RIGHT WAY TO BEGIN

DEPENDS ON WHERE
YOU ARE RIGHT NOW
S
ally Oxenberry was asked to facilitate the leadership
team that meets weekly at her middle school and to
help develop a spirit of collaboration. The school
staff is organized into teams of five or six people.
Oxenberry works with the team leaders. She had modeled
collaborative practices such as paraphrasing but didnt
know what other skills to teach and in what sequence.
Its all such good stuff, but where do I begin? she
asked (personal communication, 2006). I feel that we
need to do dialogue and ways of talking before going any
further; however, I also feel we can learn so much from the
seven norms of collaboration.
The overarching rationale for changing the work cul-
ture to become more collaborative is cultures impact on
learning. By melding an understanding that culture affects
learning with a research-based vision of ways faculties
interact to improve student learning, leaders
can make a significant impact on achieve-
ment. In this column, I will explore how
attention to creating a collaborative culture
can improve curriculum and student learn-
ing. Curriculum, as used here, is meant to
convey the system, which addresses what is
taught, how it is taught, and the mecha-
nisms by which it is assessed.
Oxenberrys dilemma is common. No
one right way exists to develop collaborative
cultures capable of improving student learn-
ing. Leaders start with rationale, or success-
ful experiences of authentic dialogue, or
introduce communication skills and struc-
tures for inquiry. Where to begin depends
on context, understanding the dynamics of the group, and
intuition, but all require leadership.
LEADERSHIP
Leaders who learn publicly are continuing inquirers,
confident enough that they can reveal their own thinking
in progress, are genuinely curious, and are provocateurs of
collaborative cultures. They successfully promote high
expectations, a spirit of inquiry, and an unwavering focus
on learning for both students and adults.
In one urban system in which I work, the associate
superintendent tells groups, We are failing our kids. This
reason and test data are the motivators she offers to groups
to continuously develop capacities for collaboration
focused on learning. She knows that to affect student
learning, groups must engage in structured,
sustained, and supported instructional discus-
sions that investigate the relationships between
instructional practices and student work
(Supovitz & Christman, 2003).
Leaders at all levels principals, depart-
ment heads, grade-level leaders, and others
can develop the communication capacities
necessary to function as professional learning
communities. They provide time and space for
groups to meet and talk, encourage talk about
substantive topics related to learning, and
introduce protocols that make it
safe to talk about difficult-to-dis-
cuss topics and skills.
ONE WAY TO START
One place to begin to devel-
op communication skills needed for effective
collaboration is with the seven norms of col-
laboration (Garmston & Wellman, 1999).
Norms are important because they are the
foundation tools with which groups can dia-
logue, engage productively in conflict, discuss
and decide, invent and problem solve. Each
time I have observed a member of a group, a
grade-level team, a department, or an adviso-
ry group paraphrase spontaneously, I have
witnessed a watershed experience that makes all further
conversations more efficient and effective.
Taken at face value, these norms seem simple and per-
haps not worth faculty attention. Most adults believe they
know most of these skills. But there is an enormous differ-
ence between declaring one knows how to use a skill and
skillfully, habitually using the skill in work conversations.
These seven practices are skills that transform to norms
when they become habits in a group. Norms signal expect-
ed behavior. Two payoffs occur when a practice becomes a
norm: Because members are conscious of the behavior,
they voluntarily monitor both themselves individually and
collaborative culture / ROBERT J. GARMSTON
In this column, I will
explore how attention
to creating a
collaborative culture
can improve
curriculum and
student learning.
Curriculum, as used
here, is meant to
convey the system,
which addresses what
is taught, how it is
taught, and the
mechanisms by which
it is assessed.
In each issue of JSD,
Robert J. Garmston writes
about how to create
collaborative work
environments that result in
improved student learning.
His columns can be found
at www.nsdc.org.
NATIONAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL 800-727-7288 VOL. 28, NO. 1 WINTER 2007 JSD 69
ROBERT J. GARMSTON is co-founder of the Institute for Intelligent
Behavior and a professor emeritus at California State University,
Sacramentos School of Education. You can contact him at 2825
Yardley Place, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762-3560, 916-933-2727, fax
916-933-2756, e-mail: FABob@aol.com.

