Respectful Conversations: Managing Challenging Situations

School environments are multifaceted and complex systems where leaders deal with a range of students, staff, and parent situations. A growing area of concern is the changing nature of parental expectations with school leaders increasingly having to manage challenging situations. As educational organisations focus on educating the whole student, it is important for schools and families to work in collaboration by focusing on positive outcomes for everyone. Learning how to effectively manage challenging conversations and parent expectations has a direct impact on yourself and others.

A significant number of school leaders have requested advice about managing challenging situations through understanding and applying evidence-based strategies. Interpersonal skills, based on the neuroscience of resilience, such as ‘smart brain’ communication, constructive listening and conflict resolution are beneficial to utilise in relationships. In this workshop, Trina will outline three key areas to help manage respectful conversations with different strategies to expand school leaders’ management skills.

Learning intentions:

• To understand how to prepare and achieve positive outcomes for difficult conversations based on the neuroscience of resilience.
• To understand the escalation and de-escalation process when dealing with confrontational conversations involving
• To learn different strategies in managing challenging parent conversations effectively.
• To learn strategies to support

Respectful Conversations PD Cummins 2021 Flyer