Solving Challenges Through Culture

Many of us entering leadership positions inherit workplace norms set by our predecessors. This was truest for myself when I was brought on as the Director of After School Programming at a middle school. Working closely with the leadership team, I quickly discovered:

Staff were chronically late, didn’t adhere to the schedule, and engaged with students on their terms. Safety was always a priority but not much else happened beyond that. The stellar staff were few and were burdened by the expectations of leaders who expected more from them while still being paid the same as their less impressive peers. I could tell many cared about the students but did not engage on a level that would make any real impact.

My first attempt to give direction was to create some policies and procedures. With the backing of HR, we developed a strike system for absences and lateness. After rolling it out, every staff member signed an acknowledgement agreement. Staff were given clear direction on what was expected of them at all times while on the clock (such as wearing their uniforms, being at their posts, staying with their assigned group and facilitating short activities). Once this was established, they signed another acknowledgment agreement.

While this looked great on paper, a new issue came with enforcement of the policy. With 25 people around the building, it was almost impossible to follow up and follow through. Staff would complain it was not enforced evenly. Some staff found clever workarounds to skate around the new status quo, and after three months we were back at square one.

After another hard reset, I was at a loss…until I was sent to an after-school programming conference where I attended a seminar about the “Results Pyramid” that changed my entire view on the situation.

The Results Pyramid is a way of looking at outcomes, not just in terms of direct actions, but through the lens of held beliefs and lived experiences. I learned that day that I was trying to manage staff actions through policies, but because those actions came from beliefs that staff members had about their work and role, they would always find ways to undermine the policy. Those beliefs about the work came from actual experiences they were having, that I needed to change.

After taking some staff out to dinner and having transparent and candid conversations about what kinds of experiences they were having, I discovered many staff felt like “glorified babysitters” and that the work they were doing was just part-time filler work that was not going to lead to a career or anything meaningful. This led them to feeling replaceable, so they found ways to give minimal effort to keep their jobs. This put everything into a new perspective for me. To change the results I was getting, I needed to give them new experiences.

If I was to change the culture of the program, I had to first collect as much information from my staff as possible. What were those negative experiences? What motivated them? What did they want this job to do for them? After extensive planning, my Assistant Director and I met with any staff who were selected and we worked on a plan for how this job can get them where they wanted to go.

All of this changed how staff engaged with the program. It was more meaningful and they were not just babysitting. All the rules and regulations in the world would not change the culture that was established.

I could not manage my way out of this. Leaders build cultures that allow everyone to thrive.

Here at the GO Foundation, we are working from the bottom up to reimagine our Fellows’ experience. Creating culture-building moments, a holistic training series, intentional gatherings, along with surveys and focus groups, will allow us to get at the heart of the Fellow experience and their core beliefs about the program. We operate from the idea that we want our Fellows to leave the year feeling like they made an impact and that this year of service was worthwhile. Working backwards from this belief is how we achieve our ultimate results in student achievement and Fellow satisfaction.

With the introduction of GO Fellows, we see time and again that the experiences and beliefs of students — what they can or can’t do, their “fit” in a school, and their relationships with teachers and administrators — can be replaced. I work every day with schools, students, and Fellows to intentionally create those pivots and leverage the Fellow-student relationship. These efforts take time, they take energy, and they require commitment. As with my own personal experiences, it can be done with the right school leadership in place.

Author:
Rich Denor

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