[00:00:00] Welcome to the Principal Patterson Podcast, where leadership meets excellence in education. I'm Chanavia Patterson, and I'm here to help you navigate the nuances of becoming a high performing school leader. Each week, we'll explore essential pillars of high performing schools, from climate and culture, teaching and learning, systems and operations, and even coaching and development.
Remember, everything that happens in our schools, Is leadership created or leadership allowed? Join me as we create schools of excellence, one principal at a time.
Hello everyone. And welcome back to the podcast. Today, we are talking about assessing your school's culture. We're going to talk about the three phases that many. Many schools go through with their school's culture and those phases are. Are the toxic phase, the tolerable phase, and then the top tier [00:01:00] phase. For each of these phases were discussed the characteristics.
What most leaders are doing during those phases. Some of the challenge. Or risks. That are in each of those phases and then provide some practical steps that you can take. To improve your school's culture. Whether you're a principal or an aspiring school leader. Understanding and shaping your school's culture is critical.
It's critical to your success as a leader and is also critical to the success. Yes of your students. By the end of this episode, I want you to assess where your school's culture is. Is it toxic? Is it tolerable or is it truly top tier. And remember, the goal is not to call you out. It is to call you. In no matter where your starting point is because there's always. room to grow.
The inspiration for this episode came from our recent school visit I had with one of the schools. Is that I partner with. I was there to complete a culture [00:02:00] audit. And if you've never gone through a culture audit. I highly recommend that you do it. I personally start with the leadership team. I provided them with one of my proprietary frameworks and gave them the opportunity to rate their school's culture with these various domains that i use. When we did that, and we looked at the results.
The results were very mixed, but relatively in alignment. So, what I noticed about when I did this with a leadership team, They were honest about where they. rated their school's culture as far as being toxic it tolerable or a top tier in different domains, but there were some discrepancies where there were some mixed reviews and I'm gonna talk. A little bit about that in a second. After I did this with the leadership team. I went to each of their grade levels.
PLCs. And did the same thing. The results were completely. different from what I did it with [00:03:00] the leadership team, it was the complete opposite. Now this isn't anything new or spectacular that I did. But it gave their leadership team a very clear view of the gaps that. They had within their own team. And by grade level. When you have leaders on the same team, rating any particular domain of their culture as top tier. And the same someone on that same team rates, the same domain as toxic. We are not in alignment. And so doing that with the leadership team and then doing with the grade level, it gave those leaders a very clear view of where the gaps were in their school.
Sometimes the perception of culture varies by who you ask. And what it means to them. Now doing this process of a culture audit. The leaders could create their custom culture plan so that they could shift some of the tolerable and toxic elements into top tier ratings. [00:04:00] With the support of me, of course, to help them to guide them through that process. When I think about culture in the phases, I also see it as like, these dimensions are layers like a cake. And so there are three phases of culture toxic. tolerable. And top tier, but then to take it a step further. in each of those phases, you have to also look at the layers that are. In there. Within the toxic culture. The four dimensions of it are the people, the place. The performance and the purpose. So that's another. part that we have to kind of unpack as you're assessing your schools culture. Let's talk about the toxic culture first. So this first phase, is worst case scenario. No one wants to have a toxic culture, but it happens. And. And if you. If you're not sure if you have a toxic culture or not. These are some of the characteristics.
School leaders, let me [00:05:00] ask you a question. Are you dealing with any resistance from your staff members? Maybe it's pushback on new initiatives. Or you have some veteran teachers that don't want to get in alignment to your vision. Or there's some miscommunication on certain grade levels. Or maybe it's your leadership team that is in distress.
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There is constant conflicts. Between grade levels or there's constant conflicts between teachers and administrators there's low morale [00:06:00] or. Low engagement of the staff there's division among the staff. There's a lot of resistance and pushback to change. A lot of the new teachers resigned quickly. Their student behavior is just completely. Out of control for lack of better words.
Like these are some of the characteristics that. You will find in a, in a toxic culture. Or you may have leaders. That do not engage with the staff, in a, in. In a positive way in a healthy way. Those are some of the characteristic. The risks that you will find in a school that has a toxic culture. And during this time, the school leaders find themselves and constant firefighter. The fighter mode, they are so busy reacting to problems that. They can't even engage in strategic leadership.
