Team Culture

Recommended Initiative 3.1

Click each deliverable below to expand its key design considerations.

Develop a working group to identify practices to address adult social-emotional and wellness support

How will we define the purpose, composition, meeting cadence, and deliverables for a working group?
What shared learning might be needed in order to ground the group in a common, research-based vision of excellence?
What factors are most important to stakeholders in identifying practices?
Who are the key teachers, counselors, administrators, and other non-classroom staff needed? Have we engaged diverse stakeholders in the process?
Who will lead the planning of this working group?

Assess staff social-emotional well-being upon returning to school to identify signs of mental health concerns, including trauma

How will we identify signs of mental health concerns and trauma in our staff upon returning to school?
Are we equipped to identify staff members who may be experiencing high trauma and to use a training program, such as this free one from from Support for Teachers Affected by Trauma (STAT), to help them recognize symptoms and use proactive strategies?

Make available resources for staff to communicate needs and access supports for mental health, self care, and personal wellness

To what extent are staff familiar with available school and district resources, such as Employee Assistance Program (EAP)? Is there a direct communication channel (e.g. a point person) for staff to communicate mental health concerns? Do staff have appropriate access to mental health care such as counselor or therapists?
To what extent is discussing staff wellness normalized among leaders? To what extent are their intentional opportunities for staff check-ins?.
To what extent have we incorporated and normalized stress-management strategies and integrated them into the school culture? Consider using mindfulness resources such as the Pause-Reset-Nourish framework.
What systems are in place for individual staff to communicate needs?
For adult wellness and mental health trainings, should we source an external provider, either from a central/home office or an external provider, to allow all staff and leaders to fully engage and experience the training?

Convene a staff culture committee to lead ongoing staff culture initiatives

Publish concrete goals for adult culture and staff attendance

What will we measure and how often?
What structures are in place across leadership teams to monitor, reflect, and respond to data?

Assess the health of network, cabinet, and/or schools-based leadership teams

To what extent are we assessing the health of network, cabinet, and/or schools-based leadership teams using a tool such as Lencioni’s Online Team Assessment?
To what extent are leaders practicing and modeling their own wellness routines?

Publish a plan to build a strong and inclusive team culture through staff check-ins, support systems, rituals, and routines

What supports are in place for beginning teachers to receive social-emotional support and mentorship, in addition to strengthening their instructional practice?
To what extent do we have rituals and routines to sustain staff culture on a regular basis (e.g. weekly check-ins, shared staff SEL experiences, etc.)
To what extent are social-emotional learning approaches integrated into teacher classroom practices?
As a school and leadership team, what staff behaviors are we choosing to reward and recognize? How are we recognizing teams and individuals practicing self-care, supportive team cultures, and encouragement?

Assess and identify staff supports that should carry over

What does staff survey and wellness data indicate supports that should be continued?

Revise and publish SY22-23 team culture plan

What successes do we want to build upon, and how?
Which identified challenges do we want to address, and how?
Do we need additional training or support across the year to implement the plan?
How will we monitor effectiveness in year 2?