Last week, a colleague who works as the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning in her school district reached out to me with an interesting #atplc question.  Here’s what she wrote:

I have a PLC who needs some support with the idea of a consensus-building processes to identify solutions and resolve conflicts.  Could you share some resources and/or point toward work in this area that you believe is effective?

It’s essential for teams to have an effective consensus-building process if they are going to be successful at collaborating around practice.  Knowing that — and realizing that many of all y’all are working in #atplc buildings — I figured I’d share my answer here on my blog.

Photo by Anna Samoylova on Unsplash

Here is the advice that I provided:

I think the first question that I would ask is, “Does the team trust each other?” Often, consensus and conflict resolution issues are an indicator of low levels of trust between colleagues — and until that’s addressed, consensus and conflict resolution will be hard to come by.

For me, trust building always starts with clear norms. Low levels of trust often come from assumptions we make about our peers based on their common patterns of participation. For example, I often take over my PLC meetings. My peers might assume that’s because I’m just a jerk. But really, it’s because I want to get things done. Until we talk through the impact that my behaviors are having on others, those assumptions will keep us from being productive.

To that end, here’s the norm building tool that I am currently using with teams.

If you think that trust levels are high on the team, these three tools may help them with consensus building and conflict resolution:

Fist to Five Rating Tool – This is the primary tool that I use with teams to reach consensus when the teams are comfortable with each other individually. That’s because it is quick and easy to use.

It is designed to give people a safe way to disagree with team decisions — which means you avoid “false consensus.” People don’t just agree in order to move on. They recognize that the team won’t move on if everyone hasn’t been fully heard, so they are more likely to express disagreement openly.

The one rule that teams have to enforce when using this tool, though, is when a participant rates a decision a three or less, (1). the team doesn’t move forward without a conversation and (2). the member who rates a 3 or less has to pitch an alternative plan.

That keeps people from just disagreeing to be disagreeable.

Building Consensus Around Difficult Decisions – A more thorough tool designed to walk teams step-by-step through a structured conversation around what their needs/wants are in an individual decision and to show teams that compromise is possible.

Interestingly, Step 2 in this document was inspired by a team struggling with consensus in your school district.  They felt strongly about expressing non-negotiables early in a consensus building conversation so that the initial proposals that members offer would be closer to “acceptance” from the beginning of the conversation. It’s a great idea that I’ve shared with lots of other schools since.

Resolving Conflict with a Colleague – Sometimes, the struggle with consensus building is a function of a personal conflict between two (or more) members of a team. That’s particularly true if teachers have worked together over a long period of time.

Negative history leads to baggage that gets in the way of future decisions. Until that conflict is resolved, consensus will be hard to come by.

I use this template to help teachers structure a healthy conversation about a conflict that they are having with a peer. It is full of Crucial Conversations thinking — finding the positive in our peers rather than telling negative stories about them in our minds.

Let me know if you have any other questions about these documents — or if you think that you need something different to help your team.

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Related Radical Reads:

https://buildingconfidentlearners.com/2012/02/11/note-to-atplc-nation-norms-really-do-matter/

https://buildingconfidentlearners.com/2019/04/29/an-atplc-reminder-playing-in-the-same-sandbox-is-not-good-enough/

https://buildingconfidentlearners.com/2018/01/13/note-to-learning-teams-its-time-to-complete-your-mid-year-checkup/