How To Get People To Like You

Everyone has a desire to be liked. It’s woven into the fabric of our being. People who claim they don’t care if people like them are lying. They do care. 

As leaders we cannot let this desire to be liked influence our decision making. In fact, one of the first lessons I had to learn when I accepted my first leadership position was that I had to get comfortable with people not liking me. If I was going to be effective as a leader, I had to get comfortable with making decisions I knew were going to upset people.  To be an effective leader, I had to embrace the fact that I couldn’t be friends with the individuals I was leading. I couldn’t be their friend, BUT I could have a great relationship with them. In fact, I had to work extremely hard a building and maintaining a good relationship with them because I knew that at some point I was probably going to upset them and I when that happened I still needed them on my side. 

So how do you build relationships with people? How do you create a good first impression when meeting people, so that they want to help you succeed? Here is what I have learned:

1. Be real. Be authentic. Be yourself. Don’t try to impress, because people can detect that phony crap, and it will end up hurting you more than helping you. Just relax and be yourself. 
2. Talk about what they are intersted in. This is where most people mess up. As human beings we are extremely selfish and self absorbed. We have a tendency to make everything about us. We have a tendancy to turn every conversation into a conversation about our life. Fight that tendancy! Figure out what the other indivual is interested in, and get them to talk about that! I guarantee you that if you get good at this skill, then that person will leave that conversation thinking very highly of you. 
3. Be consistent. This relates to number one, but is slightly different. This deals with the long game. People trust what they can predict. No one likes or is loyal to a leader that is radically inconsistent on how they respond to adversity, or the people they lead. As leaders, we should strive to be so consistent that when something happens the the individuals we lead should be able to predict how we are going to respond-even what we are going to say. 

If you can train yourself to do these three things well, then you will find that the individuals you lead will be loyal to you, and that opportunities will present themselves that might not otherwise. 

5 Keys to Delegation

Great leaders understand that their time is their most valuable asset. And in order to maximize their output, they have to minimize the tasks and responsibilities that they are using their time to do that others in the organization are capable of doing, so that they can focus their time on the tasks and responsibilities that only they as the leader can do. 

Let me illustrate this with a recent example of this in my own life. For years as an elementary principal I made it my goal to take pictures for our district’s Facebook page to promote all the wonderful things we were doing. I would always start off the year strong only to peter out two months into the school year. It wasn’t that that stopped being important to me, it was just that the demand of running a building overwhelmed me, and this quickly slid to the bottom of the priority list. I realized that I had responsibilities that only I, as the principal of the building, could do, and I needed to focus my time and energy on those items. There were others that honestly would be better than me at taking the pictures of what is happening in the classrooms and writing the captions for the posts. I just needed to find someone, share my vision with them, and then support them to do the work. 

In my first year as Superintendent of Manson Northwest Webster I changed a central office staff members role to do just that. I knew as Superintendent I needed to focus my time and energy in: articulating the vision of the district; building leadership capacity in my building leaders; ensuring the financial health of the district; building relationships and partnerships with community and corporate partners; and telling the story of our district. The district will benefit a lot more from me investing myself into these areas of responsibility rather than taking pictures for a Facebook post. So my communications director and I educated ourselves on branding, came up with a strategy, and she executed our plan, while I provided the support, and I think the district is better off because I delegated that responsibility. 

As leaders the first step in this process is to identify the areas of responsibility that only we can do. 

The next step is create time to invest our talents into this work. My October 5th blogpost explained how to create time by eliminating time wasters, but another way to create time is to delegate the tasks that you can to people who are capable. And this is where a lot of leaders mess up. You can’t just pick any person and assign them your to-do list, and expect it to get done exactly how you want it done. We must be careful and intentional about how we delegate for it to happen successfully.  Here is the process that I use when delegating. 

