Little Wins Workshop 2026 | Improve School Culture Through Visible Leadership

School culture takes intentional work, especially when leaders can't be physically present in every building. In this Little Wins Workshop session, Dr. Jeffrey Collier (Superintendent) and Coty Kuschinsky (Chief of Staff and Communications Director) from Saginaw Intermediate School District in Michigan share how they've built a strong staff culture across 750 employees serving 12 local school districts countywide. You'll hear what Gallup and Human X research reveals about recognition, including the finding that only one in three employees strongly agree they received recognition in the past week. Jeff and Coty walk through Saginaw ISD's three non-negotiables, why staff experience comes first, and how visibility shows up as more than just walking the halls. The session covers practical, in-person ways to extend leadership presence: scheduling extra time on campus visits, hosting monthly leadership forums, attending chamber events, and building relationships with local legislators. You'll also get a close look at Our Story, the crowdsourced communications program that has produced more than 6,000 staff-shared posts in three years. Their team gave every employee a simple app to capture and share what's happening in their classroom, building, or department, making culture-building a shared responsibility across the organization. The session closes with measured results, including statistically significant gains on recognition scores and a national hiring pipeline that has brought executive candidates from New Orleans, San Diego, and Wisconsin to join Saginaw ISD. If you lead a large district, an intermediate service agency, or any team where physical presence isn't always possible, this session offers honest, specific strategies you can put to work right away. 0:00 Session welcome and speaker introductions 1:07 Dr. Jeffrey Collier on serving 26,000 students across Michigan 2:32 Coty Kuschinsky on communications at Saginaw ISD 3:02 What presence and visibility mean in the research 4:13 The challenge of reaching every staff member 5:33 Three non-negotiables driving Saginaw's culture work 7:14 Recognition research and leader interaction frequency 8:46 Why a countywide ISD needs a different approach 12:15 Low-hanging fruit for in-person visibility 16:08 External visibility with community and legislators 17:56 Our Story: 6,000 staff-shared posts in three years 26:45 The Orange Spot employee recognition video 28:29 Strategic compass and intentional culture work 29:38 Measuring what matters with Gallup and Human X 32:28 Recognition score gains and statistical significance 34:19 Talent attraction results and national hires 36:07 Reflection questions for your team Learn more: https://www.getalpaca.com/ #schoolculture #schoolleadership #visibleleadership #littlewinsworkshop