Center Culture Reboot Hello API Job Corps Centers: We are thrilled to be welcoming our students back to our centers where they belong in addition to welcoming new students! It has been too long since our centers were full and we have missed our students greatly. We know there a many new staff who have never experienced a “full” Job Corps center and many students who have not had the opportunity to acclimate to our center norms. This is the perfect time to reboot the center culture and ensure success for our students, staff, center and API. Dana Truby at https://www.weareteachers.com provides some great tips on how to build a positive a school culture. A few have been adopted below for our Job Corps Centers: 1. Make sure you build strong relationships with your students and fellow staff. As a staff member, take the time to build and maintain positive relations with each and every one of your students. Make sure you know something about their lives, their activities, their dreams, and their challenges. Stay abreast of gains they are making and be sure to congratulate them at every possible milestone. Take the time to build trust with your fellow staff members. It takes everyone on center to ensure our students are served. Be sure you know what is happening in the other center departments and share with others what you are doing. The interaction that takes place between all center staff is critical. 2. Hold everyone accountable for following the center norms The API norms of Respect Self, Respect Others, Respect Community and Strive for Excellence are the hallmark of a positive culture when both students and staff emulate the behavior associated with those norms. If you have new staff on center be sure to let them know the expectations and behaviors that accompany each norm. You can help reboot a positive center culture by: (1) reminding staff and students of the API norms weekly, (2) working with staff to ensure they understand what is expected, (3) giving appropriate feedback if the norms are not being followed, and (4) ensuring all staff and students are held responsible for adherence to our API norms on center. You don’t have to be the Center Director to do this….”people support what they help to create.” 3.Always Model, Mentor, and Monitor We know that all Job Corps staff are taught to Model, Mentor, and Monitor. It is important to remember that you always serve as a model. Students watch how you behave, and what they observe shapes their understanding of what is and is not acceptable. They observe how you interact with others, how you deal with conflict how you follow the rules, and how you treat other students and your colleagues. Mentoring is defined as a sustained relationship between a student and a staff in which the staff provides the student with support, guidance, and assistance. The very foundation of mentoring is the idea that if caring, concerned staff are available to our students, they will be more likely to become successful adults themselves. Be that one person for one student! When monitoring, It is important to remember to address the student’s behavior and not the person. Staff should address how the student is not meeting the expectations and what they may do to modify their behavior. When a staff member sees a student excelling in a certain standard and demonstrating exceptional behavior, they should complement the student. 4.Remind everyone of kindness and for appropriate problem solving techniques. When we see someone at the Oscars making fun of a health condition and someone else using physical violence, it tells our students that these behaviors are acceptable, and they are not. If you are unsure of how to solve a particular problem, reach out to another staff member, or practice the pause. Take a deep breath and pause, before acting. Our Job Corps centers, our staff, and our students expect to work and reside in a positive culture. Let’s make it happen. Rebooting the culture can start now and start with you! Dr. Wild
