Evaluations: Not a Punishment & The Conflict of Interest

Ever had that moment where you walked out of a performance review feeling blindsided? We're going to explore the surprising realities of educator evaluations and how they can truly foster growth instead of dread. We're setting the stage for honest, impactful conversations that lead to tailored coaching plans, ensuring every educator not only meets but exceeds their potential.

With a dash of personal stories and a pinch of cautionary tales, we'll examine the perils that come when educators take on side gigs that hit too close to home—like babysitting for student's families. Join me for a frank discussion on why setting firm boundaries is crucial for a drama-free workplace, and how maintaining a clear separation between our personal and professional lives safeguards our careers and the educational sanctity of our classrooms. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Stumbling Through Work, where educators figure shit out. I'm your host, jarek Huff, and I'm here to explore and share the complexities of our work and let you know you are not alone. Before we start, though, please follow this podcast and share episodes with others. You can find me on my website, wwwjerekhuffcom, where you can find links to my social media and where I share information and tips for educators. Now let's jump into today's episode. Hey team, welcome to another episode of Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. This week, I'm actually beginning evaluations for my staff, so I figured this would be a great topic for this week's episode.

Speaker 1: 0:53

Staff evaluations are, as I see them. They're a tool, not a punishment. If you are using evaluations as a weapon, you are definitely using it wrong. Evaluations should they should frame what the staff member is doing well, but also what they're not doing well. I think sometimes in evaluations, we tend to focus on what that person is not doing well and harp on it, and that's how we end up using it as a negative tool or as a weapon, where we also need to focus on what they are doing well Within the part that they're not doing well is not just about telling them oh, you're not doing this. Well, that's just listing a problem, but it's about giving them a solution, how to fix it, what you're going to do, coming up with some form of a plan. That's the point of an evaluation. That's how I do evaluations.

Speaker 1: 1:51

Now, evaluation should have two components. Or, let me say it this way, you should do two different evaluations. There should be, of course, you as a supervisor, you as the director, whatever you know administrative boss role that you may have. You're always going to do one for your staff, but I always give my evaluation to the staff member being evaluated and have them do one too. That way, you can have a meeting of the minds to say, ok, this is what I see, let me see what you see. To say, okay, this is what I see, let me see what you see.

Speaker 1: 2:30

I always use a one through five scale, with five being the highest, one being the absolute worst. Your trash. At that point I rarely slash, never give out fives, because fives are heaven blessings they are. You should be teaching this at conferences. You are a professional. I don't even give myself fives for anything. The only time I ever give out a five usually is if you're in compliance with licensing. Either you're in compliance or you're not. So you get a one or five. There's no. Well, you're partial. I don't do that. Either you are or you're not. You pick one or the other. That's the only time I ever out give out fives. I even normally give myself twos or threes because I think I'm the absolute worst at what I do, because I feel like I'm just stumbling through work.

Speaker 1: 3:13

But, um, true story, I once had this director and I cannot make this up. I had this director that I was actually trying to fire her ass. I'm not even going to lie, but I digress, that's a conversation for another day. But part of the termination process was actually going through to see what she's savable. So I had her do a self-evaluation and I sent it to her and asked her to complete it, send it back to me, email it to me. And then I did mine. Well, the night before I was going to her school, I said you know, send it to me. She sent it to me that night. So I'm sitting on the couch, you know, watching TV, watching, you know 911, whatever it is, I'm watching, I don't know. And she sends me the evaluation and I opened it and I said, oh, oh, okay, she gave herself fives across the board like she was superior, everything was five. I mean, she wasn't even like a form of humility. She didn't even give herself like a two or three or four. Up in there she's like, nah, I'm killing it in these streets and you gonna get these fives. And I was like wow. So of course I found it amusing to myself and chuckled.

Speaker 1: 4:28

So the next day, when I was like, okay, I get to your school. So, bringing her office, I said, okay, let's go over your evaluations, this is my evaluation and I have yours. And then the look on her face to see all those twos and threes and occasional ones and maybe one four and not a five. And I explained, you know what my grading, how I seen what I seen, and explained it to her and she said, oh, I feel like I need to go back and reevaluate myself. Uh, yeah, you kind of think it was an experience for her. It was a little bit of humbling because she thought she was hot shit, but but she wasn't.

Speaker 1: 5:07

And we started the process of trying to correct where she was at. I was actually new to the job. So you know, coming in new staff member, you know, new supervisor, with people trying to evaluate them, and we know how that can go and they're no longer with us as today. But you know, can't say that I didn't try, but I will say that with staff evaluations, even for teacher evaluations and observations, they should be the exact same. They should be tools to help them. The tools are to assist and encourage, not to punish or demean.

