Creating a Culture of Appreciation

At the beginning of a new school year, we once again take up the conversation about teacher morale, retention, and burnout, and the challenges of recruiting and keeping good educators. We talk about compensation, workload, working conditions, and the demands being placed on teachers. And, of course, these conversations matter. But there is another conversation we should have as we begin anew, about something that costs very little -- both literally and figuratively -- and can have an enormous impact: authentic appreciation.

I am talking about something much deeper than an occasional – and generic – gesture of gratitude. True appreciation is about creating a culture where individual faculty members feel valued in the everyday moments of school life. It means recognizing that the people in our classrooms are professionals who give an enormous amount of themselves to their students, their colleagues, and their schools, often without anyone asking them to, and sometimes without anyone noticing.

It actually is not hard to do – this “appreciation” – and it doesn’t require elaborate planning, or a major line-item budget. On the contrary, it’s quite simple: make appreciation a habit, not an event. A culture of appreciation grows when people regularly hear, see, and feel that their work matters. Specifically. People know when appreciation is genuine because it communicates "I noticed what you did," and being noticed matters.

There is another form of appreciation that matters too: including people in decisions that affect them. If a decision is going to impact a teacher's schedule, classroom, responsibilities, curriculum, procedures, or working conditions, ask for their input. Of course, the leader does not have to ultimately do what the faculty member suggests, nor does every decision need to become a vote. Sometimes being a leader means making difficult decisions. Sometimes there are constraints that faculty members don't see. Sometimes, after hearing everyone's perspective, the final decision still has to go in a different direction. But there is a tremendous difference between saying, "This is what we're doing," and saying, "This is what we're considering. We want to hear from the people who will be affected by it."

People can accept a decision they disagree with much more readily when they know they were given a genuine opportunity to express their concerns, offer ideas, and share their expertise, and that their voice was included in the decision-making, regardless of the final outcome. When we ask faculty for their input, we are communicating that their experience and expertise matter.

Of course, consultation has to be for real. If leaders ask for input after the decision has already been made, faculty will recognize that quickly. The same Spidey-sense that lets us know when a student is trying to pull one over on us is pretty good at detecting when leadership is doing the same.

Consultation matters for another reason: you don't want to lose the voices of the people who care enough to challenge you. Every school has someone who asks the hard questions, challenges decisions, and points out what isn't working. That person may ask questions we'd rather not answer, but we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss them. They may also be the person who sees what the rest of us don't. Willingness to speak up often comes from caring deeply about the school and wanting it to be better. In fact, the person you should worry about is the one who suddenly stops “complaining.” When they stop questioning, offering ideas, and pushing back, they may not have become happier, they may have simply stopped believing anyone is listening. Or even stopped caring. And when that happens, you haven't just lost a complainer; you may have lost access to one of your most valuable sources of expertise. Consulting the faculty in decision-making shows them that you respect their experience and appreciate their contributions.

Of course, appreciation does not replace fair compensation. A thank-you note doesn't pay the mortgage. A shout-out doesn’t make up for an inadequate salary. A pizza party doesn't solve workload issues (and sometimes it takes us away from the work we want to be doing!). In education, as in all industries, compensation matters, and school leaders have a responsibility to get that right. But leadership also has a responsibility to make sure that faculty feel respected, heard, and valued.

And that costs nothing.