School Culture: what makes it or breaks it!
In the workplace, ideas and fads come in and out of favour. One minute we are obsessed with finding out people’s strengths, the next it is all about cross functional collaboration, then the research tells us we can forget all that because the only thing we need to worry about is psychological safety. One thing that has never gone out of favour is workplace culture. There is a myriad of research demonstrating that everyone wins when we create a workplace culture that engages people and makes them want to come to work. In fact, we don’t even need the research because in our gut we know this to be true.
With the multitude of challenges people in education are facing, workplace culture has never been more important. One of the biggest challenges schools are facing is the teacher shortages. How does culture relate to this? If we create a culture that people never want to leave, we drastically reduce staff turnover.
In our The Flourish Movement research, we identified schools that had no trouble finding staff (in fact many had a waiting list of people wanting to work there). The common characteristic was they had a very clear vision for the culture they wanted to create and were very proactive around doing behaviours that created that environment.
However, this is easier said than done. The challenge we face with culture is it is very complex. Why is it complex? Well because it is made up of humans and we are really, really complicated creatures. As a result, trying to improve workplace culture can be so overwhelming we become paralysed by overanalyses.
A number of years ago, I was talking to an executive who said “The cultural and leadership piece does my head in. There are so many things to do, I just don’t know what to focus on!” My reply was “Have you ever asked your team what they want? What sort of culture do they want to be a part of.” He said, “No, it never really occurred to me to do that.”
To make it easier for school leaders, we decided to do the leg work for them. In focus groups (8 to 10 individuals per group) we asked over 1300 staff in schools (made up of different roles – teachers, admin staff, SLSO’s, etc) to come up with the most important aspects of culture that would either make them want to stay in the school or would make them want to leave the school. Specifically, we asked what behaviours people need to stop doing and start doing to create a culture that you would want to stay in.
Here are the top five behaviours that came up the most in the focus groups for both the ‘start’ and ‘stop’ categories:
Top 5 behaviour to start doing more of:
Being supportive of each other as team members, offering to help with work or emotional support in hard times.
Common politeness, good behaviour to colleagues, smile, and greet each other.
Demonstrating to others that you are actively engaging in the change process.
Receiving gratitude/praise from others. Being acknowledged and thanked privately or publicly engages people.
When good behaviour is witnessed, thank those people for doing it and draw attention to their good example.
Top 5 behaviours to stop doing:
Gossip and talking poorly of others when they are not there.
Prejudgment of others without understanding their situation or reasons for their behaviour. People assuming negative intention rather than having empathy or curiosity.
Dwelling on negative aspects of the role or negative events and constantly complaining.
Not holding people accountable for negative minor misbehaviours (remember the behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept).
5.a. Expecting people to work long hours and not helping them to have good work-life balance.
5.b. Blaming others and not acknowledge your role in situations.
What is very interesting is that many of the behaviours mentioned are things that all staff members of the school need to do. They are not just behaviours that we need to see from the leaders. This is in perfect alignment with our ‘Ripple Effect Research’ which shows that every member of a team shapes and influences its culture. Culture doesn’t just come from the top down; it also comes from the bottom up.
In case you would like to know what else the over 1300 staff that completed this activity said helps build the culture of the school or which behaviours have a detrimental impact on the culture, we have also included here the full list, with the behaviours broken down into cultural areas.
Behaviours to Start doing for a better workplace culture.
1. Culture and Team Environment:
Being supportive of each other as team members, offering to help with work or emotional support in hard times.
Common politeness, good behaviour to colleagues, smile, and greet each other.
Demonstrating to others that you are actively engaging in the change process.
2. Effective organizational structure
Ensure that everyone has clarity about what their role is and what additional things they must do when others are absent.
Being an energetic and positive staff member – bring joy and happiness to work.
Following through on action plans that come from meetings. Also, hold each other accountable for what people say they will do in a meeting.
Staffroom décor – plants, music on.
Staying calm when things are stressful as it helps others stay calm.
Have social activities available for staff to build connection and culture.
3. Positive Reinforcement and Recognition:
Receiving gratitude/praise from others. Being acknowledged and thanked privately or publicly engages people.
