One of the biggest challenges for school leaders is trying to determine how to motivate teachers and keep them engaged and growing in the education profession year after year. We typically think of motivation as a stable characteristic. Either teachers are motivated or they’re not. That’s not the case. Motivation is something that is built and maintained within individuals. Teachers who are … [Read more...]
How to Motivate Teachers Using the IKEA Effect
One of the biggest challenges for many school districts is motivating teachers. How do I know? One of the most frequent search terms we have identified on k12hrsolutions.com is the question “How to motivate teachers?” This question has slowly risen near the top of all search results on the site over the past five years. This caused us to ask, are teachers that are entering the classroom … [Read more...]
How Can School Leaders Prevent Teacher Burnout?
The beginning of the school year seems to be an odd time to discuss teacher burnout. The new school year is filled with excitement among staff and students about the possibilities for the new school year. As any seasoned school leader knows, the excitement of the new year can quickly fade for many new teachers. Ambitious ideas are met with challenging realities. New teachers can … [Read more...]
HR Professionals: A Primary Care Doctor for School District Organizational Health
This article was written by Adam Taylor. Adam is a Vice President here at K12 HR Solutions and manages our projects related to employee compensation and benefits and organizational effectiveness. We are providing an organizational health assessment with this article. You can request this free resource using the link below. Let’s face it. We live in a world … [Read more...]
8 Strategies to Improve Onboarding for Teachers
Do extra efforts in the first several months of courtship help relationships last longer? Or, should someone entering a new relationship simply rely on spontaneity and allow fate take over? No this isn’t an article about dating. It is about the beginning of the employee/ employer relationship in school districts. More specifically, I want to focus on effective onboarding for teachers. We … [Read more...]
Should You Manage Millennial Teachers Differently?
Entitled, narcissistic, lazy, uncommitted, educated but unskilled. These are just a few phrases that have been used in pop culture business literature to describe Millennials. I've always struggled with the notion of characterizing an entire generation with rigid labels, but at first glance the amount of information focused on the baggage Millennials bring with them seems to support there are … [Read more...]
How Can Leaders Create School Districts that Embrace Innovation?
“My teachers seem to dig in their heels every time we try something new. How can I develop innovation strategies that allow teachers and staff to be more open to change?” This was a recent question from a school leader who was trying to implement broad curriculum design changes in their school district. The school leader was simply trying to pivot towards creating units of instruction … [Read more...]
Leading and Managing Change in Schools with Guest Eric Sheninger
This month's podcast episode features former principal, educational technology thought leader, and Twitter rock star Eric Sheninger. Eric discusses how he was able to bring about change in the high school he led, despite challenging circumstances and how school leaders across the country can develop the right mindset to lead the change they want to see in their district. If you are leading and … [Read more...]
How to Deal with Teachers Who Feel Entitled
“What takes up a significant amount of your time and prevents you from spending more time with your staff and students?” I ask school leaders this question to learn more about the barriers that school leaders are facing as well as the processes they use. In a recent email exchange with one school leader I received this response: I have the time and resources to meet with students and staff, … [Read more...]
How to Change Behaviors of Struggling Teachers
In our last article, How to Have Difficult Conversations with Teachers, we explored some areas school leaders may want to consider when coaching teachers and staff members for improvement. We received several emails on the topic and the response to our free resource How to Open a Can of Worms: A School Leader’s Guide to Having Difficult Conversations with Teachers encouraged us to spend … [Read more...]