74. The Myth of The Open Door Policy

<span style="font-weight: 400;">You pride yourself on how freely your staff can come to talk to you, right?</span> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a school leader, you always want to be seen as an approachable and available director or owner that makes your staff feel heard.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The “open door policy” has trickled into our school culture, because we think that it makes our staff feel valued and appreciated since they know they can come to talk to us at any time, for anything.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In corporate, the open door policy means that all employees can bring their concerns, desires, or problems to company leaders at any time. This was intended to show that the leaders and executives care about what their employees have to say.</span></p> <p><strong>The intention here is GREAT. The end result isn’t</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><strong>You want to be available and approachable.</strong></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><strong>You want your staff to feel heard and seen.</strong></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><strong>You want your teachers to feel appreciated and valued.</strong></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But know this: “The leader who is always available, isn’t truly listening.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This podcast episode is a reair of one of the first and most important topics where I speak about: </span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The myth of the open door policy</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">How the application of this myth is likely to negatively impact your school</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">What you should be doing instead</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>Resources and links mentioned in this episode:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 4