Read on my website / Read time: 4 minutes
We've all been there. You had to sit through a post-observation meeting and walked out feeling smaller than you walked in.
The comments stab you in the gut.
“Needs stronger data use.”
“Too quiet in meetings.”
“Could improve time-on-task.”
Blahhhh, blah blah.
Even now, as you’re looking at roles outside of education, those words still echo. You might wonder, Will other people see me the same way? Am I actually ready for this next step?
I need you to hear me when I say this:
Your principal's feedback doesn't matter anymore. At all.
Why This Matters to You
School evaluations weren’t built to help you grow. They were built to keep you in line.
But the corporate world won't ever ask for your observation scores.
They’re definitely not wondering how your lesson objectives were worded.
They want to know three things:
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Can you solve problems?
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Can you lead people and ideas?
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Can you work with change?
Since you're reading this, I bet you can answer yes to all three.
Common Solutions That Don't Really Work
When you’ve been shaped by years of ratings (which, to many, amounts to trauma), you might try to:
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Fill your resume with numbers to “prove” yourself
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Stay silent (and confused) about your teaching experience
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Pray for someone in your new job to tell you you’re doing okay
A Better Approach for You
Here’s the shift: let's reapproach your old observations and reframe them.
That “too quiet leadership” your principal didn’t seem to care for?
It’s called executive presence to another boss.
That “lack of time-on-task”?
In corporate, it’s called flexibility and adapting to the room.
That moment you taught a lesson during a fire drill out on the blacktop, without losing the entire class?
It’s called getting shit done.
You don’t need to throw away your teaching story. First though, you need to take a look at how much of your self-image is still shaped by someone else’s score sheet that doesn't even matter anymore.
TL;DR:
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Old school feedback is built for control, not growth
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Corporate doesn’t use the same rubrics AND they value different strengths
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Your skills are already aligned with what corporate needs
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You’re allowed to see yourself in a new way
Your Next Steps
This week, pull out an old evaluation or observation report. Circle anything that ever made you doubt your potential. Then ask:
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Is this a real weakness or just a system bias?
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How would I describe this differently now?
You're not here to fix what someone else misunderstood.
You're here to highlight what could never have been captured on that observation rubric in the first place.
P.s.
When you're done letting outdated feedback shape how you see yourself, my Career Change Accelerator™ is here to help you build a career that fits who you really are and NOT who someone once said you were.
For my readers who celebrated Thanksgiving this week, I hope it was great!
For all my readers, hope you had a great week no matter what.
Hope you'll give the activity above a try.
It worked wonders for me.
See you next week.
Steph Yesil
Find me on LinkedIn, Get My Career Change Kit,
Book a 60-Min Strategy Call
