135. What Your Teachers Need and Can’t Tell You with Melina Palmer

You have to make so many decisions every day as an educator or educational leader. It’s overwhelming and enough to drive you to burnout. Add to that the change that happens seemingly every minute in the classroom or the office.

 

We can’t train on how to manage our brains around the constant disruptions and distractions. But you can change how you plan for and react to them.

 

This week on the podcast, I’m talking with Melina Palmer, a behavioral economist who consults with businesses all over the globe. She’s the author of the new book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell you. We explore what your teachers (and students) need and want and why it’s so hard to put that into words. We also talk about why the Golden Rule is antiquated and why we need to focus on the Platinum Rule instead.

 

Melina is the real deal when it comes to behavioral change and there are so many takeaways from this conversation. But don’t make the mistake of trying to change everything at once. Instead, tune into some micro-shifts to make long-lasting changes.

About Melina Palmer:

Melina Palmer is founder and CEO of The Brainy Business, which provides behavioral economics consulting to businesses of all sizes from around the world. Her podcast, The Brainy Business: Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy, has downloads in over 160 countries and is used as a resource for teaching applied behavioral economics for many universities and businesses. Melina obtained her bachelor’s degree in business administration: marketing and worked in corporate marketing and brand strategy for over a decade before earning her master’s in behavioral economics. A proud member of the Global Association of Applied Behavioral Scientists, Melina has contributed research to the Association for Consumer Research, Filene Research Institute, and runs the Behavioral Economics & Business column for Inc Magazine. She teaches applied behavioral economics through the Texas A&M Human Behavior Lab and is the author of two books, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You and What Your Employees Need and Can’t Tell You.

Jump in the Conversation: [2:15] - What teachers need but we’re not attending to [2:40] - Psychology of decision-making [3:03] - Change isn’t what we think it is [4:30] - Every conversation is some sort of change [8:02] - Golden Rule and Platinum Rule  [11:35] - How can we unpack what teachers need or want [13:33] - Asking questions shows they’re interested and want to know more [14:15] - Where can you help take repetitive items and take them off teachers’ plates [15:52] - Teachers don’t go into the profession for the pay [17:46] - Change is all about you and has nothing to do with you [19:20] - There’s value in being empowered to change the way you respond to anything [22:38] - What we need to tune into to implement change [23:28] - It’s not possible to remove bias from your life [25:36] - Micro-shift moments: Get a win and keep on going [28:36] - Pandemic was spotlight on institution of education [30:15] - The way change is presented makes all the difference [34:48] - Turbo Time [36:55] - What people need to know about interpersonal communication [39:37] - Making something more bite sized can you look more knowledgeable [40:58] - Melina’s Magic Wand [42:41] - Maureen’s takeaways Links & Resources Episode 56: Getting to the Brainy Business of School Change Melina’s Books The Brainy Business Podcast Solving Modern Problems with a Stone-Age Brain: Human Evolution and the Seven Fundamental Motives by Dr. Douglas T. Kenrick and David E. Lundberg A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger Beautiful Questions in the Classroom: Transforming Classrooms into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry by Warren Berger Email Maureen Maureen’s TEDx: Changing My Mind to Change Our Schools The Education Evolution Facebook: Follow Education Evolution Twitter: Follow Education Evolution LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution EdActive Collective Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids Micro-school feature on Good Morning America The Micro-School Coalition Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition LEADPrep