Nov 15 2007
Difficult Discussions
The multi role nature of a HT post continues to grow and morph in a wide variety of ways, some of which I feel comfortable with but others are beginning to make me flounder. More and more often I have to lead or be part of very difficult discussions which can have a collosal impact on staff, parents and pupils alike. This can sometimes be as drastic as having potential for children being removed from their parents, or parents/carers going to jail. I feel I am not skilled enough in the art of difficult conversations to participate constructively in these situations and wonder if anyone knows of high quality training in this area. I recently attended a course on Dealing With Difficult People but this was not enough. One of the filters was, “is maintaining this relationship important to me?”. If we have the presumption of an unconditional positive regard for all people we deal with (and surely we do), the answer must always be yes. So, other, harder strategies are no good or at best limited. Any ideas anyone?
