Riverside, Calif. (Jan. 26, 2018) – Before having a crucial conversation, educators and administrators need to do some internal inventory first, Dr. Kathryn Short, professor of education at California Baptist University, told a group of Christian High School Principals and counselors.

“The only person you can push, shape or change is you,” Short said. “In changing you, you can change others. It’s that model of being Christ-like.”

The Dr. Bonnie G. Metcalf School of Education at California Baptist University hosted the 11^th annual Christian High School Principal & Counselor Workshop on Jan. 25.

Dr. John Shoup, dean of the School of Education at CBU, said the workshop provides relevant, professional development activities to counselors and principals from Christian high schools in Southern California.

“The seminar also creates opportunities for Christian high school counselors and principals to network and visit the campus,” Shoup said.

High school counselors, teachers and principals have crucial conversations each day, Short said. You have three ways of handling these conversations—you can avoid them, face them but handle them poorly or face them and handle them well, she added.

Short quoted James 1:19, a verse she tries to live by, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” (NASB).

“It’s a great biblical way to handle yourself before entering a crucial conversation,” she said.

Crucial conversations also need to be filled with love that seeks to make a difficult situation better, Short said.

“As teachers of adolescents, as counselors and principals, do they know that you care?” Short asked.

Michael Crites, superintendent for Bethel Christian Schools in Riverside, brought some of his staff with him to the workshop.

“Most of my job is about having crucial conversations, with either the people who work for me or the parents of students,” Crites said. “The wisdom that Dr. Short shared with us is how to deal with people. You can still have a good conversation and still reach an agreement, even if the news isn’t always good. [This training] is invaluable for me.”