Recently I have had a conflict with my direct
supervisor. It had appeared to me that
she negative about the center and the people who work in it. This is the first year that the center has
been shut down in the summer. It is usually a year-round program. She demanded that staff remove everything
personal from the building because while they were laid-off for the summer, she
planned to go through the rooms and strip and throw away all of the things she
did not want in the rooms. The teachers
were very upset; many of them have worked in their rooms for many years. As the new supervisor, she has told me to
start throwing things away. I have only
worked in this center for a month and that time has been without staff and
children, so I have no idea what things the teachers use all the time and what
can be thrown out. Anytime I ask my
supervisor she says if it’s dirty or doesn’t look nice get rid of it.
I have two conflicts in this story. The first is with my
direct supervisor and trying to make her understand my position of being new to
the program and wanting to enter into this job as a supportive asset and not
someone who threw all their stuff away.
The second is enforcing the demands of my supervisor, (and there are
many of them) on the teachers and staff that I work with.
Things I have learned so far from this class that will help
me include.
1.
Trying to actively listen and understand my
supervisors reasons
2.
Respectfully explaining how I feel about her
requests
3.
Trying to discover a way we can make the center
look clean and professional without throwing away too many of the teachers
favorite things.
When I am trying to work with staff to
understand some of the new rules that have been imposed, I might:
1.
Help them understand the reasons behind the
rules
2.
Help them negotiate compromises with the supervisor
when some of the rules are too difficult to follow in an active preschool
classroom.
2 comments:
I cant believe that the new director would do such a thing. That is absolutley absured! I can understand the frustration with that. I know that I would not take it very well if someone went through my room and began to throw things away, especially after I had been in my room for so many years.
Hi Stacie,
I think you have been put in a difficult situation because as a new supervisor, you want to gain the trust and respect of your staff and what you have been asked to do will give you the opposite results I fear! I also would not take that very well as a teacher. Many teachers take pride in their rooms and have a lot of ownership over it. I think if it is involving health and safety issues (filthy toys, broken toys, or missing pieces, etc) maybe your supervisor can put out an email or some type of communication to let everyone know what is or will be happening to take a little relief off of you! However this type of "clean up" should involve the staff who are responsible for their classroom. Good Luck!
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