Climate Change
Employee Engagement
What's this all about?
Gallup Survey
Gallup began with hundreds of focus groups when forming their twelve questions to determine employee engagement using psychologists who asked open-ended questions. From the groups, questionnaires were created. After analysis, five factors arose consistently (Buckingham & Coffman, 1999, p. 253):
1. Work Environment/Procedures
2. Immediate Supervisor
3. Team/Co-workers
4. Overall company/senior management
5. Individual Commitment/Service Intention
Other factors did come out such as communication; however, they could all be linked back to these 5. Statistical analyses were performed to determine which questions proved to be most closely linked to these categories. The group then selected the top 12 questions which were not only easy to understand but also actionable. Following the selection, the questions were taken through a meta-analysis to determine viability. The results indicated true validity estimates in a positive direction on all items. The 12 questions are listed below (Buckingham & Coffman, 1999, p. 256):
Top Employee Engagement
The list below was compiled from several sources. Upon review, you can see that it resembles the Q12 from Gallup. It is important to note that though extrinsic rewards are important and make people feel good for a while, they are not what prevent turnover.
10: Communicate clear expectations
9: Coaching
8: Address employee concerns
7: Recognition of performance/feedback
6: Positive relationship with supervisor
5: Beware of micromanagement
4: Strong social culture
3: Don’t waste their time
2: Be polite, respectful, and encouraging a.k.a. Be human
1: People then systems
Languages of Appreciation
Strengths Based Leadership
Teach With your Strengths
First Break All the Rules
A Truth and A Lie (0.5-1hour)
– Have each member introduce themselves by stating their name plus one truth about themselves and one lie. After each person makes their statements, allow for a quick open conversation where everyone questions each other on their two statements. The idea is to convince the other members that your lie is actually a truth, while guessing the truths/lies of the others. After the questioning period, vote as a group on each member’s statements. Points are awarded for each lie guessed right or for stumping other members on your own lie. This exercise helps to get to know your coworkers better and encourages group interaction and communication. (Optional: Increase the difficulty by having 2 truths and 1 lie, or 2 lies and 1 truth. Remove the open conversation segment if time is constrained)
The Mine Field (15-30 minutes)
– The idea behind this exercise is to improve team members’ trust, their relationship, and to communicate in a more effective way. You will need an open space such as an empty room or hallway in which you will distribute ‘mines’ that are placed haphazardly around the area. The ‘mine’s can be cones, balls, bottles etc. Team members are paired into teams of two. One team member will be blindfolded and the other can see and talk, but is not allowed to enter the field or touch their partner. The challenge is for the blind-folded person to walk from one side of the field to the other, avoiding the mines by listening to the verbal instructions of their partners. (Optional: Have more than 1 pair walking through the mine simultaneously, so the difficulty of focusing and listening to the right instructions increases)
Helium Stick or Hula Hoop (15 minutes)
— This is a quick game that serves well as an ice-breaker or a short coffee break. A long thin stick or Hula Hoop is required. Be sure to call the pole or hula hoop a “Helium Stick” when you introduce the exercise. Place your group in two lines or circles if using a hula hoop facing each other. Have each person hold the index finger of their right hand chest high. Place the helium stick or hula hoop on top of the outstretched fingers. The challenge is to lower the stick to the ground while keeping everyone’s fingers touching the stick. If anyone’s finger loses contact with the helium stick, you must start again. At first the stick will seem to rise (hence the name Helium Stick). In fact, it is simply the upwards pressure of everyone’s fingers causing the stick to go up instead of down. Once everyone relaxes they can easily lower the stick to the ground. This usually takes ten minutes of laughter and a leader to complete.
Salt and Pepper (15 minutes)
— This activity is fun, excellent for energizing your team, and also great as a quick ice-breaker exercise. It is simple to set up and suitable for a wide team size of 10-40 people (ideally even numbered). As a facilitator, think of pairs of things such as, salt and pepper, yin and yang, shadow and light, peanut butter and jelly, Mickey and Minnie mouse, male and female, and so forth. Write each item on a piece of paper (i.e. salt on one piece and pepper on another), and tape one paper on the back of each person, making sure they can’t see it. When the game starts, everyone must walk around asking yes or no questions in order to find out what word they have taped to their backs. Once they figure that out, they need to find their other pair. Learning how to ask the right questions is the key. (Optional: The two will then sit down and learn three to five interesting facts about one another). You can use this to reinforce vocabulary for a training such as balanced literacy. Teachers can do the same in the classroom!
How Full is Your Cup (Thanks Betsy)
This was used as a warmup activity for a team leader meeting, but it can also be used for an entire staff meeting. For the smaller setting, provide each staff member with a picture of an empty cup and ask them to fill their cup with examples of great things happening at their school. Allow 5-10 minutes for personal thinking and reflection. Ask staff members to share.
For a larger group, divide the staff into groups of three to five. Provide each group with a piece of chart paper with a large cup or glass drawn on it and a package of sticky notes. Instruct the groups to fill their cup with examples of great things happening at their school. Allow 10-15 minutes for them to write brief thoughts and descriptions on the sticky notes and place them inside the cup. Continue working until the cup is running over. Ask groups to share their thoughts and post the charts for all to read and discuss.