They can't even. support teachers in the classroom. With. With observing and coaching and giving feedback, being like true instructional leaders. they, they, they, that's why they say they don't have a lot of time [00:07:00] it's because. They're being a firefighter instead of a principal or an assistant principal. Let me tell you about one of the schools that I do partner with.
It's a high school. And the principal inherited a toxic culture. Little, did she know it had been festering for years. And her, the staff meetings were like battlegrounds, where. The seasoned teachers were like openly dismissing her ideas as a new principal. you had department chairs that were not in alignment.
They were arguing over a schedule, changes it. was just a very toxic and an unhealthy environment. And if you're nodding thinking like, you know what, this sounds similar to my school. I want you to know that there are some best practices that I personally has success with, and many of the principals that are partnered with have had success with, but you can turn things around it. It does take time, but I want to give you a few things that you could do. The first and foremost, I want you to conduct a culture audit, have [00:08:00] someone come in. And actually do those assessments with your leadership team. And then with your. grade level teams. And get. Get that feedback and try to really have them identify the trends. And understand the root cause of where this toxic environment is coming from like, what is the root cause of it? Have them unpack those four dimensions that I mentioned they should be able to tell you. about the people, the place, the performance and the purpose. Of that, of each. Of those areas. So that's the first thing I would do the second. Second thing I would do in addition to con conducting a culture audit, I will also want, school and leaders that are dealing with this to really understand and assess the people that are on their team. And this is where knowing those personality types are so important like we, you know, who's on your team, you [00:09:00] know, how to coach and lead them. But you can't do that until, you know, the. People. And what makes, what motivates them? What are their fears? Fears. What stresses them out. Things like that.
And there's a way that you can do that through using various assessments.
Let's go to phase two, the tolerable culture. So. This is the culture. That's just kind of like status quo. It's not terrible. But it's not great either. you may notice that this staff get along, but they're not like real excited or motivated. They're just there. There's some inconsistency with the communication. You might get a little pushback here and there. But for the most part teachers do their job. And they go home. And that's just a tolerable culture. But you may also notice that when they do their job and go home. They're not really engaged. They're not engaged with the staff. Half or the students or the parents. They're just there. I called this the buy-in time phase.
[00:10:00] And when. Leaders have these type of cultures, they're just in maintenance mode. They want to keep things running. But they're not going to push for growth or change. Or innovation. And that is not a safe place to be because your school will be, get stagnant. People get comfortable. Then they get complacent. So a few things that I will recommend. And that school leaders to do is to create a,vision for improvement.
Like I think a lot I think a lot of. Leaders create school improvement plans for the overall school. But do you create one for your culture? Do you have a culture improvement plan. Hmm. Think about that. What are we doing to intentionally improve the culture of our school. Even if it's okay, It's tolerable. Are you comfortable comfortable with being being just okay.
Think about that.
A lot of the leaders that I [00:11:00] support are very high achieving. And goal oriented and they want to be the best they want their schools to the best. No matter what zip code is, sits in no matter what. Where the students are coming from. They want to be great leaders. And great leaders. Aren't complacent. So you don't want to get comfortable with a tolerable culture. Consider creating a culture improvement plan for your school. Let's move to phase three.
This is the top tier culture. This is where everyone wants to be and when you get to this point where your culture is top tier. You see little or no teacher turnover. Year after year after year, where the only time people transition out is if they're getting promoted. Or. There's a maternity leave or paternity leave or something like that. That's. The only time you see gaps.
Low turnover little to none. Year after year after. A year is the [00:12:00] biggest indicator that you have a top tier culture. You have clear and consistent communication, you know, every. Everyone's personality style. You know what motivates every member? Member of your team. You know what stresses them. You know how to. Communicate them, you. You know exactly what they fear the most.
