OPERATIONS 3 SIMPLE STRATEGIES K-12 OPERATORS SHOULD TRY TO GET BUY-IN FROM SKEPTICAL DISTRICT LEADERSHIP
1 ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS so K-12 operators will want to make the most of every conversation they have with district leadership. When going into a conversation with district leadership, operators will want to look for ways to keep the con- versation going and find opportunities to learn about the leaderships’ current responsibilities and goals that they have for the district. “I might have a request or a demand, something I'm pushing for, but you're going to want to keep them talking as well so that you can learn more about their perspective,” said Perkins. Time on principals and other dis- trict leaders’ schedules is limited, One of the best ways to keep the con- versation going is by asking open-end- ed questions. Instead of asking, “What do you think about our program?” for example, operators should ask ques- tions like, “Where do you think we share interest in our jobs as leaders in this school district and helping our stu- dents reach their fullest potential?” or “Can you share possibly three different things that you would like to see im- proved in the program here and why?” 2 COME INTO THE CONVERSATION AS AN EQUAL One of the takeaways from Per- kins, Guyette and Tauriainen’s inter- views was that the school nutrition department can be seen by school leadership as second-class compared to other departments. “We do believe that from the an-
3 BE PREPARED TO COMPROMISE AND EDUCATE Another main takeaway garnered from the interviews was that many district leaders don’t fully understand the regulations and responsibilities nutrition professional have. “I have often heard frustration from school leaders, kind of like, ‘I just want you to do this.’ And I’m like, ‘I would love to but there are federal regulations that I have to follow and so how are we going to agree on what I can do for you?,’” said Perkins. Perkins recommends that school nutrition operators briefly explain what “guard rails” they must follow to leadership so they have a better un- derstanding of why the nutrition team can’t do certain things. In addition, operators should be prepared to compromise with district leadership and know ahead of time what concessions they would be willing to make. “When you go into a negotiation with somebody else, and you need their time, their resources, or something like this, you’re probably not going to get everything you want,” said Per- kins, adding that operators should be clear on what concessions they could make to help [district leadership] with what they need and that still gets them their most important objectives for their students.
swers and from sort of the demeanor and from the stories that we're kind of hearing, we feel that while no one's explicitly said this in our interview re- sponses, we do conclude that school nutrition as a department just simply isn't seen as equal,” said Guyette. In order to be seen as equals, K-12 operators should work on their tone, word choice and more when meeting with district leadership. “If you come in just as a peer, not as an underling, you set that tone with your body language and how you're saying words,” said Guyette, She also recommended that oper- ators take the time to train the rest of their team on the approach that school nutrition is “a part of a bigger team” and that they should be respectful of everyone, including those in other de- partments. “We are all one district,” she said.
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I might have a request or a demand, something I'm pushing for, but you're going to want to keep them talking as well so that you can learn more about their perspective.”
- Josh Perkins
FSD QUARTERLY
Q3 2024
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