When I became an educator, I had the opportunity to work with several excellent educators. Most of the teachers in the department had been teaching for at least ten years.

As you can imagine, I was a little intimidated by my colleagues. Why? Because I was not an education major in college. Although I trained soldiers in the military, I wasn’t sure if what I was doing in the classroom was right.

Two of the veteran teachers in my department decided to take me under their wings and help me out. Every day they would come into my classroom to check on me. We would review my lesson plans and discuss how to engage my students.

After our meeting, they would invite me to join them for lunch. Being the new person in the department, it was vital for me to connect with my colleagues. So, I decided to join them for lunch.

The first time we had lunch, I noticed a couple of my colleagues were critical of the leadership. I didn’t pay much attention to what they were saying because it’s not uncommon for individuals to question the decisions of their leaders.

Over the next couple of weeks, I noticed no matter what topic we were discussing; the conversation always turned negative. My one colleague would nitpick and criticize everything!

After a month, I started eating lunch in my classroom. I realized the negativity was beginning to affect me. When my mentors asked me why I stopped eating with them, I told them I was busy getting ready for my next class.

As I sat in my classroom, I knew I couldn’t hide out for the entire year. So, I decided to tell my mentors the truth. We discussed several different solutions. To reach a compromise, I agreed to eat lunch with the department once a week.

Why did I agree to the compromise? Because I wanted to build a relationship with my colleagues. Therefore, I had a choice to make on how I was going to respond to the situation. Limiting my contact allowed me to connect with my colleagues while distancing myself from the negativity.

“The less you respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become.”

Bryce Lewis

You have a choice with regard to how you react to critical people.

Are you reacting to negativity?

#YourLeadershipGuide
Kim


View the “MOORE Leadership Moment” podcast HERE

Lead Confidently | Expand Influence | Achieve Significance

  • This is so true, I had to pull away from family members because of the negativity in their life.

  • Hi Dr. Moore,

    Thank you so much for addressing the right way to response to negative because it is unavoidable.

  • {"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

    You may also like

    March 26, 2024

    March 19, 2024

    March 12, 2024

    Dr. Kim Moore

    About the author

    I'm Kim, your Educational Leadership Guide. I equip educational leaders with research-based and experientially learned educational leadership principles and best practices to promote student success.


    >