Attending+to+Human+Relationships

**Attending to Human Relationships**
Within schools, interactions amongst the staff members is a crucial component to **//Organizational Learning//**. Collegiality, can mean the difference between success or disappointment in school. "Collegiality refers to the existence of high levels of collaboration among teachers and is characterized by mutual respect, shared work values, cooperation, and specific conversations about teaching and learning" (Sergiovanni, 1990, pp. 117-118). In order to establish an environment that fosters collegiality, 3 conditions need to be present:
 * 1) //**Dialogue**//
 * 2) //**Questioning**//
 * 3) //**Argument**//

(Collinson and Cook pp. 155-156).
 * Dialogue** represents "horizontal, two-way communication" (Collinson and Cook 2007). It is important for schools to offer and structure opportunities for dialogue among the staff.
 * Questioning** "reinforces and communicates many of the same qualities developed by engaging in inquiry, for in questioning to elicit ideas, impressions, and interpretations, organizational members signal that:
 * They are willing to learn (curiosity)
 * There is no single right answer (open-mindedness)
 * They accept that individuals' thinking may change during the dialogue (open-mindedness)
 * They are open to listening to all possibilities (ability to suspend judgment)
 * They want to hear arguments behind others' thinking (tolerance of differences)
 * They are interested in deepening shared understandings in the group (community orientation)
 * All members are knowledgeable and should contribute to the dialogue (respect for persons)
 * Argument** refers to questioning and dialogue as members listen to and respect the inherent contradictions and differences among various interpretations or positions people take (p 156). "Argument, by its very nature, helps surface ideas and assumptions and moves them from an individual to a collective arena" (p 157).

Collinson and Cook (2007) refer to the necessary skills that support human relationships together and foster growth as "glue". "Without the glue that healthy human relations provide, organizational learning and renewal will not happen (Collinson and Cook, p 152).

Collinson and Cook provide a table particularly beneficial to understanding the changes necessary in human relationships which can be accessed by clicking the link below:

According to Collinson and Cook (2007), "moving from individual learning to collective learning is a shift that requires trust. **//Trust//** is a quality people recognize but find difficult to define and achieve" (p 157). While trust may be difficult to define, it always requires making yourself vulnerable to others and faith that others are not seeking to intentionally cause you harm. Schools can often become places where gossip and pettiness are frequent, as teachers spend most of their time secluded from colleagues, though the link below contains a hint on how to stop destructive behavior in the workplace- as we can see, with a little motivation, we can also put an end to destructive behavior in our schools.

[|Stopping Destructive Behavior]

"One of the costs of human interactions and interdependence is inevitable conflict" (Fullan, 1991; Little, 1990). //**Conflict**// however, can also "be a source of learning if it leads to new understanding, compromise or consensus, a new decision, an agreement to disagree, or an agreement to engage in further inquiry" (Collinson and Cook, 2007, p. 164). Also from Collinson and Cook is a table that lists the continuum of communication skills necessary to resolve conflict:



Another facet of //human relationships// and quality of highly successful schools is //**collaboration.**// Collaboration can be found in the quadrant where conflict is handled in a both assertive and cooperative manner, as can be seen in the diagram below:



"Norms of collaboration enable if not compel teachers to request and offer advice and assistance in helping their colleagues improve" (Rosenholtz, 1989, p. 7).

A decision making model provided by Collinson and Cook (2007) is listed below, It offers a series of questions and relates them to the qualities that build community within our school:



Lastly, the cartoon illustrates that in schools, nothing is simple. However, with a fresh perspective and a more critical eye, we can provide solutions that ultimately result in improved learning:

Six Conditions