The first school district I worked for was a gossipy, poor performing district in which there was a great deal of open resentment throughout the organization. The Superintendents were rarely in attendance at regular school events, and there presence was little known. After three years of employment, I would not be able to recognize the Superintendent by face, much less remember his name. Such a relationship, or complete lack thereof, constitutes a bitter environment amongst the teachers and support staff toward the upper levels of management. The poor performance of the district was not purely a result of the lack of academic achievement with the students, but it stems directly from a poorly driven upper management with absolutely no trust with its employees. Negative gossip was the topic in the teacher's lounge which created a consistent tense and uncomfortable environment. The lack of trust was organizational wide, not just purely between employees and upper levels.
On the contrary, my next position was the antithesis of the first. The Superintendent of the district opened the very first...
Over 45 minutes of the very first meeting with all was spent just getting acquainted with one another. Instead of simply making sure that you knew her name, she wanted to also know your name. That created a sense of true care for the employee, and therefore, not so reluctant to sit through a day of meetings. The mission and statistics of performance were shared and discussed to cultivate the goal of the organization. Routes of communication were shared and opened from the Superintendent to the Principals down to each individual Department Chairperson. An understanding that senior management truly cared about our individual concerns and would take every measure to ensure it was firmly established. Such an action is louder than words for employees on whom the organization relies on for success.
References
Krell, Eric (2006) "Do they trust you?" HR Magazine, 51(6). Obtained from the World Wide Web via http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/0606/0606cover.aspon October 28, 2006.
