A Simple Way to Build Relationships Across Campus

As the holidays roll around once again, we’re offered a brief time to rest and recover. And wow have you earned it! I am truly amazed at the effort I’ve seen across the country this year from all of you working in education. I am continuously stunned by the work ethic and resilience you’ve shown over these difficult years.

So as we arrive in a moment to pause and reflect, I’d like to direct your attention to what I think is the next step in rebuilding culture in schools across America: relationships.

You’ve all dedicated a lot of time to reestablish your footing after having a massive disruption, and it’s incredible to see how much of an impact it’s finally starting to have. But the one thing I still see schools struggling with is in rebuilding relationships. So now that you’re building some traction and positive momentum as individuals, let’s focus on coming together as a team.

How can we achieve this? It’s simple. We focus on the needs of others.

For your staff, according to our research, the majority of folks in education value and need…

• Respect
• Support
• Appreciation

And for your students, most of them really need…

• Approval
• Acceptance
• Support

So ask yourself, what is a simple action I can take to meet a relational need for someone in my school? It doesn’t have to be a giant gesture. Sometimes little actions are the best place to start.

If you could use support coming up with actions to take, that’s ok! We’re here to help. We offer a Campus Relationship Workshop that covers staff/student needs and connects people across campus. We’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback on this workshop in particular, and I’ve personally found it to be one of the most impactful programs TEEN TRUTH has developed so far.

We all want to have strong relationships, but it takes effort to do. Let’s kick off the new year by making that effort to connect. In the meantime, happy holidays everyone. I’m so grateful for all of you.