1. Select the right person. This person must exhibit the following character traits to be considered a future leader:
   1. Humility: must understand that he/she does not know it all and exhibits an appetite to continually learn and develop. Must put the needs and recognition of others ahead of him/herself
   2. Confidence: must have the self assurance that they can do the job
   3. Courage: can’t be afraid to take risks, or be stretched
   4. Situational awareness: must have the discernment to understand the situation and the best approach to the situation
2. Explain to them your vision for them, and what success would look. Have them repeat it back to you. You must be very clear on this to avoid misunderstandings. 
3. Give them the entire responsibility, so that they own it. 
4. Don’t interfere. Give them consistent and clear feedback through the process, but don’t interfere. 
5. Stay connected with the progress. Recognize them for a job well done. 

This process requires a lot of upfront work by the leader, but over time it builds capacity in your up and coming leaders in your organization and frees you up to the leadership work that only you can do. 

Have a great Happy Thanksgiving!

Want A Break From COVID- Create Peak Moments

Traditionally the school experience for staff and students is very similar day to day. While this provides a level of safety and comfort for our staff and students, it can also lead to fatigue, boredom, and an overall dip in morale. 

One way to combat this is to create “peak moments” throughout the year. A peak moment is a moment that is above the normal everyday experience. Bringing my wife flowers unexpectedly and for no reason would be an example of a peak moment because it rises above the everyday norm. 

As an administrator of nine years, if I reflect back on those nine years, most of it is forgettable with a few occasions that I remember: the color run, getting a tractor bucket of ice water dumped on me, and going to state competitions to watch our students compete. What would happen to the staff morale, learning environment, and climate and culture of our buildings, if we as educational leaders got into a habit of intentionally thinking about how to create peak moments for our staff and students? Answer- staff morale would rise making the recruiting and retaining of staff easier; students would enjoy school more, changing the learning environment to one of anticipation and excitement; the overall climate and culture of the buildings would become more positive. 

Anyone who has worked in education understands the grind of the school year, and the effects of that grind, and as administrators, or leaders, we can easily fall into the rhythm of always addressing complaints. We then work and hope for “smooth sailing” rather than working on creating unbelievable experiences for our staff and students. One way to combat that is to intentionally plan and prepare to create peak moments for your staff and students. It’s time to start playing offense rather than defense. So, how do you do it?

In Chip and Dan Heath’s book The Power of Moments they outline the three criteria for creating peak moments:

1. Boost Sensory Appeal: this means to make the moment look, feel, and sound different
2. Raise the Stakes: this means to add an element of productive pressure: a game; performance; deadline; competition. 
3. Break the Script: this means to go above and beyond the expectations of a stereotypical experience. Be random and sporadic, yet calculated, with a surprise and delight

When we are trying to create these moments we should strive to hit all three of these and at the minimum two of the three. Make no mistake, this is hard to do, which is why most leaders don’t do it. It requires a lot of time and work on top of all the other stuff you have to do. But you will reap the benefits of these experiences for a long time, and possibly transform your school or organization into a place that people want to go- a destination place. 

One last note. This is intended for school leaders, and can really be applied to anyone who leads an organization, but this can and should be applied to your personal life as well. I encourage you to make it a priority to create peak moments for your spouse, children, family, and friends. We so easily get caught up in life, and if we aren’t careful we will have wasted all the opportunities to have these moments and then they are gone. I would much rather we all, in the later stages of our lives, look back with joy and satisfaction as we reflect on the special moments we had with those we care about, then look back with regret.

How to Build Capacity in Others

If you aspire to be a great leader, then you aspire to inspire people to work hard at becoming the best version of themselves. Because if all the individuals in your organization grow into the best version of themselves, then the organization grows into the best version of itself. 

Some leaders are very charismatic and ooze inspiration. Five minutes with them and you feel like you can do anything. But what about the rest of us? How do we inspire the individuals we lead, if we do not possess that God given charisma? Answer: Find out what each individual wants for themselves: guide them in forming achievable goals with plans that will get them what they want, and benefit the organization; and then work hard to help them achieve it. 

