I've been an Amazon fan for years. My Kindle has more books than I could ever hope to read, and I download new titles each week. I love the immediate gratification of having a book less than a minute after I've clicked purchase. Then I receive recommendations for another purchase: "If you liked XYZ, you might enjoy ABC." (I often succumb.) I'm a member of Amazon Prime and purchase many different items through its website. Amazon's inventory is wide, its prices are good, and delivery is quick and painless; what could be wrong with that?
A lot, it turns out. A recent controversy over Amazon's culture has strong implications for the whole child approach, and it offers powerful lessons for principals.
The furor began with a New York Times article, "Amazon's Bruising, Thrilling Workplace" by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld, that goes into depth about the pressure Amazon workers feel to work long and hard hours. Interviews with more than 100 past and present employees revealed that e-mails were routinely sent to employees after midnight, and people talked about being linked to their computers even while on vacation.
Kantor and Streitfeld say that Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos believes "that harmony is often overvalued in the workplace—that it can stifle honest critique and encourage polite praise for flawed ideas." Amazon employees are encouraged to confront one another and to provide feedback to supervisors about the performance of their colleagues. This kind of climate appears to be the antithesis of collegiality.
Officials at Amazon deny these criticisms—sort of. In the original article, Susan Harker, an Amazon recruiter, is quoted as saying, "When you're shooting for the moon, the nature of the work is really challenging. For some people it doesn't work." In an e-mail to employees after the article was published, Bezos said that he didn't recognize the Amazon described in the article and that employees should contact him if they know of such abuses.
But how does this fit with a whole child approach to education?
First, excellence carries a cost. Whether it's the rapid delivery of a purchase or students making big gains on tests, high expectations of employees' performance are a given. We want teachers to be knowledgeable and to seek better ways to help students learn, and we expect them to work hard and then harder still. Leaders establish a vision, and part of that vision is that employees will focus on the mission, give maximum effort, and work to improve. Being a leader is not about being popular, although we like to be liked. Indeed, I frequently send e-mails after midnight, and I won't stay in a hotel without wireless Internet access while I'm on vacation. That said, the article paints a picture of a culture that is not healthy for employees and is far, far from what I want in my school.
A significant difference between the culture of so many businesses today and the culture at good schools is that in good schools—indeed, in good organizations—the welfare of the employees is very important. We realize that student success is the result of teacher success, and the role of leaders is to create conditions in which teachers succeed. Just as with students, that growing and learning won't always be easy, and it doesn't come without energy and grit, but it also doesn't come without care, support, and respect from leaders.
The ASCD Whole Child Initiative focuses on all aspects of a child's growth: "Each child, in each school, in each of our communities deserves to be healthy, safe, supported, engaged, and challenged." I absolutely agree with this, but I think we need to expand the focus to say that "each child and each teacher deserves to be healthy, safe, supported, engaged, and challenged." As leaders, how would that change our expectations and our role?
It may not make a difference to the final product whether the employee at Amazon grumbles while sealing the box containing my purchase. But whether teachers are pleased about their work environment makes a huge difference in students' lives, and it's both tragic and unproductive if they feel they cannot rely on or trust their colleagues.
We need a whole school focus as part of our whole child approach, and this means school leaders must give thought and energy to creating a school culture that supports everyone's learning. What can we do to help teachers be healthy, safe, supported, engaged, and challenged? How can we create a culture that encourages perpetual growth? How do we find the sweet spot between employees feeling challenged and employees feeling overwhelmed? How do we create a climate where candor, respect, and collegiality are the norm and in which employees are comfortable giving feedback to one another?
How about your school? Where is it on the Whole School continuum?
