The Titanic was skippered by a veteran crew of seasoned naval officers who were familiar with the hazards of the north Atlantic. And yet, while on her maiden voyage, the most magnificent sea vessel ever engineered was on a collision course with one of nature’s most formidable pirates of the sea. How could a ship that was touted as the “grandest” and “unsinkable” luxury cruise ship ever built -navigated by seasoned officers –end up “submerged” at the bottom of “Davy Jones locker”? The “unsinkable” was sunk deep into the dark abyss of “unthinkable” maritime legend. Why couldn’t they see it coming?The answer to that question might lie, in part, “submerged” in our brains –literally! While attending a conference a few years ago, I heard Dr. Daniel Goleman speak on the subject, “Contagion of Leadership”. In the session he described how “the impact on emotions goes beyond what a leader says. Even when leaders were not talking” Goleman said, “they are watched more carefully than anyone else in the group. When people raise a question for the group as a whole, group members keep their eyes on the leader to see his or her response. Group members generally see the leader’s emotional reaction as the most valid response, and so model their own on it –particularly in an ambiguous situation, where various members react differently. In a sense, the leader sets the emotional standard.” His words triggered a memory from a freshman psych class I had to take in college. My professor said, “People are like icebergs. They tend to reveal only about 10% of themselves while the majority (80-90%) of their body (and often most hazardous portion) is ‘submerged’ beneath the surface”. Nowhere is this truth more apparent than in working with students –especially adolescence.
Even the most experienced and season teacher can encounter a classroom mishap that causes even the best engineered plans to tank. Students, like icebergs, have a whole host of emotional currents rushing beneath the waves of actions and words. Often, these feelings lurk just beneath the surface. Sometimes these submerged feelings are positive and skilled teachers look for them and know how harness these winds allowing the energy to fill the sails of learning for an entire class. Other times, emotions can be negative –even toxic or destructive. If we’re not alert these emotions can not only hijack an entire class but can also rattle even the best of teachers -leading them become emotionally compromised.
If we are all honest and the truth were known, all of us would have to admit to being pirated by emotions at times that cause us to compromise self-control –even with students who might appear to be calm. When it comes to serving people, the wisdom of Dr. Daniel Goleman has helped me understand and gain insights into the realm of “emotional intelligence”. In his book, Primal Leadership, Dr. Goleman discusses “how moods impact results”. “An emotional episode usually leaves a corresponding lingering mood: a low-key, continual flow of feeling throughout the group.” Goleman goes on to write, “Negative emotions –especially chronic anger, anxiety, or a sense of futility –powerfully disrupt work, hijacking attention from the task at hand.”
While we can’t predict or prevent all such emotional piracy from occurring in the classroom, there are a few things that might help in navigating around potential emotional icebergs. First, don’t think of group dynamics as “classroom management” or even “behavioral management”. These terms do a great disservice to the learning process because they minimize the fact that we are working with people and we are people -not an impersonal “classroom”. Secondly, we would do well to heed the wisdom of John Maxwell where in his best seller, Winning With People, he talks about the “Mirror Principle” which states, “People unaware of who they are and what they do often damage relationships with others. The way to change that is to look in the mirror.” To impact students we also need to stop thinking of ourselves as “teachers” or “mentors” and see ourselves as “leaders”. Lets be honest, the most difficult person to lead is the one we see in the mirror. However, when we invest in self-leadership the payoff can yield big returns as students reflect healthier moods coming from us.
The story of the Titanic is a cautionary tale full of “life lessons” that we would do well to remind ourselves of today. Regardless of how much experience or success we might bring to our profession, all of us are susceptible to being hijacked by emotions –be they from ourselves or the students we serve.
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