Building Relationships:

Types of Relationships

One-To-One
One to one is the foundation upon which building a leadership dynamic exists. Start the process by visiting those individuals who you know or believe have a stake in the decision making. Find out what they think, how they feel, solicit their ideas, and seek their support. Keep people informed as to what you are finding out. There is no replacement for this type of liaison at the individual level. It is non-threatening, informal and has the best chance of discovering hidden fears and agendas which many times cocoon an individual from full engagement or participation. A leader must build trust and work to alleviate fears and work to build trust in the efficacy of the group to make change.

One-To-Many
At the appropriate time, when the background work is done and you have communicated what you have discovered, bring the people together so the issues and ideas can be discussed openly. This is an important point because it sets the stage for the next step. People need time to voice their opinions in a group atmosphere and the leaders needs to establish an atmosphere of fairness and inclusiveness if the power of the leadership dynamic is to emerge. Relationship building is an important step and many times is simply taken for granted. People need to be part of the defining process and this step gives them that opportunity. Defining what needs to be done and how each person may choose to participate provides a greater opportunity for people to become more fully involved in the leadership process.

Many-To-Many
Many-to-many is the most often overlooked aspect of building a group dynamic because the traditional hierarchical perspective of leadership dictates that as long as the followers trust the leader and the leader trusts the followers everything is fine. In the collaborative leadership dynamic it is important that trust be a shared value among all the partners, because oftentimes subsets or splinter groups will work to achieve specific goals. Find opportunities for the group to meet socially even over a morning beverage. Provide opportunities for the group to build trust with one another and open their individual communications lines. Collaborative leadership gains its energy from a concept of power with as opposed to power over the dynamic partners.

All-To-One
All-to-one does not mean that the focus of the efforts are dedicated to the leader per se. It means that the mutual purpose becomes the focus of efforts. United with a mutual purpose and a shared vision, people can become committed to making school environments safe. People share in the creation of a new reality, one in which the whole of their efforts is greater than the sum of the parts. As goals are achieved, the confidence of the group begins to grow and will with consistent effort form a critical mass of effort. Remember, a committed group of people is an awesome force.