Transformation Through Conversation: School Leaders' perceptions of Motivational Communication with Teachers

Abstract

One of the core roles of principals is to support teachers in carrying out school improvement initiatives. Yet, research suggests that principals often struggle to motivate teachers to implement school programs and policies effectively. Theoretical reasoning indicates that principals’ conversation strategies, such as Transformative Leadership Conversation, may be an important factor to motivating teachers. However, there is very little empirical work that has studied how principal-teacher conversation is used as a motivational tool. This qualitative study proposed to examine how leaders used conversations with teachers as a motivational strategy when seeking to change their behaviors and practices. Semi-structured interviews were administered with 26 public school principals across Northeast Oklahoma. Four themes emerged from the data, suggesting that conversations are essential to how principals build relationships, motivate growth, and navigate change with teachers. The proposed study contributes to the literature by undertaking an in-depth analysis of leaders’ approaches to conversation.