Find Out What Your People Want

The first step is to know what each individual in your organization aspires to accomplish.  This is going to require you to build a relationship with each person, and communicate with them regularly. There are many responsibilities and demands on your time as a leader, and this can easily succumb to the to-do list, but you must intentionally make time to communicate with your people and get to know them. Get to know their strengths, limitations, aspirations, and fears. In doing so you will realize what motivates people (money, things, recognition, etc) and what they are passionate about. Find the one thing that they care about deeply, or aspire to achieve, and figure out a way that you can help them do that for their own benefit, but for that of the organization as well. 

When I was the Elementary building Principal at Manson Northwest Webster, I would intentionally and consistently meet with my teachers during their prep times to hear from them what was going well and where they were struggling. In those conversations I found out where people’s passions lie, as well as the skill set that they each possess. We had many ongoing conversations about how we could strengthen our building. Then when it came time for them to set their annual Individual Professional Development Goals, it was easy because we had been talking about it continuously. Each individual picked a goal that they cared about personally, and I made sure that it aligned with our building goals and strategic plan. This flipped the traditional top down building wide improvement plan that we see so often, creating an organic self-driven improvement plan that each individual owned and was willing to persevere when times got challenging. 

Guide Them in Forming Achievable Goals with Plans

Here is the secret sauce. As the leader, build the structure and systems that gives each individual the plan to achieve the success they desire. I mentioned above the Individual Professional Development Plans. The teacher would write SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) in the area they really wanted to achieve in (I made sure they were aligned to our building goals and strategic plan), and we would lay out the weekly, monthly, and trimesterly lead indicators, or action steps, they and I would have to successfully do in order for them to achieve their goal. By focusing on the weekly action steps for both of us, it created a narrow focus and ownership by both parties. 

Work Hard to Help Them Achieve It

Our weekly conversations then became very meaningful, as we had a plan with specific weekly, monthly and trimesterly milestones for us to pursue. My job as leader was to remove any barriers that existed between them and their goals, as well as give them whatever support they needed to achieve them. My job was to ensure that they were doing the weekly action steps we agreed upon. This is accountability- the perfect blend of pressure and support. If they failed to do their weekly action steps, then it was my job to find out why and help them correct it. If they did hit their weekly action steps, then it gave me an opportunity to praise them for their hard work, dedication, and help in the organization achieving its mission.

Celebrate!

At the end of the year we would celebrate their accomplishments, and start dreaming about what to go after the next year. 

Now as Superintendent I do the same with my building principals and directors. The roles have changed, but the process has stayed the same. I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to motivate people, I just have to help each individual clarify the vision they have, build the plan, and support them until they achieve it. It’s a blast!

Tactics to Change People

One of the main responsibilities of a leader is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your team, or organiztion, to maximize output. This is true in every industry. So as a leader you need to be constantly improving the structures and systems in which your team members work, AND improving the capacity of each team member to optimize their talents within those structures and systems, which will result in maximizing the output for the whole team or organization.

Working on the structures and systems in which your team operates is relatively easy. Working to build capacity in your team members is hard, because we are all people full of emotions. If you are in a leadership position undoubtedly you’ve encountered someone on your team that needs to improve in some area of their job performance. If you haven’t you will. Now, you might be lucky and this person might be eager to learn and grow, and therefore be very open to your feedback and work hard at making the recommended changes or suggestions that you gave them. But what if they aren’t like that. What if they are comfortable in how they do their work, and resistant to change? What if they are so full of self doubt or insecurity that they view every suggestion you have as a personal attach? Or, what if they are so arrogant and full of themselves that they are completely blind to the areas in which they need to grow? How then do you go about helping all your team members improve and change?

Here are some tactics that might be effective when trying to get your team members to willingly grow and change and feel happy about it?

