Disagreeable

When is it ok to disagree with your boss? It's a strange question and probably has more to do with the relationship you have with your boss and the culture of the organization than it does with the reason for disagreement. While this question usually brings about the idea of a confrontational or uncomfortable meeting, employees also do this in many other ways. Perhaps the most prevalent method is being passive-aggressive. We've all done it. We find ourselves putting off a task or doing a particularly bad job at something that we didn't agree with doing in the first place. We all have to admit that we have probably been guilty of that at some point and getting called on it is never fun.

But aside from being passive-aggressive, there are constructive ways to disagree with the boss of your organization in general that can lead to greater productivity. Most organizations fall under one of two categories. They can either be relational-oriented organizations that care most about the people or they can be task-oriented organizations that care most about getting stuff done. Despite the fact that they may not fit in, having people that are the opposite of the culture can be pretty important. Having leaders that are opposite of the organization culture can produce huge results. The problem is, we don't usually like those people. The principal that only cares about test scores would be hated by the teachers that work hard to build relationships. Likewise, the principal that worked hard to love and care for everyone, may not get good results for the school or value the teachers that do
. Every organization needs balance.

This week we will elect our School Improvement Team that will help guide our decisions for the next two years. I always like it when there are one or two people on that team that have the guts to question decisions and make us think about why we do the things that we do. I don't always agree, but I enjoy having to think about whether the decision is worth defending.

I encourage you to think about your classrooms in the same way. If you're getting pushback on an assignment or a practice, think about why we do it. If your only defense is, "because I said so" or "because I'm in charge," you might want to think about the practice a bit deeper. Sometimes having that misfit can make you improve in ways that you didn't quite understand before.