Summary of monthly Student coaching agenda

Teacher Teacher Teacher Teacher T TT Teaming eaming eaming eaming

New Roles for Teachers New Roles for Teachers New Roles for Teachers New Roles for Teachers at the Middle Level at the Middle Level at the Middle Level at the Middle Level

Adapted from J. M. Arhar

Interdisciplinary teams for teachers and students are an organizational strategy positively associated with student achievement, personal development, learning climate, faculty morale, and staff development. Although educators are interested in a range of student outcomes, it is the research on the link between teacher collaboration and achievement that has generated a great deal of interest among teachers, administrators and parents.

Research on Teaming and Collaboration

• Teaming increases teacher sense of efficacy • Teacher efficacy is positively associated with student achievement Ashton and Webb (1986) found that organizational differences in two junior high schools, one teamed and one departmentalised, produced differences in teacher efficacy. Teacher efficacy is the belief that teachers can positively influence even those students with the greatest academic difficulty. The researchers conclude that programmatic features associated with interdisciplinary teams (teacher teams, advisor-advisee programs, multi-age grouping) and clear and shared educational aims appeared to increase their sense of efficacy. • Teacher collaboration creates opportunities for teacher learning • Opportunities for teacher learning are positively associated with student achievement. Another study conducted by Rosenholtz (1989) in 72 elementary schools in Tennessee attributes student achievement is basic skills to opportunities for teacher learning that occur when teachers "offer and request advice in helping each other improve instructionally" (p. 103), an opportunity created by teacher teams. Interdisciplinary teams not only give teachers a reason to work together, but the resulting collaboration may influence teacher learning by creating opportunities for teacher leadership which emerges from teaming situations. The enthusiasm and energy generated by teacher leaders who continually experiment with ways to improve curriculum, instruction and evaluation can serve as an impetus for other teachers to collaborate.

Old Roles/New Roles

Teaming can be a rewarding experience in terms of the support one receives form colleagues and increased efficacy in terms of student achievement. However, teaming is more than a new way to organize teachers and students. It involves changing teacher roles and the nature of the work environment from one of isolation to collaboration. The culture of teaching is characterised by a work environment based on norms of non-

interference, privacy and loose invitations for offers of help. Teachers generally practice their

craft in isolation, behind closed classroom doors, immune from the scrutiny of colleagues except

for the occasional evaluation by school administrators viewed primarily by teachers as having

little to do with actual improvement of teacher (Lortie, 1975). Lacking certainty about the skills,

procedures, and methods that help pupils progress academically, teachers' self-esteem is

continually threatened by the unpredictability of their work (Rosenholtz, 1989).

Yet request for assistance are viewed as an admission of inadequacy. Novice teachers quickly learn to close the classroom door and practice teaching the way it was modelled for them during the years of schooling. The effect is that teachers continually have to relearn lessons that successful predecessors have discovered through years of practice. What new role for teachers emerges from participation in a collaborative structure? Four areas of team life suggested by George (1984) provide a basis for examining new professional functions. These four areas of team life are organization, community, instruction and administration.

A collaborative work structure creates new professional opportunities for teachers to go beyond the traditional role of individual teachers working in isolation. Not all teachers want these new responsibilities. And recently, administrators have begun to question teacher leadership plans that they perceive will detract from their ability to effectively conduct personnel and program evaluation. However, the concern here is to outline the possibilities available to teachers and then discuss strategies for supporting teacher collaboration for the purposes outlined earlier.

