Leadership in the Movies: Change Management in Schools

     

     For many school and system leaders, change can be very difficult to implement. Often leaders think that they have a leadership position, therefore people will naturally get in line with a change initiative because it's coming from a place of "authority". If we are seeking true change and not just compliance, this perspective couldn't be further from the truth.
     Implementing change inside schools requires more than just new initiatives, rules, and processes. A key piece of the puzzle is making sure that the people inside the organization understand why the change is happening and are committed to the change. You must have your people behind the change if it's going to be successful. I believe two main ingredients must be present for successful change; TRUST and COMMUNICATION.
     Your people have to trust that you are changing things for not just your own benefit, prestige, or potential accolades, but for the benefit of the school and its students. Without trust, you'll see push back and resistance from the people who are unsure about why the change is happening. Some leaders move forward with trust while others naively move forward thinking that positional authority is enough to get the job done. Let's look at some examples.

     Doc's outlandish change initiative is to travel back in time. Marty is obviously not too sure about the success of this initiative, but because he TRUSTS Doc, he will stand in front of a car traveling at him at more than 80 miles per hour. I'd say that Doc has done some trust building.

     Let's take a moment and talk about moving forward without TRUST. This should concern a leader not just for the success or failure of the change initiative, but their long term success as the leader. When we lead and try to affect change from a place of positional leadership, we invite quiet dissension to glide in like a mosquito. This dissension will slowly and surely suck the effectiveness out of the leader to impact positive change in the school. 

      Some leaders expect loyalty, no matter what. I've always believed that loyalty should be a force that moves up and down any organization. It's not a one way street that moves from the bottom up. The most important thing for a school leader is to identify the need for change. In other words, "What needs to change in our school to make it a better place for students?" Once the "what" has been identified, the best leaders let their staff decide on the best strategy to address the issue. The staff has input and are emotionally invested in the initiative's success. 

     In summary, every successful change initiative must be about the students and the school and not about you. Your people need to know that your motives are pure and trust is that foundation. Once, an agreed upon need has been identified, communicate and work together to develop the most effective strategy to meet that need.