Toolkit:
Moving From Conflict to Conversation

This webpage offers a comprehensive suite of resources designed to support educational leaders in navigating controversial topics with confidence and clarity. Developed by experts in communications, depolarization, and public engagement, these tools provide actionable strategies for managing difficult conversations, improving public perceptions of K-12 education, and fostering constructive dialogue within school communities. Featuring courses, research-based practices, and frameworks like the Dignity Index and the Leadership Listening Cycle, these resources empower leaders to build trust, uphold dignity, and engage stakeholders effectively in today’s complex educational landscape.

Braver Angels

Free eCourses

These professional level courses have been crafted by experts in communications and depolarization. They provide an effective and “safe” way to interact with people in difficult situations. Each course takes approximately 40 minutes to complete.

Managing Difficult Conversations – Begin Course This workshop will equip you with practical tools you can use immediately when a constituent or colleague (of whatever political party) tells you how wrong you are and how you should change course. These skills can lower stress that comes from having difficult political conversations and help you feel more satisfied and more confident in your role.

Skills for Bridging the Divide – Begin “Red” Course | Begin “Blue” Course
This course will teach you how to communicate better with people who differ from you politically. There are two course options, one for "reds" and one for "blues." By "red," we mean someone who leans conservative or tends to vote for Republicans. By "blue," we mean someone who leans liberal or tends to vote for Democrats. The skills are the same, but the examples are different.

Skills for Social Media – Begin Course
This course will teach you the knowledge and skills to avoid contributing to polarization on social media. It will also help you identify difficult situations and help you decide what strategy to use to either participate or disengage from them. You will learn tools to depolarize yourself and engage more constructively with those you disagree with on social media.


Depolarizing Within – Begin Course

The Depolarizing Within Online Course is designed to foster skills to help you lessen the effects of polarization when you encounter them in your political conversations.

  1. Becoming more aware of your own inner polarizer and finding ways to counteract that impulse.
  2. Learning how to be critical without stereotyping, dismissing, ridiculing, or showing contempt.
  3. Building skills for intervening in a constructive way in social conversations that veer into contempt and ridicule for people who hold other political views.

AASA School Administrator Magazine

September 2024 Edition: Sanity Amidst the Culture Wars

Article: Navigating the Political Landscape – Simple ideas to depoliticize education for the benefit of all students.
Article: Islands of Sanity – A prominent organizational leadership author on how we can create and nourish places of refuge and possibility in turbulent seas.
Article: A New Age of Partisanship – Traditionally, a local safety valve enabled communities to set their own course in public education, even in times of intense disagreement over national issues.
Article: A Familiar Refrain: Yesterday’s Culture Wars – Prominent superintendents in the past century found themselves under surprise fire. What can we draw from the repetition of school history.

J. Marie & Associates | WASA Communications Triage

The way you navigate the first 24 to 72 hours of a critical incident sets the tone for how your schools will get through the crisis. When a serious issue is unfolding, staff or families are mad or traumatized, and the media is calling...you need calm, competent, experienced support. Handle it poorly, and the negative effects could live on for years. Handle it well, and your organization can actually grow stronger.

The initial 20–30 minutes of consultation is provided at no charge.

Crisis Communications Triage Resources

Video: Who You Gonna Call—August 18 Lunch & Learn
Triage Flyer

 



Acknowledge • Bridge • Convert

  • Acknowledge and Empathize “I can’t answer that question right now *because*…”
    Express respect for the other’s perspective and share context for why this isn’t the right time/place/personnel for this conversation.
  • Bridge Pause. Give yourself a breath…and continue.
  • Convert Point the constituent toward the appropriate forum for the topic.

Note: it is better to say “I don’t know *yet*” and follow up later than to get it wrong.


The Dignity Index

The Dignity Index scores distinct phrases along an eight-point scale from contempt to dignity. Lower scores (1-4) reflect divisive language while higher scores (5-8) reflect language grounded in dignity. In its pilot season, a trained group of students supported by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute and the Hinckley Institute of Politics scored selections from candidate speeches, debates, fundraising outreach, social media posts, and campaign ads in Utah’s federal congressional races. By focusing on the speech and not the speaker, the Dignity Index is designed to draw our attention away from the biases of partisan politics and toward the power we each have to heal our country and each other.

Resources:
How to Disagree with Dignity
Conversation Guide: The Power of Dignity
Conversation Guide: Cultural Addiction to Contempt
Conversation Guide: Public Meetings
Conversation Guide: Workplace


Responding with Dignity Chatbot

(Requires ChatGPT subscription to access)

This chatbot is designed to score your writing using the Dignity Index.

Leading Now

While K–12 superintendents have always been public officials, the role has never been as political as it is now: curriculum, professional development, and school board dynamics are subject to high-stakes scrutiny and fast-moving state legislation. Our country needs courageous leaders at the top of every system to prioritize and accelerate student learning, addressing years of inequities and the devastating effects of a pandemic. We started Leading Now in 2021 to offer a combination of peer-driven learning cohorts and tech-enabled professional learning to a broad range of superintendents across the country. With the right support, superintendents can defuse tension and seize the opportunity of this moment to rally adults around the potential and needs of ALL children.

—Mora Segal and Caitlin Sullivan, Co-founders

Navigating Tough Conversations - Leading Now
Public Engagement Approaches

ChatGPT Prompts

Preparing for Challenging Conversations

You're a [insert your title] preparing to meet with [insert the name of the group or title of the individual i.e. parent advisory, union president].
The goals of this meetings are [insert what would be accomplished and how you want the other participants and yourself to feel at the conclusion of the meeting].
List how participant views may differ based on their roles and political perspectives.
Then provide five (5) ways you can gain more self-awareness of their perspectives in order to successfully achieve the meeting goals.

Follow-up Prompts

Tell me more about…
Outline the steps I could take to…
What else should I consider when…
What obstacles should I be prepared for…

Role Playing

Use the phone app to role play challenging conversations.
Ask ChatGPT to play the role of you and you play the role of the person you’ll be meeting with.
Be clear about the goals you have for the meeting, both in terms of what you want you want to communicate and how you want the participants to feel when leaving the conversation.
When you’re ready, change roles and replay the conversation.


Upcoming Conferences

Interested in attending an upcoming conference? Check out the WASA Conference Calendar.

View Upcoming Conferences