Leading Difficult Conversations: Professional Learning Communities at Work DVD

Transforming a school into a professional learning community (PLC) requires changing embedded behaviours, beliefs and processes, which can cause resistance and conflict. In healthy PLCs, these conflicts are addressed in ways that both support core values and respect team members. In this short video, Richard DuFour and Rebecca DuFour model a principal and a teacher engaging in a conflict over marking practices, then the role-play is broken down and analysed. Viewers will learn how to hold difficult but crucial conversations that lead to higher levels of commitment to PLC practices. PLC author and expert Robert Eaker, and authors Anthony Muhammad and Cassandra Erkens are also featured. The video is presented in the following segments:

• Introduction: This segment explores the loose and tight culture of a PLC school and explains why implementing the tight or nonnegotiable practices can cause conflicts within the PLC team, and why it is so essential for leaders to address those conflicts directly.
• A Difficult Conversation: Next, Richard DuFour introduces the central scenario, in which he plays a principal in a PLC school engaging in a difficult but crucial conversation with a teacher (played by Rebecca DuFour). The role-play illustrates how to incorporate the five keys to effectively leading a difficult conversation.
• Analysing a Difficult Conversation: The final segment, designed to be used with the Facilitator Guide activities, breaks down the role play to allow workshop participants to review and analyse the use of the five keys to leading a difficult conversation.

This set includes the DVD of the video presentation, the Facilitator's Guide and a CD-ROM containing the Facilitator's Guide in PDF form.