"People thrive in complex problem solving when they feel safe," and with that understanding good leaders create a safe working environment for the mind, body and spirit. As I consider my own philosophies towards leadership I must admit creating a safe work place was not in my top five, until now. As stated in the book, bullies are everywhere and it is the moral responsibility of the teachers and specifically administration to create a safe environment for teachers and students to thrive.
the lack of safety can manifest itself in many situations and in a variety of fashions. It will be be my responsibility to keep my eyes, ears and heart open to relationships and behaviors that are blatantly or passively destructive to school safety. it could be so easy to tell myself that the absence of violence demonstrates a safe school. However, it is the passive or manipulative person that is permitted to continually generate a stressful and uncomfortable environment for the major of the staff that tolerate it, "to keep the peace." professional and and deliberate action should be taken to prevent a bully's poison to infect the entire community.
I found the section on bullying among adults very interesting. You would think that we would/could grow out of such juvenile actions. These are important things to consider when looking for good people to hire. Great job!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see that much of the bullying can come from the parents trying to get their way. Not the best part of the job to deal with, but very necessary.
ReplyDeleteJosh,
ReplyDeleteI really think you are right on about keeping your eyes, ears, and heart open to what is going on in your school. There are people out there that have nothing better to do than stir up issues from both the inside and the outside.