New Professional Responsibilities

• Administrator • Evaluator • Consultant • Counsellor • Organizational developer • Joint planner and program developer The organization of teachers into teams gives them the opportunity to group and schedule students, and to share resources, time and space. It allows teachers to develop a sense of community with students, parents, faculty outside of the team, administration and the community at large. Teachers have the opportunity to consult with other faculty and parents about individual children. Skill and knowledge in group process, interpersonal relations and organizational development will come to play an important part on teacher teams as well as student teams. Public relations skills become increasingly important as teachers come to rely on community support and resources for team counselling and resources for team counselling techniques. Teaming also requires that teachers be able to speak for the team, adequately representing the team viewpoint, rather than an individual viewpoint. Expanded opportunities in instruction require that teachers make joint decisions about grouping of students, instructional strategies, curriculum, testing and evaluation. It also offers teachers opportunities to take leadership roles as evaluators and researchers in the classroom. Peer observation for the purpose of learning and teaching new instructional strategies becomes a reality under the team arrangements. Finally, teaming offers teachers opportunities to act in traditionally administrative capacities. Greater decision-making power over team and school issues results in greater collaboration with the principal and requires greater knowledge of school organization. Replacing norms of isolation with norms of sharing and mutual exchange for the purpose of improving curriculum, instruction, and evaluation of teaching and learning is necessary if teachers, students and schools are to realise the full potential of interdisciplinary teaming. Norms of isolation and lack of collegial interaction not only inhibit teaming, but they also have a long standing history of impeding education change for school improvement (Fullan, 1982). Thus, norms favouring collaboration are needed to ensure that teaming will actually be implemented once it has been adopted as a school practice. Since collaboration is not a natural outcome of working in schools, it must be taught, learned, supported and rewarded until it replaces working privately. In other words, teachers need to prepare for the kind of collaborative work required by interdisciplinary teams. What are the conditions required to promote and support professional interactions which result in benefits for students?

• Introduce capable people to the new role • Create norms of collaboration in the school First, introduce capable people to the new role through effective staff from outside the group. Specific programs can be used to build group cohesiveness as well. cooperative learning in academic areas, the production of plays or musical performances, team activities in intramural of physical education programs can all contribute to the sense of collaboration that exists among students. Even specialised programs, such as "ropes courses" in PE class, or team retreats or field trips exist for the purpose of building group membership and cohesiveness. While all of these interventions can be quite successful in enhancing the spirit of collaboration in schools, they are often "add-ons" to the basic academic program, and are seen as "frills" or "touchy-feely" stuff by some parents, students, and teachers. For true collaboration to exist something more is needed.

A New Value Set

At the centre of every institution is a set of core values that drive its decisions, practices and policies. In schools, those core values generally deal with such concepts as achievement, individual growth and the development of social membership and responsibility. Historically, schools have focused on the first two of these, and left the development of a social conscience to other agencies: the church, the home, the peer group. Increasingly, though, it is essential that schools work, systematically, to shape not only individual achievements, but the attributes that support group membership and collective action: the very foundations of collaboration. The components of this new value set are simple, but they represent, in many ways, a fundamental shift in the ways schools view their functions and their modes of operation. The new values are pervasive caring for all members of the group: a willingness to challenge regularities, and the celebration of diversity and unique contributions.

Pervasive Caring

Collaborative groups care about their members and their welfare. They recognize that the success of the entire group depends on the success of any individual in it, so they support that person without making him or her dependent. They are alert to each other's needs and take care of them without fanfare. In one school, teachers routinely call colleagues who are out sick with offers of help. Most of the time, of course, the illness is minor and no help is needed, but the simple gesture of caring helps build bonds among the faculty that withstand disagreements over institutional procedures, new policies, or annoying practices. In another school, teachers call the homes of children who are absent. It's not designed to check up on the kids, but to inquire about their absence and to help them, if necessary, make up school work or take care of other school business that the child may be missing. In a variation on that theme, one school uses a group of student volunteers to make those calls to absent peers. Another school maintains a clothing bank for students whose families cannot afford appropriate school clothes. The clothes are donated by local manufacturers and stores or purchased by the school from local outlets, and they are distributed, in private, before school or during school hours by parent volunteers. There's not a lot of hoopla about it: the school just takes care of that particular need.

Other examples abound. Schools provide child care during evening school events or on election day. Tutoring materials are made available to parents to help their children at home. Calls are made to parents with good news about their child's performance or behaviour. A principal stands in the doorway of his school and greets each of the nearly 800 students by name each morning! In short, the message goes out: "we care about you here…we're all in this together."

Challenging the Norm

Schools do so many things because "that's the way we do things around here." Unfortunately, many school practices go unexamined because they are so common and so long-standing.

