Treat People Better than You Want to be Treated

#9 Treat People Better than You Want to be Treated.” From 50 Great Things Leaders Do: Let’s Get Fired Up!

It always works, and it worked again yesterday. It can work in any organization. We always look for ways to inspire our workforce (staffulty) prior to the new school year. We have done a lot of research, trial and error, and just asked people.

When I was a teacher, there was a lot of complacency. It wasn’t acceptable then and it certainly isn’t now. Our future depends on commitment, hard work, and fun. The start of each year begins with some old traditions and some new events. After an opening “state of the district” address, we stand in front of the oldest part of our building for a team photo (below).

We start each year with a theme and service learning platform. Our theme this year: You Are A+ Star. There will be a lot of Hollywood types of events. For instance, each employee had a star with their name on it hung on the wall. We rolled out the red carpet in the front of the building. Paparazzi were snapping photos all day.

Many people, over the years, have expressed their boredom on opening day activities. And I know that we are required by state law to cover certain items, however, inspiration must come in many forms. It did yesterday. We had a four hour block that included an opening, inspiring video, barbeque, and leadership Olympics. The Olympics consisted of a number of team building and problem-solving competitions.

One of the funniest events of the day included a fashion show. Before lunch we divided the teams by movies. Each person received a card with a movie character. All of characters from the same movie found each other and formed a team.

The culminating event was a fashion show down the red carpet. Each team received a trash bag, aluminum foil, and tape. They chose a model and dressed him or her in three minutes. The models paraded down the red carpet, and they were judged (below). Tomorrow it’s back to a full day of teacher evaluation training but we started on an inspirational, fun day.