1. Working with Parents
UM-Flint
2014

2. BODY LANGUAGE
What do these common gestures/body language indicate to you?
Lean forward
Smile
Hands on hips
Sitting with legs crossed, foot kicking
Arms crossed on chest
Shoulders hunched, head bowed
Hand to cheek
Rubbing nose
Rubbing eye
Head resting in hand
Tapping fingers
Steepling fingers
Tilted head

3. ENGAGE PARENTS BEFORE THERE IS A PROBLEM
MAKE PARENTS YOUR ALLY
ENGAGE PARENTS BEFORE THERE IS A PROBLEM
ADDRESS PARENTS CONCERNS HEAD ON

4. Try not to appear rushed, even if you are
Talk with parents
Try not to appear rushed, even if you are
Be open to their ideas

6. Things to remember when working with parents
Everyone has the right to be involved in decisions that affect his/her (or his/her child) life
More people can generate more creative and comprehensive solutions collaboratively than they can by themselves
All parties are perceived as possessing important knowledge and skills
Two heads are better than one; people are intelligent and want to do a good job- groups who are empowered and supported can achieve results unattainable by individuals working alone
Collaboration is an interactive process. The outcomes are solutions different from those that any individual team member would produce independently.

7. Successful Collaboration Considerations
Collaboration is a superior way of solving a problem during a meeting; however a number of conditions need to be in place to ensure a successful outcome. Members must:
Have sufficient trust among themselves to open up and be supportive of each other when necessary
Have a positive intent to work towards a win/win solution
Have relevant information on hand to make a sound decision
Have the time to make this decision
Believe the topic is important enough to warrant spending the time it will take

11. Genuine listening is hard work; there is little about it that is mechanical…We hear with our ears, but we listen with our eyes and mind and heart and skin and guts as well
Alfred Benjamin,
Behavioral Psychologist and Author

14.  A conscious effort to hear  Being fully present
Edge of the Seat Rule
A. Listening requires that we actually hear what the other person is saying.  
B. You cannot listen or hear if you are thinking about what your own next
statement will be.
  C. STOP if you feel that you are on the edge of your seat focusing on your own thoughts and not on the speaker’s words.
D. Listening is:
 A conscious effort to hear
 Being fully present
 Examining how you listen (Resisting barriers and creating barriers)
 Not forming responses before the other person is finished talking

15. Questions?????

16. Community Resolution Center
Jane O’Dell
Executive Director
315 E. Court St. Ste. 200
Flint, MI
(810)