Human Relations, communication, and interaction with others are key components to effective educational leadership. These are the foundation as to what leadership lies upon. This continues to be important in education, as accountability in schools and its workers are constantly being increased. In order to work well within the organizational environment of a school, superintendents, coaches, teachers, parents, community members and students must be able to communicate in a variety of effective modalities (Razik & Swanson, 2010). These modalities gives school leaders the tools that they need to make effective decisions that can improve a school and all it’s components. Without an understanding of human relations and how it pertains to communication, this cannot happen. The increased use of technology has changed these interactions to a great extent, it is important that up and coming leaders are familiarized with these shifts; so they can communicate effectively with those they work with.
Empowerment-
Empowerment is a huge proponent of human relations. It is imperative that educational leaders allow their staff and stakeholders to feel empowered in order to make those powerful decisions that can shift how a school is run. “When teachers build collaborative partnerships, they are empowered to foster more democratic ideals and embody transformative classroom practices such as inquiry, reflection and critique” (Razfar, 2011, p. 27). At my school that was recently redesigned, all of the staff was rehired or newly hired in order to create a new school that best fit the needs of the community, not the needs of the staff members. The new administration came into this situation with the understanding that it would take everyone’s ideas and everyone’s point of view to allow this to occur. They never once, said this is how it is supposed to be done or this is how I envision it to be done. They gave us to the time to delve in the situation and discuss it thoroughly. We created a joint mission and a joint vision and created our redesign document as a team because we were afforded that courtesy. We feel that we are an integral part of all decisions made at the school, there is a definite sense of shared leadership. We felt empowered to make these decisions because we felt wanted, needed, and valued. It is because of this that we were able to continue this trend and share the empowerment of the students and the community as well. We in no way have fixed the school completely, but have been able to be “empowered to persist in finding solutions to everyday pedagogical issues” (Razfar, 2011, p. 39).
Communication-
Communication technology is having a tremendous effect on all of the communication theories that have been researched overtime. At Emerson Elementary School, we are highly stocked with state of the art technologies. We each have mac computers and each classroom is equipped with Promethean Boards with clickers for students to input information. We also have been allotted IPads and laptop carts in order to enhance education as much as we can, as we realize this is how students nowadays internalize information. We are able to now communicate with classrooms from all over the world, using Skype, blogs and other programs. We are also able to partake in various professional development opportunities with people all over via web classes and web chats. We also are able to communicate with families and students via our school and classroom websites with ease. With ease, it is easy to lose the human touch. It is extremely important that administrators and teachers gauge what types of interactions that they are planning to make, and then decide whether to go with face-to-face or email to make that contact. “Obviously, the same method of communicating will not work well for everyone or in every situation. School leaders should be selective yet have the desire and the ability to make use of available communication methods” (Young, Berube, & Perry, 2008, pg. 93). With this influx of technology, there has had to be a lot of focus of our professional development on ensuring that staff is prepared and trained to use this technology in the best interests of the children and staff. “They should stay up-to-date with communication technologies, so they are prepared to lead their schools and districts in new ways of communicating”(Young, et al., 2008, pg. 93). It is crucial that school leaders, lead by example in the ways that they expect their co-workers to communicate. Effective communication is key to a successful school and positive school climate. The increased use of technology has had affect on how communication is made in schools. This is at all levels, administration to staff, staff to student, student to staff, and parent to staff, and vice-versa. A majority of communication is now indirect (via email or text message) versus direct (actual face-to-face interaction). This occurs because of the ease of using technology and the fact that we are a busy society. Schools are busy, staff is overworked and underpaid with increased accountability. There is so much to do in so little time. It is much easier to press a few buttons and communicate your message versus going to that person and having an actual conversation. “Reitz (1987) reported that face-to-face communication tends to be more effective than written communication (if the verbal and nonverbal cues are compatible) but admitted that written communication tends to yield greater comprehension” (Razik & Swanson, 2010, pg. 165). With this being said, it is important that communication at schools are being made using a variety of modalities, not with just one being overused. There is no replacement for good conversation, this allows for discussion and debate to occur. This is where the rich conversations happen that essential effect student achievement in the positive sense.

References
Razfar, A. (2011). Action Research in Urban Schools: Empowerment, Transformation, and Challenges. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(4), 25-44.
Razik, Taher A., and Austin D. Swanson. Fundamental concepts of educational leadership. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Prentice Hall, 2010
Young, S., Berube, W., & Perry, S. (2008). THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ON COMMUNICATION FOR SCHOOL LEADERS: PREFERENCES, BELIEFS, AND USE. Planning & Changing, 39(1/2), 81-97.