Challenging the regularities means that schools take a courageous and unblinking look at their practices to determine what the effects of the practices are on kids. A number of school policies can have a devastating effects on student "membership" in the school. Policies that fail to take into account individual abilities, effort, or other mitigating circumstances tell a student "our system is more important to us that you are." We may know what students have special needs, but if we do not respond to them, the message is pretty clear that we can't be bothered to go out of our way for you…even a little bit. In once case, a 7th grade boy was late for school every morning. Because the tardiness was unexcused, he served detention every afternoon. A research associate asked the boy what the problem was and found that he was responsible for getting his younger brother and sister to school because his mother had to be at work as an orderly in a local hospital at 7:00 AM. Because the elementary school opened after the middle school, and because he was unwilling to allow his younger siblings to wait outside the school in their often dangerous urban neighbourhood, the price he paid for his vigilance was habitual tardiness. He also gave his lunch money to a friend to collect his brother and sister at their school at the end of the day and walk them to the middle school so that he could take them home after serving his detention. When asked why he didn't tell someone about his problem, he replied, "What for…no one can do anything about the rules. What a cynical view for a 12-year-old: the rules punish you for acting responsibly. it would be very hard to affiliate with an institution that is perceived to be so insensitive.

Schools must examine their practices and the effects of those practices on students. Does missing three assignments get you an "F" even if you can't go home some nights because Mom and Dad are fighting? Does everyone have to climb the rope because it's in the curriculum, even if he's overweight and embarrassed about his size? Does everyone have to read aloud…because "that's the way we do things around here?"

Celebration of Diversity

This value has two components: the recognition of unique contributions and the rewarding of all achievements. As it stands, most schools reward a very limited range of accomplishments, and few of them have to do with collaboration. We reward the "best" athletes, not necessarily the whole team. We reward superior musicians, not those who back them up, and we celebrate the successes of our highest achieving students, not those whose achievements are remarkable because of the odds they must overcome. In one of the author's favourite schools, a boy in a wheelchair proudly showed visitors his varsity letters. They were real, and they were given for computer programs he had written to make the librarian's life easier, for the quality of the stage design he had done for the school's holiday music program, and most important, for the volunteer work he did at a local nursing home. This boy, who will never take an unassisted step in his life, goes to the local nursing home and reads to people who, in his words, "are really sick and can't read for themselves." And the school rewards that unselfish service with a varsity letter…the same kind you get for running the high hurdles, or playing football for three years.

In that school, you can earn a letter for being a musician, or for being an athlete, or for building housing for the poor people, or working in the school's child care centre on open house nights, or working with elderly, or cleaning up local streams and rivers, in other words they reward the things they value, and the things that will make the world not only an entertaining place, but a more humane and compassionate place as well.

GET GET GET GETTING STARTED WITH TING STARTED WITH TING STARTED WITH TING STARTED WITH MIDDLE SCHOOLING MIDDLE SCHOOLING MIDDLE SCHOOLING MIDDLE SCHOOLING

What Works

• Seek expressions of interest for teachers who want to work with students of this age and on a middle school concept;

• Develop a strategic direction for the middle school;

• Provide in-service for teachers on middle schooling philosophy, teaching and learning strategies, curriculum and assessment development;

• Start working on the learning and social environment for middle school-age students;

• Establish a curriculum review and development group, as well as a middle school group;

• Research information and visit other middle schools;

• Check digital environments for useful connections, chat rooms etc

• Go to feeder schools and talk to teachers and students;

• Plan and pilot integrated units;

• Create professional development plans for teachers;

• Accept that the middle school is its own structure and program;

• Map the curriculum and link outcomes across the disciplines/learning areas and

• Develop and conduct some school-wide and/or community based activities and maybe some specific team activities for the students.

Problems

• Staff who teach several subjects or several grade levels and can't devote their much of their time to the middle school team;

• Staff may need to relinquish their senior classes; and/or the school needs to provide teaching status to those who work in the middle school;

• The staff needs to share the vision of middle schooling;

• There must be time for preliminary planning for both exit and learning outcomes for middle school students and for planning integrated units.

SELF SELF SELF SELF--AWARENESS EXERCISE AWARENESS EXERCISE AWARENESS EXERCISE AWARENESS EXERCISE

The following sentence stems are to be discussed in your group. Do not write responses. be sure that every member of your Group participates in the discussion.

A. 1. When I enter a new group I feel…

2. When people first meet me they…

3. When someone does all the talking I…

4. I expect a leader to…

B. 1. In a group, I am most afraid of…

2. I am hurt most easily when…

3. I feel left out of a group when…

4. I trust those who…

C. 1. I feel closest to others when…

2. I feel loved most when…

3. My greatest strength is…

4. I am…

A group of 2-5 teachers who share the same students, the same part of the building, the same general schedule, and the responsibilities for covering the basic academic subjects.

