Leadership Skill Sets For Change WEST VIRGINIA INSTITUTE FOR 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP STONEWALL JACKSON RESORT NOVEMBER 2009

Change because you see the light, not because you feel the heat

My Experience With Change

Varsity Step Team

Create A Sense Of Urgency For Those Things That Matter Most

Every school is perfectly aligned for the results it gets

The Myth That Hard Work Will Get Us Where We Need To Be

Working Hard The issue of hard work: most educators I have met work pretty hard, but are they working hard on the right things? Consider the following…

Are You Scraping The Right Car?

Three Keys to Get Results People Strategy Outcomes

Core Values and Beliefs Elements of Change People Strategy Outcomes Results Core Values and Beliefs

Are You Structured For Results? Are you willing to challenge your own assumptions? Do you recognize the factors that can negatively impact implementation? Are you aware how much time it takes to institute change (stay the course)? Are you addressing the real problem/challenge?

Are You Structured For Results? Do you realize that some people will ignore you? Do you have all the right information and data that support the change, and have you shared that? With whom? Have you identified if the change is 1st or 2nd order? Have you listened to the naysayers?

Are You Structured For Results? Are you gradually building a community of support for the change (ownership)? Do you have too many initiatives going on at the same time?

People

Resistance To Change

Know Your People To get results with any change initiative you can’t do it alone. Structuring for results requires gaining support from your staff. Do you know your staff?

Engage the People What you can do: Recognize, recognize, recognize When and wherever possible Meet with one per day Who has influence in your school? The power of the one-on-one meeting Five students per day Call five parents per day Include the Eeyores Understand most people are with you “win or tie”

Maximizing Growth Panic Zone! Growth Zone Comfort Zone Purposeful Change Maximizing Growth Panic Zone! Growth Zone Comfort Zone (The Status Quo)

Strategy

Strategy Insist on realism Too many people are trying to avoid reality Reality can make life uncomfortable Realism must be the goal of all conversations in your school Harry Truman said… Reality is the baseline for change The “Nine Rs”

The “Five Whys:” Getting to Reality The 5 Whys is a simple problem-solving technique that helps users to get to the root of the problem quickly The 5 Whys strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: "Why?" and "What caused this problem?" Very often, the answer to the first "why" will prompt another "why" and the answer to the second "why" will prompt another and so on; hence the name the 5 Whys strategy. Benefits of the 5 Whys include: It helps to quickly determine the root cause of a problem It is easy to learn and apply

Identifying The Realities (5 Whys) Communication (2) Too many initiatives (1) Time (0) Trust (3) Lack of Focus (4) From this process, the results indicated: Barriers = Lack of Focus & Trust Excuses = Time

Outcomes

Outcomes Set Clear Goals and Priorities Focus on a few that everyone can grasp TPS-TIF Goals Focusing on three priorities will yield the greatest results Ask yourself, “if we do these three things really well, what might be the impact?” Your strategic plan (127 pages or 1 page) Focus on simplicity-principals who get results speak simply and directly

Are You Ready To Embrace Change? Consider The Following Questions:

When we are considering a change initiative keep in mind the Grief To Benefit Ratio

Make It A Front Burner Item Grief To Benefit Ratio Low High Benefit Don’t Do It Do It, But Be Strategic Do It; It’s An Easy Win Make It A Front Burner Item High Grief Low

Change with Purpose

Change without purpose is just rearranging the seats on the Titanic…the boat is still going down.

Sustainability and Resiliency

Sustainability Sustainability is inherently static It presumes there’s a point at which we can maintain ourselves and the world, and once we find the right combination it allows us a measure of stability First order change thinking Sustainability is a brittle state Is does not allow for unexpected and rapid change

Resiliency Resiliency Accepts that change is inevitable and, in many cases, out of our hands Focusing on the need to be able to withstand the unexpected

Sustainability and Resiliency Sustainability is all about survival Resiliency is all about being able to overcome the unexpected

The Knowing-Doing Gap

Flexibility and Adaptability The Reindeer Story