S1 E37 Winning With Culture: The WIN Process for School Leaders

Welcome to School Leader Soundbites, a podcast dedicated to empowering K-12 leaders with the latest insights and strategies in marketing and communications! Today, we are discussing Winning With Culture: The WIN Process for School Leaders.

◾WIN Process

-We all win with community buy-in and with strong, aligned culture

-Culture must be nurtured

◾Welcome

-Launching your mark when you get started in a school district- does everyone know what you are about?

-Consider all of the stakeholders you can bring in when new to the system

◾Innovation

-How are you being innovative?

-Celebrate and brand the innovation happening in your schools

◾Nurture

-Nurture your mark outreach guide- templated resources and communications you can use to celebrate what is happening in your community

-Include students as much as possible in social media and press releases- pictures go a long way

-Provide a way for two-way communication (feedback), climate surveys

If you need any assistance with this, head to veronicavsopher.com. If you want more info, please contact me or drop questions in the comments and be sure to share this episode with your colleagues! If you have any questions or suggestions for future topics, I'm here to listen. Thanks for tuning in to School Leader Soundbites.

*School Leader Soundbites* is your essential podcast for navigating the complex world of K-12 leadership with confidence and clarity. Hosted by Veronica V. Sopher, a 25-year veteran in school public relations, this podcast delivers actionable insights and innovative strategies to elevate your school's marketing and communications efforts. Veronica V. Sopher is the strategic designer behind several award-winning marketing campaigns and has crafted winning bond and tax rate communications plans. With extensive experience in crisis management—including handling weapons and deaths on campus, natural disasters, and polarized political landscapes—Veronica is an expert passionate about public education as the great equalizer. Join Veronica as she shares her expertise and offers practical tips that will optimize your leadership and support your district's goals. Whether you're looking to enhance community engagement, improve transparency, or turn feedback into actionable results, *School Leader Soundbites* provides the tools and knowledge you need to succeed.Sponsored by K12 Insight, this podcast is more than just a resource—it's a catalyst for meaningful change. Discover how K12 Insight’s solutions can strengthen relationships with parents, students, and staff, fostering a culture of trust and collaboration within your school community. Veronica is also available for consulting and public speaking, specializing in leadership development and executive coaching. Tune in and transform your leadership journey with insights that make a real difference.

Find me at: https://www.veronicavsopher.com/

Social: @VeronicaVSopher

*About Our Sponsor:* K12 Insight partners with schools and districts to build stronger relationships with parents, students, and staff. They believe trust is the foundation of successful education and offer solutions designed to foster engagement, promote transparency, and turn feedback into actionable results. Want to explore how Let's Talk and K12 Insight's comprehensive suite of customer service solutions can amplify your school's efforts and strategic goals? Visit: go.k12insight.com/sopher

