The Road Less Traveled: Part 1

Time Well Spent

Think of your day as a school personnel administrator. Break it down. 作为人力资源主管，你的大部分时间、时间和时间都花在哪里? Hopping from one meeting to the next; responding to a plethora of email requests; constantly navigating difficult conversations; investigating this; negotiating that… all the while, making literally a thousand decisions before 5:00pm.

这份工作的要求使得任何积极主动的工作都很难完成. Because of the nature of our jobs as Human Resources leaders, 我们很少能够关注那90%的人(那些工作非常出色的员工). 我们有这么多的老师和员工，他们超越了职责的召唤，每天对学生的生活产生积极的影响. 他们中的大多数人会得到很少的积极强化或认可. 作为我们地区的人力资源领导者，我们向自己提出的问题很简单……我们能做些什么来让我们的员工知道我们是多么欣赏和重视他们，而不需要花费太多的时间, yet makes a powerful impact? We did, in fact, choose to go into HR because, as principals, we recognized early on that our employees (teachers, classified employees, and fellow administrators)… the people, were the most important ingredient to the success of our students, and school as a whole.

Random Intentional Acts of Kindness

作为加州第五大学区人力资源部的领导, 我们一直在努力寻找新的和创新的方式来支持超过4个,500 employees and 50,000 students of our district. So we began researching.

In his book, the Five Love Languages (2015), 加里·查普曼将肯定的话语描述为人类最深层的需求之一，一种被欣赏的需求. Dr. John Maxwell, in his book, Winning with People (2017), 分享以下内容:“我们的成功或失败很大程度上取决于我们如何激励与我们打交道的人……成功或失败本质上是人际关系的问题。.” Sam Walton, founder of Walmart states, “Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.” And that’s what we decided to do… praise the efforts of our employees!

Beginning in August of 2018, 副督学和助理督学承诺代表全区(共63个教学点)的校长亲自致电。. On a monthly basis, 我们的网站负责人向我们提供了一个认证和一个分类员工的名字，他们正在做一个特殊的工作，他们希望我们认识到. 我们的负责人向我们提供了一个简短的解释，说明他们为什么选择这些员工让我们联系. Then we call them and we thank them. 每个人都被告知他或她被选中的原因是由校长提供的. 以下描述了一个非常简单的过程，我们正在努力对我们地区的整体文化产生积极的影响.

3 Simple Steps to Success

1) (P)ositive

We make brief, 地区办事处人力资源部的副总监或助理总监积极地打电话给员工，让他们知道, and this is the most important part, 他们的校长告诉我们，他们在他们的工地上做了伟大的工作. 我们特别描述了两到四件他们做得特别好的事情，这些事情引起了站点管理员的注意. And then we thank them.

2) (C)all

我们亲自给每个学校的一名认证员工和一名保密员工打电话, per month. 对于我们这么大的一个地区来说，一想到要这么做，一开始就觉得很吓人. But then, we did the math. 对于一个有57所学校的学区来说，我们花在这些电话上的时间如下:

57 total schools	X	2 employees to call per school	=	114 phone calls to make per month
114 calls	X	2 minutes per call	=	228 minutes on the phone per month
228 minutes	÷	60 minutes	=	3.8 hours per month
3.8 hours per month	÷	2 Asst Supts making calls	=	1.9 hours spent per month making calls
2.1 hours per month in the time spent to make Positive Calls Home

Now consider the following:

As HR leaders, we work approximatly...

22 days per month	X	每天9小时(大约)对于大多数阅读这篇文章的人来说是一个非常保守的数字	=	198 hours worked per month
198 hours per month	÷	1.9 hours spent making calls per month	=	Less than 1%
我们只有不到1%的工作时间花在打电话上，让员工知道我们重视他们

Initially, we contemplated going the email route. But we really wanted this to be personal. 我们希望被认可的人听到我们的声音，并理解我们是多么感激他们. 我们发现，打电话比发邮件更能表达我们衷心的感激之情.

3) (H)ome

We place these calls to our employees’ home or cell phone number. The rationale behind that decision is twofold: (1) a call placed to a personal number as opposed to a work phone number indicates a greater level of personal connection; (2) if we leave a message, the employees have the opportunity to save the message, which many of our employees have notified us they have been doing.

Feedback We Have Received

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Once people realize HR is not calling for a “bad reason,，他们会因为一句简单的感谢以及他们的直接上司推荐他们而感到谦卑. What an honor! 我的主管被要求说出任何人的名字，他/她选择告诉HR关于我的事情? They tell their friends. Their friends gain a different perspective about “the District.“他们打完电话，就知道雇主真的欣赏他们，也注意到他们的工作. And maybe, just maybe, 这个地区被认为是由关心员工的人组成的.

我们住在最著名的公路之一——太平洋海岸公路(PCH)附近。. 就像一个人可以沿着加州的PCH公路旅行，看到美国最引人注目的沿海景色一样, 我们的PCH首字母提醒我们，几个积极的词可以对我们员工的生活产生巨大的影响!

Are you struggling with your own inspiration and energy? Telling someone you appreciate them and value them is energizing. 它在接受(和提供)积极反馈的人身上培养了一种感恩和乐观的感觉. You will spend most of your time helping others with their problems. Why not take a few minutes to energize yourself, and make a powerful impact in the lives of your employees. If you value your employees, tell them. It really is that simple. You may not get to everyone, but you will be making a difference. And for those you call, and those they know, you have impacted lives in a way you may never be able to quantify. It’s not a program. It’s not systematic or predictable. It’s simple. Who will you call first?

Tim Brooks, Rich Montgomery, 罗伯特·米勒在加州最大的地区之一的人力资源服务部门工作. As speakers with a variety of universities, workshops, and symposiums, they deliver an authentic, practical message resonating with teachers, administrators and community members.