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Self-Differentiated Leaders & Crucial Conversations

Crystal Davis
Feb 22, 2020
2 min read

During the initial stages of implementation, the ability to effectively communicate with my colleagues will be of the highest importance if I want my vision to succeed. In particular, being able to address the potential negative reactions of others in a mature and productive way will ultimately prove to be very beneficial in creating a work environment that can complete my mission.

So, how can I get this done? Well, there are 2 main steps:

Develop myself into a self-differentiated leader.
Employ crucial conversation strategies when speaking to colleagues about my innovation plan

In the self-differentiation step, my main focus is regulating my own anxiety (Bardwell, 2010) so that I can effectively lead by example and demonstrate to my fellow colleagues how to work through the innovative change in a cool, calm, and collected manner. This will be particularly useful when it comes to communicating with several of the older veteran teachers on my campus about my innovation plan. They tend to be very resistant to any type of changes on campus, especially when it comes to technology. Their lack of experience and familiarity with technology makes them not interested in employing it as an educational option, which makes them push even harder for the traditional practices to stay in place.

Knowing that there is a strong possibility that I will receive the same reaction with my flipped classroom with project-based learning innovation plan means that crucial conversation will have to occur between myself and these veteran colleagues. Crucial conversations are conversations between 2 or more people where stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong (Callibrain, 2015). The purpose of these conversations is to get everyone’s input on a topic in order to get unstuck and progress forward in an overall mission (Vital Smarts India, 2010). Luckily, as I develop into a self-differentiated leader, I will have acquired many of the skills and strategies necessary to hold crucial conversations with my older veteran colleagues. Therefore, when communicating my implementation plan ideas with them, I will:

Create a safe, purposeful, and mutually respectful environment that allows myself and my colleagues to feel safe sharing all relevant information (Callibrain, 2015) that moves the flipped classroom with project-based learning innovation plan forward
Not allow negative emotions to lead us astray (Vital Smarts India, 2010)
Keep track of visual safety cues such as silence or violence (Callibrain, 2015) and make changes to conversation as necessary in order to maintain a safe sharing environment
Make sure that I am staying connected with them without losing my vision for the flipped classroom with project-based learning or taking on their emotional anxiety behind implementing this new style of teaching
Take well-defined stands even when the veteran colleagues disagree with my innovation plan
Not allowing myself to get caught up in any emotional triangles or conflicts that can cause more anxiety to spread throughout the campus
Maintain a non-anxious response to those who may try to sabotage the innovation plan