Transcript

Veronica Sopher: 0:07

Hello, hello and welcome to School Leader Soundbites. I'm your host, Veronica Sopher And I have the honor of coming to you every week, dropping new episodes of our podcast where we talk about school communications, public relations, marketing and advertising. So if you are looking for some content on how to improve your school district's visibility strategy, you have found the right place. I come to you every week with more than 20 years of experience in school communications, and I love talking about all the things that you need to know to improve your school district's presence in your community. So let's go ahead and get this episode started, but before we do, don't forget to hit subscribe. We don't want you to miss any episodes of school leader sound bites, and if you're watching on YouTube or Facebook, drop us some comments. All right, let's talk about the win process. Let's talk about how we all win when your community is bought in and you have a strong culture that supports and is aligned to the strategic plan and the goals and focus of the school system. So when we talk about culture, it needs to be nurtured. It is something that cannot automatically happen. It comes with time. It comes with building trust, but it also comes with very clear intentionality. So let's talk about the win process in communications, because that's really what we want to think about. The debut starts, starts us off, and that is the welcome launching your mark when you are a new administrator into a school system. Does everyone know what you're about? Have you gone to those informal get to know you kind of meetings, not only with community leaders, but with parents, with faith based partners, with the nonprofits in your community and with the folks who support you in the higher ed and in the early childhood space. Think about all those different stakeholders that you can bring in when you are new into a system. Now, if you're not new to the system, oftentimes, a reboot is needed, especially if you're in a fast growth community. So thinking about how many new students have come into your system, maybe it's time for a refresh, and you do need to create a welcoming opportunity, just like a brand new superintendent would to a new community. Think about those first 90 days. What does that look like? Is your entry plan readily available on the website, can people actually go and click and look to see if you have checked off the different boxes in the spaces that you said you wanted to be? Let your community really hold you accountable as the leader into the system. They want to welcome you just as much as you want to welcome them. So just make sure that all stakeholders are brought in that they know what your entry plan is. And if you are not new to this system, use this opportunity mid year or even at the very beginning of the school year, to create a second chance to connect with people. It's always good to just reconnect and then making sure you know who your cultural advocate that that is going to be leading. So if you're the culture advocate, who are your team members that are going to support this? Who's going to support advocating for making sure people feel welcome, feel connected, know what they're about. What the school system about is about knowing where resources are for parents and and for staff. That's going to be really important, because part of building culture is rooted in trust. And trust and transparency are the two really important factors to making sure that people feel comfortable with the information that you are putting out there. Now, many of us now realize that we live in an Amazon Prime kind of world. People want information now. They order it, they want to deliver it instantly, right? So when you think about that type of mentality, look at the content that your district is putting out. Is it clear? Is it transparent? Is it being delivered in multiple ways so that people can access it, maybe on their mobile device or on their laptop, or maybe even in print? That could be important for some communities, so identifying how those people will feel most welcome is going to help you in designing the launch your mark part of the win process. And then a really great way to do this is making sure that all new staff have an onboarding process, that the welcome packet has information, has guidance, has resources, creates excitement. Are you giving people spirit wear? Are you inviting them to those one act plays? Are you inviting them to art opportunities that your students are presenting and putting out in the community? This means employees. It means parents, elected officials, board members, invite them to Friday Night Lights, make sure they know where to park and how to come and support the home team. And don't just think about football. Think about soccer. Think about gymnastics or water polo or maybe even tennis or golf, some of the other sports that don't quite get that big community support that you see. Be traditionally so think outside the box and make sure that that's included in the onboarding packet that you send out to new employees. And I've also seen school districts that have smaller communities welcome new families who are coming in with new subdivisions that are coming online. So if you have new subdivisions, Master Plan communities, do you have a welcome packet that you've designed with your message and with up to date information. Are you giving that to prospective home buyers in that community? Because you know those students are going to come to your schools. Don't rely on realtors to do that work for you. You go out. Be proactive. That's part of the marketing of your school system. We are no longer passive entities that people come to for information. We have to go out there, get those students, get those families, but more importantly, build that culture by making sure people are excited. They know who our mascots are. They know exactly who the leaders are and how to connect with them. And it really helps build pride. So just to make sure that you're welcome. Phase of the win process is accessible to people, and it's done in multiple languages, if that's important for your community. Okay, so just kind of keep that in mind. We all know that we are stronger when we've got a team supporting us. And if you're a new superintendent without a communications team or someone dedicated to the communications function of a district. Then reach out and see how my team and I can help you. We can serve as thought partners. We can provide you a la carte services such as graphic support, copywriting, speech, writing, all those things are going to help you communicate more efficiently and effectively with your community. If you want to learn more, click the link below and schedule a time to connect. And then we think about innovation. How are you being innovative? Maybe you've got a new STEM program or a new dual language program that's really exciting for your community. You know, I work with districts all over the country, and one of my favorite things to do is when they onboard new programs like immersion schools, where students are speaking Mandarin on a days and English on B days, and everyone's really immersed in those languages. That's really, really exciting. So if you've got some innovative programs that are happening in your schools, highlight them. You have to highlight your mark. That means you need swag. You need to have branded campaigns for those new initiatives. That means you're talking about them, not only on social media and in digital format, but you're talking about them out in the community, making sure that the city council members or your county commissioners or even your state lawmakers know what it is you're doing that you're inviting them in to the launch of these new innovative programs, if you're partnering