Confidence is Contagious

I spent the summer before I was hired as a teacher working at a bakery.  It was one of those bakeries that used lots real butter, made cookies that were big enough to share between two people, and was frequented by everyone from college students to politicians.  While most of my time was spent washing dishes, I did have the opportunity to work the front counter.

The owner of this bakery had a storied career.  He had been extremely successful in the bakery business for a long, long time, but through some unfortunate personal situations he was essentially starting over with a little bakery making and selling a very high quality product.  He and I spent quite a bit of time together, and I was a good listener.

One afternoon just before closing time I started combining trays of cookies in the showcase that had not been sold.  The day had been slow, and I didn't expect that to change in the less than an hour we had left before we closed.  I was basically "tidying" the area.  He noticed what I was doing, and the conversation went something like this:

"David, what are you doing?"

"Well, I thought I'd take the time we had left to do some cleaning and organize the front showcase."

"David, when the showcase is empty you need to fill it with fresh product."

"Really?  We are only open for about 40 more minutes."

"Our customers expect us to have fresh cookies in our showcase, and they buy more from full trays than from empty trays."

"Ok...what are you really trying to say?"

"People are attracted to good product and confidence.  If we start closing early today, what time will we close tomorrow?  Also, we need to be confident in our product that we are predictable to our customers.  Our customers need to depend on us so we can depend on them.  Now, let's bake a couple of trays so we have fresh cookies until the end."

"People are attracted to full trays of cookies."  That statement has stuck with me since that day. Confidence sends an important message.

Teachers often respond to me that they have a "great" class or that a student is doing a "great" job.  I'm fond of replying, "Don't underestimate what you did to make that a great class or to help that student do a great job."  Much has been written about teacher efficacy.  Basically the teacher needs to know that he/she makes a difference.  Teachers and schools strategically make a "value-added" difference in our students' learning.

Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't be humble or empathetic.  Humility is a wonderful trait, but we do need to be proud of the work we do.  We do need to know that we make a difference.  We also need be intentional with our decisions so we can confidently help more students be successful.  That confidence only helps our students, our school, and our district.