How to Tell if your School has a Pronoun Problem

Missions are realized through the actions in the building rather than words plastered on the wall. Visions can become realities, but they can also become nightmares as well. Goals are reached by people who believe in the power of teamwork and are also missed by teams who get cause in traps of selfishness.

We know this to be true, so how can we prevent our organizations from moving backwards?

Dig deeper into the words used in your organization. 

Actions often follow our words, which are shaped by our thoughts. Many times our thoughts are positively and negatively influenced by those around us as well as by the words our ears consume in the building and our eyes absorb through social media. If you  think about it, those words enter our brains and the negative ones will impact our works if we fail to filter them appropriately. To determine if this is a problem in your school, a key indicator can possibly be revealed in how and when we use our pronouns and possessive pronouns in our daily work.  

Does your School have a Pronoun Problem?

Teams that win use power pronouns. They say:

• My and I when they own it
• You and your through the lens of support,
• We, our and ours when they remind everyone that we’re all on the same team in both good and bad times. 
• He, She, They, His, Her or Their to identify where both problems and solutions are located,
• This, that, these, and those to elevate strengths and identify struggles. 

Teams that lose use blame pronouns. They say 

• My and I only when they succeed 
• You and your when they fail and need others to blame 
• We, our and ours only when there’s a team success,
• He, She, They, His, Her or They to identify where problems are,
• This, that, those, and these when frustration mounts about kids. 

Which Pronouns are Most Prevalent in your School?

Often times, the pronoun problem is not pronounced among the school as a whole, but there are always pockets of blame pronouns as well as exemplars who always use power pronouns. The job of leaders, both campus and teacher leaders, is to confront and counteract blame pronouns with a reminder of why the team exists, and that problems and frustration can be overcome when the principle pronouns become we, us and our, instead of the divisiveness of mine and yours. Only then will the words positively impact the actions of the organization.