SC,
Wow, I was
thinking of this very issue this week and I had some thoughts I was going to
share with the LYS Nation, so this is timely.
First, I
think everything Cain wrote is spot on. The only thing I would add is I
am not sure the writer is misguided or merely inexperienced in heavy front line
leadership roles. Of course it could be both. At any rate, here are my
additional thoughts and experiences on morale.
Recently, I
was speaking to a teacher who is thinking about quitting the teaching
profession. Of course I have noticed he is not happy, but I never really
considered the morale issue, mostly because my philosophy is the same as
Cain's. But after the conversation it occurred to me: this person's
morale really is bad, and I have a lot of teachers in the district with low
morale, and in fact I realized that there really is a morale problem in public
education. And as I reflected more upon our brief conversation the reason
for the epidemic of low morale of many teachers, including some in my district,
hit me like a ton of falling bricks.
Cain is right
about the definition of morale. The first item he listed was this:
1. Instill a belief in the mission of
the organization.
This teacher
told me he was thinking of leaving the profession because he simply didn't
believe in what we were doing. He said he didn't think every child could
go to college. He said he didn't think it was reasonable to be held
accountable for children who were not capable or who were merely going to work
at a local factory after graduation. That's when it hit me: I do have a
morale problem! Many of my people
don't believe in the mission of the organization. And this man is
considered to be a GREAT teacher I might point out. As I had more
conversations with teachers I viewed each conversation through my new
understanding of morale lens. Without fail every teacher that I spoke
with that had low morale also had a philosophy of education and children that
is utterly inconsistent with the current mission and direction of education.
You see we
talk about things like "all children can learn", but too many
educators don't really believe it. Imagine being held accountable for an
outcome that you don't believe in in the first place! That MUST be
miserable! No wonder their morale is bad, mine would be too if I had
their philosophy of education and children in the type of student-centered
district that I run. How can a leader fix this problem? I don't
think the leader can. If the employee understands the mission but simply
has a philosophy contrary to the mission, the employee needs to find another
mission. In the case of this particular employee, he needed to leave
public education.
Now I hear
you wailing, saying "But all children can't go to college! Not all are
capable!" Well, I know that. But let's look at it a different
way. My doctor told me I am dying. Of course I was shocked,
floored. My doctor said there is no reason for him to do blood tests,
prescribe medicine, or run any more tests, because I am dying. After I
collected myself I said, “But Doc, I feel fine, are you sure?”
His response,
“Absolutely, you are going to die. So it's not worth my time to treat you.”
“Well Doc, of
course I am going to die. But can't you help me feel better while I'm still
around? I'm only 44 and life expectancy is over 80! Give me a break, Doc.
Don't put me in the grave just yet!”
The point is physicians
can be assured that every patient they have will eventually die. A 100%
failure rate if you want to look at it that way. BUT, they treat every
patient to the best of their ability, every day, knowing full well that
eventually death wins. You might say they believe in the mission.
In the previous example we would call that a bad physician who needs to
be sued and ran out of the profession. That physician isn't about
treating patients to the best of his ability; he is picking winners and losers.
Yet we take educators who do the same thing and call them
"Great." Interesting...
I invite you
to do some soul searching. I will bet that if you have a morale problem,
you also have a problem with allowing the reality of a cruel world sneak into
your personal philosophy of education and children. That is a dark path
for educators that few can recover from. Generally the only way off of
that dark path is to change paths, as in a new profession.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
- Call Jo at (832)
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