Do You Appreciate Little Gifts from Your Principal, or Do They Do More Harm Than Good?
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses whether small symbolic gifts from principals actually boost morale or come across as tone-deaf when teachers face real workplace challenges.
Key Takeaways
- Context matters - A small gift feels thoughtful when things are going well, but insulting when teachers face serious problems like safety issues or excessive workload
- Symbolic gestures can backfire - Candy and trinkets can feel dismissive when teachers need real support
- Address the real issues first - Fix the working conditions, then the gifts will feel genuine rather than performative
Transcript
So principals are planning for welcoming staff back to school.
And I saw one person who was trying to buy a little inspirational gifts for staff and had like a large, very large staff, like a hundred people and had bought a hundred of a couple of different little kind of inspirational kind of things.
And I was trying to figure out why that kind of stuff bothers me so much.
I don't know if it bothers you, but it just like sits with me in a weird way.
And I've been thinking about why.
And I think what it comes down to is gravitas and a sense of focus, right?
Like it seems kind, it seems thoughtful to get people gifts, get people kind of welcome back gifts.
But I've heard a lot of reactions from teachers over the years and from other staff that those little gifts, little thoughtful, inspirational kind of knickknack or like mostly symbolic kind of gifts, right?
rub people the wrong way because a, they're very, very small, right?
They're worth like 50 cents.
And it's like, if you had enough consideration to spend 50 cents, like why it's kind of in that why bother range.
Right.
And the thoughtfulness, like obviously thoughtfulness is always appreciated.
But I think there's also kind of a, it would have been better to do nothing threshold.
And we hear that a lot around teacher appreciation.
But I think there's also an angle around just like what a principal's focus should be, right?
Like is a principal's job to buy little knickknacks, buy little welcome back gifts, give people inspirational phrases.
You know, it's kind of at the, you know, those Valentine's hearts, you know, the little candy hearts.
They're like the worst candy ever, but like they're also the cheapest Valentine's gifts.
If that's kind of where our focus is, something is off, right?
If that's what you get for Valentine's Day, maybe this is not such a great relationship.
And when it comes to school leadership, I think school leaders need to operate with a sense of gravitas and with a sense of focusing on the big things, right?
Focusing on the big picture.
and it just seems like spending time on getting a 50-cent gift for your staff is just the wrong place to focus.
But I also get the sense that a lot of people really like stuff like that.
So I recognize that I'm just a certain kind of personality.
Not everyone is like me.
Maybe you love this stuff.
So if you love getting little gifts from your principal, maybe a gift bag, a welcome back bag, you don't care if everything in it costs less than a dollar, whatever.
Maybe it's the thought that counts.
I want to know what you think about those little gifts from staff.
Do they send the right message or do they send the wrong message?
Do you appreciate them or do they get on your nerves in some way?
I'd love to know what you think.
So leave a comment.
Let me know.