The 2025 Healthy Green Schools & Colleges Virtual Fall Summit continued on Thursday, October 23rd with our second session, “Best Practices for Effective Staff Engagement and Workforce Planning.” This session was led by Tracy Enger, retired Program Manager in the U.S. EPA’s Indoor Environments Division, and Gene Woodard, retired Director of Building Services at the University of Washington–Seattle. The session explored the following themes.
The Importance of Core Values
A major theme of the session was creation of and clarity on values. This means understanding what principles guide a district’s or higher education institution’s work and how they translate their vision into everyday decisions and actions.
Enger defined core values, in part, as “the ideals you refuse to compromise as you pursue your mission.”
Participants explored how to craft a value proposition, which is a concise, measurable statement that articulates the benefits a program delivers. For example, a green cleaning initiative might improve student health, extend facility lifespan, and reduce costs. A strong value proposition can help leaders secure stakeholder support and demonstrate the impact of their work
Using core values and a value proposition can also reframe cleaning and facilities operations beyond simply a maintenance function, but as a core component of educational and organizational success.
Staff Engagement as a Strategic Priority
Woodard’s portion of the presentation focused on employee engagement and the systems leaders can build to sustain it. Referencing Gallup data, he noted that only 33% of U.S. employees are engaged, which is a challenge that directly impacts morale, service quality, and innovation.
In Facility Operations, engaged employees are those who:
- Commit to the institution’s green and sustainability goals
- Deliver higher-quality work
- Foster positive customer interactions
- Improve teamwork and productivity
Leaders play an important role in shaping engagement. Woodard emphasized behaviors that build trust between leaders and front line staff, and front line staff take ownership of their work:
- Listen and support: Be approachable, open, and willing to hear new ideas.
- Be transparent and accountable: Keep staff informed and follow through on commitments.
- Encourage learning: Allow for mistakes and risk-taking in the name of improvement.
Woodward concluded with four key systems to embed engagement and continuous improvement into daily operations:
- Strategy Deployment
- Visual Management
- Daily Kaizen
- Standard Leader Follow-Up
Healthy, high-performing schools depend on engaged, respected, and empowered staff. By aligning core values and value proposition with workforce engagement, districts and institutions can build safer, more sustainable, and more supportive educational environments for everyone.
The 2025 Healthy Green Schools & Colleges Virtual Fall Summit resumes next week with Session 3: Innovative Models for Managing Mixed-Age Building Portfolios and Session 4: Emerging Opportunities for Safely Incorporating AI into Facilities Operations. We hope you’ll join us for the full series.