• Start with the positives first: We all are naturally defensive when people come at us with all the areas we suck at. So to lower the defenses of the other person start first with sharing all the areas that they are strong in and how that really helps the team/organization. Then when you sense their defenses are lowered, share your observations leading to a recommendation for improvement or growth, or even better- ask them questions to lead there, which is my next tactic.
• Ask the right questions: Lead someone’s thining to where you want them to go by asking questions that will lead them there. For example, instead of telling a person that they need to improve in communication, ask them “Is being good communicators important for our team to be the best we can be?” They will say yes. Then follow that up with something like “Reflect on your own communication skills- where are you good and where do you need to improve?” After they answer that, work with them on some ways they can grow in their improvement area and then make sure to follow up with them often afterwards to see how it’s going.
• Correct or discipline someone in a way that keeps their dignity entact: Correcting or discipling a subordinate is going to happen. You have no control over when it will happen or what it will be about, but you do have control over how you handle it. Empathy is huge here. Put yourself in their shoes and think how you would want to be treated if the roles were reversed. Then as a leader speak truth in love, work with them on an improvement plan and support them along the way.
• Recognize, Acknowledge, Praise: Just in general, make it a habit to be giving positive feedback to your team members, specifically acknowledging and praising behavior you want repeated. Write them a card, send them an email, tell them in person. The form of the feedback is not important, but be specific! They will work hard to be recognized again for a job well done. Do this with some of your poorest team members and watch what happens!
• Give them a vision for themselves to look up to: Some of your team members might view their position as job, not a calling. You as the leader need to change this if you want to maximize your talents. You need to give them a very clear vision for themselves that they can get a hold of and pursue. Be very clear on how you see their talents helping the whole organization, and how you need them. Then look hard for evidence of them working toward that and do the bullet point above- recognize, acknowledge, and praise them for it.

Again our job as leaders is to build the structures and systems that put our team members in the best position to be successfull, and then work hard to coach them up to optimize their talents. Here are a few ways to do that- if you have more you would like to share with me, then email me at jdaggett@mnwcougars.com and we can learn from each other!

A Culture of Communication

One way we as leaders can build trust with all staff members in our building is to be very intentional and effective at communicating. Communicating is one of the most important aspects of leadership, and one of the hardest to do well. 

It starts with the environment, we as leaders create. We must create safe spaces to have continuous open and honest dialogue with all stakeholders about issues that are important to both parties. It is crucial that everyone is given a voice, and dignity and respect are kept at all times. It is the responsibility of the leader to create and facilitate this. KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING!

As leaders when we are communicating to our staff members we must be crystal clear about three things:

1. Where are we going? What is the vision for the organization? 
2. Why are we going there? What is the purpose behind this vision? 
3. What is their role? Clearly explain to each employee what their role is in pursuing the vision.

Effective leaders that I have studied are broken records when it comes to these three things, so much so that their staff members are able to complete their sentences. That should be the goal of all of us as leaders! As Chris Hogan says, “To be unclear is to be unkind.” Lack of clarity and confusion of roles will lead to a demoralized staff, and could lead to losing talented people. BE CLEAR!

Three Types of Communication

1. Body Language & Appearance: In my opinion this is the most important because it is the loudest. People will remember body language and tone over the spoken message. 
2. Spoken: Face to Face communication. Always the preferred method of communication, because the receiver can read body language and tone. 
3. Written: Most efficient and convenient method of communication (email), but can be a dangerous way to communicate, because body language and tone is missing. Use this  for simple communication (announcements), but in instances where a problem or conflict needs to be solved requires a face to face meeting.

How To Facilitate Clear Communication With Your Staff:

When I was a building principal I had a staff of around 60 people, and now that I am superintendent that has grown to around 130. Below are some tactics I have employed to try to create a culture of communication. I try to do these consistently in concert with one another to ensure there is clarity of message, and people’s voices are being heard. You of course may have to adapt these to scale up or down depending on the size of your organization. 

