Dealing with difficult people at work

One of the things a lot of teachers tell me is a challenge for them in their personal and workplace wellbeing is having to work with a difficult person. It might be a colleague, a parent of one of the students you teach, or one of the leadership team at your school. If you're feeling stressed, overwhelmed or burnt out, your ability to respond rather than react will be even more limited. So what can you do about it? In this episode, I share a personal story as well as some concepts from author Harriet Lerner (www.harrietlerner.com) about the way interpersonal relationships are like dances made up of predictable patterns of steps. As frustrating as it is, all you can control is your next step in the dance. "There is nothing wrong with wanting to change another person. The problem is that it usually doesn't work." ~ Harriet Lerner in 'The Dance of Anger' At the start of this episode I also make a few announcements and reminders, including about the free webinar I'm running on April 5th 2018 at 6pm AEST called 'Preventing Burnout: The Missing Link'. You can sign up at www.selfcareforteachers.com.au/webinar For full show notes, see www.selfcareforteachers.com.au/podcast This episode is brought to you by Daniela Falecki's Teacher Wellbeing Cards. These 52 card give you simple daily reminders to help better support your wellbeing. You can use them in staff meetings to build positive conversations, or have them in your desk as little pieces of advice to help you through the day. Find these cards and Daniela's other resources at www.teacher-wellbeing.com.au/shop/teacher-wellbeing-cards​ Sign up for the Self-Care for Teachers newsletter here.