Change Agency Leadership for a
Strategic Future
Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS President
bassett@nais.org
Up to your Elbows in Routine Crises?
See PFB on Twitter: Tweeters & Followers
PatBassett We know it’s impossible to make everyone happy. It
may be impossible to make anyone happy. Key to successful
leadership: Hire happy people.
.5:09 PM Jul 6th from web
PatBassett Made a terrible blunder you need time to fix? Buy
time by proposing a change in the dress code: everyone will be
distracted for months.
less than 5 seconds ago from web
PatBassett Casey Stengel Leadership Lesson: “The key to
being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away
from those who are still undecided.”
8:36 PM Jun 22nd from web
PatBassett Blink: There's no 2nd chance to make a 1st
impression. Disarm the opposition and the sideline crowd by
telling a self-effacing story.
8:28 AM Jul 8 via web
PFB on Twitter
PatBassett "The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet."
--William Gibson.
2:43 PM Oct 13th from web
PatBassett Schools: On a train to the future? At the station
waiting for the train to stop? Or saddling a horse & looking to the
past with optimism?
9:23 AM May 26th from web
PatBassett A condition of 21st C. schools: teachers as
professionals who do action research, lesson study, and rounds.
11:57 AM Jun 9th from web
PatBassett A Parable - Advice to New Heads: Travel light.
Forsake excess baggage. Be prepared for delays. Have a backup
plan. Bring running shoes.
8:28 PM Jul 7 via web
Required Reading
for the
Admin Team
Change Agency: Motivators: Creating
the Conditions for Success
 Who could object to the change agenda?
– Message to Parents: “We preparing children for their future,
not your past.”
– Message to Faculty: “Don’t bother with the ‘The colleges
won’t like it’ excuse: The colleges will like it.” (Ask them.)
1. Cultivating the First Followers
2. Dan Pink on the “Science of Motivation.”
3. Dan & Chip Heath on orchestrating change: Switch: “How To
Change Things When Change Is Hard” & IDEO on Design.
4. Robert Kegan on Immunity to Change
5. Pat Bassett on Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
Creating a Movement ~ Derek Sivers, Ted Talk
PFB: Of the first three dancing guys, how many
are really good dancers?
Creating a Movement – 4 Principles
1. A lone nut does something great...
(PFB: Leaders don’t have to be talented, just a bit crazy.)
2. …but no movement without the first follower.
(PFB: You can’t care about the risk of looking crazy.)
3. Cultivate and celebrate the first follower…
(PFB: Show the way, then honor the first followers: e.g., Joe Biden
in catechism class)
4. …or have the courage to be the first follower.
(PFB: Moral courage the 1st virtue: Be the John Hancock to Thomas
Jefferson or the Reverend Abernathy to Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Play
See 11:00 – 13:07
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.htm
Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth
about What Motivates Us
 Extrinsic Motivators (carrot & stick) for Faculty?
–
–
–
–
Carrot (“pay for performance”); and
Stick (“probation and firing”).
How are these motivators going in school?
What are the equivalent extrinsic motivators for students?
 Intrinsic Motivators for Faculty?
–
–
–
–
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
What are the equivalent intrinsic motivators for students?
Where do we see these at work for kids?
 Case Study: Name a school change agenda item we’re not
making much progress on: How could we motivate a la Pink?
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
2. Intellectually stimulating
environment
3. Autonomy regarding work tasks
Pink’s first principle, autonomy
4. Flexible work arrangements
5. Access to new
experiences/challenges
Pink’s second principle, mastery
6. Giving back to world through
work
Pink’s third principle, purpose
7. Recognition from one’s employer
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
2. Flexible work arrangements
3. Prospects for advancement
4. Recognition from one’s employer
5. A steady rate of
advancement/promotion
6. Access to new
experiences/challenges
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
1. High quality colleagues
2. Intellectually stimulating
environment
2. Flexible work arrangements
3. Autonomy regarding work tasks
3. Prospects for advancement
4. Flexible work arrangements
4. Recognition from one’s employer
5. Access to new
experiences/challenges
5. A steady rate of
advancement/promotion
6. Giving back to world through
work
6. Access to new
experiences/challenges
7. Recognition from one’s employer
Which motivator can be counterproductive to organizational goals?
Professional Development in Independent Schools:
 “Here’s $2000 per year to spend as you like: go grow.”

As opposed to, “Here’s $2000 each, join or form an online
PLC -professional learning community- on one of the
following topics, and design your professional development
program around that topic, reporting out to the faculty at the
end of the year: 1.) differentiated instruction; 2.) brainbased learning; 3.) blended high-tech/high touch classroom
environments; 4.) formative testing.”
Return
Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is
Hard ~Chip and Dan Heath (Sticky Messages)
The Rider vs. the Elephant
(e.g., adoption of new technology)
1. Direct the Rider (mind)
Find the bright spots
Script the first critical moves
Send a postcard of the destination
2. Motivate the Elephant (heart)
Find the feeling
Shrink the change (limit the
choices – cf. Sheena Ivenger)
Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is
Hard ~Chip and Dan Heath (Sticky Messages)
3. Shape the Path (path)
Tweak the environment
 Build the habits
 Rally the herd
Return
 Example:
– Crystal Jones, TFA first-grade teacher in an inner city
school in Atlanta where there was no kindergarten. “By the
end of this school year, you are going to be third graders.”
