Discipline that Restores – Thought on HC 1 Leader´s Post 7.1

HC 1 Leader Post 7.1

Thank you, Jessica, for giving me a view of your workplace. I believe this is the first time I am responding to one of your posts.

You mentioned that one way you establish common ground at your workplace is to have good communication, holding people accountable, and making sure everyone is maximizing their strength. Lepsinger (2010) also suggests creating collective objectives to establish common ground (p. 179). Making sure that people are working for the same goals creates clarity. You also mentioned how the MVV is clearly stated and placed in areas where everyone can see them. I think that is still an area we can grow at our school. Although we often speak about our mission, our vision, and our values, we do not have them displayed in too many areas of the school. One way we establish a common ground at our school is offering every month training. These are times where we sit together of our or more and learn together about a particular topic or relevant issue that concerns us all. By learning together, we create a common ground.

You also addressed how conflicts are resolved in your organization and suggested how your institution would benefit from educating staff member more on conflict resolution. What we have done in the past few years is working with a particular material that I would also recommend to you. About three years ago we started to use the restorative discipline material from Claassen and Claassen (2008). Although they initially wrote it for a school environment, I believe it applies to any setting. They use very clear steps to follow. Conflict is not a problem but an opportunity for growth. Usually, when there is conflict, people are getting hurt, the goal is to restore those relationships. The starting point for Claassen and Claassen’s (2008) material is what they call the respect agreement. Not much different than what Lepsinger (2010) says about having a common objective. What we do at the beginning of every year, is write out a respect agreement between people in all areas or departments at our school. I do it with my leadership team, my teacher coordinators do it with their teachers, and the teachers do it with their students. We make ourselves accountable to each other before we start working each year. When anyone breaks that agreement, we remind ourselves about the respect agreement. If that does not work, we set up a meeting, etc. As a conflict does not get resolved and escalates there are particular steps to take. What we seek is to restore the relationship between people.

Blessings,

Reference

Claassen, R., & Claassen, R. (2008). Discipline that restores: Strategies to create respect, cooperation, and responsibility in the classroom. Ron and Roxanne Claassen.

Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution gap: How great leaders and their companies get results. John Wiley & Sons.