How to Deal with Blame and Scapegoating at Your School

We’ve all been there . . .

Someone within your school or district makes a mistake and now that person needs to “pay for it” in the eyes of others. Sometimes, we want to know where blame should be placed because it is a natural human reaction to search for answers and arrive at a resolution or end result so that there is closure in our own minds about an issue, problem, or mistake that was made.

In Chapter 2 of Escaping the School Leader’s Dunk Tank, Rebecca and I contend that there are emotional driving forces that position us as adversaries especially when it comes to “blaming someone else for something that they did in error.” Blame breeds fear, jealousy, and so many other emotions that drive others to want to bring us down the moment we make a misstep.

Scapegoating is a tougher issue to work through, however. In Chapter 3 of Escaping the School Leader’s Dunk Tank, Rebecca and I contend that there is a myriad of adversarial tactics that others use against one another within an organization. Scapegoating becomes murky because we often just really just dismantle any “scapegoating initiative” by dismissing someone else as simply being “nasty or cold- hearted.”

Your Choices

What Rebecca and I have learned through our interactions with school leaders across the nation is that we really only have two major choices for dealing with blame, scapegoating, or other forms of adversity. We can either . . .

1. Ignore it.

-OR-

2. Address it.

Both of these choices have pros and cons and depending on the exact temperature of the situation and context that you are in, (and if your adversaries could threaten your career and livelihood) you have to weigh the pros and cons of which path you decide to go down and if Choice #1 or #2 is the right decision for you.

What we can do, though, is decide to have explicit conversations about blame and scapegoating and invite others into our discussions for their support, protection, comfort, or just plain old problem-solving prowess. Mistakes can be big or small, but both are opportunities for learning and becoming better at something.

Mistakes are a skill-