Communication

A lack of communication is a major contributor to failure of a project. I remember when NASA sent a probe to Mars, only to have it miss an entire planet due to the lack of communication. In that billion dollar mistake, half of the team used the metric system for calculations, while the other used the imperial system which sent the probe on an erroneous course. In education a lack of communication can create an environment that is not conducive to student achievement.
Blankenstein points out how important it is to have positive relationships between the adults in a school building. So many positive outcomes are possible if the adults of the building are able to work together as an efficient respectful team. Professional Learning Communities can only be successful with proper communication and respect between parties.
It is also important for administrators to communicate effectively with staff. I worked for a principal who was a poor communicator, which made it very difficult to function as a cohesive team. The staff was never informed about major decisions made which affected us directly. We joked that students knew about new programs before we did. Unfortunately it was not a joke, but a reality in most cases.

It is the responsibility of an administrator to create open lines of communication for their staff. People on the staff must be made to feel valuable and appreciated, but also feel that they have an avenue of communication in times when they are uncomfortable about a policy or something that the administrator has done that affects them personally.
There also must be care taken to assure that all communications are understood in the manner in which they were written. We also spoke in class about the importance of documentation as evidence when dealing with situations. It seems that a device as simple as daily notes could become a valuable tool in times of disagreement between parties.