Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

I love my job. I am confident in my work and I am able to really relate to the teachers that I am working with. As the assistant director of the school, it is my job to intake new families, tour potential families, and assist teachers in their classrooms with issues. I speak to the teachers on the regular and often give messages to them from families that have emailed and from the executive director, with who I share an office. 

Today, I had a disagreement with a teacher because I told her she could leave early! I had previously told three other teachers that they could give breaks to their co-teachers and leave early as numbers were low and I didn't need them for the afternoon. This teacher, our infant lead teacher, began arguing with me in the classroom. I made sure to be positive when I gave her the news (because who doesn't love to leave early on a Friday?!) and I was not met with the reaction that I had expected. She began arguing with me that she did not want to lose her hours and that it wasn't fair to bring in the afternoon teacher early so she would have to leave early. I told her I would see what I could do but didn't make any promises. 

Personally, I hate when teachers argue with me in the classroom. It is extremely disrespectful and inappropriate for the classroom. I have no problem with a teacher coming to me and discussing an issue, but I do not like when they argue in front of the children and other teachers.

After I walked out of the room, I sat in my office and seethed for a few minutes. I had not handled the situation exactly how I should have, as I do not like conflict and I completely shut down.

Later in the morning, the teacher actually came to me to apologize for her reaction. I used skills from NVC expression to explain to her my reasoning for having her leave early. I also explained my feelings about her initial reaction to me. It had upset me and I wanted her to know that it was not an appropriate way for her to react.

I also remembered the requests vs. demands list from CNC. I was able to explain my feelings and her reaction. In the end, we hugged after our conversation and there were never any hard feelings from either of us. Perception is reality and going back to what we learned about in weeks prior about the platinum rule, I had to treat her the way that she wanted to be treated. 

My final thought is, would you have done anything differently?