Radical Collaboration : Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships

INTRODUCTION: THE FIVE ESSENTIALS

They weren’t even talking to each other, much less listening. The relationship had been shattered. A rogue union member was attempting to puncture the tires of fellow employees’ cars as they tried to cross a union picket line. Certain managers were covertly plotting retaliation against union leaders. At the medium-sized California school district,¹ almost twenty-one thousand students were receiving little or no education. Bitterness in the labor-management relationship had brought effective education to a halt. Substitute teachers were little more than babysitters. Community members were distraught at being treated like pawns in a war of conflicting press releases and accusations, while precious education dollars ...