 Now, most teachers at some point in their career are going to work alongside another teacher and have to give a colleague some form of feedback, whether that's through an observation, appraisal, a job application, whatever it is. So how can you give feedback that's going to be meaningful, supportive, challenging? And how do you give difficult feedback, which is fair? Here are my seven tips for giving difficult and fair feedback. Now, I think the first tip's quite obvious, but in not all cases or circumstances, we need to plan, know where we're going to have this conversation, where the meeting's going to take place. Not all of us have the luxury of having a private space. And I know in my life, at least in a leadership capacity, I had an office space where I could conduct very confidential meetings. When I was a middle leader, it was often a shared space, so I perhaps had to book out the office and make sure that it wasn't disturbed. And even if I did that, it wasn't always guaranteed. So thinking about how you can conduct very meaningful, bite-sized, difficult meetings in that context, how can you do these things reliably, fair, and make sure your message is heard? Now, tip number two, no one likes having a difficult conversation, whether you are given the conversation or receiving. I think it's important to show empathy and sympathy. There are specific domains of the brain that are developed, and most, if not all teachers, have this high-level order of thinking. And I think we can get to a place where we can anticipate how someone else will respond. It's not always the case. Some things will catch us off guard. I think it's important to predict at least the worst-case scenario so that you're perhaps better prepared. And with experience, you become a lot more mindful of lots of unexpected scenarios. Tip number three, very simple. Doesn't matter who you're working with, what the conversation is, be humane about it. Be kind, and stick to the facts. Keep your own emotions in check. And if the conversation gets difficult where the other person's starting to make it personal, remind them that it's not about you, it's about the facts and the evidence in front of you. That's always a very good tip to follow. Tip number four is the use of nonverbal signals. I'm a big fan of these in the classroom, but they work just as well in a one-to-one meeting with another colleague, just like we show kind of listening, nonverbal listening signals. And offer an opportunity to respond, pose questions slowly, just like we would in the classroom to give the other person some time to think. And nonverbal signals, so the kind of silent nodding, you know, I don't want to tap my walk, saying we're running out of time. I don't want to be looking up at the clock, saying we're running out of time, fiddle them over pen, be very conscious of your body language and how you can show to the other person that you're given feedback to, that you are actively listening and being sympathetic to their circumstance. Tip number five, now I'm a big fan of memory you'll know, say it again, say it again, say it again. It's very good for memory rehearsal. Repeat the hard message several times if necessary, maybe not in sequence, but over the conversation to ensure that the key message sticks. Now tip number six is, again, obvious, just like you would in the classroom with kids doing action points, works the same with us wise old adults. Offer a clear summary with some clear action steps which to take next. This might be just some simple bullet points, I follow up on an email or some simple notes written on a formal bit of paper if needed. These are often really good ways to offer some clarity. I guess the final tip is try not to get distracted in irrelevant details. Now of course we'll say, how's the weather? How are you doing? How's your family? Those types of things. And that often comes to kind of quash the hard message. You may or may not find these things important, depends on your relationship or the context of the conversation. But try not to get too bogged down in these unnecessarily details. If you have organized a difficult meeting to begin with, probably just keep it to that, but obviously be kind, listen and humane throughout the process. And yes, we might want to talk about the weather, but let's keep it short, keep it simple and get that message home. How can we practice these? Now middle leavers tell me they want these tips, but they don't want to do role play. So I hope these will give you some kind of signal signpost to help you in your life as a middle or school leader. Or if you're a teacher, having to have a difficult conversation with a parent or a people, you might find this methodology just as useful. Thanks for watching.