Participate: Becoming a Changemaker

Too often, organizations decide to make change without a clear vision of what they want to accomplish and why. Change for change sake generally leads to failure and frustration. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, tells individuals to start with the end in mind. Effective change agents ask critical questions at the outset that create a strategic and tactical framework to produce desired results.

Consider these questions, answer them honestly, and then map out the reasons that change is needed in a change plan. This will lay a solid foundation for any change initiatives undertaken by the school or education organization.

Data drive many education organizations, including outcomes data, cost data, performance data, etc. We are often overwhelmed by data—the challenge then becomes how to identify, measure, and monitor the vital few metrics that will inform the change effort, and have the ability to analyze and extract key pieces of information that add value and meaning to the organizational change.

Relevant and reliable data speak to community leaders and officials, politicians, funders, and other professionals involved with education. It is the common language that engages and motivates key stakeholders. Data provide the benchmark against which the success of any change initiative can be measured. It also keeps change agents and key stakeholders focused on the tasks at hand. Identifying meaningful metrics and extracting accurate data to support the progress achieved will keep everyone at the table actively engaged, and enthusiastically participating. It will also help to attract them to a common set of goals in the education improvement effort.

Launching a change initiative within your organization has many ramifications. There is seldom change without resistance. Fear of something new is also a frequent occurrence as the perceived security of the status quo begins to change. Whether the change is small (changing the location of a resource area) or big (integrating a new curriculum), keeping all stakeholders informed is critical.

When change is on the horizon, most people want to know the following: what is the change, why is it being implemented, who is going to do what, how is it going to impact me, and when is it going to impact me?

To ensure that people understand the reason for change, the communication must be honest, timely, clear, and stakeholder-friendly. A predetermined set of core messages that grounds all communication related to change should be developed and adhered to. This will provide a thread of consistency and credibility. Communication also must be delivered at a time and in a format (be sure to leverage multiple communication channels and modalities) that will encourage stakeholders to receive and process the information. Effective change agents recognize the importance of communication and often seek the expertise of internal or external communications professionals.

When it comes to change, the golden rule is “You can’t communicate too early or too often.” Effective, active listening is also fundamental to successful change management. Confirming that the group to whom you are communicating has received and understood the message, as well as affirming that you are listening, is vitally important to success.

The pressures on schools and organizations to change have never been greater. This is partly because the value of education as a stabilizing and powerful force in communities has finally been realized. However, change comes in all forms and is called many things: continuous improvement, adapting new technology, adopting evidence-based practices, embracing new pedagogical methods. All of these events involve change.

While leading change and actively participating can be stressful, a well-designed roadmap for change can be the blueprint for success. The roadmap not only keeps participants on-task, but also identifies milestones that signal a time to celebrate. Achieving the desired change doesn’t happen overnight. Generally, the process takes weeks, months, and sometimes even years.

Effective change agents recognize the importance of those milestone moments and passionately pursue every opportunity to celebrate success and honor those who helped achieve it. Celebrating is infectious and small steps that lead to small successes gradually builds momentum and strengthens buy-in for and understanding of the “new way of doing things.”