This came for the following book.
Human Spider Web
Teams of 6-8
Stand in a small circle
Instruct members of each group to extend thier left hands across the circle and grasp the right hands of hte other members who are approximately opposite them. Then have them extend their right hands across the circle and grasp the left hands of other individuals.
Your task is to unravel the spider web of interlocking arms without letting go of anyone’s hands. This is a competition and the winner recieves eternal glory.
Talking in Circles
Place everyone in a circle around a long piece of string that is tied at its ends to form a circle. Have everyone grasp the string with both hands and hold the string waist high. Without letting go, the team will have to form shapes with the string; a square, a triangle, a figure eight, a rectangle, etc. Repeat the game but with everyone’s eyes shut! This will require everyone to communicate clearly and listen well. Make the shapes progressively harder and periodically have them stop and open their eyes to see their progress…or lack there of
Some extrinsic motivators that teachers love...
9. Go do a read aloud or 2 in their class so they can do a DRA or running record
8. Popcorn Bar at a faculty meeting
7. Baked potato bar
6. Bagels or donuts in the lounge
5. Starbucks
4. Hot chocolate bar (abuelita of course)
3. Cover lunch or recess duty
2. Handwritten note of appreciation
1. Sonic drink
One Leader's Plan...
Implementation Plan
In order to effect change and ensure that employee engagement is high and a positive culture is established, Garland Elementary leadership team will implement a comprehensive plan. The plan will focus on routine, daily, weekly, and monthly activities to be completed by the administrators. Data will be collected about the educators and their reflections on engagement. A guiding coalition will be assembled to review the data and determine a course of action. As such, specifics cannot yet be conveyed due to lack of data. Finally, the coalition will develop plans to evaluate the plan at the beginning and end of each semester in order to ensure that the plan remains consistent and effective.
As a part of daily routine, administrators will arrive 15 minutes before educator start time. During the morning and afternoon duty time, administrators will be in front of the building welcoming and dismissing learners as appropriate. Once school has commenced, administrators will walk throughout the building greeting classrooms. During the lunch and recess periods, administrators will have a schedule to attend lunch and recess duties throughout the week so that educators see them participating in all duty times. Additionally, during lunch, administrators will eat in the lounge with the educators so that no division is seen among staff members.
The administrative team will meet weekly on each Monday afternoon as usual in order to discuss logistics and instructional trends for the week. Additionally, the group will add educator personal notes to the agenda so as to ensure that the team is aware of and can take a personal interest in each educator. Should information be lacking, a system will be devised to spend time with a set and rotating list of educators on a weekly basis to ensure that the educators have personal face-to-face contact on a weekly basis. The team will write a minimum of 2 positive notes to educators on a weekly basis wherein topics include both personal and instructional observations. On the instructional side, administrators will conduct a minimum of 5 observations and feedback sessions with educators each week. The feedback will be based on educator goals, strengths, and campus initiatives.
With the recognition that employees need to make a close personal connection not only to the company and its mission but also to the people within the company, there will be activities scheduled on a monthly basis. At least once per month, during a faculty meeting, the administrators will devise team-building activities designed to encourage communication, solve problems, and have fun. Additionally, the sunshine committee will organize monthly recreational activities of both a social nature such as bowling and sporting activities such as volleyball or zumba. Finally, on a monthly basis mentors will have a meeting with their mentees. This will affect all educators as all educators will be a mentee and have a mentor, not just new teachers. This will provide both a professional and personal connection to another person in the building.
A guiding coalition will be assembled which will include a minimum of one person per grade level team. Others may join if desired. This team will administer the following assessments in order to collect data: Strengths Finder; Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace; and the 12 questions devised by Gallup. The Strengths Finder data and Languages of Appreciation will be published via a Google doc for all employees to view as well as being posted outside each educator’s door. The Strengths Finder data can be used during PLC’s to establish norms and roles for the team as well as during goal setting for TTESS. The Languages of Appreciation data can be used by all to provide the type of appreciation that each individual prefers so that it is effective. The coalition, will utilize the 12 question data to devise a plan that is more specific to the campus needs.
Evaluation Plan
In order to ensure that the plan is continuous and effective, the guiding coalition will provide formative assessments at the onset and end of each semester. The initial plan will be to administer the 12-question survey in order to create a plan with goals and strategies. At the end of each semester a separate survey will be devised that is specific to the goals and strategies created by the coalition in order to determine their effectiveness. There will also be an additional open-ended question. The question will be requesting feedback on changes that could be made in order to improve the culture of the campus. The 12-question survey will then only be administered at the end of each year in order to provide longitudinal data regarding employee satisfaction. The final set of data that will be compiled is that of educator turnover and rationale. A spreadsheet will be created to track educator turnover along with the reason for vacating the position. Permission to use the data with the coalition will be obtained. The coalition will then use the data in order to alter action plans should that be necessary because a costly challenge that we are faced with is not only engaging our employees, but retaining them (Berry & Morris, 2008).
Parents...Ideas
- Communication: curriculum night videos, positive notes, individual meetings, principal monthly newsletter
- Community events: Carnival, content evenings, PTA events
- System for volunteers: ensure a location and system for individuals to volunteer