with a local tech company, how do those staff know at that company that your district is benefiting from their expertise and that you are bringing them students to be mentored by them? Think about all the different ways you're already doing great work. You're just not sharing it out with your community. So the second part of the win process is innovation. And when you have that happening in your schools, because I know you do celebrate it, give it a name, brand it, and make sure that people know where to go to get more information about it. And then don't forget some of those smaller wins, like drive, you know, drop ins when you are visiting campuses, highlight that on your social media and make sure that you're tagging the program, you're tagging the teacher, you're tagging any volunteers that are there with you supporting it. Because people love when our leadership drops in and celebrates what's happening in the classroom. It makes a world of difference. And this is also a good time to remind you that when you have sponsors, corporate sponsors, maybe it's a chamber of commerce, maybe it's a local university, when they're supporting some of that innovation, give them a shout out. Invite them to your convocation, invite them to your new teacher orientation. Invite them to provide their swag and put a name with the face of the people that are really doing the work that's supporting your students, it's really important to make sure that when someone gives you support, whether financially or in kind, that you thank them publicly. It makes a world of difference. And so I always like to invite those groups to board meetings to celebrate them. Give them a certificate, have students present it, take pictures, celebrate it, because oftentimes those businesses will take those pictures, share them on their social media and also share them at their place of business, which is a really great, great way to build that culture. Because that's what we're trying to do in the win process we're in. We are intentionally bringing folks in to celebrate our school and district pride. One of the other things I really like to do when we're working with education foundations is when a business becomes a partner with our Education Foundation, they get a window cling, really inexpensive to produce, with a district logo, thanking them for being a district sponsor or a school sponsor. We give out those window clings to businesses so that they can put in their place. Of business, and those are really, really popular. So I like to also try to think of innovative ways to celebrate our sponsors. And then the N in the win process is about nurturing. It's the nurture your mark outreach guide. And this is something that we work with on my team a whole lot, and it's templated resources that you can use templated communications to really nurture and celebrate what's happening in your community and celebrate the culture that's happening. That means recognizing employees for service, for years of service. It means celebrating those teachers of the year, the paraprofessional of the year, the AP of the year, the custodian of the year, all those kinds of ways that we can celebrate staff. We want to recognize them and really make them feel valued, because they are the backbone of what supports what's happening in our school culture. So when you give information and facts, make sure that you are including students as much as possible. Now sometimes I know that's not physically possible, but if you can include pictures of students, students in action, students learning. That makes a big difference too. Including your social media included in your press releases. I don't like to send out press releases without images, and oftentimes one of the easiest ways to do that is to put really great action photos, maybe graduation, where students are throwing up their cap or they're hugging each other, or students are just really celebrating and doing well. I put all of those really great photos in a drop box, and I include a link anytime I include it in press releases, because that way media knows they have permission to use this photo, and they will be more inclined to use visual images. And as most of us know, our community is visual learners made up of a lot of visual learners, most people even subconsciously process more information visually than they do auditory now, I know not we do have some auditory learners, so I know that that's not true for everybody, but what I'm basically saying is that pictures go a long way. So include them any way you can when you're nurturing the great things that are happening out in your community. And then we've talked about two way communication a whole lot on the podcast. You always hear me talk about how important it is for you to not only get information out to people, but for people to provide you feedback and really nurture what's happening in that communication channel. Thank them for connecting, setting up those emails using tools and strategies. I always brag on my good friends at K12 insight. They have a great platform, Let's Talk. They're also sponsors of this podcast. They have really great ways for you to connect with your community. Be able to pinpoint the topics and the messages that are really important to various communities. So support to a communication in any way you can, even if that means via paper. So if you're out and about and you're having a town hall meeting, index cards work great too, but the more information that comes in digitally, the easier it is to electronically synthesize it and see trends. So whenever you can, I highly recommend digital over paper. But I know not every community feels that way, and sometimes when we're talking to maybe our community members that no longer have students in our system, there are more comfortable doing paper surveys, and so that's okay too, but just try to make sure that you've got a way to communicate with everybody, but more importantly, you have a way to synthesize it, look at it, analyze it, and, most importantly, evaluate it. And then, if you aren't already doing this, I highly recommend, if your budget allows for a climate survey at least once every two years. A Climate Survey means that you are regularly checking in with people. You're asking them the same series of questions year over year. And so it really helps you identify if the needle is being moved in the right direction, which will help support the strategic plan or any of the other guiding documents that your district has in place. So climate surveys are also very important in the nurturing part of the win process. So of course, if you need any assistance with this, please reach out. Veronica sopher.com I've got some great templates. There's also some great blogs on my website that talk about some of these elements that will really help you improve the culture and climate of your community, and both internally and externally, because that's going to be really important to the success of your district, especially if you're having to go out and ask taxpayers to give more in the time when families are maybe struggling. So I highly encourage you to mark some time on your calendar to build culture, and one of the easiest ways to do it is with the win process. Make sure you are welcoming, make sure you are celebrating all the innovation that's happening on your campuses and in your district, and that you are nurturing those relationships, especially with two way communication. So with that, I'm gonna wrap up this episode of School Leader Soundbites. If you are listening on the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. I don't want you to miss any episodes. If you are watching on Facebook or YouTube, drop some comments. I'll be happy to circle back and answer any questions you have. All right, we'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in.