Listening Matters Learn how Leander ISD went beyond the survey to engage stakeholders.

When I left my last reporting position to be the writer/videographer for the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District, I transferred my content creation skills from journalism to an organization’s brand and vision. I produced articles, newsletters, social media posts, videos and live shows on our cable access channel. We wanted to tell our story, showcase our students and place our teachers and staff on full display for the awesome, life-changing power public schools possess. But, I only had half of the equation.

Focusing exclusively or disproportionately on content leaves you measuring success by clicks, reach, views and other one-way metrics. I love posting a video and watching how many views it gets.

The sensation of your content being watched triggers a dopamine rush.

But what do you learn when you get 100,000 views on the video you post of your superintendent leading a choreography lesson of Cotton Eye Joe to 40 district administrators? Do you support your organization by trying to increase your post frequency on Facebook from five times per week to 10? Does measuring content views and production tell you what your stakeholders need or help inform decision-makers about how to act?

If you based your public relations and strategic communications solely on content production, it’s easier to manage, track and view success, but you’re missing out on the conversation.

Sending a survey feels like an easy, measurable and obtainable way to collect stakeholder feedback, especially when you make questions multiple choice. Pie charts, anyone? But survey fatigue often leaves end users feeling unheard, underrepresented and overwhelmed. Everyone loves to host a good old-fashioned town hall, but does anyone ever walk away from a large, single speaker forum feeling heard?

In Leander ISD, we implemented a strategy called “listening sessions,” which acts as a focus group or interview to collect qualitative or street data. A lot of our learning came from the book “The Listening Leader: Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation” by Shane Safir.

LISTENING SESSIONS FOR TEACHERS AND STAFF AFTER SCHOOL REOPENING

When we reopened school buildings for the 2020-2021 school year in September, we ran teachers into the ground. School staff would share their frustrations, anxiety and pain points through informal channels, but we didn’t have a great way to capture and act on this anecdotal data.

We did a survey using a web application that allows you to collect open-ended question responses and their assigned ratings by your survey participants. We were able to identify seven areas of feedback, including concerns about human resource issues (compensation, leave, work from home), workload, teacher mental health, resources/support and health/safety. So, we had the “what” and we knew the “why” but we didn’t know the “how.” Rather than putting out a new survey, we decided to utilize what Safir describes in her book as a “Listening Campaign.”

STEPS AND STRATEGIES

Identify purpose

We wanted action items to make immediate changes for our teachers and school staff. With limited resources and restrictions due to the pandemic, we didn’t have a lot of options for supporting strategies, so what we did needed to make an impact. We wanted our leaders to be visible, front-and-center, in listening to our teachers to show support and empathy.

Identify the people

We invited all staff and employees to our Listening Sessions, but we knew we needed to reach teachers and custodial staff due to the burden they were carrying early in the school year. We also wanted our Board of Trustees and our Superintendent’s Cabinet or senior executive leadership team to be the facilitators.

Identify the conditions

We could not meet in person because bringing hundreds of people together in one space was not allowable in the fall of 2020 due to the pandemic. We needed to host events when teachers were not at work, but we did not want to go into the evening when teachers were at home. So, we picked times right after dismissal.

We started each meeting with a large group of 50100 attendees and our facilitators. Our superintendent addressed the group to explain our purpose and format. Then, we went into breakout rooms in Zoom for 30 minutes. We kept groups between three to 10 people, so attendees could all have a chance to speak. When we came back together as a whole group, it was the facilitator’s responsibility to share what he or she heard from their group. When we had zero custodians show up to our four listening sessions, we knew we needed to get creative. We used Remind to send text messages in English and Spanish to our custodians. We asked them four standard questions, which we coded and analyzed, just like our other staff members.

Identify the information collection system

Our facilitators utilized Google Docs to take notes. We had four standard questions we asked during our sessions but let attendees guide the discussion. Facilitators wrote down direct quotes, themes and ideas to truly capture voice. We asked for general information about who was in the room (role, school) but did not capture specific names. I went through the notes and conducted a StrengthsWeaknesses-Opportunities-Threats analysis. You could also utilize an affinity analysis to identify connections and major themes.

I wrote a report capturing all of the data. I used the S.W.O.T. analysis as a means for organizing thoughts. I drafted, and our leadership team approved recommendations in the report, connecting those recommendations back to the listening data we collected. We took the recommendations to the board to give them ownership in the final decision-making process, bringing our entire leadership team together to respond to staff needs.

MEASURING IMPACT

During our mid-year surveys to teachers, after the listening sessions, teachers reported 83 percent and 76 percent satisfaction rates for the district administration and Board of Trustees’ support, respectively. In our annual employee engagement survey, we grew agreement scores by six percent with 73 percent of respondents agreeing that our organization “encourages open and honest communication.”

NEXT STEPS

We used a variation of this Listening Session format to collect information on school attendance zones, the school year calendar, the development of our graduate profile and to address equity and racism in our organization. Starting in June, we are launching a bi-monthly “Listening Leaders” campaign, where we will host listening sessions across any topic then publish the results with the superintendent leading a presentation. We plan to use this data and strategy to meet federal grant requirements for community engagement, as well as meet the needs of our community.