Walter H. Warfield, a former school superintendent and former executive director of the Illinois Association of School Administrators, is a scholar in residence at the University of Illinois-Springfield. J. Gregory Reynolds is a visiting professor in the department of education leadership at the University of Illinois-Springfield.

An old adage asks the secret to one of life's mysteries: "Which came first — the chicken or the egg?"

If this question were modified for use in the labor relations arena, it would be "Which comes first — successful negotiations or effective contract management?"

The common denominator for the chicken and the egg is life. The common denominator for successful negotiations and effective contract management is labor relations.

Which component came "first" is a simple euphemism for which is more important. The importance, in this instance, is the tasks necessary to achieve effective contract management, clearly a key component to quality labor relations.

The quest for quality labor relations rests with effective contract management through a series of tasks that are continuous and cyclical. The tasks are continuous in that some are always at the forefront, every day of every school year. They are cyclical in that some regularly reappear in varying degrees of importance, depending on the time of year. The day following the successful completion of contract negotiations is one such cyclical task, a benchmark day when effective contract management begins anew.

Each member of the school district's leadership team has tasks to perform. The responsibility for coordination of these tasks rests with the superintendent. Five tasks, some of which are more obvious than others, are all critical to the pursuit of an effectively run school district.

While these tasks were conducted during the negotiations process in order to assess the acceptability of contract proposals and counter proposals, it is now time to conduct them in a contract management mode.

Task one: Process review

The negotiations that led to the contract agreement should first be reviewed. Even the best of collective bargaining experiences can be improved, and the history of collective bargaining in Illinois public schools shows there is always room for improvement.

After the review, debrief about what went well and what did not work out as planned. Documentation of these issues can be used in the planning process for the next contract negotiations. Negotiating is an ongoing, cyclical process.

Communications on the agreement and the follow-up application of the new items of the contract are critical to building trust and credibility. Informing all stakeholders of the results of the new language and what the actual results this language will mean for the future will help create an open environment for later discussions.

When debriefing the collective bargaining process, the following information should be considered by the administration and the board:

• What went well?
• What went wrong?
• Were the goals achieved?
• What could be improved?

Be certain to maintain a complete set of documents on the final agreement and terms to refer to once negotiations are complete. A successful negotiations process includes a contract and agreement that both parties believe accomplishes their respective overall goals and the objectives that were established at the beginning of negotiations.

Task two: Cost review

The new contract should be reviewed by the administration in order to complete the process of determining the costs of the new contract. Even though a cost analysis of contract proposals and counter proposals was an integral part of the negotiations process, it was done in the negotiations mode.

Now is the time for each teacher salary and fringe benefit package to be calculated for the school year at hand, as well as for the school district's long-range plan, as reflected by the length of the contract just approved. Modifications in the annual budget and long-range financial plan should be adjusted accordingly.

Task three: Language review

Now is also the time to reexamine all the critical contract language, paying special attention to:

• Identifying vague contract language. Contract language might be vague because it was accepted or proposed in error. Other contract language might be vague because it was accepted or proposed knowingly as an at-the-table solution to a sticking point to the negotiations process. Agreeing to such language is generally not advisable. However, for every bargaining tenant, there is a time to set it aside. Agreeing to vague language on an issue that may never come up or can more easily be resolved through the grievance process may be prudent.
• Identifying new contract language. All new contract language should be reviewed for critical dates and responsibilities that must be met by both management and the union. All such obligations should be noted on the administration's appropriate calendar of critical dates.
• Re-listing older contract items of continuing significance. This language would typically have been listed as new and important in previous contracts and has maintained its important status.
• Removing contract items that are no longer significant or that were removed from the contract through the negotiations process.
• Listing contract items that were clearly of particular importance to the teachers, in order to insure they are given proper priority in contract management.
• Listing contract items important to the teachers that were not resolved during the negotiations, in order to be properly wary of their potential for labor unrest. These would include items that were dropped from contract proposals as lower priority items to teachers, or items that were dropped due to being strongly resisted by the school board. What is important to remember here is that all items proposed by the teachers have a constituency within the bargaining unit that are by definition not pleased with the item not having been resolved to their satisfaction.
• Identifying items that appear logical for the next round of negotiations. At this point in the process, this list will look very much like the list of vague and rejected items posted above. The rest of this list will develop over the length of the contract as issues develop.

Task four: Debriefing

Use the list of items created in task three for a post-negotiations debriefing with the school board and all administrators responsible for representing the board in the proper administration of the contract. This should be done first with the school board at a meeting following the tentative agreement but prior to final approval of the contract. Directly following approval by the board, it should then be done with all of the district's administrators.

Task five: Review with union

Following the completion of these tasks, an offer should be extended to the teacher union president for a teachers meeting where appropriate contract items, selected from the list above, can be jointly reviewed. Depending on the size and other dynamics of the school district, this may be achieved by the superintendent and union president or building principals and the union's building representatives.

It is illogical to believe that complete labor relations harmony is achievable. The nature of management/labor relations, by simple definition, reveals this reality.

Change is usually initiated by the perceived failure of the process to meet the needs of the parties. This is the cyclical nature of collective bargaining. However, improvements in labor relations will be achieved when energies focused on clearly defined tasks, known to be effective, are taken.

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