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June 1, 2012
Vol. 54
No. 6

How To Master the Art of Communication

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Leadership
In an age of rolling school reform and ever-intensifying accountability for educators, principals' ability to communicate productively with their staff is more crucial than ever. With so many stakeholders and personalities involved, principals must develop the high art of effective communication.
Citing a range of research from the last decade, the authors of the ASCD book Qualities of Effective Principals, James Stronge, Holly Richard, and Nancy Catano, suggest that a successful communications policy for principals often involves a variety of efforts, including the following:
  • Engaging a variety of stakeholders in an open and democratic dialogue.
  • Making use of stakeholders' views in shared decision-making processes.
  • Using communication as an essential tool to meet school goals.
  • Using distributive leadership as a way to communicate about changes in a school.
  • Listening well.
For example, principals who are good listeners fine-tune their receptivity so that they "actively, attentively pay attention to what others are saying—with their words, actions, and even body language—in order to build understanding," Stronge says. "However, beyond building bridges of understanding, effective principals take the ideas of others into consideration and move them to action as appropriate. They are able to use the keen skill of listening to build strong, positive relationships."
Richard, a principal at Bettie Weaver Elementary School outside of Richmond, Va., says that good listening is especially important when there are disagreements or differing points of view among stakeholders.
"The principal must be able to understand multiple points of view and respond accordingly," Richard says. "The ideal role for the principal is to be a facilitator, listening carefully and helping others generate multiple ways of approaching an issue."
At the same time, savvy principals know that they don't have all the answers and know that good solutions "are broadly dispersed among teachers," Stronge says. He suggests that "principals take advantage of this capacity by encouraging—perhaps even unleashing—the power of teachers for problem solving and improvement-building."
Richard agrees: "Teachers are in the best position to know the needs, strengths, and weaknesses of their own colleagues and students and can therefore own decisions that they make together."

Communicate Change

These days schools are high-profile organizations under public scrutiny, regardless of whether or not they're undergoing major reforms. But with an uncertain economy and tight budgets, school staff can often feel threatened by any change.
Richard says that, as a principal, she sees it as her job to manage change and support her staff in the process. Last year her school district instituted a new teacher evaluation system that made teachers apprehensive because they thought it would be a more time-consuming process, Richard recalls.
By phasing in the new process over the course of the year, Richard gave teachers a chance to see that the new way of evaluation was different but not additional. As a result, teachers had greater buy-in to the change, she says.
The key to communicating major changes is to make decision making a collaborative process with input from an array of stakeholders, says Eric Sheninger, principal at New Milford High School in New Jersey.
"This requires the school leader to establish forums or committees to allow staff to voice their thoughts and reservations pertaining to the dynamic that is to be changed," he says.
"When communication is strengthened by listening, flexibility, support, consensus, and a certain level of autonomy, leaders begin to establish an innovative culture that supports calculated risk-taking, embracement of new ideas, and a sense of empowerment among teachers. This is how sustainable changes happens."

Talk Face to Face

School leaders also need to be able to communicate on a personal level, formally as well as informally. Sheninger and his administrative staff conduct one-on-one interviews with teachers about data they collected during walk-through observations.
"One-on-one conversations allow school leaders to really get to the heart of matters while fostering reflective dialogues on professional practice," Sheninger explains. "Even though there are many ways and tools to enhance communications, results tend to be much more productive when individuals can converse on topics while openly expressing different viewpoints, opinions, and solutions.
"I feel that my teachers really appreciate my data sharing because it conveys to them that I [am] genuinely interested in their interpretation of the results."
In such conversations, you can usually overcome differences about interpretations of the data or solutions with further questioning, Sheninger adds.
He also promotes accessibility with an open-door policy and a quarterly principal's forum with the school's departmental leaders.
"The main goal of this forum is to create an open atmosphere where teachers willingly share concerns that they would like my administrative team and me to address. We let them know how much their thoughts are appreciated by acting on as many of their suggestions that have merit as possible," Sheninger says.

Use Technology Wisely

In U.S. society, where social media has become an accepted counterfeit for true communication, principals see the challenges and the benefits of virtual communication.
"I think e-mail makes it easier to share the information that people need to know: what time this happens or when to be where. Staff members need more logistical information," explains Tom Hoerr, the head of New City School in St. Louis, Mo., and author of the ASCD book The Art of School Leadership. "Personally, I send a weekly staff bulletin that has this, plus a bit of proselytizing. The danger, though, is that such information can get lost in a deluge of messages in an inbox."
In his September 2011 Educational Leadership article, "Too Plugged In," Hoerr recounts the downside of continuing an e-mail exchange as a proxy for a personal conversation.
"That complaining parent was upset when he hit 'send.' His e-stick-in-the-eye was designed to provoke a reaction, and it did!" he writes. "I read his e-mail, pounded a response (it does feel good to make those keystrokes more intense), and hit 'send': back at you!
"Alas, that quick response doesn't lead to a solution, and the e-mail record allows everyone to revisit each comment and get upset once more. Or perhaps the e-mails are forwarded, and then others join the upset parade!"
Hoerr works at making himself more visible to staff, students, and parents, whether it's greeting students each morning at the door or in the main hall, reminding parents of his availability to meet, or just leaving his office to visit classrooms.
Although he tries to keep his e-mails to staff brief, Hoerr recommends against shortchanging effective communication. A desire for efficiency never justifies a principal's abruptness or a failure to listen, Hoerr says.

Figure

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Communication Tips for Principals

Holly Richard, coauthor with James Stronge and Nancy Catano of the ASCD book Qualities of Effective Principals, offers the following advice to principals:

  • Be visible throughout the school day. Greet teachers and students and follow up informally on questions or concerns.

  • Volunteer to take over for teachers during a part of the school day. "For a holiday gift, my assistant principal and I give each teacher a coupon for the gift of time—an hour when they can arrive late, leave early, and have us take over their class," Richard says.

  • Be there in times of crisis. Sitting in on a teacher conference with confrontational parents and ensuring that the conference runs smoothly will pay off a thousand times over. Teachers need to know that you always have their backs and will help them handle situations in which emotions run high.

  • Do what you say you are going to do. And be sure to do so in a timely manner.

  • Help staff set professional and personal priorities. Teachers may not be able to stay past their contractual time to work on school-related tasks, so help them prioritize the most meaningful tasks and do their best in the time that they have.

  • Keep an open door. Richard keeps a jar of chocolate candy on her desk. "It [provides] an excuse for staff to drop in and chat about school concerns as well as personal news, and this keeps us connected," she says.

Rick Allen is a former ASCD writer and content producer.

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