
Episode 125: This Is An Eviction Notice For The Parent That Is Living Rent-Free In Your Head
The Private School Leader Podcast
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Show Notes
I want you to picture a bright pink elephant riding a unicycle.
Now, I want you to stop thinking about it. Just stop. Don’t think about it anymore.
That worked about as well as you trying not to think about that upset parent that is living rent-free in your head. You know which parent I’m talking about. They are not just visiting your house. They backed the U-Haul up to your house and moved all of their furniture into your living room.
Not good. The bad news is that they have moved in and they plan on staying for a long time. The good news is that we are not just going to sit back and accept that. We are going to take action.
On today’s episode of the PSLP, we are going to give An Eviction Notice To The Parent That Is Living Rent-Free In Your Head.
I know that you are super busy, so be sure to listen while you are doing something else. I hope that you will get value from this episode as you serve and lead your school community. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to listen to the podcast!
Thanks for making a difference,
Mark Minkus
I want to say thank you for listening to the podcast by giving you a FREE GIFT. It is called The 7 Steps To Having Successful Meetings With Upset Parents. This guide is an 11 page pdf that gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. Every good coach has a game plan. Every good teacher has a lesson plan. Too many private school leaders don’t have a plan when they sit down to meet with an upset parent. Well, now you have a PLAN! You can grab this FREE GUIDE at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/meeting
Are any of these statements true about you?
- The "tyranny of the urgent" controls my day, and I start working on my important tasks when the school gets quiet.
- I feel discouraged, lonely, exhausted and stressed out. I'm not sure that my job is sustainable.
- My school invades every part of my professional and personal life.
- I want to have a long and happy and fulfilling career as a private school leader.
- I feel called to do this work, but I am not sure how long I can keep doing it if nothing changes.
I have felt that way many times during my career. That’s why I created the PSL Pro Membership
PSL Pro is a membership community that helps Private School Leaders go from feeling stressed out, discouraged and lonely to feeling energized, fulfilled and supported.
You will have access to a thriving community of school leaders who actually "get it" and "get you"! We will go live every month for a Masterclass, a Success Path Coaching Session, two "We Get It" Roundtable Sessions and a live Q&A about anything and everything related to Private School Leadership.
The PSL Pro Success Path is a Step by Step Plan to get you from where you are to where you want to be as a leader. Different Levels: The Overwhelmed Drifter, The Intentional Architect, all the way to The Fulfilled Mentor. After you choose your level, you will be guided, step-by-step, through the content in THRIVE Academy. This content, along with my guidance and the support of other leaders, will take you from where you are all the way to being The Fulfilled Mentor!
Learn more about how you can join the PSL Pro community by going to theprivateschoolleader.com/membership
Is it just me or are the parents at our schools getting more demanding and more intense, more often? Dealing with parents is part of the job as we lead our private schools, but it can quickly lead to stress, anxiety and feeling overwhelmed.
That’s why I created Parent Academy! Now you have a step by step framework that will help you go from feeling stressed and anxious to feeling confident and calm. Over the last 33 years, I have built successful relationships with thousands of parents and I have packaged that knowledge into an online course. Not only that, but after I teach you, I am going to teach your teachers these strategies as well! Parent Academy contains two, 45-minute webinars that are Teacher PD’s with a printable notebook, guided notes and discussion questions. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parentacademy to learn more!
What is your biggest problem right now? I want to hear more about your biggest problem and I want to help you solve it.
Whether your problem is feeling guilty that your family gets what’s left of you at the end of the day, relentless parents, difficult teachers, a lack of boundaries between work and school, feeling overwhelmed, Imposter Syndrome, enrollment or teacher morale, I can help.
I would love to hear more about your biggest problem and I would love to be your coach. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1.
Being a private school leader is a VERY difficult job. You have to make hundreds of decisions every day, and you have to keep everyone safe, increase enrollment, keep the parents happy, keep the board happy, motivate the teachers, deal with student discipline, beat last year’s test scores and come in under budget.
