Continuing our 20 Tips for 2020 series includes an important an ongoing opportunity, listening to your community.
Tip #3 – Listen To Your Community
In education the only constant is that everything changes. However, with so much focus on keeping up with all of that change and desire to improve, we sometimes forget to keep our residents in mind during the transition process. Many community members care deeply about their schools and are actually very supportive of new ideas and improvements. But it’s important to listen to input and the opinions of residents on a regular basis.
One way to listen to your community is through a regular customer service satisfaction survey. When residents are asked their thoughts about real issues that schools are facing they appreciate being involved in the process. You can also get the genuine opinions of your entire community. Too often, residents are reluctant to share their honest opinions when they are face to face with school leaders. However, behind the veil of an anonymous community survey they can be fully truthful about their feelings and level of support for a new idea.
There are two main types of surveys. The first is a third-party survey that is completed by a professional pollster. These surveys provide highly accurate data and often include information about sub-groups such as parents and non-parents, age groups, owning versus renting a home and much more. If you are making major decisions, such as a ballot issue, it is critical to have the most precise information possible. You want to make sure that you have a full awareness of what your community does and does not understand, what they believe is helpful and what they think is a bad idea. You can’t know where you are going until you know where your community is in the process.
Another survey is a web-based survey such as those offered by Google or Survey Monkey. These tools are inexpensive and easy to gather informal thoughts. They are particularly helpful when you are working in small groups and just need general feedback. For example if you are considering changes to the format for Parent Teacher Conferences and want to better understand parent concerns, a quick and easy electronic survey can be helpful.
The point is to make sure you ask parents and residents to share their input and then listen to what they are saying throughout the decision making process. Sometimes your community may need more information before the final decision is made, other times you may need to revamp your plans to make room for a new perspective. Either way, you will always be in a stronger position to move forward if you first understand and listen to what your community is saying.