Create Intentional Culture

Building culture: Your team’s culture isn’t built by chance but by choice. A disengaged team costs more than you realize. It drains time, effort, and resources. 60% of employees feel disconnected at work.

Disengagement leads to Low morale, High turnover, Missed deadlines, Missed opportunities, and Decreased productivity. When teams aren’t engaged, the workplace suffers.

The fix isn’t a one-time event—it’s a consistent effort.  Use my 2025 Culture Playbook for a thriving culture that works year-round:

• Start with structure- A clear playbook gives direction to every month.

• Focus on variety- Plan activities that address different team needs:  Growth, Wellness, Reflection, Collaboration, etc.

• Celebrate diversity- Cultural awareness creates inclusivity and stronger teams.

• Prioritize wellness-  healthy minds and bodies lead to higher performance.

• Build connections. Regular events bring teams together and spark new ideas.

• End the year with clarity. Reflection and goal-setting create purpose for the future. Culture isn’t just an extra—it’s the foundation.

I have heard from many schools that concerns generally fall into two categories - incidents ranging from marginalization to discrimination and how to 'handle' the inauguration in a manner that allows space for a range of community beliefs.  These events and the escalation of national conversations compel us to adjust how we respond to and support our students.

As educators, we have long rested on our esoteric mission statements to describe who our schools are and what they stand for.  School mission statements provide a more abstract view of our schools, and we may now have to supplement them with clear language that outlines the behaviors we will not accept or tolerate.   Students consistently share a firm sense of who their schools are but struggle to know what they are not and will not tolerate.  “Jen, I know my school wants me to be a good person and works hard to help us use our voices, but I don't know if they share my view on discrimination,” shared a student at a school where among adults, there is no doubt that they firmly stand against discrimination.  This is the time for schools to be clear about what will and will not be accepted.

Here are a few more strategies for supporting your school (and yourself):

• Take care of yourself individually and as a group.  I have seen a contagion factor regarding marginalization lately. You will need the support of yourself and others as you process the individual situations and the broader community focus.   

• Tell students you care for yourselves and encourage them to do so. 

• Encourage faculty to help the girls move away from responding to/gossiping about individual situations toward creating community norms and expectations. Hence, there is no room for them to include identifying (and, if necessary) check-in with faculty they feel they can trust. 

• Share community culture points (decreased morale of faculty, increased dismay of parents, expressions of helplessness from students) to be sure you are getting an overall sense of how things are going. 

• Create schedule options allowing for a community gathering if needed and then focusing on returning to routine with a note to the community that maintaining routine is essential in difficult situations but that students and faculty feeling unable to participate in routines can find their trusted adults (note:  encouraging the trusted adult is necessary as these are situations as these are new to many students and therefore they do not have a frame of reference for dealing).   

• Develop unequivocal statements of behavioral expectations. 

• Create manageable short (develop unequivocal statements of behavioral expectations) and long-term goals (affect change in race relations). 

• Avoid making long-term policy changes during and soon after a crisis event.  Document responses to crises to be considered in revising your policy handbook. 

• Promote a sense of hope and empowerment.  Educators are in the profession of hope, and students need to see they are hopeful for the future of students and the school. 

• Engage student leadership 

• Partner with parent leadership 

• Allow adult processing time 

• Anticipate that the events surrounding the inauguration will introduce students to words, actions, and concepts that may be challenging, and answer for yourself how you will handle your students, faculty, and parents seeking your guidance and support.  I recently attended a Peaceful Direct Action planning meeting, something I have participated in before. Still, this time, there was a strong overlay of messaging about protecting oneself physically and legally when (not if) there are confrontations and the powers of the deputized National Guard.   

• Acknowledge that, in many ways, these are new paradigms.  Therefore, a map does not exist. However, this is also a time for the map to be created with students, parents, and faculty/staff engaged equally. 

• Acknowledge and create space for when incidents happen on campus or in the greater community. Some students and faculty will be strongly impacted, some will not, and others will be in the middle. 

• Resist the 'presumption of majority think' (assuming everyone has a shared view on events) 

• Listen to students.  I have had many students share that these times (increase in hate incidents, the election rhetoric, etc.) are new experiences for them, and seeing adults in panic adds to or even creates student angst. 

• Ask students and faculty to answer for themselves:  “What do you need when you are in pain?  What do you need to see, hear, eat, touch, do when you need comfort?” 

• Communicate with all constituent groups as fully as confidentiality allows. 

• Look for the helpers and encourage students to be the helpers to be seen. 

• Lean on your school's mission. 

• Include education in your disciplinary measures.  Responses to divisive behaviors should include learning more about targeted and impacted people. 

• Focus beyond one school incident, one election, and one inauguration when talking with students.  These touch points are learning moments.  Students need to view the skills acquired in these times as transferable and able to be applied to future situations. 

• Focus on kindness, highlighting moments of kindness within and beyond your school community.

Above all, remain hopeful and convey a sense of hopefulness.  Being an educator is predicated on viewing the world through the lens of possibility, and students need to have many opportunities to exercise their advocacy and activism skills. This is a hopeful time when we can grow our skills, learn from and with our students, and create the school environments that are most desired.