Our Top Words profile for October used in our new gratitude program called Bonusly
As we enter the official month for the season of giving, I wanted to share a new way we’re showing our thanks at Sunrise Montessori and the benefits it’s consequently creating for your children. It’s called Bonusly, a peer-to-peer recognition software app. I’m in LOVE with what it’s doing for our culture and how spreading the love of gratitude is improving the spirits of our teachers.
With most of our team segregated into separate classrooms and unable to interact with each other often, it can make it difficult to create a self-sustaining positive workplace culture. At Sunrise, I’m always on the lookout for something that genuinely makes a difference for my team that doesn’t break the bank. We offer free child care, 18 paid holidays per year and even send Tiff’s Treats to welcome our new Team Members, all of which help, and I know our Sunrise Ladies appreciate these things. Yet keeping a positive workplace culture alive with vibrant enzymatic fervor is not easy. Bonusly is giving our Team Members a way to consistently seed positivity and cultivate positive vibes with their other teammates!
Our team is each given 100 points per month to share with other Teachers and Floaters (Admin is given much more to share). We can give 10 to 50 points to someone and then explain what they did that we appreciate, adding a Sunrise values hashtag as well. 10 points = $1 and as the points accumulate, they can be redeemed for gift cards to over 400 stores, like Starbucks and Target. Our Admin team uses Bonusly to thank our Team Members for things big and small, from handling a parent conversation well to picking up trash on the playground, but if that’s all it was, I don’t think it would be having the impact that it’s had. This system ALSO allows our team to share their gratitude with EACH OTHER. Seeing on our Bonusly dashboard all of the thanks that they are sharing with one another, watching them discover that their extra efforts are seen and appreciated, it’s a beautiful thing.
So what hashtags do we use to promote our Sunrise Values?
- #cheerleader Do you have spirit? Yes, you do! You cheered someone on when they might have been struggling or thought no one noticed.
- #heart-hugger You made someone feel good by giving them a compliment! ! That’s right, ya got her right in the feels (sniff, sniff…I need a tissue, who has a tissue?).
- #problem-solver Your brain knows no bounds. Instead of going around something, you decided to figure out how to solve it. Independent, confident and go-get-it-ness has nothing on YOU.
- #creative-genius What no one else saw, YOU did! Boring and average? Not on YOUR watch.
- #parent-home-run Building parents’ trust, communicating with them to prevent issues or concern, just making a parent feel welcome and included…darn, Girl, you hit it out of the park!
- #photo-fairy Taking an awesome pic of a child and sending it to the parent via P2M or our Office Manager for our social media, making your headings on what a student is doing informative, or going the extra mile to send more pics to new Sunrise parents!
- #communicado-guru Sending positive and much-needed messages to your classroom’s parents or writing up the Weekly Update in a way that grabs a parent’s attention is a talented skill…and you got it!
- #child-whisperer We aren’t sure if you are gifted or an angel in disguise…but your students know! You are the Pied Piper of Controlled Chaos…and we bow down to you!
- #montessori-boss Did you give a lesson that was inspirational? Explain the Montessori philosophy to a parent so that they beamed with pride for the work their child performed? Then you are a bad*ss Montessori Boss!
- #dependable-as-heck You make us cry a river of tears. Grateful tears, that is! You are someone we can COUNT on! You help out others with their duties without being asked, you show up early, you don’t need ANYone to cover you for ANYthing. We can rely on you. THANK YOU!
- #smile-princess Doesn’t your face hurt? How do you greet our Sunrise parents with a smile so consistently and genuinely?!? We want your secret sauce…because you make them feel good dropping off or picking up their children. You deserve a tiara!
And what are our Sunrise Team Members saying to each other?
Here’s a few examples from this past month to give you an idea:
- Amber Connors (author): +20 @selena.hernandez I love how you always bring activities to do with the kids outside, Selena! The kids in my class love when you bring painting, books, flash cards, etc. to the playground! You really are an awesome teacher! #creative-genius #montessori-boss
- Kari Hutchens (author): @sara.silverburg +25 #parent-home-run Thank you for always communicating with the Blue Jay parents so effortlessly and with poise. Thank you for also staying to help us out on Friday! 😀
- Sheila Peevey (author): +15 @mnvg95 #dependable-as-heck Thanks for your help with closing duties, Meagan. Even as a newbie, you seek out what needs to be done and do it. I love that!
- Marie Zarevich (author): +50 @lara.gembicki It is such a blessing to be your assistant teacher, I could not have dreamt of a better match. I have already learned so much from you and I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. The passion you have for Montessori and our little monkeys is amazing and so contagious. Thank you for being you!! We make an awesome team and we’re only going to continue to grow “Ain’t no stoppin’ us now!” #montessori-boss #dependable-as-heck #child-whisperer #smile-princess
- Patricia Jimenez (author): +25 @benae.hood #montessori-boss You’ve been working your bottom off each day, and I know it’s not easy! I see all the effort you are giving each day!! HAPPY FRIDAY! 🎉 So glad you’re on our team!
We ALL want to be thanked when we help one another or excel in our duties. Showing our gratitude does something else though because it has positive psychological benefits, too, such as increasing positive emotions, strengthening our relationships, making us more optimistic and most importantly, making us more GIVING. When our team is thanked by Admin or a fellow Team Member, they experience all this and more. It carries over into how they interact with your children, with you, with everyone at Sunrise. I’ve noticed more smiles this past month and a subtle softening and warming in interactions, even extra effort with job duties. Everyone wins when we show our gratitude for each other.
So many of our Sunrise team truly goes the extra mile every day. I’m grateful that we have a new way to share our witnessing of it with each other. 😀
