A Crucial Conversation

A home office employee did not understand how their job and how well they did or did not do it impacted student achievement. Their view was that this was a job where good enough and minimal effort was enough. I believed that their job was in service to the schools and staff. We clearly had two different goals. Stakes were high (Their job mostly!) and emotions were high on both sides. Following S.T.A.T.E., I first shared the facts - there are several employees at schools sites who are not satisfied with the way this situation was handled. Then, I told my story - as a school site employee for 13 years, I know how these people feel - I can empathize with them. Teaching is really hard work. As a back office employee for the last 2+ years, I also know how people at school sites may not understand all of the intricacies to what happens in this office that may have contributed to this situation. Then, I asked for their view - can you share with me your view of how and why things unfolded the way they did. This person started to immediately get defensive. In order to disarm and build safety, I decided to contrast, starting with what I was not talking about - I am not concerned in this conversation with what happened between you and the teacher per se. What I am talking about is that our core business is student achievement and everyone in this office has an impact on that core business. The response this time was a little more positive with mostly head nods and a few "I can see that, I can see that"'s. This was also the beginning of finding a mutual purpose - can we agree that the goal of our conversation is to avoid future conflicts with teachers over similar situations? YES! This person was emphatic that they did not want this type of conflict and wanted nothing more than to avoid future conflicts. The conversation went on for about another 20 minutes where we worked together to first understand how their job impacted student achievement and then how future teacher complaints could be handled differently, if not avoided.