Telling People Things They Don’t Want to Hear

Always assume good intent from the other party

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

I recently took a promotion in the school system in middle management. I work in a field that is subject to an unprecedented teacher shortage and constantly subjected to unfair scrutiny.

I have a job where I hold IEP meetings for students with disabilities and have to enforce deadlines for special education paperwork. If the paperwork isn’t done by a certain time, we violate the law and the rights of the student and parent.

Middle management is having to hand down mandates of unrealistic expectations and then bearing the brunt of very understandable frustration about the unrealistic nature of those expectations. I like to think I’m doing a good job, and I presume I would also like to absolve myself of guilt and responsibility.

But the truth is everyone in a middle management position could do a better job doing the hard things — especially telling people what they want don’t want to hear. I try to focus on people’s strengths and where they’re doing a great job.

You can’t be the bearer of bad news all the time. People can’t always hear what needs to be done and where they’re falling short. Sometimes, a quick shoutout or “good job” or “thank you” goes a long way. Most middle managers are…