TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE Path 1: Assessing the External Environment

Three Paths to the Future ■Path 1: Transform environmental relationships ■Path 2: Transform core and support work ■Path 3: Transform internal social infrastructure

Path1: Transform Environmental Relationships ■All systems exist inside broader environment ■Environment has two parts: task environment and general environment

Suppliers Local community New Competitors Customers Existing Competitors Federal Legislation Demographics World Events Economic Conditions Social Values and Lifestyles Task Environment General Environment

Assessing the External Environment ■Tools –Stakeholder Analysis –SWOT Analysis –Force Field Analysis –Political Assessment

Stakeholder Analysis ■Identify your system’s key external stakeholders—individuals and groups ■Identify their main issues or concerns? Estimate how important these issues or concerns are for your system? ■Estimate how much power they have. Power is the ability to influence your system’s behavior.

SWOT Analysis ■First, identify opportunities and threats –Data-based, not opinion-based –Real, not hypothetical ■Second, given the opportunities and threats identify your system’s strengths and weaknesses –Honest, not self-deceptive –Real, not imagined –Data-based, not opinion-based

SWOT Analysis Matrix OpportunitiesThreats StrengthsWhat strengths does our system have that can help us seize these opportunities? What strengths do we have that can help us minimize or avoid these threats? WeaknessesWhat weaknesses doer our system have that might prevent or hinder us from seizing these opportunities? What weaknesses do we have that make us more vulnerable to these threats?

Force Field Analysis (use your stakeholder and SWOT analysis data to identify external forces for and against change) Forces Supporting Transformation Forces Opposing Transformation Stakeholder pressure to transform—strong Changing demographics of student population— moderate Local business community— weak Lack of financial resources— very strong Dominant paradigm controlling Deaf education— strong Teacher education programs not adequately preparing future teachers— moderate Transformation Goals

Political Assessment (use the results of your stakeholder analysis to make these assessments) ■Transformational change generates political behavior –Political support—internal and external –Political opposition—internal and external ■Assess external political support and opposition by identifying –Allies –Bedfellows –Opponents –Adversaries –Fence-sitters

Political Groups Within the External Environment High Agreement Bedfellows Fence-Sitters Allies Low Agreement AdversariesOpponents Low TrustHigh Trust Adapted from Block, P. (1991). The empowered manager: Positive political skills at work. San Francisco: Berrett- Koehler Publishers.

Political Analysis of Key Stakeholders High influence, High Importance Low influence, High Importance High influence, Low Importance Low influence, Low Importance Allies BedfellowsOpponents Fence-Sitters Adversaries Level of influence = amount of power Level of importance = how important their concerns are

SWOT + Force Field Analysis + Political Assessment—Now What? ■OT + SW + FFA+ PA tactics plans ■The plans for change must be aligned with the grand vision and strategic direction of your system ■The tactics and plans should be developed through broad participation—people tend to support what they help create

Anticipating Objections to Change ■Political opposition (adversaries and opponents) will raise objections to proposed changes. ■The objections often are expressed as “nice idea, but….”

6 Common Objections Nice idea, but… who else is doing this? Nice idea, but… how do we pay for this?

6 Common Objections Nice idea, but… we can’t stop doing what we’re doing to participate in this kind of change process. Nice idea, but… there is nothing new about what you are proposing— we tried all this before.

6 Common Objections Nice idea, but… we don’t need to do this because we are already a good school system. Nice idea, but… we don’t have the right people working in the system.

The Strongest Objections—Paradigms, Mental Models, and Mind-Sets ■Paradigm—a set of theories, philosophy, values, principles, and so on that control a profession. ■Mental Models—preferred ways of working, thinking, behaving ■Mind-Sets—attitudes toward the paradigm and mental models

Deaf Education Example Dominant Deaf Education Paradigm Mental Models in Deaf Education ASL-OnlySigned EnglishLanguage PlanningOralCued Speech Mind-Sets About the Paradigm and Mental Models PositiveNeutralNegative Behavioral Strategies to Support the Preferred Paradigm and Mental Models Observable Behavior that Reinforces the Paradigm, Mental Model, and Mind-Sets

Group Activities ■Working in small groups… 1.Identify your system’s key stakeholders a)Who are they? b)What are their key concerns or issues? c)How much power do they have to influence your system’s behavior? 2.Assess your system’s opportunities and threats, then its strengths and weaknesses. a)What data do you have or need to back up your assessment? b)How will you get those data?

Group Activities (continued) 3.Review your list of key stakeholders to identify who among them are: a)Allies b)Bedfellows c)Adversaries d)Opponents e)Fence-Sitters 4.Identify some possible objections to change that your adversaries, adversaries, opponents, and fence-sitters might raise.

Group Activities (continued) 5.Construct a force field analysis matrix using the results of the first four activities. a)Identify some strategies for minimizing or removing the forces opposing your ideas for change. 6.Given the paradigm controlling Deaf education and its supporting mental models and mind-sets, discuss whether or not those phenomena need to change.

You have 60 minutes to work through as many of the activities as possible. When we reconvene as a large group I will ask randomly selected groups to report their results. If you have questions about assessing the external environment please present them when we reconvene.

“Poll Everywhere”questions ■Do you believe that assessing the external environment is a critical step in your system’s transformation journey? 1.Yes 2.No 3.Maybe ■How would you rate your system’s level of readiness to engage in transformational change? 1.Not ready 2.Ready 3.Mastery ■How would you estimate the probability of your system’s chances of succeeding with its transformation? 1.Very low probability 2.Low probability 3.Moderately good probability 4.High probability 5.Very high probability