Whose Time Is It Anyway?

Dr. Althea M. Hammond • Cahn Fellow 2023

“Happy wife-happy life!” No truer statement has ever been spoken. A sense of joy/happiness is important in the workplace. Especially if your workplace is a school. If any school team member is unhappy the whole team is unhappy, which impacts the student socio-emotional and academic experience. In a school productivity, oftentimes, hinges on a sense of joy/happiness. Joy/happiness can be seen and felt in every aspect of school culture and climate. When there is an absence of joy/happiness, to any degree… a change is necessary.

Whose time is it anyway is a journey of moving from the superficial fix (transactional leadership) to unpacking what was needed to add joy/happiness to the work lives of others (technical and adaptive leadership). “Happy teacher-happy students” required getting to the root of what the “real” barrier to joy/happiness was, and reflecting on what the leadership work “really” needed to be if joy/happiness was to be brought back to the workplace.