not another staff meeting

aLLIE MoonEy

Not another staff meeting

Understand your colleagues to use your time wisely

The frustration that can occur as a result of having a staff meeting can linger on for days, and maybe you wonder why it is always the same people that contribute to them. One bone of contention is when teachers have to work with others in syndicates, staff meetings and special projects. It’s also not uncommon for principals to have this same dilemma when working with their board. When I ask the question “How many work with people that are different?,” 90 percent put up their hand. These comments remind us how different we all are:

“Can’t you see it?” “Do I have to listen to you, yet again?” “Surely you can bring something fresh to the table as well” “Oh, she is such a “yes” person!” “Why can’t they see the big picture?” “Why can’t you make a decision?” “We’ve heard this before, you sound like an old record!” “Oh my goodness, do we have to hear such a long drawn out explanation of something that could be said in two minutes! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!” “I’ll scream if you don’t say something!” “Show pony!” “Nit picker!”

Could it have something to do with the way we think? I am absolutely convinced that it is. Personalities and the behaviour around personalities give us great insight into how we think and respond.

The comments above can turn into toxic behaviour and attitudes toward others if we don’t understand personalities. Perhaps it might be good if we reflected on this topic. Let’s face it; we want our students to be more reflective around their learning don’t we?

There are four main personalities that I’ve talked about before: Playful – desire to have fun

Words that describe them: love to talk, energetic, impulsive, naïve, loud, positive, inclusive, creative, enthusiastic. They avoid conflict.

Powerful – desire to get things done (in the time frame of NOW!”)

Words that describe them: love to do things, assertive, commanding, decisive, focussed visionary. “Straight up” when dealing with conflict.

Precise – desire to do it right

Words that describe them: loves facts and logic, deliberate, justice and fair play, orderly, well mannered, predictable and systematic. Indirect approach to conflict, would rather write to you about it than verbalise

aLLIE MoonEy

Peaceful – desire is to have no conflict

Words that describe them: Easy, comfortable, relaxed, good listener, dry wit, inoffensive, loyal, patient and diplomatic. They stay under the radar to avoid conflict.

Powerful and the Precise are the task-oriented types

Peaceful and Playful are people-oriented types

Just knowing this would help us to be more collaborative when working with each other.

Imagine a 3:15p.m. staff meeting:

Jenny the Playful rocks up around 3:25 p.m. only to be ignored by Melanie the Precise who arrived five minutes before 3:15 p.m. Now you can see even before the meeting begins there is tension in the staffroom. Melanie can’t understand why Jenny is so flippant about her lack of time keeping, and especially that she doesn’t apologise for her lateness. Manners are everything to Melanie. Jenny thinks that her latest dramatic story will have everyone spellbound, and obviously forgiven. Not this day! Not by Melanie anyway. Melanie writes something down as if to record yet another incident to bring up at another time.

When there is discussion time, the Playfuls love to enter in on it, loads of ideas (not necessarily wanting to do it), leaning always toward relationships rather than the tasks that are needed to be achieved. Jack the Powerful, tired on no focus, pulls everyone into line and gets them on track, reminding them why they are there, which quiets the Playful (they wilt under criticism and poor reviews and from their standpoint they were being rebuked), and starts getting traction to why they are there. Another group that we haven’t mentioned, and sometimes after the meeting you wonder if they attended: The “silent” Peacefuls. I’m not saying they won’t say anything, because as teachers they have to, but if they are in a room with the more extroverted (Playful and Powerful) plus the more objective (make decisions with their head) Precises, they would certainly step sideways for those ones to speak first. The Peacefuls are great listeners, and if only we could value them for this trait, as they see things that others don’t see. They are consistently consistent. Get things done but not in the time frame of others. What comes out of their mouths can be quite profound; sadly if you hurry them, they dig in and resist being pushed.

Give them time and space, and you will hear some great thoughts expressed in a wonderful witty way. They are great team players. Of course we can be blends, but if we were to identify our team, value what they bring, we could achieve more and enjoy engaging better.

Think about the questions we ask. They are quite different and so should your approach with those different from you:

Playfuls ask “Who?” So, focus on relationships when working with them.

Powerfuls ask “What and when?” Focus on results and outcomes with them.

Precise ask “How?” Focus on details with them.

Peacefuls ask “Why?” Focus on the reasons with them.

In summing up:

“ of course we can be blends, but if we were to identify our team, value what they bring, we could achieve more and enjoy engaging better.”

• Playfuls are really good “ideas” people, innovative and creative. Play to this strength

• Powerfuls are focussed and assertive. Play to this strength

• Precises are naturally good at method and structure.

• Peacefuls bring clarity diplomacy and mediation.

I’d love to see more educators understanding these types and using that knowledge in the staffroom and in the classroom to enhance learning. It’s simple and easy to apply, and it makes our jobs easier as we operate out of our strengths.