1. Modified Core Students with homeroom teacher 50% or so per day

2. School-Within-a-School Houses/Families - 3 Teachers, 90 students Each teacher one subject and one section

3. Student-Teacher Progression Teams for teachers; 120 Students - Each teacher one subject

4. Grade Level Teams Teams for teachers - Each teacher one subject to only that grade level

RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL TEAM LEADERS TEAM LEADERS TEAM LEADERS TEAM LEADERS

• Help the team implement the middle school philosophy; • Liaison by representing team at team leaders meetings and other leadership team meetings; represent school issues to the team; • Disseminate information to appropriate people; • Coordinate and facilitate team meetings

• inform members • establish, with member input, the agenda • involve all team members • strive to reach consensus • adhere to team ground rules • clarify decisions made, responsibilities and timelines • plan for follow-up on decisions made • Organize and delegate appropriate responsibilities; • Provide on-going leadership; • (as visionary, healer, teacher and wise warrior) • Set an example for other team members; • Coordinate the use of resource personnel; • Assist substitute teachers; • Provide support to new teachers and new team members; • Provide team building activities as needed; • Monitor and evaluate the team’s functioning.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM MEMBERS MEMBERS MEMBERS MEMBERS

• Be prepared and on time for meetings; • Follow team procedures, share in decision-making and focus on solutions to problems; • Bear equal responsibilities for the work and well-being of the team; • Be supportive of other team members; • Be willing to take risks and be open to new ideas and directions; • Share your own ideas and expertise as well as respecting the same of other team members; • Ask for help if you need it and give help when asked; • Approach all aspects with the best interest of the • students at heart; • Recognize that one of us is not as good as all of us.

COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE SCHOOL SCHOOL SCHOOL SCHOOL TEAMS TEAMS TEAMS TEAMS

1. Team members are in continuous contact with each other and with the rest of the school staff

2. Each team member’s role complements the role of the others; there is overlapping of roles, but they understand the roles of the others, divide responsibility for all functions of leadership and share role issues and work to clarify roles regularly.

3. Each member shares a common view of goals for the school, the team and the students.

4. Open planning characterises the team, with all members sharing and discussing what needs to and can be done. Planning is on-going and constantly reviewed, revised in regularly scheduled meetings of the team and through informal conversation.

5. Planning, decisions and actions are taken with the student’s needs and interests as the focus and with the total school/district outcomes in mind.

6. Collegiality and mutual respect for each other’s work and their contribution to students, the team and school is a hallmark of effective teams.

7. Synergy: because knowledge, communication and a shared agenda exist, each team member gains from the work of other members, which results in a total process of change that is greater than the simple addition of efforts of each individual member.

8. Complementary: increased use of members’ strengths with decreased emphasis on individuals; a willingness to fill in gaps and anticipate what each other will be doing or needs.

9. Positive Professionalism and Enthusiasm for Innovation: genuine interest in activities taking place and appreciation for the capabilities of the people on the team and in the school.

Use these points to review your current middle school team operation.

QUESTIONS for QUESTIONS for QUESTIONS for QUESTIONS for MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM LEADERS TEAM LEADERS TEAM LEADERS TEAM LEADERS

1. What are our goals and priorities? − for our students… − (academically, socially, as a group member, as a local and global citizen) − for a team… − (professional learning, support, as team members, team’s role in school)

2. How will we work together as a team? − in our meetings…

− in sharing resources and information…

− in planning curriculum advisement other school programs for school events

− in coaching each other or other forms of reflective practice and professional growth

3. What will we teach? - units… - how to develop integration… - focus on content and process… How will we teach it? - effective teaching and learning strategies… - co-teaching, teaming, etc… - interaction with and in the community… How will we assess it? - methods… - individual and/or groups… - content and/or process…

4. How will we advise students and their families? - each responsible for some - conference about students? - what to communicate with parents?

5. How will we work with other teams? - across the school? - across schools?

6. Other Areas?

These are common areas that need to be a part of an on-going dialogue amongst team members. Spend some time thinking about your responses to these questions.

Please circle your response to each question; 1 is low, 4 is high. Share your responses, discuss and plan to address.

