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Episode 182:  Cheers to Re-Thinking “Fair” Studio Policies

Well, hello, studio teacher friends!  Welcome to the Beyond Measure Podcast, a space for studio music teachers who take our work seriously, but not ourselves.  My name is Christina Whitlock; I am your host and self-appointed Anytime Piano Teacher Friend.  If you’ve been searching for like-minded teachers who embrace humility, curiosity, and the fact that we will never know it all… look no further, because you’ve found ‘em.  Welcome to your people. Seriously – some of THE best teachers from around the globe have rallied around this show, and we’re so glad you’re here with us today. So – without further delay – let’s get on with the show!

So, friends, it’s that time of year.  I have been meeting 1-1 with LOTS of you in the last few weeks as you tidy up your studio policies for the school year and gear up for communicating ALL THE THINGS to your studio families.  It seems like every time I have a large wave of consult clients like this, there seems to be one emerging theme that feels necessary to address here on the podcast.  And today is one of those days.

Because we are a profession of compassionate people, I work with a lot of teachers who get hung up on the idea of building studio policies that are FAIR.

…and, before you think I’ve totally lost my heart here, I *want* to help you build policies that are, indeed, fair.  It’s a great goal.

But the problem is, we often get stuck on a very surface-level view of what fair treatment should look like. And, once we dig a little deeper, we might find ourselves seeing the matter differently.

So I need to do a quick throwback to one of the defining episodes of this podcast, which was episode 068:  Cheers to Symbiotic Studio Relationships. It is my CORE BELIEF of music teacher existence that we should be building studios where respect flows both directions and EVERYONE recognizes the value and benefit we receive from the other.

I want my families to know I am grateful for them, and I want to know they are grateful for me.  It’s very much a mutual admiration society over here.

If you want to hear me talk more about Symbiotic Studio Relationships, go check out episode 068. Sorry in advance for the earworm that will get stuck in your head after listening to that one…

As we take a deep-dive into the idea of FAIRNESS in your studio policies today, I wanted to make sure I started with that reminder.  The absolute goal is to have students and families who value you, but also feel valued by you.

Now that we’ve established THAT: let’s talk about “fair” policies.

Even though the question of fairness shows up in multiple places, without question, there is ONE clear sticking point teachers get caught up on when it comes to the idea of fairness in their studio.  Let’s talk about lesson attendance, shall we?

I know there are A LOT of teachers out there who struggle with charging for lessons when a student doesn’t attend their lesson. Or with the idea of not offering makeup lessons when conflicts arise.

And – look – I’m not coming for you.  We all need to build policies that allow us to sleep at night.  I do operate under a no-makeup policy and it has absolutely been the right move for me.  I do believe it’s the right move for LOTS of teachers. But I’m not here to push that on you today.

Just keep an open mind with me here, okay?  Avoid jumping to the defensive and let’s just think this through together…

The number one hesitation teachers report when it comes to a no makeup or no credit policy is this issue of fairness.  They’ll say, “but *I* need to miss lessons sometimes.  How can I ask my students to reschedule my missed lessons when I won’t reschedule theirs?”

After all, that seems FAIR, right?  You ask them to reschedule YOUR missed lessons, therefore you should accommodate THEIR missed lessons.

But here’s the thing:  It’s really NOT fair.  It might be fair if you only taught one student, or even one family. But I highly doubt that’s the situation you are in.

You are ONE SINGLE VARIABLE in a giant equation of your students. In fact, if we’re going with a math analogy here, I would actually call you the CONSTANT.  Your studio is comprised of lessons with YOU plus student A.  And YOU plus Student B.  YOU plus Student C.  You get the idea.

In the grand scheme of things, your studio will run without Student C this week.  But your studio will not run without YOU. You are the constant.

So, yes, we want our studios to run on a principle of mutual-benefit, but the ROLES we carry in that agreement are still entirely different.

It’s obvious the ROLE you play in the lesson is different than the role your student plays.  Right?  Well, the ROLE you play in studio management is also different than the role your studio families play.

You have a responsibility to deliver your knowledge and to avail yourself at pre-determined times for lessons.  That is your role.

You are also a human being who gets sick… or whose children drop a surprise scheduling conflict in your lap the night before an event… or what have you.

As the constant, as the keeper of the knowledge, as the provider of the service, yes: your job is to fulfill your obligation to offer instruction.

And yet – if we agree to make ourselves available for every conflict that arises in every family in our studio… from students A through Z… we are opening an enormous can of variables that NO single person should be expected to keep up on.  THAT is not fair.

Here’s the thing:  it’s one thing to reschedule a lesson or two each week.  Maybe your schedule allows for that.  But what about those weeks – and there are always THOSE weeks – where 4, 5, 6 students report they can’t make it?

I do NOT find it FAIR to expect you to uproot your life and jump through a bunch of hoops because of birthday parties… or outbreaks of strep throat… or dentist appointments… or what have you.

Adapting schedules around one person’s inevitable conflicts feels reasonable to me.  Throw 3-4 families or more into the mix and you have a completely different beast altogether.

But – of course – your studio families don’t have that perspective.  They are just thinking about their one single family.  They have one single point of contact in this scenario: You.   But YOU also happen to be the single point of contact for ALL your studio families, which complicates YOUR life exponentially.  Do you follow me here?

Take it from someone who used to pride herself in being endlessly flexible with student schedules: eventually, there comes a point when your studio ecosystem suffers.  If you are feeling frantic or depleted because you’re teaching extra late the next three nights because of theater tryouts or whatever, the whole studio suffers because you are not at your best.

