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Providing Feedback to a Colleague When You’re Not the Boss

by | Sep 6, 2022 | Self-Care | 0 comments

School psychologists wear many hats throughout their careers: assessor, counselor, consultant, mediator, and much more! We enjoy working with others and thrive on being part of a successful team! But what happens when we recognize compliance issues in a colleague’s IEP notes? Or when the principal shares information that isn’t factual? How do we let a colleague know the assessment results they share are difficult to understand, especially when we aren’t the boss of them?

Let’s explore ways we can positively go about providing feedback to a colleague to help our team work more cohesively for the benefit of the student and family! If you are interested in watching a replay of the live recording where I discuss these topics, please click here.

Meet as a Team

The beginning of a school year is an ideal time to reflect on what works well for your team and what areas of improvement are needed. Want to know a great way to break the ice and have these discussions without being the boss? Schedule a meeting with your IEP team members and start by asking how you can improve your practices! This is an effective way to open communication in a non-threatening manner. How should you approach this topic if you are brand new to a team? Try this: let the team know you want a smooth transition and would love to hear feedback about what worked and perhaps what didn’t work in the past.

Specific Strategies to Use During Difficult Conversations

  • Ask for permission before providing feedback to a colleague. You can say something like, “I would like to give you some feedback. Is now a good time?”
  • Prioritize your feedback. Choose one or two things to tell them. Is anything happening that could potentially get the school district in legal trouble? Those areas need to be prioritized and discussed first. 
  • Choose something easy to work on so success happens quickly.

Join us as we read, The Feedback Fix, inside the Prepared School Psychologist membership site! As we read the book together, we will learn the author’s secret to giving better feedback. And guess what? It isn’t necessarily in what we say, but in what others hear. What an interesting concept! And the best part about this book? These strategies can be used in our interactions with parents and students as well!

Join us for three live sessions throughout September where we will discuss how the concepts of this book can be applied to real-life scenarios. Can’t make it to our live sessions? Don’t worry, everything will be recorded and uploaded to the Prepared School Psychologist membership site within 48 hours!

And remember, once you become a Prepared School Psychologist member, you will have access to these videos, resources, test templates, office hours, and much more! Click on the button below to join today!

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