1. The team is organized so teachers share same 1 2 3 4 students, space in school, and schedule.

2. Membership on the team represents all the 1 2 3 4 basic academic areas.

3. Our team is supported by specialists, who feel 1 2 3 4 welcomed by the team.

4. The team has common rules, procedures and 1 2 3 4 expectations.

5. Students feel a sense of belonging to our team. 1 2 3 4

6. Teachers work together to develop and 1 2 3 4 implement activities that heightened student's sense of community.

7. Members have a commitment to each other 1 2 3 4 and draw professional and personal support from each other.

8. Teams have frequent parent conferences 1 2 3 4 and good home-school relationships.

9. There is adequate planning time and space 1 2 3 4 for the team to work.

10. Teachers constructively use their common 1 2 3 4 time and space for work.

11. Members interrelate their separate subjects, 1 2 3 4 coordinate major assignments, integrate major units.

12. A special team-wide activity happens, on average, during each grading period. 1 2 3 4

13. There is consistency across the team in 1 2 3 4 their use of effective teaching and learning strategies.

14. There is consistency across the team in 1 2 3 4 their assessment criteria and procedures.

15. Teachers take turns assuming leadership 1 2 3 4 for different activities within the team.

16. Members meet to discuss students weekly . 1 2 3 4

17. Members develop and implement joint 1 2 3 4 strategies to resolve student's needs and problems.

18. Each time there is a substitute, at 1 2 3 4 least one team member, talks with sub about team expectations and offers assistance.

19. Teams have control over some of the 1 2 3 4 schedule, budget, and curriculum.

20. The principal works with individual 1 2 3 4 teams regularly in a supportive, yet stretching manner.

21 . Team members, generally, feel a sense 1 2 3 4 of success and satisfaction about their work together.

22. Team members see each other as 1 2 3 4 learning colleagues, being open and striving to professional grow together.

Adapted from Adapted from Adapted from Adapted from W. W. W. W. G. Dyer G. Dyer G. Dyer G. Dyer

1. To what extent do I feel a real part of the team? a. Completely a part all the time b. A part most of the time c. On the edge, sometimes in, sometimes out d. Generally outside, except for one or two short periods e. On the outside, not really a part of the team

2. How safe is it in this team to be at ease, relaxed, and myself? a. I feel perfectly safe to be myself, they won't hold mistakes against me b. I feel most people would accept me if I were completely myself, but there are some I am not sure about c. Generally, you have to be careful what you say or do in this team d. I am quite fearful about being completely myself in this team e. A person would be a fool to be himself in this team

3. To what extent do I feel "under wraps," that is, have private thoughts, unspoken reservations, or unexpected feelings and opinions that I have not felt comfortable bringing out into the open? a. Almost completely under wraps b. Under wraps many times c. Slightly more free and expressive than under wraps d. Quite free and expressive much of the time e. Almost completely free and expressive

4. How effective are we, in our team, in getting out and using the ideas, opinions, and information of all team members in making decisions? a. We don't really encourage everyone to share their ideas, opinions, and information with the team in making decisions b. Only the ideas, opinions, and information of a few members are really known and used in making decisions. c. Sometimes we hear the views of most members before making decisions and sometimes we disregard most members d. A few are sometimes hesitant about sharing their opinions, but we generally have good participation in making decisions e. Everyone feels his or her ideas, opinions, and information are given a fair hearing before decisions are made.

5. To what extent are the goals the team is working toward understood and to what extent do they have meaning for you? a. I feel extremely good about goals of our team b. I feel fairly good, but some things are not too clear or meaningful c. A few things we are doing are clear and meaningful d. Much of the activity is not clear or meaningful to me e. I really do not understand or feel involved in the goals of the team

6. How well does the team work at its tasks? a. Coasts, loafs, makes no progress b. Makes a little progress, most members loaf c. Progress is slow, spurts of effective work d. Above average in progress and pace of work e. Works well, achieves definite progress

7. Our planning and the way we operate as a team is largely influenced by: a. One or two team members b. A clique c. Shifts from one person or clique to another d. Shared by most of the members e. Shared by all members of the team

8. What is the level of responsibility for work in our team? a. Each person assumes personal responsibility for getting work done b. A majority of the members assume responsibility for getting work done c. About half assume responsibility, about half do not d. Only a few assume responsibility for getting work done e. Nobody (except perhaps one) really assumes responsibility for getting work done

