visible around the school.
- Provide opportunities for genuine collaboration and consultation around decision making and avoid top-down approaches or “fake consultation.” Where top-down decision making is unavoidable, ensure it is transparent and well communicated.
- Develop a culture of “noticing and mentioning” good work. This starts with leaders but can quickly trickle down to collegial interactions and become part of the workplace culture.
- Provide more time for mentoring of staff, learning about and supporting individual career aspirations.
link
