Turning Penguins Into Peregrines: The Leadership Side of Educational Negotiations
One of the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest is the Peregrine Falcons that inhabit the lofty perches beside the Columbia River. The beauty and grandeur of their dive into the water and their strength as they rise with a Chinook salmon in their talons is inspiring. The peregrine sees across great expanses of territory. Contrast that with the slow of foot and short sighted penguin and you have a picture of two aspects of leadership in contract negotiations.
Children deserve an education system unencumbered by the weight of contract language that prevents high quality instruction, tolerates low student achievement, and poor performance in the classroom. Children deserve a school district where the available resources are focused on high quality instruction, state of the art technology, small learning environments, and teachers and support staff that inspire learning.
Often while educational research produces results for student learning, implementation of that research is frozen by non-functional contract language. School leaders have a disconnect between contract language and the classroom learning environment. Too often the effect of contract language isn't known until instructional leaders attempt to implement new programs and are blocked or stunted by bad contract language.
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One reason the disconnect occurs, is that the boards and superintendent don't think of contract negotiations as a leadership function - they see penguins when they should be looking for peregrines.
While negotiations are a required perfunctory obligation, it is also an opportunity to focus contract development on the strategic district mission. Of course, this requires having a strategic mission. You have to know what is important to the district's success. Then follow that with a review of contract language and historical practice to determine if there are roadblocks to the mission buried in contract language. Negotiations are strategic actions, and should produce success on strategic interests.
One of the most common mistakes in negotiations is to view them as something happening annually, when in truth it is only one component of a long-term strategy. A successful approach to labor relations involves a long-term look at what the district wants to accomplish in their relationships with their teacher association. School boards should take a twenty-year view. This allows a board to plan strategically for what they want to accomplish.
Plans Are Nothing; Planning is Everything - Negotiating Strategically
Former President and General Dwight Eisenhower had it right when he said, "Plans are nothing: planning is everything." Plans can change as situations change, but without a long-term plan and a structure for planning, decisions are constrained to the expedient solution rather than providing opportunity for an excellent solution. Districts often have a contract analysis done on their collective bargaining agreements in order to set their goals for negotiations.
While this is valuable, it is only one of the steps that should take place. Negotiations should be driven by the district's strategic plan and forward its long-term goals. Negotiations must support educational objectives.
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When the board and administrators know what they want to accomplish, they will know when they have
accomplished it. Once you know where you want to go, the contract can be evaluated through a strategic lens and bargaining goals will reflect what is really important to the district. Boards that have clearly defined goals achieve them. Districts that adopt a strategic long-term approach to labor relations have the ability to plan for success and celebrate it when it happens. Effective leaders have a Peregrine vision planning for the future, rather than a Penguin paralysis hindered by ground flurries and a constant struggle for survival.
Planning for Success a the Table
Dwight Eisenhower is famous as well for implementing a management strategy that has become a staple in effective management curricula. The "Important vs. Urgent" decision making model postulates that to be an effective manager, you have to be able to distinguish between what is important and what is not. To approach negotiations without having contemplated the "Important" vs. the "Urgent" is a formula for failure to meet your strategic goals.
Eisenhower learned the essentials of the model he later developed from his mentor, General Fox Conner, in the early 1920's. It consists of four types of issues:
- Important and Urgent. Issues that must be done now.
- Important but not Urgent. Schedule a time to accomplish the task.
- Not Important but Urgent. Quick fix, let others deal with it.
- Not Important and not Urgent. Get rid of it and definitely don't get bogged down by it.
The Peregrine approach provides time to survey the horizon and look for opportunity. Organizations should take each element of their strategic plan and ask: "Where does this fit on the 'Important vs. Urgent' continuum?" Are all of the elements in your plan in the top two categories? They should be. As you evaluate your current contract, how many of the provisions fall in the bottom two categories?
Another way to effectively use the "Important vs. Urgent" model is to think about it as an "Essential vs. Immediate" model. Elements of your contract dealing with employees' needs, like compensation and insurance, as "Essential" issues to employees. They are also "Essential" to management because they affect "Essential" elements of the strategic plan. Recruiting and retaining the best and the brightest employees is a good example. Compensation and insurance are "Important" and "Essential" for different reasons to both labor and management. Understanding the difference is critical to effective negotiation strategies. Not everything, however, is an essential need for both labor and management. Knowing the difference is what strategic planning is about.
Essential and Strategic Planning
Taking the time in advance of bargaining to evaluate what is important to your long-range strategic plan can pay huge dividends. Overlaying your strategic plan with your current contract will expose critical issues to be addressed. When you know what is essential to your success long-term, it simplifies your decision-making at the negotiation table. You are clear about when you need to stand firm and where you can be flexible.
Essential and Immediate
When school boards wrestle with their responsibilties to children in their district, those conversations tend to focus around student achievement and student security/safety needs. I think we would agree that achievement and security/safety needs are essential and immediate. This would place them in the highest priority in Eisenhower's model.
