CHANGE MANAGEMENT
MOST SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN
DESIGNED TO SOLVE YESTERDAY’S
PROBLEMS, RATHER THAN
CAPITALIZING ON TODAY’S
OPPORTUNITIES TO EFFECTIVELY
CONFRONT THE ISSUES OF
Barriers to Change
Why do people resist change?
The status quo provides a certain
comfort zone
Need for stability
Need for predictability
Fear of the unknown
Tools to Facilitate Change
•
Managing Complex Change
•
Force Field Analysis
Management of Complex Change:
Critical Components
Vision
–Strategic Planning
Skills
Incentives
Resources
Management of COMPLEX CHANGE
VISION SKILLS INCENTIVES RESOURCES ACTIONPLAN
SKILLS INCENTIVES RESOURCES ACTIONPLAN
Management of Complex Change
Activity
With a person sitting next to you, go
through the complex change matrix with this situation:
You are asking every staff member to incorporate cooperative learning
strategies into their lessons.
Decide what must be done to make sure each
Force Field Analysis:
Critical Components
Desired Change
Driving Forces –Favoring Change
Restraining Forces –Resisting
Change
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES
State Desired Change Here
(EQUILIBRIUM OR CURRENT STATUS)
Forces resisting the change
Force Field Analysis
Activity
With a person sitting next to you, work with the force field analysis using this situation:
You have decided to ask staff to help you increase parent involvement at your
school.
What are the driving and restraining forces involved? How can you increase the
How Can Leaders Best
Support the Improvement
Effort?
I. Recognize the Differences
Between Leadership &
Effective School Leaders Must:
Increase their own knowledge base
Take risks, break new ground, and cultivate
a climate of experimentation
Share leadership with competent staff --put
less competent staff “on a short leash”
Help others to acquire reform-related
knowledge and skills
Be persistent
Overlapping Arenas of Management Expertise Needed for Change to Take Root & Thrive
Management of day
to day school issues
Management of long
term school issues
Maintenance of
relationships with the governing body
Maintenance of
Conclusions from a Body of Recent
Research:
Effective school leaders are those
who are visionary and skillful
learners
, as well as strong and
Conclusion: One can become a
notably successful school leader
given any of a considerable array of
gifts and tendencies.
It’s what you do with what you have
How Do These Puzzle Pieces Fit
Together to Make a Coherent
Effective School-wide
Leadership Requires
Understanding of…
The System- context in which you
operate, including school/agency/district norms, local, state, and federal policies, and standards of accrediting bodies for public & private programs
Yourself- leadership style, preferences
for change, facilitation skills, philosophy of teaching and learning
Others- those who serve as “levers”
Relational Leadership Model
You as a Leader
Your own orientation to change,
leadership and management styles,
and philosophy of teaching and
Relationship to Others
Nearly all studies show that without
buy-in from teachers, change is
“doomed”.
At the very least, you need a critical
Building Consensus:
What Is Consensus?
Group decision-making process
Everyone's opinion is encouraged and valued Differences are viewed as helpful rather than
hindering
All voices are heard and understood before an
effort to finalize a decision is made
After full discussion, those who continue to
disagree indicate willingness to experiment for a prescribed period of time
Advantages of Decision-Making by
Consensus
Can be informal or use formal procedures Members are more likely to support the
decision
Provides for a win-win solution Facilitates open communication
Requires members to listen and understand all
sides of the issue
Sets the stage for action - who, what, where,
Disadvantages of Decision-Making
by Consensus
Trust is needed among members of group to
encourage sharing
Group leaders must use facilitation rather than
control
Takes more time to reach consensus,
especially in larger groups
7 magic number for reaching group consensus One or two people tend to dominate larger
Steps in Facilitating Consensus
1. Identify and define problem, situation, or issue
2. Brainstorm list of alternatives –suspend
judgment; do not discuss or reject any ideas 3. Review, change, consolidate, rewrite and set
priorities as a group through discussion 4. Make a decision and put in writing
Consensus Building:
Activity
As a group, come to consensus in regard to the following scenario:
Everyone in the group is a teacher at the same school and each staff member must have 15 clock hours of professional development per year. All have personal preferences for the topics of upcoming professional development workshops.
You must decide as a group what areas you want further training in and reach consensus on
Summary
