IMPROVING MORALE: A MORAL IMPERATIVE

From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Update/Week of March 18^th. | http://bit.ly/YCMscQ

14 March, 2013 :: Employee morale can be defined as the employee's outlook, optimism, self - concept and belief in themselves and their organization, its mission, goals, defined path, daily decisions and employee appreciation.

Employee morale describes the overall outlook, attitude and satisfaction that employees feel at work. When employees are positive about their work environment and believe that they can meet their most important needs at work, employee morale is high. If employees are negative and unhappy about their workplace, and feel unappreciated, employee morale is low.

One goal at the top of any organization’s list should be to ensure high employee morale, so say industry experts. Yet, w e would venture to say that the morale of LAUSD administrators is at an all - time low. With all of the directives, counter - directives, tests, reviews, models and innovations being thrown at them, coupled with the ongoing unrealistic workload and the disparaging treatment; is it any wonder that most of the “feel good” has left the profession?

Much has been written about low teacher morale and the many ways that administrators can improve it; but, conversely, little can be found on the subject of improving the morale of school - site administrators. Principals are charged in clear and distinct ways with establishing a positive school climate that fosters good morale and evaluated on it, but who looks after the morale in LAUSD, sadly, the answer is very elusive, so, we, at AALA, decided to tackle it.

Granted, much of the low morale can be attributed to workload, which can only be alleviated by additional resources or reducing demands; however, there are other factors which impact morale, such as autonomy, respect, professional growth opportunities, transparent and cohesive evaluation systems and clear line - staff relationships

Almost anything that contributes to a positive work environment for employees helps to build employee morale.

We have listed some things below that can be done with existing resources to improve the morale of administrators and at the same time, no surprise , help improve their performance.

NO EXTRA FUNDING REQUIRED

• Treat employees with respect, empower them and recognize their work.
• Divert $50 million from proposed tablets for students to repairing the infrastructure at schools.
• Improve the system to input data for teacher observations.
• Establish a budget timetable that allows for genuine communication with staff and parents.
• Provide District initiative training that includes Options principals.
• Implement District initiatives that have a timetable that serves the needs of principals, not PR.
• Display sensitivity to the demands on the time of principals.
• Conduct genuine, concerted fundraising that provides resources to schools and is not used for politically engineered activities or ambitions.
• Elect a mayor who runs the city, not the schools.
• Focus on only one or two initiatives each year.
• Offer administrators the opportunity to have input into the District’s strategic plan and goal setting.
• Stop efforts to privatize public education.
• Abbreviate the LAUSD Brief.

If the above items are implemented, we guarantee that employee morale will soar! Building positive employee morale is not difficult, but it takes desire, commitment and attention on the part of leadership.