Staff Meetings

• Have consistent staff meetings where the leaders of the team will give a quick summary to the rest of the staff what their team has been working on, or reminders of what we need to be working towards. We will also celebrate successes and recognize staff at this time. Recognizing staff members is a powerful way to motivate them and create an excellent culture. This should be done both privately and publicly. We must be intentional about recognizing the behaviors we want to see all staff do (servant leadership, positivity, building relationships, etc). 
• Staff meetings should be 30 minutes or less. 

Team Meetings

• Before meetings the team leader will meet with building Principal before the team meeting to go over the agenda
• Send the agenda to team members at least 24 hours ahead of time. 
• After each team meeting the leader of that team will send out key information to the staff from that meeting. 
• Team meetings should be 30-60 minutes. 

Individual Check-ins

• Build the relationship by checking in with individuals to talk about non-business topics. These can be sporadic and random, or intentional, but the leader must do this frequently to continue to build relationships
• Scheduled check-ins to discuss professional topics such as: IPDP progress; Building-wide PD implementation progress; Clarity on what support they need

Open Forums

• As stated before, one aspect of our jobs as leaders is to create safe space and time to have honest and open dialogue with all of our stakeholders. At MNW once a week I have “Coffee Conversations” in one of the buildings. This is usually held in the library from 7:30-8:00, and is open to any staff members that want to come. We set norms, or operating principles, at the beginning of the school year to ensure that we maintain dignity and respect. Then when we meet I open it up to them first to make sure that we discuss what they want to talk about, and then I always have 1 or 2 things I would like to get their feedback or input on. This has been a really positive experience. It allows me to better explain the why behind the district’s decisions, and gives me a chance to plant the seeds of thought into their minds. 

Weekly Update

• This can be done at the beginning of the week previewing the week ahead, or at the end of the week reflecting on what happened. Either the way the goal with this is just to inform people what is going on in the organization, to ensure that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. 
• I do a Monday Message where I bullet point some important announcements or events in the week to come. 

This is definitely not an exhaustive list of communication tactics, but it is what I have found to be most effective, feasible, and sustainable. I think the main thing is to be intentional about communicating to your people, and you will reap the rewards of loyalty, high staff morale, and increased production.

Be Careful How You Label People

I heard a recent story from Zig Zigler where he shares a story about Jim Sundberg who was a former golden glove catcher who did a prison crucade, and at one of these crusades Jim told Bill Glass that his father told him over and over as a kid that if he kept throwing the ball like that someday he would be a major leaguer, it was planted in my mind from an early age and I’m exactly where my dad told me I was going to be. One of the inmates who was standing by overheard the conversation and replied to both of them that the same thing happened to him. He’s exactly where his dad told him he was going to be.”

As human beings we tend to live up to the labels that are bestowed upon us. If we hear the same message about ourselves over and over again we tend to believe them and then our life becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy.

This story hit me hard and convicted me on two fronts: As a father and as the Superintendent of Manson Northwest Webster.

As the leader of my home and the school district I must understand this and be very careful about what labels I am putting on my children and the staff of MNW for this reason: they will tend to live up to the label bestowed upon them.

As humans, we naturally tend to label individuals in a negative connotation: “You’re always late” “You’re lazy” “You’re too irrensponsible”. We tend to fixate on the weaknesses of individuals and constantly remind them, either explicitly or implicitly, of their weakness. As leaders we need to fight this tendency. Rather we should be intentional about affirming our children and subordinates in their strengths and the vision we have for them.

I am not saying that we don’t address their weaknesses. We need to do this, but do it in a way that builds the individual up. Address their weakness, build support around them to help them with their weakness, but end with a positive affirmation of their strengths and what your vision for them is.

They will rise to the occasion.