You don’t even always notice it.  Teachers are notorious for just plugging away. Nose to grindstone.  Just doing what needs to be done and running ourselves ragged in the process.

Are you aware of what’s going on in the world of public education teachers?  They’ve been dealing with deteriorating conditions of employment for years and have found solace and comfort in online teacher groups – NOT unlike piano teachers, for the record – and the more they share with one another, the more teachers get fed up and leave the profession altogether.  It breaks my heart.  I want more for the teachers because I love them and don’t want them to be miserable.  But the loss of quality educators in our school systems is of great concern to me. Their collective unhappiness has been building for a long time and it takes very little now to send them over the edge.

I do not want that to happen to studio music teachers.  It’s one of the primary reasons I put so much time into my teacher offerings these days.  We don’t HAVE to deal with the government regulations and working conditions placed upon public school teachers. It’s a tremendous advantage in doing what we do.

Yet in the last few weeks, I’ve met with teacher after teacher who approaches their studio with self-imposed restrictions that ABSOLUTELY run the risk of slowly burning them out of this profession altogether.

Let the record show:  There are countless ways to deal with missed lessons. I’m aware.  There are always options like organizing swap lists, or monthly group classes for those who missed lessons, the list goes on and on.  We all get to decide how to deal with this stuff.

But if your primary catalyst in offering makeup lessons is out of FAIRNESS?  I’d argue it’s actually quite unfair to you.

So I’m just here today to remind you to carefully consider what is, indeed, FAIR, when it comes to your studio policies.

FAIR is building a business that allows you to have healthy boundaries and non-working hours.

FAIR is establishing expectations for ALL sides of that Parent-Student-Teacher triangle UPFRONT, and then holding up your end of the bargain.

FAIR is being able to count on a predictable schedule so you can allocate time to ALL THE STUFF OF LIFE that makes it worth living.  Including teaching!

FAIR is providing energized instruction to ALL students, not jeopardizing the quality of instruction Student A is receiving because Student B is wreaking havoc on your schedule.

Phew.  Okay… I’m going to get off this soapbox and let us move on with our days…I need to say one quick thing, at the risk of opening another gigantic can of worms just as it’s time to wrap up this episode.

There is SO MUCH NUANCE to studio policies… and even MORE nuance to communicating them.  My points about fairness today were for YOUR benefit and YOUR consideration.  I am not suggesting you send a studiowide email explaining why no-makeup policies are more fair for you.  😊

As symbiotic as our studio relationships may be, it’s just a fact that our studio families are not concerned with what is fair for us.  That sounds harsh, but I don’t mean it that way.  It’s just human nature. When YOU pay for a service, there are many things you’re concerned about, but you’re not necessarily concerned about the work-life balance of your car repairman, right?  You trust him to work all that out for himself.  Such is PianoTeacherLife.   When you are communicating policies to your parents, you want to keep your own needs and your own hardships out of the conversation.  It’s just not the place for it.  If you want to hear more about THAT, you can check out Episode 093.

I’m referencing a lot of what I consider to be DEFINING EPISODES of this podcast today.  I wanted to let you know I’ve compiled what I consider to be the essential Beyond Measure Podcast Playlist over on Spotify. It’s 13 episodes of what I think are the most needed perspectives in the studio music teaching profession.  In spotify, you can search for Beyond Measure under PLAYLISTS and you’ll find it, or you can always head to today’s shownotes and it will be linked there.  That’s ChristinaWhitlock.com/episode182 for all the links related to today’s show.

OKAY: Let’s share a quick exit toast and be on our way today, friends!  Go grab the nearest glass and get it up in the air with me.

Studio music teacher friends from all around the world, today we vow to put our ideas of fairness under the microscope every once in awhile.  Every studio and every teacher is different, so I encourage you to embrace the nuance that your own circumstances present as you make the best decisions for your working life.  May we be proactive in our decisions so we do not end up on a steady trek to the Land of Burnout.  Our skillsets are just too valuable for this world, and we MUST work hard to preserve our ability to keep doing our good work. As always, this is me, raising my glass to you and the positive impact you send rippling through your community on a daily basis.  Here, here.

Thanks for listening today, my friends!  Just a few announcements for you today: number one, if YOU are looking for someone to help you craft your studio communications, or help you walk through policies or troubleshoot pedagogical questions, I have opened up additional consultation appointments on my calendar this month.  Head to ChristinaWhitlock.com/consulting if you’d like to check out those details.

I’m continuing to offer the most affordable professional development on the internet over in the Beyond Measure Community on Patreon.  $6/month buys you access to SUCH a rich library of content, including specific repertoire studies with teacher colleagues, installments of my debut repertoire matchmaking service called, What Should I Teach Next?, bonus conversations with all featured podcast guests this summer, and SO. MUCH. MORE.  It’s kind of unreal how much content is there for just $6, and you can cancel at any time.  Check it out and become an integral part of how this show keeps happening at  ChristinaWhitlock.com/community

LASTLY:  If you are not subscribed to my One Thought Thursday e-letter, friends: you’ve gotta get on that list.  One Thought Thursday is a weekly e-letter I send out.  It’s BACK from summer hiatus, and I’ve got a really good one for you this week.  Head to ChristinaWhitlock.com/subscribe to get on that list.

That was a lot of links, I know… and they are ALL waiting for you in one place today: ChristinaWhitlock.com/episode182.  That’s ChristinaWhitlock.com/episode182.

Thanks as always for being in the thick of things with me, friends!  I don’t know what I would do without your good company.

Onward and upward toward whatever adventures await us this week.