the group; and norms inform and shape the behaviors of
new members. The seven norms of collaboration are:
Promote a spirit of inquiry: Learning is, at its root, a
questioning process. True collaboration requires question-
ing ones own and others thinking.
Pause: Pausing before responding or asking a question
allows group members time to think and enhances dia-
logue, discussion, and decision making.
Paraphrase: Using a paraphrase starter that is comfort-
able for you: So ... or As you are ... or Youre thinking
... and following the starter with a paraphrase helps mem-
bers of the group hear and understand each other as they
formulate decisions.
Probe: Using gentle open-ended probes or inquiries
such as Please say more ... or Im curious about ...
increases the clarity and precision of the groups thinking.
Put ideas on the table: Ideas are the heart of a mean-
ingful dialogue. Label the intention of your comments.
For example, you might say, Here is one idea ... or One
thought I have is ... or Here is a possible approach ...
Pay attention to oneself and others: Meaningful dia-
logue is facilitated when each group member is conscious
of himself or herself and of others and is aware of not only
what he or she is saying, but also how it is said and how
others are responding. This includes paying attention to
learning style when planning for, facilitating, and partici-
pating in group meetings. Responding to others in their
own language forms is one manifestation of this norm.
Presume positive intentions: Assuming that others
intentions are positive promotes and facilitates meaningful
dialogue and eliminates unintentional put-downs.
Verbalizing supposed positive intentions is one manifesta-
tion of this norm.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
After introducing the norms, use self-assessment inven-
tories, such as the one above, to monitor meetings and
enroll group members to learn and apply the norms.
Additional detailed inventories can be found at www.adap-
tiveschools.com/sevennorms.htm. These inventories help
with introducing norms and determining which to work
on first. For example, one inventory focuses on me, the
degree to which I put ideas on the table and so on.
Another assesses we, the degree to which the group puts
ideas on the table and so on.
To select a common norm to focus on, assign one we
inventory to groups of four to assess the behaviors of the
entire group. Gather the results and display the data so the
full group can see each subgroups ratings. Next, facilitate a
conversation about the results: Help us understand what
you were paying attention to that generated a rating of 2
on that norm. This talk brings to the surface what already
exists. The first step in improvement is awareness.
Engage the group in describing what that norm would
look and sound like in meetings. Then monitor the use of
the norm frequently, because what is inspected is expected.
How are we doing on our norm during this meeting?
What might we want to acknowledge, and what might we
want to pay more attention to?
Ad hoc groups will sometimes invite members to sug-
gest group norms. While this practice can be helpful,
there are distinctions between these types of norms and the
seven norms of collaboration. Group-generated norms
most often are conceptual, such as a norm requesting
respectful listening or freedom from attack. They are
easy to agree to, but it is difficult to ascertain whether the
norm is being followed. I refer to these as behavior agree-
ments. The seven norms, for the most part, are stated
behaviorally, but are more precise and can be monitored.
Develop the norms of collaboration for more than
meetings. These norms are useful to spread throughout all
the conversations in the school. As collaboration in con-
versation develops, a collaborative culture begins to form.
And culture affects learning.
REFERENCES
Garmston, R. & Wellman, B. (1999). The adaptive
school: A sourcebook for developing collaborative groups.
Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
Supovitz, J. & Christman, J.B. (2003, November).
Developing communities of instructional practice: Lessons
from Cincinnati and Philadelphia. (CPRE Policy Briefs RB-
39). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania,
Graduate School of Education. I
Norms of collaboration:
Assessing consistency in a group or key work setting
1. Promoting a spirit of inquiry
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2. Pausing
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3. Paraphrasing
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4. Probing
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5. Putting ideas on the table and pulling them off
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6. Paying attention to self and others
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7. Presuming positive intentions
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70 JSD WINTER 2007 VOL. 28, NO. 1 WWW.NSDC.ORG NATIONAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL