Accelerating Performance Through Employee Well-Being

April 28, 2025
Posted in Blog
28 Apr 2025
Blog
April 28, 2025 Sarah Giblin

Accelerating Performance Through Employee Well-Being

In January of my second year as principal of the school I founded, one of my newer teachers asked to meet with me after school. The moment I got that request, I knew something bad was about to happen. By that point, I had developed a gut instinct for the telltale signs of an impending resignation. Heading into that meeting, I knew what was coming—and I dreaded it.

Why do Great Employees Resign – Even When They’re Succeeding?

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Losing him mid-year would create a domino effect: finding a replacement would be nearly impossible, parents would be upset (especially since another teacher had left just before winter break), and onboarding someone new would stretch my leadership team’s already-thin capacity.

But beyond the logistical strain, I didn’t want to lose this teacher. While he had struggled to find his footing in our fast-paced, results-driven environment, I saw potential. In the four weeks since winter break, things had started to click: his most recent assessment data was the strongest it had been all year, he had just submitted a plan for his spring instruction that was solid, and his classroom presence was blossoming. He was tapping into his background as an actor, finding that sweet spot between performance and pedagogy.

So, when he offered his resignation that Thursday afternoon, I asked him to tell me why—not to talk him out of it, but to understand whether keeping him was both possible and right, for us and for him.

He explained: the commute was long, his collaboration with a co-teacher wasn’t smooth, and the workload was wearing him down. But underneath it all, it boiled down to two things:

    1. He didn’t feel successful.
    2. And that lack of success was taking a toll on his well-being.

Over the next few conversations, we unpacked those feelings. I validated what I could, and together we created a short-term plan: a more intensive coaching schedule, some redistributed responsibilities to teammates with greater capacity, and weekly check-ins with me.

The Power of Coaching and Care: One Teacher’s Journey from Burnout to Principal

For the remainder of the school year, we provided weekly intensive instructional coaching with our most senior content-area coach. She offered consistent, high-quality feedback, and he began to grow rapidly. Her ongoing encouragement and celebration of his progress helped him build confidence and momentum.

As his instruction improved, so did student engagement. His energy and classroom persona began to truly connect with his students. He started leading a portion of his grade-level meeting, celebrating and noting that students were struggling. At the same time, I held him accountable for leaving on time on his designated early day—a small but significant boundary in support of his well-being.

Our typical quarterly assessment data analysis process felt laborious and uninspiring to him. So, we co-created a new, more creative approach—one that not only energized him but also resulted in the highest benchmark test scores he’d ever seen. It was a win for both effectiveness and morale.

The weekly touchpoints evolved into more than just performance conversations. They became a space to check in on his mental and emotional state. Every week, I made it a point to celebrate something about him or his work, and—yes—lovingly enforced his early departure when it was time to go home.

These consistent moments of connection and affirmation built deep trust. So when he made a sizable procedural error during standardized testing, which required that I place him on administrative leave while the incident was investigated, he understood. He accepted the decision with grace, trusting the process and our relationship.

He finished the year strong, hitting his classroom achievement goals, and signed on to return the next year. Over the next eight years, he became our network’s highest-performing teacher (five years running), our most-loved faculty member, and ultimately, the assistant principal, then principal, in the very role I once held.

Two Lessons Every Leader Should Remember

Not every near-resignation ends in a success story. But this one reminds me of two essential truths:

Lesson #1: In order to thrive, employees need to feel successful.
Lesson #2: In order to thrive, employees need to be well.

High-performing cultures don’t just benefit from well-being—they demand it. When people are performing at their full capacity, it’s often because someone has created the conditions for them to do so. They feel seen. Supported. Cared for.

What the Research Says About Employee Well-being and Performance

This isn’t just anecdotal. There’s a body of research that confirms what many of us in leadership have experienced firsthand:

    • A Gallup study found that employees who receive high-quality recognition are 45% less likely to leave their jobs over a two-year period.
    • SHRM reports that workers in positive organizational cultures are almost four times more likely to stay with their current employer.
    • And a 2024 Harvard Business School study, led by Professor Joseph Fuller, analyzed nearly 100 companies and found that employers who proactively supported employee well-being, especially through caregiving benefits, saw significant returns: lower turnover, higher engagement, and a reduced risk of workforce exits.

How Do You Build Systems That Support Well-being?

I’m a leader who relies on structure to keep the trains running on time. So when it comes to supporting employee well-being, I take a dual approach: structured and episodic.

In a school setting, structured support looked like weekly principal office hours—open door, just let me know if you’re coming. We had monthly appreciation events, planned by my Director of Operations, who loved finding creative, low-cost ways to show love: a sticker bar, “build your own bouquet” stations, covered classes, handwritten notes, or a catered lunch.

Episodic support was more fluid. It showed up in the one-off meetings after school, during tough life events, or when I noticed a teacher seemed off. Sometimes, it was about being reactive. Other times, it was proactive: I kept a relationship map of our high performers and scheduled regular coffee chats to check in and stay connected.

When You Take Care of People, They Perform at Their Best

Of course, no one-size-fits-all model exists. Simply scheduling coffee or planning an event doesn’t guarantee better performance, especially if trust doesn’t already exist. But when those things are part of a broader web of intentional leadership, they matter. They create moments of connection that can turn things around. They reinforce the idea that you are paying attention—not just to results, but to the people behind them.

Ultimately, while the tendered resignation wasn’t a good thing, the conversation it created and the change it enabled reminded me of a lesson I always strive to remember. Whether you’re leading a school, a startup, or a scaled portfolio company, the lesson holds true: when people feel taken care of, they do their best work.

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