I didn’t want to become a principal.

It took a long conversation with my husband to convince me to finally do it —–> and boy, am I glad he did! (see the post here)

One of my goals as an Associate Principal is to change the way students see the office. When I was a high school student, I was always afraid to be called to the office — and it’s really no different today. I constantly hear jokes from adults about kids being called to my office — and that is DEFINITELY a stigma I want to change.

Some of the things happening in our office are also transferrable to the workplace – so I wanted to share some ideas and encourage you to STEAL THEM! Use them as your own! But I would love to hear about it if you do!

Celebrate the positive things people are doing in a TANGIBLE way.

At DeKalb HIgh School we use Baron Fist Bumps. Basically, teachers fill out a paper explaining the positive thing a student did. We call the student TO THE OFFICE (smile), take their photo (to post on social media), congratulate them, and then send a letter home with all the GOOD NEWS! We call these Positive Office Referrals.

So, how would you do that in your workplace?? Exactly the same way! The link to the Baron Fist Bumps is an editable document, so you could do Fist Bumps for your OWN place of work! Encourage people to nominate one another! Being called to the HR can be a good thing! Add a prize, a coffee, a dinner — but MAYBE even “CALL HOME” or send a letter to the spouse! How cool would THAT be?

Celebrate the kinds of characteristics you want to ENCOURAGE your employees (students) to emulate

It’s easy to choose an “Employee of the Month”. But what kind of culture do you want to encourage? At our school, we have our employees nominate Marigolds. If you don’t know the important of the marigold as a flower, check out this website.

Marigolds “support and encourage” one another. So we encourage our teachers and staff to nominate colleagues who do just that: support and encourage. We have a “traveling sign” that is passed around and displayed in the classroom or space – and it not only encourages staff to be supportive and encouraging, but it helps us LOOK for it! If you’d like to personalize one of these signs yourself, here is the Amazon link.

Do fun things for absolutely no reason at all.

Every Friday, I stand at the student entrance of our school building and hand out stickers. Every student gets a sticker every Friday. Why? Because I get to interact with our students and do something for no reason — just because it is fun and makes students smile. Whether the sticker says “You are Paw-Some” or “Howdy” or maybe it’s a farm animal, students love getting something fun every Friday.

Another fun thing is Lucky Locker Cards. I printed some business cards with a fun logo (I used Canva to design it) – and when students find the card, they come to my office for a prize. Yep, I teach high school students, but they are SUPER EXCITED about a slap bracelet, finger skateboard, or plastic slinky. In your workplace it might be fun to make some cards to slip into large piles of paperwork or desk drawers that reward a free coffee or baked good. Just create an environment of appreciation – for no reason at all!

Make the office environment welcoming

Every person is different – but I have to live in my office, so I want students to enjoy being in my office as well. I’ve had many students (and adults!) comment that they enjoy being in my office space. Sometimes people ARE in the office for tough reasons, so making it a little more comfortable can be helpful.

Ideas? Here are a few things I have in my office:

A candy jar — kids come down JUST for the candy!

Comfy chair — feels little less “office like”

Record player — for playing music when I need it, but it’s also a great conversation starter! (mine’s a little different, but you get the idea!)

Positive Messages — I have lots of signs with positive messages ALL over my office. What is the underlying message you want to send? My colleague has this Lin-Manuel Miranda quote hanging in his office!

Send the message that you WANT your school/office/workplace to be a positive place

I created these “It’s Gonna Be Good” passes that I am excited to use more next year (feel free to download and use if you are in a school! If you do, would you let me know?). Oftentimes, students receive a pass and they have NO IDEA why they are coming to the office. Many of them are even shaking once they get here!

There is NO REASON students should feel anxious if the reason is a GOOD ONE! So the end of last year I started being more intentional in using the GBG passes. That way, students know that going to the office CAN be a good thing, too!

This is only the end of year two for me in the Associate Principal’s office – starting year three. But it is starting year 25 of education. No matter where I go or what I do, I want to create a culture that invites and welcomes — helping students and staff to feel like they belong.

I have to do a lot of hard things in my office – and I am okay with doing the hard things. But if creating a positive culture helps to alleviate some of those hard things, helping students and staff feel a little more at peace, then it is all worth it.