Busyness Does Not Equal Productivity

I am now in my 9th year as a School Administrator at Manson Northwest Webster, and in those nine years I have learned numerous valuable lessons. One of the greatest lessons I have learned, and continue to learn, is that time is my greatest asset. It’s all of our greatest assets, yet most of us don’t utilize it to its full capacity. Time is one of our most valuable yet wasted resources we have. God gave us all 24 hours in a day, so how do we optimize every minute to squeeze as much productivity out of that day as we can, with the goal being creating more time to focus on the actions and behaviors that get us closer to our goals. Here are some of the hacks I have employed to increase my productivity.

Elminate Time Wasters

How many of us get sent an email from a co-worker of the latest meme, only to find ourselves watching skate boarding accidents an hour later? Guilty. We are all guilty of peeing away precious minutes during the day engaging in activities that do not result in anything productive. One of the first things you need to do to increase your productivity is to identify the time wasters in your day and eliminate them to create blocks of uninterrupted time that can be focused on doing the things that move us towards our goals or vision. Here are some of the most common time wasters:

Social Media: Although this is a fun distraction, and can be a great marketing tool, you need to limit your time on here. I suggest identifying certain times during the day that you will get on social media, and then limit your time on there. Set a timer and when the timer goes off, turn it off.

TV: This is my biggest time waster, especially during football and basketball season. While this can be a much needed escape from reality, don’t let it become the norm. Much like social media, set aside times when you want to watch specific shows or movies, and only watch it during those times.

Email: I hate email. It is neverending, and in my opinion the number one time wasting distraction in any professional setting. Everyone needs everything from everbody else, and they need it right now. As a result we are bombarded by everyone else’s agendas and don’t have time to work on our projects. The solution for this is simple: 1. Turn the email notification off of your phone. It will be there when you check it. 2. Select two times a day to check your email, and have the self-discipline to only check your email during those two periods. I even have to get rid of tab on my brower that has my gmail inbox on it because I know that I cannot not check it when I see that I have a new email. AND DO NOT CHECK IT WHEN YOU GET HOME FROM WORK!

Meetings: Some meetings are important and require your precense. Most do not. Find out ahead of each meeting what the agenda items and intended outcomes of the meeting are, and then decide if it’s worth your time. This is easy if you are in a leadership position. Much trickier if you are not, and your boss calls the meeting. In that scenario I think you approach your boss and explain to him that you are working diligently on this important project for the company so would it be okay with him/her if he/she could explain your role in the meeting and desired contribution. Once that was clear, then ask your boss if it would be okay if you left the meeting after your part was done to work on the important project.

Using New Found Time For Deep Work

Now that we have eliminated all the time wasters in our day, we have hopefully created chunks of uninterrupted time. What you do with those chunks makes the difference.

Work On The System, Not In The System

If you are in a leadership role you should have a level of detachment from the day to day activities of the organization. You should be able to see all the moving parts to create the whole. Only you have this perspective, and it is from this perspective that you should be able to see which areas need to be improved to make the whole system more effective and efficient. It is also from this perspective that hopefully allows you to see “what’s next” for your organization so that you can communicate vision to your people.

Prioritize and Execute

Now that you’ve created uninterrupted chunks of time in your schedule, and you’ve identified key strategic areas or your organization that need improvement or developmentthat- you get to work. Prioitize which of those key areas need improved or developed first, or decide which of those key areas would have the greatest impact on the bottom line, and then totally immerse yourself into that task and don’t stop working on that task until your chunk of time runs out.

The ability to totally focus on a problem or task for a chunk of time is a discipline that is endagered in the world we live in with the advance of technology and social media specifically. I would argue for anyone in a leadership position that wants to make a difference, he or she needs to develop the habit of this discipline and build it into their daily schedule or routine.

As you look back to all the great leaders (George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Henry Ford, Martin Luther King Jr., etc) they all show evidence of employing the discipline to immerse themselves in solving a problem, writing a speech, or developing a policy that would change the world.

