"Steer high-stakes conversations with staff and students toward win-win outcomes with this handy pocket guide to effective communication. Includes scripts, case studies, and checklists"-- Provided by publisher. "The Principal as Leader of Challenging Conversations is a communications and conflict management guide for school leaders who find themselves faced with daily high-stakes interactions with staff, parents, students, and the school community. Based on the premise that challenging conversations contain the "fires for change", this book demonstrates how school leaders can navigate through difficult encounters in a way that ultimately promotes collaborative school culture and increases student achievement. The case studies, sample scripts, inventory checklists and other practical tools included in the book are all designed to help school leaders consistently "walk the talk" that will ensure school and student success."

Introduction : dimensions of challenging conversations -- Engaging in challenging conversations -- Listening for meaning -- Providing effective feedback -- say what you mean, mean what you say -- Being assertive -- Managing anger -- yours and theirs -- How do you respond to challenging conversations? -- The school leader as mediator -- facilitating the challenging conversations of others.