When you have a top tier culture you also so have your teachers are proactive. They're very collaborative. And they innovate. They don't want to get comfortable and complacent. Isn't even a student behavior. Has very. The few disruptions. Very few. They're not. Perfect. I mean, no school is perfect. No student know. The children, are children, even the teenagers, they're still kids. But you're going to have disruptions, but they're very minimal.
They're not, they're not. Not disrupt into school, that's going to impact academics. And you just see higher engagement across the board when leaders have. top tier [00:13:00] culture, they can stay in visionary mode. They. They are focused on growth. They're focused on building their team strength. They are looking for ways to just continuously improve their school. School. Now there are some challenges and risks that. Come with having a top tier culture. complacency can sit in here too here too. Sometimes success, breed contentment. Where everyone just kind of leave. start, they start to lack, continue continual growth. Growth. Well, they stopped going. To seek in professional development. They feel like they they've arrived.
they may be a little resistant. To some necessary changes because things are going so well. You know how. They say, if it's not broke, don't fix it. That's the mindset. When you have a top tier culture that a lot of leaders and teachers have. I've also noticed that school was to have a top tier culture, is that there are some pressure to maintain. High standards.
Like [00:14:00] consistently. Trying to maintain the rather is that the test scores or maintain these survey results. Or maintained this, you know, It's this constant pressure. To maintain high standards like that could be a challenge. Or risk when you do have a top tier culture. And also it might be difficult integrating new staff members like new hires. Sometimes they struggle to fit into a well-established culture. Because it's not the norm. So you may find some of those little nuances that happen when you bring someone new on board, let's say you added a new position or someone went on maternity leave and stay home with their. Children and you have to backfill that role and someone new comes in and they're coming from a toxic environment.
And now they're coming to a top tier and they're like, They don't feel like it's real. So that's an adjustment. We have to be able to make as a leader. is integrating new staff members when we have a top tier culture.[00:15:00]
When you, if you get to this point, I will recommend that you develop succession plans. That's like the first thing I would do, like when you've gotten to that point where, you know, you have a consistent top tier culture. My. question to you would be, let me see your succession plan. How are you preparing future leaders to maintain this healthy culture what are you doing in the next three to five years to elevate yourself? And the person coming behind you. That is the main goal. Of someone who has reached the pinnacle of having a top tier culture. Is that they have a succession plan, not saying that they have to transition. One up or out. But are you making space? for someone else to come up. And do what you do, are you. Training and developing them to do that.
So I want you to take a moment and reflect on your school's culture. Like truly ask yourself. Are you constantly putting out fires? Is your leadership team [00:16:00] like very proactive or reactive. Is your team aligned? If I was to come and do a culture audit at your school. With everyone have. Pretty much the same self assessment of the school's culture.
Or are, is your team just getting by?
Are. Are they watching the clock day in and day out.
These questions can help you identify where your school culture stands and what areas you might need some improvement. Again, it's. Not to call you out is to call you in. Because there's always room to grow.
No matter where your school culture is right now. Now there are things that you can do. And I mentioned before, if you have, if you're. A situation where you have a toxic culture. Improving your communication is number one. Understanding the different personality. Nally profiles of the people that are on your team. I talked about the Ford. Four dimensions of culture, the people, the place. [00:17:00] The purpose.
And the performance. Once.
If you have a tolerable. Arable culture. How are you bridging those gaps? So that people. We'll continue to innovate and not get comfortable. And if you have the. The top tier culture. How are you fine tuning your team dynamics?
The key is always to identify where. You are, and then take the intentional steps to move forward.
Your school's culture can impact everything from staff retention to student success.
So start by identifying your current phase. And then implementing some of the practical steps we discussed today, these small, consistent actions. It can lead to significant shifts over time.
Thank you for joining me today on the Principal Patterson Podcast, where we create high performing schools, one principal at a time. Before we wrap up, I have [00:18:00] one last favor to ask. If you found value in today's episode, I'd love for you to rate and review the podcast. Your feedback not only helps me continue delivering content that serves you, but it also helps other school leaders discover this podcast.
Share the episode with your fellow principals, your leadership teams, or anyone you feel could benefit from shifting their leadership approach. Together we can elevate school leadership and create more schools of excellence. So please rate, review, subscribe, and share with your community.