Be Intentional

After you have prioritized your important work efforts, that only you as the leader can do, and that will move the whole organization forward, then it’s time to pick one to focus on that day. Don’t ever sit down at your desk or workstation without a clear objective. I suggest not having more than one item to completely immerse yourself into during your block of uninterrupted time. DO NOT MULTITASK. Once your block is over decide if you have the time and freedom to continue working, or if you need to return to your management duties.

After you have completed that number one prioritized task or work effort. Move on to number two following the same methodology.

Being intentional with how you spend your time, doing less of the insignificant time-wasters and more of the significant deep work that only you can do, is how you will elavate yourself and your whole organization.

The Man In The Arena

This goes out to all my fellow Superintendents and Principles out there who are trying to lead a school district during a pandemic. Trying to navigate the unchartered waters of managing COVID, which has turned extremely political, has put us in position to make numerous difficult decisions that will inevitably invite harsh criticism.

Since March 13 I have constantly referred to one of my favorite quotes by Theodore Roosevelt titled “Man in the Arena”, which I want to share with my fellow leaders now.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.”

I have this saying hanging in my office on the wall opposite of my desk to remind me during the hard times that criticism is what comes with leadership, and although I feel all alone, I am actually a part of a great fraternity of individuals who had the courage to lead.

My college football coach, when times got tough or we faced adversity, would say to us “The tough is what makes it great.” So to all me fellow educational leaders out there I say keep fighting the good fight. Keep daring. Keep striving valiantly. During this season it’s going to suck. It’s going to be hard. But in the end you will get to experience the satisfaction and fulfillment of making it through, of leading your people through this, and that will makes it all worth it.

The Power of the Handwritten Note

Recognition is a powerful motivator. In our heart of hearts we all want to be recognized for our work and accomplishments. The same is true for our spouses, children, and employees. I see this most often with my children. When they feel proud about something they have done, they will persistently communicate this to me until I have recognized their efforts or accomplishments.

I used to teach 3rd grade, and I was always amazed at what happened with all of my students the moment I recognized publicly a student’s behavior that I wanted to see repeated (problem solving, being nice to others, serving others, etc). Instantly the other students would work hard to repeat that behavior in hopes of also being recognized in front of their peers.

Recognition is a powerful motivator, and as illustrated in the above examples can be a great tactic as leaders to give your people a feeling of importance, to provide them a boost of self-confidence and motivation, AND to get everyone else to behave in a way that you desire.

Recognition can take many forms (email, acknowledgement at staff meetings, trophies, etc), but my favorite way to recognize the effort and accomplishments of my staff and students is the handwritten note. At Manson Northwest Webster we have Cougar Cards ( postcards with our logo on it) and my goal is to write at least one of these to someone in our organization every day. When the building principals and I visit classrooms, we have a few of these and we look for the good things that our staff and students are doing, and we’ll write them a quick note recognizing them for a job well done. The positive impact that this has had on our culture is quite amazing. Teachers hang them up on their wall or desk area. Parents come to me at ball games telling me how pumped their son or daughter was to get the postcard in the mail.

Relatively simple tactic with a powerful impact. In the days of smart phones and social media, the handwritten note is a novelty, and people love getting them in the mail.

One of the by products of weaving this practice into my daily routine has been that it has trained my mind to look for the positives. Some administrators like to rule with an iron fist-only look for the negatives to crush. This results in a worn down staff and overall tense and toxic work environment. As a leader we have to be prepared to address the negatives we see quickly and decisively, but a more powerful tactic to change the culture of your work environment is to acknowledge the positive. And my medium of choice is the handwritten note.

One more thing when writing these notes- be specific and be sincere. Avoid using generalities like “thanks for all you do”. While that may be true, and might give the person who’s recieving the recognition a warm fuzzy, it doesn’t let them know what behavior they should be repeating. So be specific and be sincere.

My challenge for all you reading this, is to this week write someone a note specifically recognizing a behavior that you observed, that you want repeated, and see what happens. See how this makes you feel, and what kind of response you get from the other person. If it is beneficial, then build it into your routine.