Research suggests that successful staff development must attend to teachers' affective and humanistic needs. This paper presents strategies for staff development that are based in an affective and humanistic context. The following principles of adult learning are particularly relevant to teacher-staff development: Adults perceive themselves as individuals and as self-reliant; they are more pragmatic than theoretic; they engage in learning to pursue personal goals and objectives; and they are better motivated if they actively participate in the learning process. The following suggestions are made for improving staff development: (1) provide instructional activities that promote proactive development and the maintenance of mental/emotional health (support groups); (2) offer ways to increase teacher governance (quality circles); and (3) offer activities that enhance collegiality (team teaching, cooperative research, joint authorship, and mentoring). For staff development to have a significant and positive impact on teachers, it must be a continuing and integrating process that first attends to personal and human needs, particularly the needs for belonging and recognition of professional status. (LMI)