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.