When good behaviour is witnessed, thank those people doing it and draw attention to their good example.
Providing positive reinforcement to students and colleagues. E.g., talk to them about the evolution and progress you have seen in them.
4. Accountability and Respect:
Hold people accountable for delivering work and doing what they said they would do.
Greater respect for others - general courtesy, no mobiles during meetings, turn up to meetings on time, tidy up communal areas.
5. Embracing Change and Culture Improvement:
Develop a workplace culture that truly cares for people and has a community of support.
Start embracing change, i.e., technologies, procedure, policies, culture. This will inspire others to do the same. Also, acknowledge and praise people who do this.
Articulate the benefit and reasons behind any change efforts so people understand why they are having to change.
Talk about examples of when people have adapted to new desired behaviours and the benefits that were seen from their action.
6. Communication and Collaboration:
Clear communication/debriefing – e.g., between all staff regarding the children that require extra support.
Collaborating with others. Sharing resources, ideas, and strategies.
Increase the level of communication that is positive. This creates a more constructive feel and culture in the school.
Reflect on how you receive feedback – If we respond constructively to feedback, it will create a culture where people feel safe to have hard conversations.
7. Learning and Development:
Have high expectations of students and each other – challenge each other to grow and evolve and improve.
8. Wellbeing and Work-Life Balance:
Set boundaries and communicate these firmly and kindly to others.
Respect other people’s boundaries.
Don’t make fun of or judge people when they prioritise their wellbeing.
Acknowledge individual strengths and capabilities.
Appropriately and effectively stand up and communicate issues even when confrontational (being an upstander).
Scheduled wellbeing time for reflection.
Wellbeing day/week.
"Wellbeing Week" - A week of morning teas, celebrating successes, focusing on what is important.
The following is what staff said had the most detrimental impact on the school culture.
1. Negative Culture and Mindset
Gossip and talking poorly of others when they are not there.
Prejudgment of others without understanding their situation or reasons for their behaviour. People assuming negative intention rather than having empathy or curiosity.
Lack of flexibility/unchanging mindset, people being stuck in their ways.
Glorification of overworking and not having boundaries between work and home.
Ignoring poor behaviour and letting people get away with behaviours that don’t align with the values and vision of the school.
Inconsistency in behaviour, not holding a standard that people must meet. This goes for staff, leaders, students, and parents.
Complaining about situations without thinking of solutions or how you can solve the problem.
Viewing mistakes as wrong and punishing people when they make mistakes.
Being competitive with your peers and as a result not sharing resources/ideas or supporting others.
Not having an inclusive culture. Stop the cliques - stop the social or faculty subdivides within the organisation.
Not letting go of the past, holding grudges.
2. Workplace Environment and Boundaries:
Dwelling on negative aspects of the role or negative events and constantly complaining.
Accepting negative minor misbehaviours (remember the behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept).
Overloading people with work (not respecting people's boundaries and personal lives).
Ignoring basic rules and procedures (e.g. mobile phones in meetings)
Procrastinating and avoiding administration tasks and new organisational processes.
Reluctance to ask for help (trying to just soldier on), not collaborating with others.
Tolerating physical and emotional aggression from students.
3. Communication and Behaviour:
Where possible, stop last minute changes and planning (have more structure and consistency) and stop assuming everyone is in the know about last minute changes.
Lack of clarity/transparency around decision-making, not telling us why decisions are being made.
Not having the hard conversations – yes, they are uncomfortable, but they let everyone know where they stand.
Spoon-feeding students and having low expectations of their behaviour.
Closed off to change and not evolving how they work.
4. Leadership and Collaboration:
Expecting people to work long hours and not helping them have good work-life balance.
Blaming others and not acknowledge your role in situations.
School being overly accommodating to the community (i.e., open door policy - staff need to keep their cup full to educate and support wholly by putting boundaries in place).
Stop comparisons – don’t compare staff with each other.
Open door policy - people need time to focus and have their boundaries respected.
Not creating psychological safety which stops people voicing their concerns and speaking up.