Looking for a way to build a stronger connection with your staff and their families? Consider sending personalized holiday greeting cards to the spouses of your staff!
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Copying an idea I got out of an awesome book called Hacking Leadership by Joe Sanfelippo and Tony Sinanis, I worked with our secretarial staff to track down the names of husbands, wives, fiances, and significant others for all members of our teaching staff. Each of these individuals was sent a personalized, school district-themed "Happy Holidays" postcard similar to the sample you see below.
I think we can all agree that teaching is a demanding job, and sometimes this stress can take its toll on the rest of the educator's family. Therefore, I wanted to make sure that the spouses and significant others of our staff knew that our teachers had "permission" to forget about work for a couple weeks and enjoy some quality family time together.
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While there is a bit of up-front work with these cards (card design, finding addresses, determining who gets cards, etc.) the overall feedback I received on these cards was outstanding! Not only did these notes help add to our culture where employees feel valued, this activity gave me a chance to learn the names of some of our spouses, which has helped "break the ice" at school functions and social events.
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This idea can be easily replicated in other organizations, not just schools. I would highly recommend that any leaders who are looking for ways to forge stronger ties with their staff look at making this a holiday tradition!
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