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How To Build a Culture of Mind, Heart, and Spirit: 4 Ways Leaders Can Support Their Team & School

Vanessa Brazil March 17, 2023
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Embedding school identity in instruction, setting positive expectations, and embracing meaningful change are just some of the educational practices Angela Stevens-Stevenson — former principal at Martin Luther King, Jr. Junior High School in Pittsburg, California — is both passionate about and experienced with. Portico enthusiastically welcomed Angela to lead a Crowdsource on November 17, 2022. She shared her personal experiences enduring segregation and how that shaped her desire and mission to enter the teaching profession. Even after transitioning into admin roles, empowering and ensuring equitable support for all scholars (Angela’s preferred term for students) remained her central focus. Another core element of her mission is building a strong community. She knows that in order to support your scholars and communities, leaders must ensure the same empowerment and equitable support of their staff in order to realize a shared vision and culture of mind, heart, and spirit.

How to Cultivate an Inclusive & Effective Leadership Approach

  • People need to feel cared for
  • People need to feel they belong
  • It’s not all about you (the leader)
  • Empathy from experience
  • Focus on what people really need — from you, and each other

How to Foster a Strong School Culture & Shared Vision with Staff

  • Know your people — meet 1:1
  • Building community takes perseverance & patience, but it’s absolutely worth it
  • Create your mission together
  • It’s sometimes the small, seemingly unimportant things that make a big impact
  • Get comfortable having the hard conversations
  • Kids come first — ALL the time
  • The 3 Rs: Run, Retire, Regroup

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

– Martin Luther King Jr.

How to Support Staff “Regroup”: Friendship Bracelets for Bonding

  • Build staff relationships that students prosper from
  • Define “support” beforehand and during — be specific
  • When you create a network of support among staff, you are supporting them
  • Time spent developing lasting bonds of support is time well spent

How to Support Your Team by Building a Supportive Team

  • Hand-pick your leadership team — not “yes people,” but people who share the vision
  • Language and labels matter — choose them carefully and wisely
  • A supportive team will help support new hires
  • Make a big deal about what each person brings to the team/school/community right from the start
  • There is strength in inclusion
  • Show value for people
  • Invigorate people to be their best
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