Effective Leaders
Bring Us of Conflict into "Fellowship"
by Deborah Canja,
Bridges4Kids
In the world of education, stories of conflict between schools
and parents are all too common, particularly when a child is struggling.
The finger-pointing starts, defenses go up, battle lines are drawn,
and through it all, the student suffers. This especially is true
in the world of special education where stories of unreasonable
parents and insensitive administrators make us all long for a
better way to resolve problems.
Recently, a large and diverse group of parents, teachers, administrators,
and community members identified a better way. As part of Michigan’s
Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process (CIMP), the group met
to analyze the sources of conflict in Michigan’s special
education system and how problems could be better resolved. Special
education provides due process hearings—a process almost
everyone involved dreads—to resolve problems. The hearings
often come too late to help and can make relationships and attitudes
worse. The group concluded that conflict resolution cannot wait
for due process or the filing of complaints. It needs to begin
when a parent first approaches a teacher with a concern or a teacher
approaches a parent with a concern. The group also recognized
that most parents and educators interpret expressed concerns as
personal criticism, which can lead to anger and distrust.
The answer, the group concluded, is to recognize that when a
student struggles, conflict is inevitable. Rather than shy away
from conflict, we should seek to manage it well, with positive
policies, procedures, and strategies in place for helping parents
and schools communicate better. The goal should be to foster a
spirit of fellowship at every opportunity. Helping a building
or district embrace the kind of change that may be needed is the
role of leadership.
John P. Kotter, retired Professor of Leadership at the Harvard
Business School, has said, “Large scale change, when it happens
well, has much more to do with leadership than it does with management.”
In their book
The Heart of Change*, Kotter and co-author Dan Cohen argue
that “nontrivial” change forces people to change their
behavior by changing how they feel rather than how they think.
It is the job of the leader to communicate a vision that motivates
the desire to feel differently and, therefore, act differently.
Effective principals who communicate the vision of a “spirit
of fellowship” to staff and parents alike will help bring
about the change envisioned by the CIMP workgroup. Michigan’s
Special Education Mediation Project is helping leaders foster
the change. Volunteer mediators trained in special education are
available at every step along the way to keep the lines of communication
open. Best of all, mediation is free. Call 1-800–8RESOLV...and
feel the change.
*The
Heart of Change, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, $24.95
Deb
Canja is the CEO for Bridges4Kids, a nonprofit, statewide,
parent organization dedicated to helping ALL children succeed.
Visit www.bridges4kids.org.
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