Hi Team,
Welcome back! I hope you had a relaxing and rejuvenating summer. I have had several folks reach out to me asking me how to help them build resilience in themselves and their teams. Times in education are stressful right now. Budget cuts, increasing demands, changes in class size and overall high needs of the students we serve are taking a toll on education professionals.
I spent a great deal of time in buildings this last school year working in partnership with staff and finding multiple ways to support them in their work. I am grateful for the experiences, and I wanted to launch this school year with an “invitation to consider” for you all.
I want to begin the new school year with some encouraging advice on how to approach your challenges. I am inviting you to adopt these 4 things into your mantra as to how you approach the school year. I am hopeful this will help you maintain a positive mindset and instill hope that you can do great things!
The four themes (in no particular order of importance):
1. Assume Positive Intent
I really want to encourage us to walk into our interactions with others with a mindset that people are doing the best that they can. Their actions and choices weren’t intentional. We want to give people the benefit of the doubt and believe that they had good reason for the choice that was made. Instead of assuming the worst, let’s walk into the situation with an open mind and an open heart.
The benefits of this will be valuable to you. You should feel less stress, it will help build connection, and it helps to maintain positivity.
So, before you engage, take a moment and reflect on the intention of the conversation and your mindset. Focus on the facts, not the fear of what you think might have been the reason. Get regulated and approach with calmness. Lastly, kindness will take you so much farther.
2. Seek to Understand
This is a big one for me. I approach all of my hard situations with this at the forefront, often asking questions like, “help me understand what you meant when you said…” or “What did you think would happen when you made that choice?”
Stephen Covey is famous for his quote, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
When we approach with a true intent of trying to understand, defenses tend to drop and trust starts to build. Working in partnerships to try and understand the rationale for the choice helps bring empathy into the situation.
Talk less, guess less and ask more. Truly try to listen and seek to understand the message intended.
3. Approach with Curiosity and Wonder
Approaching others leading with curiosity and wonder instead of assumption will truly help build connections. Wonder aloud how students came up with an answer. Invite them to share with you their thought processes and rationales for how they came to their conclusion. Challenge them to explain why they opted to do _____ instead of ______. Invite them to help you identify the best answer, best choice, best practice.
This helps build community and it helps build confidence. Self-efficacy is lagging in many of our students. Opportunities to build on self-esteem and courage will help assist with giving students permission to take chances, try new things and enter into school with an open mind.
4. Refrain from Judgement
I think this one is very important. As you enter into this new school year, challenge yourself to stop making quick decisions and assumptions about others. Keep in mind that we don’t always have the full story and many of our colleagues and youth are struggling right now. Commit to contributing to the solution, not the problem.
Be mindful of the words you choose and when and where you choose to say them. Give yourself permission to pause before you speak and evaluate whether or not what you are about to say is helpful, healthy or safe. Remember to keep empathy at the forefront.
Thank you for all that you do! I hope these invitations to consider were helpful! Cheers to an amazing 2026-2027 School year! You got this!