Every staff member in a school has unique strengths. Yet many of us spend far more time worrying about what we can’t do than recognising what we do well. Our brains have a natural negativity bias. We notice mistakes, weaknesses and
Staff who work in schools are caring, generous and committed people. That’s what makes you amazing—but it’s also why many of us struggle to say no. You may feel that if you don’t do it, no one else will. Or perhaps you feel you should say yes because that’s what a “good person” does.
Some parents can be time consuming and add to our stress. In most schools, five percent of parents consume 95 percent of your time. However, reaching out to have them onboard can make our lives easier. Try these proactive approaches.
Building a solid connection with parents at the beginning of the year is particularly beneficial. If parents see you as having credibility and trust you, they are less likely to challenge or cause you grief. An excellent way to build a positive and nurturing culture is to provide quality information sessions for parents to attend, in the first few weeks of the school year.
Let me start by saying that I am not against sharing personal news and accessing support from colleagues at school. However, friendly work banter is quite different from gossip, which can be quite destructive to workplace relationships, morale and productivity.
Email should be a convenient and efficient communication tool. However, it is also fraught with danger as messages can be misinterpreted, especially if a ‘tone’ is read into the content. Remember these key points when communicating with parents using email.
In many schools, the staff car park is a busy place immediately after meetings. Colleagues often congregate in small groups, in the staff car park, to reflect on the meeting and share, what they were going to say or should have said! at the meeting.
I confess that I hate meetings – at least those that are poorly run, go on forever and where there is a lot of talk but decisions are rarely made. Such meetings are a complete waste of time. Here are my thoughts on what it takes to make meetings a good use of your time and everyone else’s.
Emotional baggage is heavy – How much are you carrying around? It’s the end of the year, and what better time to clear out the old to make room for the new. One of the heaviest bags we carry around is our emotional baggage, our past frustrations, resentments, guilt, anger or regrets. They are heavy, weigh us down, prevent us from moving forward and damage our health and happiness. The source of emotional baggage often comes from conversations we have had; what has been said and what hasn’t been said; the meanings we attribute to the conversations; the clashes with our sense of right and wrong, blame, shame and polar beliefs and values. Communication sits at the base of this,…
Parents who are defensive of their child can be tricky to manage. Dealing with defensive reactions is difficult and often stressful. When people are defensive, they are often at their worst. They quickly become adversarial, irrational, hostile and angry. Through making subtle adjustments to our approach by anticipating and endeavoring to avoid a defensive reaction before it happens, can help manage tricky situations. According to Richard Carlson, author of “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”, having the wisdom to anticipate defensive reactions allows you to avoid a great deal of conflict in the first place by not pushing certain buttons in people and by not engaging in behaviour that is likely to set them off. Respond in a composed manner, sticking…