Teachers Are Overwhelmed, So What Is To Be Done?

I have never been to a school where that year’s initiatives don’t receive at least a little bit of smack talk. However, this year, there is a bit more to it. Teachers have a level of stress related to the pandemic that is likely higher than we have seen ever before. I am also hearing staff object loudly to any new initiatives, including those that are designed to help alleviate the stress that staff are feeling.

This can leave the well-meaning school administrator in a quandary. After all, there is no such thing as leadership to the status-quo. When people tell leaders there is a problem with the status-quo, leaders seek to change it. But what should a principal do when staff are telling them to “just stop” with the initiatives? Luckily, there are some steps that school administrators can take to help with this situation.

First, it is important to listen. This can sound like a simple enough task, but it is more important than we might normally think. When people are feeling stressed and overtaxed, or even abused, they need to feel heard. The point here is not that you get the correct information (although that is also important), the point is that people feel that they were able to connect with someone who listened to and understood their concerns.

Second, leaders have to have a realistic and objective view of how much change they are asking the organization to produce. The pandemic has turned many things on their head and leaders might be inclined to discount changes that were imposed because they were outside of their control. Having a tool, like the Change Management Dashboard will help leaders track change effort and give them objective information to keep all change efforts within a reasonable limit. Simply switching back to all in-person schooling represents a significant change and will absorb a significant chunk of a building’s available energy for change. Having a tool to track your change energy spending is critical to keeping within your budget.

Third, we have to stay aware of the difference between solving problems for people and solving problems with people. An example of this happened in a school I was working with — staff were feeling overwhelmed and drowning in extra tasks. The principal saw a possible solution and brought in a couple of substitute teachers to relieve staff so they could catch up. This is a really sound solution, except that staff were not part of the solution and felt as though having a sub only makes more work for them — they did not know when (or that) a sub was coming and did not have sub plans prepared. These teachers would have preferred those resources be spent on extra clerical staff to take care of some of the tasks that they needed to do between teaching moments.

Last, one of the biggest issues that I have seen in the response to these issues is the difference between work done with staff to alleviate these issues and work done with staff to try and get them to become “OK” with these issues. It is true that everyone needs a reminder to take care of themselves, to take a breather and engage in a little mindfulness. However, if you are asking staff to take care of themselves, to have a “jeans day” this Friday, or come down to the faculty room for free pizza, without taking substantive steps to lighten their load, you risk asking them to just be OK with the situation. To be clear, very few people dislike free pizza, and reminders to stop and take a breath are appreciated, but only when they are coupled with real attempts to address the issues that are weighing them down.

If you are a school leader, take a moment to listen to your staff, ask some questions that you know will give you an earful. And then follow up with more questions about “what kinds of things would actually be helpful with that, things that you think we could do for you?” Calculate how much change you have happening in your school, and work to keep it under your limit. And last, work to make those possible solutions happen for your staff.

I would love to know what kind of solutions your staff are asking for, please share here so others can know, as well!

Teachers Are Overwhelmed, So What Is To Be Done?

I have never been to a school where that year’s initiatives don’t receive at least a little bit of smack talk. However, this year, there is a bit more to it. Teachers have a level of stress related to the pandemic that is likely higher than we have seen ever before. I am also hearing staff object loudly to any new initiatives, including those that are designed to help alleviate the stress that staff are feeling.

This can leave the well-meaning school administrator in a quandary. After all, there is no such thing as leadership to the status-quo. When people tell leaders there is a problem with the status-quo, leaders seek to change it. But what should a principal do when staff are telling them to “just stop” with the initiatives? Luckily, there are some steps that school administrators can take to help with this situation.

First, it is important to listen. This can sound like a simple enough task, but it is more important than we might normally think. When people are feeling stressed and overtaxed, or even abused, they need to feel heard. The point here is not that you get the correct information (although that is also important), the point is that people feel that they were able to connect with someone who listened to and understood their concerns.

Second, leaders have to have a realistic and objective view of how much change they are asking the organization to produce. The pandemic has turned many things on their head and leaders might be inclined to discount changes that were imposed because they were outside of their control. Having a tool, like the Change Management Dashboard will help leaders track change effort and give them objective information to keep all change efforts within a reasonable limit. Simply switching back to all in-person schooling represents a significant change and will absorb a significant chunk of a building’s available energy for change. Having a tool to track your change energy spending is critical to keeping within your budget.

Third, we have to stay aware of the difference between solving problems for people and solving problems with people. An example of this happened in a school I was working with — staff were feeling overwhelmed and drowning in extra tasks. The principal saw a possible solution and brought in a couple of substitute teachers to relieve staff so they could catch up. This is a really sound solution, except that staff were not part of the solution and felt as though having a sub only makes more work for them — they did not know when (or that) a sub was coming and did not have sub plans prepared. These teachers would have preferred those resources be spent on extra clerical staff to take care of some of the tasks that they needed to do between teaching moments.

Last, one of the biggest issues that I have seen in the response to these issues is the difference between work done with staff to alleviate these issues and work done with staff to try and get them to become “OK” with these issues. It is true that everyone needs a reminder to take care of themselves, to take a breather and engage in a little mindfulness. However, if you are asking staff to take care of themselves, to have a “jeans day” this Friday, or come down to the faculty room for free pizza, without taking substantive steps to lighten their load, you risk asking them to just be OK with the situation. To be clear, very few people dislike free pizza, and reminders to stop and take a breath are appreciated, but only when they are coupled with real attempts to address the issues that are weighing them down.

If you are a school leader, take a moment to listen to your staff, ask some questions that you know will give you an earful. And then follow up with more questions about “what kinds of things would actually be helpful with that, things that you think we could do for you?” Calculate how much change you have happening in your school, and work to keep it under your limit. And last, work to make those possible solutions happen for your staff.

I would love to know what kind of solutions your staff are asking for, please share here so others can know, as well!