8 Tips to Encourage, Empower, and Serve Your Team in 2019

As we kick off 2019 and return from winter break, school leaders enjoy a unique opportunity to operate from a ‘clean slate’ in the new year. This restart holds tremendous potential in establishing and maintaining positive momentum throughout the remainder of the academic year. By encouraging, empowering, and serving team members, school leaders have the opportunity to establish a culture of trust and engagement in the new year.

Consider the following 8 Tips...

Seek opportunities to provide encouragement and praise.

School leaders yield significant interpersonal influence. A quick compliment or thank you to a teacher goes a long way. Conversely, a terse interaction can create feelings of disappointment, unease or mistrust between teacher and administrator. Miller (2017) encouraged leaders to provide six affirming comments for every communication requiring a change in behavior on the part of the team member.  

School leaders must be consistent and intentional in their interactions with instructional and non-instructional staff. More often than not, there is opportunity to share a word of encouragement or praise. Miller highlighted the difference between encouragement and praise. Encouragement is positive and supportive feedback provided throughout the process. Praise, on the other hand, is a compliment for a job well done. Both are powerful.

Get to know your team beyond their roles at school.

Daisyme (2017) emphasized the importance of investing personal attention to each team member. As a school leader, talk to your staff. Demonstrate your interest in them as professionals and as people. To the appropriate degree, establish a working understanding of their lives outside of school. You will be able to better empathize with them and best support them as people and in their roles.

With that knowledge, be flexible with schedules where possible. Teachers in particular, often find it burdensome to attend their own children’s school events or take them to a doctor’s appointment because they have teaching responsibilities. Where possible, get coverage for a block or two for that teacher. This small gesture will go a long way.

Delegate meaningful work.

Delegate more than just tasks. Empower instructional and non-instructional staff by delegating meaningful work. Bring team members into projects which align with major strategic initiatives or will culminate in a public presentation. This will facilitate a culture where staff enjoy ownership in school-wide initiatives.

Engaging in meaningful projects, for example, facilitates a feeling of importance among staff beyond a job description. It contributes to a shared purpose and breaks down the ‘silos’ which often characterize how staff relate their job to the school as a whole. Daisyme (2017) underscored the positive impact such sentiments can have on the organization. “The feeling of importance and trust leads to better and more productive work.”

Take serious the role of Servant Leader.

Servant leaders place the needs of community members before their own. They recognize the opportunity their position within the organization affords them to make a positive impact through their actions. This selfless type of leadership often becomes contagious and is replicated throughout the organization. It demonstrates a sincere connection and concern to all staff members. LaBier (2015) noted, “...employees feel the most valued and give back to the company and its customers when their bosses create a culture of trust, caring, cooperation, fairness and empathy.”

Model the behavior you expect.

School leaders should aspire to consistently model servant leadership. Servant leaders model the behaviors and commitment they expect to see throughout the organization. Opportunities abound and include picking up trash, cleaning up after snack time, making coffee in the staff room, holding doors open.

Such behaviors demonstrates to instructional and non-instructional staff the value of every role performed within the school. They communicate that you, as the leader, are engaged in the work on a personal level. The fruits of such labor may not be immediately evident. Nonetheless, positive seeds of a healthy culture are being planted. Economy (2016) encouraged school leaders to remain persistent, recognizing that positive change does not take place immediately. It takes time and consistent effort.

Establish ‘generous boundaries.’

People need boundaries in their professional lives. In schools, professional boundaries serve to focus the efforts and attention of staff. Effective boundaries also empower both instructional and non-instructional staff to make decisions in real-time.

Effective boundaries are ‘generous.’ Generous boundaries allow team members to operate with informed autonomy. They inform action and encourage ownership, while leveraging the abilities and knowledge of individual team members (Kasanoff, 2016).  

Share your vision with all team members.

School leaders must identify and enthusiastically communicate vision. Where is the school, division, or department going? Leadership expert Dave Ramsey noted team members will demonstrate increased engagement as they gain a closer relationship with the established vision (2018).

Communicate the vision at every opportunity and extoll the virtues therein. Seek opportunities to allow team members to connect their own ambitions to the organization’s vision. With this alignment established, team members are more likely to remain enthusiastic and become consistent ambassadors of the vision.

Be genuinely open to new ideas and suggestions from your team.

As a school leader, it is critical to seek the best information and ideas from instructional and non-instructional staff. Teachers, for example, have the most informed perspective on matters concerning students or curriculum. They are on the front-lines. Be authentically open to their input.

Communicate that openness by keeping your office door open, walking around the school throughout the day, and establishing open lines of communication on campus and off.  Folkman (2017) asserted “Being open and inviting ideas from others will increase empowerment in your team.” An engaged and empowered staff will push the school forward and sustain it during difficult times.

Here’s to a 2019 filled with encouragement, empowerment, and service!

Business.com (Peter Daisyme). Trust the Process: 10 Tip to Empower and Encourage Your Staff. February 22, 2017.

Inc. (Peter Economy). 7 Secrets of ‘Servant Leadership’ That Will Lead You to Success. January 26, 2016.

Forbes (Joseph Folkman), The 6 Key Secrets to Increasing Empowerment in Your Team. (March 2, 2017).

Forbes (Bruce Kasanoff). 10 Powerful Ways to Empower Your Employees. March 24, 2016.

HuffPost (Douglas LaBier). Leaders Who Serve Their Employees Have Greater Business Success: Here’s Why. July 29, 2015.

Entrepreneur (Beth Miller). 7 Ways to Sincerely Encourage Your Employees. July 11, 2017.

Entreleadership (Dave Ramsey). 4 Ways to Empower Your Team. Retrieved December 24, 2018.