That can lead to you feeling tired, discouraged and stressed out. I’ve been there. That’s why I created THRIVE Academy just for you. THRIVE Academy is a digital course that will help you get out of survival mode and get back to feeling energized at school. To learn more, go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/thrive
I am excited to share with you a new resource and I want to give this to you as a FREE GIFT to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. It is called The 7 Secrets To Improving Teacher Morale. As private school leaders, we are always looking for ways to improve teacher morale at our schools, but it is hard to know where to start. Well, now you have a step by step plan and you can grab it at theprivateschoolleader.com/morale
I want to give you a FREE gift called 7 Strategies To Effectively Deal With Difficult Teachers. Sometimes we need some courage and confidence to deal with difficult teachers. What you need is a plan! This guide is a step by step plan that you can use to help one of your difficult teachers improve their performance and improve their attitude. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/difficult to grab this free guide!
I’ve created a free resource for you called “The 6 Things That Every Private School Teacher Wants From Their Leader”. This guide is a 6 page pdf that will be a game changer for you. I guarantee you that if you do these 6 things, the teachers at your school will be happy to follow you. You can pick up your free guide by going to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/guide
I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week!
Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode125
Please write a review of this podcast and help the algorithm push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!
I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!
I am excited to share a brand new resource with you. It is a 9 page pdf called: “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School” What is “Verbal Judo”? "Verbal Judo" is a communication strategy that focuses on using words effectively to de-escalate conflict, resolve disputes, and achieve positive outcomes in various interpersonal interactions, particularly in high-pressure situations.
George Thompson and Jerry Jenkins wrote a book called Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art Of Persuasion. So, I have taken several important strategies from the book and applied them to your life as a private school leader. Grab your free copy of “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/judo
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the Private School Leader podcast, where private school leaders learn how to thrive and not just survive as they serve and lead their schools. • • I strongly believe that it is possible to have a long and happy and fulfilling career as a private school leader. And my passion is to help you figure out exactly how to do just that right here on the Private School Leader podcast. And I'm your host, Mark Minkus. • • • So I want you to. I want to ask you to think about something, • • • and then I'm gonna ask you to stop thinking about it. So I want you to think about • • • • a bright pink elephant • • riding a unicycle. • • • So just picture that in your mind. A bright pink elephant • riding a unicycle. • • • And now • I want you to just stop thinking about it. • • • Think about something else. Don't think about the bright pink elephant riding a unicycle. Just think about anything else. • • • So • • • we know • • that me trying to do that with you is just about as effective • as trying not to think about that upset parent that's living rent free in your head. • • It just doesn't work. • • • And so, you know, these are parents • • • • that they're not just visiting your place. They your house there. They've backed up the U Haul • and unloaded their stuff and moved in, • and they're all settled in. • • • • • And • • that negative interaction, that stressful interaction, that • stress about what might happen or how they might react or • • • • what might be the outcome of this meeting that's coming up, • • • • they've moved in, • and they're living there rent free. And it's not good. It's really not good. • • • • • But on this podcast, we're all about taking action and not just accepting that, saying, well, I guess this is my life. I guess this is just how it's gonna be. I'm gonna think about this parent all the time. And then once I resolve that or they graduate or they leave the school, I guess there'll be another parent that will replace that parent. No, • we're going to do something about it. We are going to take action. • • And on today's episode of the Private School Leader podcast, we are going to • give an eviction notice to the parent that is living rent free in your head. • • • • • And before we do that, I.
I created Parent Academy to help private school leaders deal with difficult parents
You know, while we're speaking about parents, I have a question for you. You know, is it just me or the parents at our schools getting more demanding, more intense more often? • • You know, dealing with parents is part of the job as we lead our private schools. But we also, • • um, have stress and anxiety and can feel overwhelmed pretty quickly. • • And that's why I created Parent Academy. And now you have a step by step framework that will help you go from feeling stressed and anxious to feeling confident and calm. • And over the last 33 years, • I've built successful relationships with thousands of parents. And I've taken everything that I know and packaged that knowledge into an online course. • • And after I teach you