Communication Strategy: Hone Your Message
If you are promoting a referendum to multiple groups, revise your communication style for each audience. Be aware of what is important to each group that you are speaking with.
Presentations to faculty and staff may include details on timelines for start of construction, school schedule changes, and workday changes. Other district groups may not need that information but may need information about changes in start/end times and dates for the upcoming school year and whether any resources may need to be adjusted, such as utilities or campus access. Community groups may only want to see the tax impact of whatever you are presenting or proposing.
Most community members do not understand the role of the school business official. Encourage people to contact you if they have questions or concerns. Call them back if they leave a voice or email message. Clicking “reply” to an email may be the easiest and quickest way to respond, but sometimes taking a minute to listen to a parent/guardian may open the door for positive public relations.
Communication and Staff Evaluations
Knowing how to communicate with coworkers, especially if it is a sensitive topic, is critical. If you are new to the district, take time to listen and observe the dynamic that you have been introduced to. Ask questions about meeting schedules and how personnel receive communication.
While you may want to manage things “your way,” if you are starting out in a new district, take a step back and look at how situations/incidents were handled in prior years. This does not mean you must maintain the status quo; rather, it is an opportunity to understand the history of the organization and create new paths for mutual respect and understanding.
Evaluating staff members is one of the most important aspects of being an effective manager, but it is one of the most loathed.
A key example of internal communications revolves around staff evaluations. Evaluating staff members is one of the most important aspects of being an effective manager, but it is one of the most loathed.
According to “The Performance Review Problem” by Theresa Agovino, published by the Society for Human Resource Management in 2023, 7% of employees do not receive a staff review.
The New Jersey teacher evaluation system was revised in 2012. The new system removes the vintage checklist and is comprised of multiple factors for evaluating professionals. While this system is mandated for teachers, principals, assistant principals, nurses, athletic trainers, and any other employee required to hold an appropriate certificate issued by the board of examiners, non-teaching district personnel may also undergo evaluation using the updated process.
This evaluation process has advantages and disadvantages. When an employee is a shining star, evaluations are easy. When an employee is not performing, the advantage is the opportunity to document areas of improvement and review progress of these areas periodically. This documentation of success/failure may help with the decision about renewal or nonrenewal of an employee. Support staff reviews typically occur once a year. As part of the process, management may ask the employee to highlight what they accomplished during the year. This information is combined with the manager’s evaluation and submitted for signature, comment, and filing.
At the end of an evaluation, the manager should review the evaluation with the employee and offer suggestions for improvement. If this does not occur, follow up may be needed with the supervisor to make sure the employee has the opportunity to discuss the evaluation and ask questions.
Consider scheduling a 30-minute meeting with each support staff member once a quarter and listening to what they have to say. You will learn about your staff and their perspective. This is not the time to offer solutions (unless truly warranted due to nature of the discussion) but to use active listening skills to understand their needs.
Ask how they feel their year is going and invite any suggestions they have to make their workday more productive. Try to separate the venting from the valid requests. If the request is something that is feasible, try to make it happen.
Come Together
Evaluations are meant to encourage employees (and us as business officials) to evolve and master our career choice. Not being offered the chance to be heard, and to expand one’s knowledge base could steer a valuable employee toward another opportunity, leaving you looking for someone to fill the empty position.