I consider my principal to have great communication skills. She is very knowledgeable about early childhood education and helps to make all the teachers. She always listens to our questions and concerns and validates our feelings. That, in turn, makes us feel heard. I would definitely like to be more like her because although she may have a strong opinion about something, she never forces it on us, instead is open-minded and listens to our suggestions. I think that is a very important part of communication. It's listening as well as giving your point of view. It has to be two-sided.
Jeanette, I also wrote about my supervisor, and I think that we are fortunate that our supervisors are good communicators, because I have been in situations before where my supervisor was not! I was always trying to untangle what she was saying, and it seemed that no matter what I thought I heard it was wrong. We ended up having to write everything down so we were both on the same page. The other thing that was frustrating to me about her communication that you mentioned specifically that your principal posed was a knowledge about early childhood. My old supervisor asked me to do things frequently that I knew were not DAP, but they made business sense to her. I ended up leaving the job because of this gap in communication-it is vital! Great post-Carolyn
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