9. How are differences or conflicts handled in our team? a. Differences or conflicts are denied, suppressed, or avoided at all cost b. Differences or conflicts are recognized, but remain unresolved mostly c. Differences or conflicts are recognized and some attempts are made to work them through by some members, often outside the team meetings d. Differences and conflicts are recognized and some attempts are made to deal with them in our team e. Differences and conflicts are recognized and the team usually is working them through satisfactorily

10. How do people relate to the team leader, chairman, or "boss"? a. The leader dominates the team and people are often fearful or passive b. The leader tends to control the team, although people generally agree with the leader's direction c. There is some give and take between the leader and the team members d. Team members relate easily to the leader and usually are able to influence leader decisions e. Team members respect the leader, but they work together as a unified team with everyone participating and no one dominant

11. What suggestions do you have for improving our team functioning?

STAGE FOUR

11 0

1 STAGE ONE

10

Performing

Mature Closeness

9

8 Resourceful Flexible Open Effective Close and Supportive

Norming

Getting Organized

Developing Skills Establishing Procedures Giving Feedback Confronting Issues

Forming

Testing

Polite Impersonal Watchful Guarded

Storming

Infighting

Controlling Conflicts Confronting People Opting Out Difficulties Feeling Stuck 2

3

4

7

5

STAGE THREE STAGE TWO

6Reproduced with permission. Arbuckle, M.A. and Murray L.D., Building Systems for Professional Growth: an Action Guide MA: Regional Laboratory of Educational Improvement of the Northeast and islands and the Maine Department of Education and Cultural Services. 1989

While effective team meetings and common goals are basic to teaming, they often are not easily achieved. Team members are likely to possess different levels of expertise in group problem-solving; yet all members need to share in the decision-making. Here are some simple suggestions:

1. Preparation for the Meeting -Have stated outcomes for the meeting -Get input from members to the agenda -Inform members of meeting time and tentative agenda -Gather all materials needed -Be early to setup room, materials and to greet members

2. Remind All of Meeting Ground Rules and Outcomes -Agree on ground rules of how we will work together in meetings and Post and refer back to these *start and stop on time *take time to reflect and think before offering suggestions or deciding *use unfinished business as needed *treat each other and self with respect *confidentiality *work toward solutions by keeping to the topic, looking forward to new ideas, check for agreement and striving for consensus *use interactive small group methods *keep visible records during meeting *distribute followup plans after meeting -Post and refer to the Outcomes for this specific meeting -Finalise the Agenda and put time limits for each item -Do some sort of Team-building or developing sense of team

3. Start with Decision Items First -State the facts as people see them, record these -If more study is needed, table it and get members to research -Examine people's assumptions about the situation

4. Decision-Making -Determine criteria that the solution must fit -Brainstorm action possibilities -Determine which ones fit the criteria -Discuss those that are definite possibilities -Use group decision-making techniques to determine a possible solution -Bridge differences, confront conflicts and summarise ideas and points of view; ask for clarification, elaboration or summary, ask for expression of feelings -Check again for agreement -Make a plan to carry out the solution -Agree on work assignments -Agree on timeline and communication plan -Pilot the plan -Put on the agenda for a future meeting when the plan will be re-evaluated

End with Announcements, Summarise Meeting and Celebrate Accomplishments -Plan a definite closing to the meeting—an activity, a sharing of good news, thank yous to others -Remind people of next meeting -Make yourself, as team leader, available for individual follow-up should others desire it; yet, keep what was decided together in the meeting as the decision, do not change it with individuals later.

Make sure there is a definite beginning, middle and end to each meeting...like a story. Too many meetings are only beginnings or only middles and the ends fade away.

Definition:

Two or more persons or things trying to occupy the same space at the same time.

Conflict is not necessarily good or bad! The key is learning to resolve the conflict.

Sources:

Scarce or undistributed resources Unmet expectations Unclear or different goals or values Lack of role clarity Lack of information or misinformation Different methods or styles

The presenting problem is rarely the problem; it is usually one of the underlying issues— get to the source and resolve that!

Resolution:

Meet it Head-on in a caring, problem-solving, non-defensive manner. Go to the Source and problem-solve the real problem. Use all your communication, facilitation and decision-making skills. Come to an agreement or at the very least an understanding of each person’s position; work to consensus, however, you may need to agree to disagree(hopefully rarely). Bridge back to clarify agreement on understanding throughout the process and also bridge back after the meeting or later.