Making the Most of Transitions Cal Crow, Ph.D Center for Efficacy and Resiliency Edmonds Community College

When faced with transitions, many organizations adopt a “wait and see” approach. Soon, things just happen and a new culture emerges, almost by default. Nobody planned it. It just happened, before anyone was aware of it.

It becomes “the way we do things here,” although people don’t really know why. They may be unhappy with it, but lack the knowledge, energy or will to change it. This is an example of unplanned change.

Many of the changes made during times of transition are transactional rather than transformational. They are designed to “do something different” rather than to “make a difference.”

We all know that change in any organization is difficult. (You’ve probably heard that the only humans who welcome change are wet babies.)

However, during times of transition, when change is all around us, it is easier to think of possibilities for improvement. “As long as we’re changing this anyway, why not rethink that as well?”

A time of transition can give us time to rethink our mission and vision. “To prepare students for today’s careers and tomorrow’s opportunities.” “To be both a college and employer of choice.”

Is our focus only about helping students acquire knowledge and skill sets for the workplace, or do we want to help them become different people? Do we want them to describe mainly what they learned from us, or how they changed and grew because of us?

What populations “out there” are most in need of our services? Offenders? Veterans? Skilled, discouraged, long-term unemployed workers? Encore workers?

Imagine that you could design an Institute of Technology from scratch. Would it look like this one? How would it be different? What would you focus on first?

Everyone here has an idea for making the college better in some way. Think of conversations you have had where you or someone else says, “Why don’t they...?” or “I wish we...” What are some of your ideas?

Most decisions are based on emotions and values. They are rarely based solely on facts. What emotions and values do you see driving decisions at LW Tech now and during the coming year?

Would it be possible for every department or division to have a mechanism to generate suggestions for improvement during this time of transition?

Everything and everyone in this institution is connected. As you decide to move from point A to point B during this time of transition, be sure to consider its impact on every person. If people aren’t touched positively, they won’t participate, and may sabotage.

If you are planning to make changes, make sure everyone knows about them, and has internalized them and the impact on their respective departments. They may not agree with all of them, but at least they will understand them, and be able to apply them to their parts of the institution.

A major reason that the majority of organizational change efforts fail is lack of communication. This creates an information vacuum, which “must” be filled. (We don’t like vacuums.) Rumors begin, and the intended change gets derailed.

What value does LW Tech add to its graduates? How are they “better” than students from similar institutions? What would make LW Tech be a college and employer of choice?

How bonded are students to the college? How about faculty and staff? How are new faculty and staff integrated into and made a part of the system? What about part-time faculty and staff?

How is each person in the room this morning preparing students for tomorrow’s opportunities. What kind of futuring is occurring? Do graduates know how to take advantage of opportunities they may encounter in the future?

When a student completes a program at LW Tech, how many combinations of knowledge and skill sets do they have? How many ways can they organize them to increase their chances of staying employed in the future?