1st Edition
The Power of Conversation Transforming Principals into Great Leaders
Powerful conversations facilitate powerful thinking. In The Power of Conversation, seasoned educator Barbara Kohm provides principals and mentors with a roadmap for growing into great leaders and transforming ordinary schools into great ones. Designed to harness the power of focused professional conversation, this book uses dialogues between a principal and a mentor or colleague to explore everyday school dilemmas, such as scheduling, discipline, budgeting, and instructional challenges. Each chapter explores transformational themes, provides strategies and guidelines for leaders to apply in their own schools, and includes reflective exercises. This book engages an accessible and thoughtful way for principals to talk about complicated issues, deepen thinking, develop skills, and fuel transformational leadership.
Meet the Author
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Building Trust: Honesty and clarity are more important than perfection
Chapter 2. Establishing and maintaining focus: Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do
Chapter 3. Developing a learning culture: From fixing people to building capacity
Chapter 4. Building a competent, cohesive faculty: The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts
Chapter 5. Building a collegial culture: No more insiders and outsiders
Chapter 6. Making purposeful decisions: The building blocks of a cohesive culture
Chapter 7. Resolving conflicts: Avoiding winners and losers
Chapter 8. Planning meetings: Learning and leading together
Chapter 9. Collecting and using data: What story does your data tell?
Chapter 10. Improving Curriculum and Instruction: From Creating Orthodoxies to Continual Change
Biography
Barbara Kohm is a veteran principal, teacher, consultant, and mentor. She is the co-founder of the Clayton Family Center in Missouri.
"Woven throughout this entire book are the critical questions, strategies, and resources needed to support leaders as they build the best schools in the nation. The author uses principal/mentor dialogues to identify, develop, and strengthen areas that will transform schools. The Power of Conversation will undeniably become the benchmark for inciting change in today's schools through the use of conversation."
Joey L. Washington, Ed.D., Assistant Principal, Galena Park High School.
Barbara Kohm has written a powerful book that benefits all educators, not just educational leaders. The Power of Conversation provides leaders with the tools to handle difficult situations with professionalism and a focus on positive outcomes. This book assists leaders in creating positive relationships and building a school culture that benefits all stakeholders.
David S. Ellena, Principal, Tomahawk Creek Middle School
