I’m leading a staff meeting today. Normally, staff meetings (well, the one I’ve done this semester) are happy times, complete with baked goods and multiple opportunities to tell them what a great job they’re all doing and perhaps even a festive happy dance.
But this is not going to be one of those meetings. This is the dreaded meeting that always happens around midterms where I say a lot of things to the tune of “Hey, you guys are acting like you have midterms or something.” There will be no baked goods, because baked goods make people feel warm and loved and cozy, and that might be confusing when I’m telling them how uncomfortable they should be feeling about their performance. There shouldn’t be dancing, because it would probably come across in a half-crazed, dancing-on-the-grave-of-your-happiness sort of way.
There will be good points, because they’re not doing a bad job, especially considering that they are mostly new. They just need a few dozen reminders, and they’re getting them all at once. It’s going to be the most epic Band-Aid ™ pull-off ever, the kind where it rips out all the hair and most of the scab.
Oh, I’m sorry. Is that an unpleasant image?
Welcome to today’s meeting.
M. Suzanne Terry 