Communication - Savage, Mackay & Cohen Readings 11, 12, 13 504

COMMUNICATION



These three articles from the 504 study guide discuss effective communication, which underpins all leadership and collaborative efforts. Leaders need to put in an enormous effort to improve communication, as poor communication can occur quite quickly. Communication processes can support or undermine effective interpersonal activities, such as collaboration and teamwork. Communication is at the heart of leadership, change, decision making etc. and is an essential part of collaboration.



Savage, W. (1989). Communication: Process and Problems. In Riches, C. & Morgan, C. (eds.), Human resource management in education (pp. 103-119). Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

• Need to communicate adequately and effectively.


• The process of communication is a two-way process. It includes the sender, message, the encoding and decoding process, and a receiver.


• Some communication is unintentional - unaware of what we are communicating, especially in terms of personality and behaviour.


• Within organisations communication there must be upward as well as downward flow of information, ideas and attitudes.


• The problem of ‘filtering’ can be solved by ensuring that ethics are adhered to and that the admission of mistakes is seen as a mark of professionalism.


• Filtering process - the elimination/deletion of relevant and important information.

In this article I love the idea that a principal or leader needs to have a communication flow that is both downward and upward. It is the upward flow that has to be encouraged. I feel myself very comfortable communicating upward. I feel that my new principal and I communicate more easily than I did with my previous Principal (who is a Brother). That previous principal did not listen to staff input - I honestly feel that he made little attempt toward understanding what was happening "on the ground". This principal displayed a very downwoard leadership style.

The process of filtering communication can be important. There are often items that I feel as a teacher are not important for me to know though they are important.

Mackay, H. (1998). Resolving conflict through listening. In The good listener: Better relationships through better communication (pp. 189-199). Sydney: Pan Macmillan.

• Conflict isn't always bad. However, careful negotiation is more likely to resolve conflict to everyone's satisfaction, rather than allowing a build up of pressure of unresolved conflict = "the last straw".
• Good listening is required if communication is to be established.
• The key to success in conflict resolution through negotiation is ACTIVE LISTENING, which is supported by reflective listening. Both parties must be prepared to compromise and want a resolution.

Six steps to a negotiated settlement - reflective listening strategy

1. I state my point of view
2. You tell me my point of view (to show you understand)
3. I tell you whether your reflection of my POV is correct
4. You state your point of view
5. I tell you what I understand
6. You tell me whether the reflection is correct

• Once this is done you have prepared the ground for sensible , cooperative discussion of compromises.
• The primary challenge is to maintain the highest possible quality of communication, preserve the trust and protect the security of the relationship.
• “Listening is the primary skill we need to take us to that important stage in our personal development.” (Mackay, p. 198)
  After that you have more common ground and you might be able to resolve the conflict. Or “agree to disagree”.
  

Cohen, S. (2002). The seven pillars of negotiational wisdom. In Negotiating skills for managers (pp. 171-187). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Negotiation will help bring about decision that all parties can accept and be committed to. This article discusses elements that are important to an effective negotiation process. The 7 pillars of the negotiation process are to be considered before and during negotiations. They're not in any priority order, their order of importance will depend on the given situation. Preparation is the foundation to negotiation - more confident & competent in negotiations.

1. Understand the value of your ongoing RELATIONSHIP with your negotiating partner can significantly impact on how to pursue the negotiation process.

2. Understand your own and the other party’s INTERESTS clearly.

3. Know your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). If you understand your BATNA you have a good idea whether negotiation offers a good way to resolve the issues you face, the choices you can make and the possible information you can walk away from an unpromising negotiating.

4. Being CREATIVE can serve the interests of all parties. An apparently impenetrable negotiator can often you you learn about their interests to develop ideas they're likely to find interesting. Think outside the box. Think outside the box for creative solutions.

5. Treat people FAIRLY. Recognise the perception of your behaviour and the fairness of the process can determine whether other negotiating parties will feel comfortable with and committed to the result.

6. A successful negotiation = both parties are COMMITTED to coming to an agreement.

7. COMMUNICATE with transparency which builds trust.

• Keep the stakeholders & their interests at the fore to enhance your comfort with the negotiation process. Negotiation is a means of communicating and collaborating with others in order to create agreements.
• The reason you are negotiating is because you don't have all the answers: other parties' contributions can add value to how your interests are served by the agreement.
• The contributions of multiple parties = more durable agreement.
• LISTENING is most effective communication in negotiation, not only shows your respect but also you're committed to a good result.

For Assignment 1b, I have to evaluate my communication and collaboration during the collaborative group task. Conflict relates to the Mackay and Cohen readings and there was little, if any, conflict in my group. I can only think that I had to use negotiating skills in negotiating a topic. We had deciding on one topic - what the TL can do in a school with the audience aimed at Principals - collaboration (need to go back to WIKI notes). I initially had concerns the topic was too broad - I needed to speak up more about this (on reflection). I raised it but the group consensus was to pursue it.

A group member suggested the topic was too broad - we were trying to cover too much (and in reflection we were covering too much on learning objective four). I did suggest a way to narrow the topic down so it wasn't so broad and was more about learning objective 2 - I remember feeling frustrated at this time at moving toward a completely different topic and that most of the readings I'd read/material I had found was not relevant to the new topic. That then required quite a bit of negotiation over deciding on a topic - this meeting went for more than 2.5 hours (a marathon). I remember this required a lot of negotiation - referring to Cohen's pillars of negotiation COMMUNICATION and COMMITMENT were critical elements that relate to my experience. This required quite a bit of compromise. But now, once I got over the frustration of time being wasted - I started over again doing database research into our new topic. The topic we came up with "21st Century Leadership in the digital era" is a corker. We did a fabulous job in the end. It was a much better topic than the original.