Speaker 1: 5:48

Sitting down with them and saying this is what I see that you're doing well, like keep it up, but this is where you're at right now and this is a hurdle for you and this isn't where you need to be at. Let's figure out how we can get you to where you need to go and, like I said earlier, it's about creating some form of a plan. I love a coaching plan. I break it down. I break down kind of the who, what, when, where, why, how, like everything that I want to see specifically, what I want to see, how I want to see it within a time frame. I use a really cool plan that I kind of created that helps articulate what is going to happen and what my expectations are. That's part of the evaluation process.

Speaker 1: 6:34

It's about helping them get better, but I'm not just going to be a person that just, even if I don't like you, I could sit here and say I can't stand so-and-so, and I have several staff that I feel like that about. I will still want you to be better and be the best educator that you can be. Don't be that boss where you supervise by punishment and demeaning Like. Please don't do that. If you know anyone who punishes, if you know anyone that needs to hear this message, please send it to them. Send them this episode so that they can hear how not to do this to people, because we want to motivate and not stifle and we'll be right back. We all want our schools or programs to be the best and, although every school is different, all successful programs have the same fundamentals. Best Practices for High QualityQuality Preschool, afterschool and Enrichment Programs by Jarek Huff share standards to foster a high-quality program. These tips will help you put your best service forward, focusing on your children, families and communities. Best Practices for High-Quality Preschool, afterschool and Enrichment Programs by Jare Jared Huff is available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle. Welcome back.

Speaker 1: 7:56

I hate when staff has conflict of interest. It drives me crazy and there are a few ways you can have a conflict of interest. There are a few ways you can have a conflict of interest. One for me as an employee is someone that you know obviously is working somewhere else and has another job, especially if it's in the same field. I have some staff that you know works at our school, then chooses to work at another school later on, or vice versa. They may have a later shift with us so they work somewhere else in the morning. And let me just say I am not hating on you getting your coins. I'm not. Get all the money in the world, get all the coins, get everything that you need to live the life that you want to live. I encourage it. I myself am a person that used to have three and four jobs. I totally get it. Do what you got to do, live how you want to live. So I just want to start off by saying that. But my issue comes when it starts to have an issue with me or within my job, within my company. That's where my issue is. Let me tell you so.

Speaker 1: 9:05

I was at a school one time and the phone rang and someone picked it up. So I'm, you know, I'm listening, I'm ear hustling. That's what I do. I don't say a lot when I'm at schools. Usually I just kind of just listen and observe and then I give my feedback later. But when I heard this, I had to say something. So I'm hearing the conversation like, okay, I see, okay, well, let me see what I can do. Okay, yep, uh, yep, uh-huh, something like that in the conversation. I got the phone so of course you know I'm going to ask some questions, because it was a weird conversation that I overheard. You know, I was like that was weird. Who was that? Told me who it was. I said, oh, they're not coming in. They're like, oh well, they're at their other job and they were asking could they come in late, something like that. I was like uh-uh, oop, nope, we not doing it. Nope, mm-mm. I said let me tell you something.

Speaker 1: 9:51

Not only is this just tacky, it's also in our handbook that you should not have any form of a conflict of interest when it comes to work. We are your first priority. In my mind it is, anyway, because my thing is you came to us first, you came to us first and then you decided to get another job. This was already set in stone. Your schedule is set in stone. Do not come back and say, well, I need to be late or I need to leave early, or something like that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not doing that. If we get to that point, then you just need to make a choice. You have to make a choice, that simple. You're going to be late there or you're going to come early. I don't care what your choice is, just make a choice. If it's us, cool. If it's not, then we're going to move on. Move on, martha, move on. And I'm just all in the conversation. I'm saying like afterwards, I'm just like you really did that. Nah, we're not playing that game, we're not doing that.

Speaker 1: 10:46

But the thing is, when people work at other schools or other programs. The thing is, when people work at other schools or other programs, don't be telling them our business. Don't do that. Now I'm going to be honest. I'm going to ask you their business and I'm going to do it in a way that's subtle, so you don't realize that I'm like oh, how's it going at your other job? Oh, it's fine, Great, oh, that's good. Like how many people over, I'm going to ask subtle questions because I want to know. But you better not tell shit about what's going on over here. Let me just be clear about that. You don't tell, don't run and tell none of our business over there. But I will ask you about yours. But but seriously, all jokes aside, do not take anything, anything that we do any business, nothing like that. Don't, don't even suggest. I just work. That's how, that's how I would love for it to be, and I will say too I'm really not going to ask that many probing questions because I wouldn't want someone to do that to us. I just ask general, you know, basic questions.

