School leaders have a habit of minimizing disagreements among faculty and staff by capitalizing on the goals and values that everyone shares. When conflict rears its head at a meeting, we can lessen it simply by reminding our colleagues of our common purpose and finding issues on which we all agree. What started as an argument about curricular direction, for example, can be elevated to a discussion about preparing students for the world of work. Everyone enjoys collaborating on strategies to meet these lofty but clear-cut goals; after all, who doesn't want students to find good jobs after graduation? Meetings end with everyone on the same page, working together toward the high-minded aims of improving student learning, increasing student responsibility, and implementing enriching programs.
It's not surprising that we have become adept at containing conflict. Resources in schools are scarce, and it doesn't make sense to spend valuable time and energy disagreeing with one another. Internecine conflicts can make work environments unhappy places and detract from productivity. (And none of us wants to be the recipient of rolling eyes and loud sighs.) It is certainly more pleasant to work in a school where faculty members agree on issues and get along. We want congeniality because it sets the stage for collegiality.
But sometimes we are too good at reducing tensions and avoiding disagreements. Glossing over differences may buy the quick fix or bring short-term comfort, but even as teachers leave these collaborative meetings with smiles on their faces, their deep-seated and sometimes contentious opinions on issues may go unaddressed. When we evade these disagreements too often, our schools pay a hidden—but high—price.
Good teachers are passionate about their jobs, their students, their curriculum, and their pedagogy, but their passion can easily wane if they don't have the opportunity to communicate their perspectives to others. And we kid ourselves when we assume that substantive issues will resolve themselves or just go away if we ignore them. As with volcanoes, the pressure will build below the surface until tensions and frustrations come to a head and the situation erupts. Even a seemingly minor event—such as a debate over the student dress code or a disagreement about which texts should be required—can trigger such an explosion. Once this happens, staff members will find it harder to deal with issues in a productive way.
My experience suggests that it is far better for principals to go out of their way to unearth differences, to raise disagreements, and to engage in the difficult dialogue. I often find it helpful to ask questions that elicit differences of opinion. Such questions as “What made you uncomfortable?”, “What would you do differently?”, and “What might a critic say?” all empower people to share their opinions, even if they are critical or oppositional. My favorite way to begin a dialogue is to ask, “What surprised you?” This question, applicable to just about any issue or incident, enables participants to respond from any direction, positive or negative.
At a recent meeting, after presenting our new professional goal-setting process to the faculty, I asked the teachers to sit in groups of four or five and talk about the model. I told them that after 10 minutes, I'd ask each group to share what it found positive and exciting about the model, and what it found objectionable. By my charge to the faculty, I sought disagreements and sanctioned criticisms.
To be frank, it wasn't easy to hear some of the criticisms that came out of the teachers' discussions. But I needed to hear them, and to do that I needed to create a forum in which those concerns could be shared and put to practical use. The faculty's feedback from that meeting has already had an impact on how we will proceed. Not only will our school's goal-setting procedures improve, but the faculty is also more likely to be invested in the process because their opinions were heard and trusted.
Surfacing divergent opinions isn't easy, and doing so often lowers the smile quotient in the room. Reasonable people, even those who share the same values, can disagree—and sometimes they do so in a disagreeable manner. But if faculty members are to share with and learn from one another as colleagues, then the school culture needs to recognize and value their differences. Once that happens, a meaningful dialogue can begin.
