Every Administrator and Principal knows that it is important to motivate staff. These efforts are fundamental to individual performance in maintaining a positive school culture and atmosphere.  But motivation and reinforcement in order to determine how to influence the behaviors of teachers to achieve desired outcomes is complex because the methods that work for one school or a few teachers may not work for all teachers.  Here are some ideas that will go a long way

1. Make Teachers Know They Are Important

Remind them in words and notes how great their profession is and say inspirational things about them. For those who need to hear and read the words, these are like rain on dry land. A teacher who knows their value and also feels that their leaders and fellow co-workers see their value too, will stay motivated even in moments of frustration, they will quickly bounce back because of their dedicated value to the students and school

2. Build Professional Commitment

Staff can be motivated when they discover a well-defined philosophy and one that they can articulate to others.  Can they answer questions such as “Why did you choose to work here? What do you hope to offer?  What do you hope to gain?”  Once employees know what drives them to work to build and develop children, it helps to build that commitment to stay within the industry.  You can be a powerful influence to help them discover that philosophy.

3. Build Feedback System

it is important to appreciate, and sometimes, reward staff that perform their duties with a touch of excellence. The management should provide a strong feedback system where the school community (colleagues, students, and parents) can appraise the performance of teachers based on different criteria. The management should ensure that those with outstanding performance should be awarded or rewarded, while also encouraging and appreciating the others. Awards and commendations such as a wall plaque, a certificate, or even a blog badge could really boost a teacher’s confidence and loyalty to the organization.

4. Understand What Teachers Need

Teachers most often need peace and quiet to get their work done. Activities like meetings and other activities can really disrupt a teacher’s schedule. If the meeting (or activity) is very important, then you can choose a convenient time, either at the beginning or end of a work day.  Don’t let vendors and guests come on campus and interrupt them. Give them the most important resource they need to deliver on their jobs – TIME!

5. Help Them Help Kids

Make available school supplies for teachers. Give them pencils, pens, highlighters, markers, and paper.  It gets more important the closer you get to the end of the term when parents stop thinking about empty backpacks and school supplies.

6.Take Every Opportunity To Give Verbal Praise

Communicate the achievements of your teachers to other schools in your city; Give teachers the opportunity to showcase student successes, and credit successes back to their teaching style.

7. Introduce Technology When You Can

Introduce new technologies that can aid their jobs, save time and provide convenience to parents. You can replace traditional boards with interactive electronic boards. There are also school information systems like nortify that perform automated tasks like grading and report card generation, smart messaging, debt tracking, online fees payment, etc

Are there other tips that work for you? Go ahead and share your own ideas in the comments.

Saint Okpogode