Speaker 1: 11:43

But also, another way of a conflict of interest is when teachers babysit for parents. I hate that. Oh, it is. It's low-key, messy. It always sounds innocent.

Speaker 1: 11:59

Let me tell you two situations that have happened. I could not make this up one. This dad, y'all, I cannot make this up. This dad asked one of the teachers to babysit. I'm finding this out as the situation unfolded. The dad asked the teacher and she was a younger one for her information because he wanted her to babysit. Well, come to find out they were texting each other, innocent conversation about when they were coming over, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, dad ended up being a, you know, an all around person when it came to his wife and the wife thought that you know it was a situation happening with the teacher. So she came in hot like oh, and one of your teachers is out here talking to my husband Like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is going on?

Speaker 1: 12:53

So, unfortunately, I had to take my time to figure out what was going on and the teacher, honestly, was just like I was. Just thought they wanted me to babysit. The dad was a scoundrel, so it is what it is. He probably had ulterior motives, but keep that. See, this is that drama that I don't need. Keep that. See, this is that drama that I don't need. Keep that shit out of my building, right there. I want it to be like lady, handle your man. But once again I digress, it has nothing to do with me, but that's an example of what happens when babysitting for families and parents. I don't like it.

Speaker 1: 13:23

Another situation happened a couple weeks ago where we were trying to figure out why this family knew just random stuff like oh, so-and-so's, not here again today. They still sick. Now, when the director told me this, I was like huh, it just came out and come. It came up in conversation and I thought it was really weird. I was like how does she know? Like we all, we just thought it was weird. That's why she brought it to me.

Speaker 1: 13:45

So a little bit of investigation, work, y'all know, I will play carmen san diego where'sdo Come to find out one of the teachers was babysitting. And then the parent would ask the teacher questions and the teacher felt like they had to comply because you're sitting in their house and they kind of have you cornered in a way and they're like so I noticed so-and-so wasn't at work today, is everything okay? And of course that person's like well, yeah, they're just sick today, or they're just off, or you know, they're just they're answering the question. But see, for that parent it's like oh, I can ask all the questions now because you're sitting up in my house and I'm paying you. Then next thing, you know, the teacher's like well, so-and-so's not here and they got a problem with so-and-so like just started airing out everybody's business in these streets, like, and she goes. She asked me questions, so I'm asked. I was see, this is why I don't like people when they babysit for staff parents and I just think it's tacky.

Speaker 1: 14:34

Do not do it. We actually put a it's not a policy, it's just a because we can't control what you do outside of us Just a statement about how it was frowned upon for these exact reasons to do it. So I'm going to make you feel bad about doing it, because I know what it can entail and how quickly it can turn. Ask yourself do you or any of your staff find themselves in a conflict of interest situation? It's definitely an uncomfortable conversation to have with your staff, but you actually do need to have it so there's a clear understanding of what your expectations are for them having this job Because, like I said, you can't control what people do outside of your work. You can only control what happens in the inside, and in the inside you're not going to be calling off. You're not going to be calling in trying to leave know, leave early or late to work, whatever it may be. We're not doing this here and I'm going to just let you know I don't approve of you. You know babysitting or whatever it may be, but that's just my opinion. People are going to do what they want to do, but if you found yourself, if you know someone that's been in this situation or going through this situation, also send them this episode because they need to get a hold of that real quick.

Speaker 1: 15:58

I love sharing information with educators and program administrators. I have had so many successes, but also so many failures in my education tenure. I want leaders to know what not to do, but, better than that, what to do, so I decided to write a helpful guide Best Practices for Center Program and Activity Directors. It's short and to the point. It's a compass to guide education leaders. These best practices will give you a foundation to lead your school program or organization. You can find best practices for center program and activity directors by Jared Huff on Amazon or Amazon Kindle this week.

Speaker 1: 16:47

Please think about any tools of evaluation that you're going to use for your staff. Is it actually helpful? How are you preparing them for success? How are you making them grow? Or are you using it just to say you're wrong? You did this wrong and it's bad. Please don't be that staff member. Like I said that, do that. Remember. We want to motivate, not stifle, and think about any conflict of interest that you or any of your staff may have. Nip that in the bud so that it's clear, and keep it moving and, with that being said, see you all later. That's it for today, if you liked this episode. It would mean so much to me if you left a rating review and subscribe to the show. I'd love to hear from you. You can visit my website, which is in the show notes, to contact me, and I hope you have a great rest of your week and speak to you all soon.