Back to Gratitude
Even I, a woman who could easily be described as verbose and certainly loquacious, sometimes run out of things to say, or in this case write. But it doesn’t last for long, because I can always bring it back to a core value of the Putnam City Schools Foundation—gratitude.
We are in the midst of interviewing various candidates for one of our three Community Liaison positions (check our website if you’re interested because we still have one left to fill). I start out the interview by listing the values of our organization. I noticed that large companies publicize their values, and I like to emulate the best practices I find. Even if we are a small organization, we can serve like a big one.
Our core values are integrity, perseverance, levity, high personal expectations, and gratitude.
I don’t bore the candidates by elaborating on each of them; some are self-explanatory. But a couple of them merit elucidation. For instance, levity. If you don’t think I am funny, you will probably not enjoy working for me. We have a lot of fun in this office and laughter is a daily practice. Kris and I have similar senses of humor, so we enjoy the lightness that comes with a jovial workplace.
I also spend time on gratitude because it is so integral to our operation. We do function like a small business in so many ways. We hold audits, conduct yearly employee reviews, have human resources policies and the like, yet we are different from for profit companies in several ways. We aren’t trying to make money to return to shareholders or owners. We are raising funds to help our students and staff.
But no one owes us anything. We are not entitled to one cent of your dollars. We are grateful for them.
This attitude permeates our daily experiences with colleagues, vendors and donors. We find creative ways to show our appreciation to these people because they enable us to carry out our mission. Being constantly grateful is a state of being for us now, and I have wondered if people think I’m putting them on or offering cloying thanks instead of genuine appreciation. I hope I am not misunderstood.
The people coming to our Wall of Fame next week are going to have fun at a party. They will have dinner and celebrate the successes of Dr. Greg Walton and our staff. They will win raffle prizes and door prizes. Even though they’ll get something, they are giving us so much more—another chance to help another child be her best.
Do you agree with this philosophy? Would you like to work part-time helping public education? I may have just the job for you.
June 17, 2021