When you evaluate your contract, articles relating to "Work Year", "Work Day", "Sudent Discipline", "Management Rights (curriculum, instructional strategy, etc.)," you will find they are "Essential and Immediate" because they have to be protected in your contract now. Failure to maintain control over these elements of a contract has a direct impact on student achievement and student safety/security. Too often though, districts fail to protect their right to perform their essential and strategic duties as a district. For example, allowing contract language that permits teachers to choose their instructional strategies or curriculum may prevent the district from responding to the achievement needs. Or allowing teachers to control discipline procedures may put the district in conflict with state and federal law, and the best interests of children.
Essential but NOT Immediate
There are some issues that are essential, but the time to implement change is longer and therefore an immediate change or immediate implementation is impractical or unreasonable. Insurance issues are a good example of "Essential but not Immediate" contract issues. People are irrational about their insurance coverage and changes in the type of plan, level of coverage, or district contributions. These are lightening rods in the negotiation process.
When a district identifies an area of contract that is "Essential but not Immediate", change is either far too controversial, expensive, or impossible in the current negotiation process and boards must adopt a long-term view. Changes in "Essentials" that are too large to make in a single negotiation cycles must be planned for over multiple contracts.
In one district I represented, the board wanted to change to an insurance plan that was less expensive and where the district had access to experience and usage in order to manage and control costs. Moving the teachers' association from an expensive and comprehensive plan couldn't be accomplished in a single contract negotiation without destroying the labor relationship and engaging in possible work stoppages. To overcome this dilemma we planned for a multiple negotiation cycle strategy to make moderate gains in each of three contract cycles until the district was able to get an agreement placing all new employees on the managed healthcare plan.
Some solutions are for districts to pay the full cost of the less expensive plans, provide incentives to move to the less expensive plans, or place all new employees on the identified plan.
The advantage to management is that it is easier for them to have a long term strategy for change. Employees tend to think the present and seek immediate resolution to their current issue. By managing your negotiation plan strategically, you can make use of opportunities to improve your position in your strategic areas of interest. Small changes over time produce a new reality favorable to the board's strategic interests without offending the labor relationship and upsetting the educational process.
Not Essential but Immediate
There are always issues at the table that are important to the other side but are not essential issues on your long term strategic plan. The question you must answer at this issue intersection is: "Does this issue put any of our essential long-term objectives at risk?" If the issue proposed places student achievement or safety/security in jeopardy, then it warrants close evaluation to insure there is no negative effect. If agreement on the issue diminishes goal achievement then it should be opposed.
"Layoff/Recall" and "Evaluation" language are good examples of "Not Essential but Immediate." The system of evaluation and procedure used are often not "Essential", meaning that they can be accomplished a number of different ways using different processes and procedures. However, close attention needs to come into play when the language proposed impinges on the ability of the district to improve teacher performance or to make decisions about which staff members are the most effective performers, should a layoff become necessary. There is a lot of latitude in developing an evaluation program and every district needs an evaluation procedure. Some jurisdictions require that the teachers association be consulted on its development. Mixed teams of administrators and employees can often be tasked with addressing the "Not Essential but Immediate' issues that arise. The team approach can produce effective outcomes. The board and administration, however, need to pay close attention to the details so the outcome of collaboration doesn't detract from strategic long-term goals.
Not Essential and Not Immediate
There are always detractors that have no significant purpose and a great deal of negative energy to distract an organization from its primary purpose. Whenever an issue arises management should ask itself, "Is this an issue that will support or detract from our long-range objectives?" "Is this an issue that if left unaddressed or if dismissed will impair our long-term performance?" If the issue has no appreciable effect if left alone, let it die in silence. If it is an issue pressed by the teachers association that requires a response, take the position that you want to focus the district's resources and energy on your strategic goals supporting students, the community, and staff.
Take flight and don't let your beak get bogged down in the show: get rid of non-essentials that have no immediacy. Stay focused on essentials.
One Final Perspective
Not all employee issues have to be solved at the negotiating table. As you prepare for negotiations and begin reviewing each issue through your strategic lens, there is another assessment you should make before preparing to bargain an issue. Ask yourself the most efficient and effective way to handle the issue. Ask:
- Can this issue be resolved through a board policy? Or procedure?
- Can the administration be tasked with handling the issue?
- Can we have a task force/committee review and recommend a solution?
- If this is an issue that must be negotiated, what are our strategic interests and desired strategic outcomes?
It is amazing how many issues can be handled short of negotiations with your teachers association.
Summary
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Peregrines are active problem solvers who resolve issues as they come up instead of holding them to year's end and then throwing all of them on the table. Labor relations are enhanced when partners communicate continuously and resolve the issues they can during the interim period between formal negotiations. Effective managers always view interim resolutions and formal negotiations through the long-term vision of a Peregrine, focusing the strategic lens so they don't miss any opportunity to forward the district's strategic interests. They avoid being caught flat footed on the frozen tundra unable to maneuver for strategic advantage. They have developed their strategic plans well in advance of negotiations so they don't lose sight of goals during the stress of bargaining. As a result, their long-term success means success for children and the organization. Given a choice, would you rather be a Peregrine or a Penguin?
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Randy J. Harvey, Ph.D. is the Toastmasters 2004 World Champion of Public Speaking. He is a human resource professional, lawyer, educator, storyteller, speech coach, and award-winning speaker. Check out Randy's websites, www.randyjharvey.com and www.hrsmarts.com, for articles and products to advance your career.