– Geoffrey Canada: “If you child attends this school, he or
she will go to college.”
AllStudy:
about
communication
design
 Case
Name
a school change agenda&
item
we’re not
making much progress on: How could we motivate a la the
Heath brothers?
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Intentions and Actions: The Gap
-----------
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Case Study 1:
Losing Weight
Keeping it Off
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Losing Weight
Keeping it Off
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned Behaviors I
Goals:
Do/Don’t Do
that Undermine
Goal
Lose Weight
Cheat on diet: no
strict new
regimen
Keep it Off
Fail to exercise
more
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Lose Weight
Cheat on diet:
no strict new
regimen
Keep it Off
Fail to exercise
more
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Lose Weight
Cheat on diet:
no strict new
regimen
Eating as
pleasurable
pastime
Keep it Off
Fail to exercise Eating as
more
stress and
anxiety
reliever
Foot on gas……………………and on brake
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I Invisible
Do/Don’t Do Competing
that
Drivers
Undermine
Goal
Lose Weight
Cheat on diet:
no strict new
regimen
Fail to
exercise more
Keep it Off
Eating as
pleasurable
pastime
Eating as
stress and
anxiety
reliever
Big,
Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Lose Weight
Keep it Off
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Cheat on diet:
no strict new
regimen
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Eating as
pleasurable
pastime
Fail to
Eating as
exercise more stress and
anxiety
reliever
Big,
Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
I can’t find
equally
pleasurable
alternatives
I might
become
someone who
is not me
Change: Identify drivers and assumptions. Test the assumptions.
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Case Study 2:
Be an Innovator
Lead the Change
Agenda
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Case Study 2:
Be a Change Agent
Lead the Change
Agenda
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Case Study 2:
Be a Change Agent
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Lead the Change
Agenda
Make the case for
the rider but not the
elephant
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Invisible
Do/Don’t Do that Competing
Undermine Goal Drivers
Case Study 2:
Be a Change
Agent
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Lead the Change
Agenda
Make the case for
the rider but not
the elephant
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
Well-Intentioned
Goals:
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do that
Undermine Goal
Invisible
Competing Drivers
Be a Change Agent
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Keeping peace more
important than
effecting change
Lead the Change
Agenda
Make the case for
the rider but not the
elephant
Fear that you won’t
have followers; that
the change won’t
work - seen as a
failure
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Be a Change
Agent
Lead the
Change
Agenda
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Keeping peace
more important
than effecting
change
Make the case Fear that the
for the rider but change won’t
not the
work - seen as
elephant
a failure; fear
change agent
punished
Big, Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
Robert Kegan’s Immunity to Change
WellIntentioned
Goals:
Be a Change
Agent
Lead the
Change
Agenda
Behaviors I
Do/Don’t Do
that
Undermine
Goal
Fail to align
resources and
incentives
Invisible
Competing
Drivers
Keeping peace
more important
than effecting
change
Make the case Fear that the
for the rider but change won’t
not the
work - seen as
elephant
a failure; fear
change agent
punished
Big, Untested
Assumptions
Behind Col 3
Drivers
No one wants
change
Failure will be
punished
instead of
trying being
rewarded
Return
PFB on the Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
Source: Center for Ethical Leadership (Bill Grace, Pat Hughes, & Pat Turner), Kellogg National Leadership Program Seminar,
Snoqualine, WA, 7/10/97. Reference: William Bridges, Transitions; Kurt Lewin, Field Theory in Social Science; Virginia Satir, The
Satir Model; George David, Compressed Experience Workplace Simulation; Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death & Dying; Tom Peters, In
Search of Excellence.
 The research on change indicates that there are
predictable stages individuals experience whenever a
major change event appears. What are they?
 Exercise:
 Identify 2 major change events in your life
 Indicate the stages you went through as the change
occurred.
 As a small group determine what stages you had in
common despite differences in the change events you
were thinking of.
The Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
Source: Center for Ethical Leadership (Bill Grace, Pat Hughes, & Pat Turner), Kellogg National Leadership Program Seminar,
Snoqualine, WA, 7/10/97. Reference: William Bridges, Transitions; Kurt Lewin, Field Theory in Social Science; Virginia Satir, The
Satir Model; George David, Compressed Experience Workplace Simulation; Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death & Dying; Tom Peters, In
Search of Excellence.
1. Business as Usual: the routine; the frozen state; the
status quo
2. External Threat: potential disaster; propitious change
event; an ending; a “death in the family”; an unfreezing
via the introduction of a foreign element;
disequilibrium; dissatisfaction with the status quo.
3. Denial: refusal to read the Richter scale; anger and
rage; chaos.
The Seven Stages of the Change Cycle
4.
Mourning: confusion; depression.
5. Acceptance: letting go.
6. Renewal: creativity; the incubation state of new
ideas and epiphanies; new beginnings; movement;
vision of what “better” might look like;
reintegration; first practical steps; practice of new
routines.
7. New Structure: sustainable change; the new status
quo; new “frozen” state of restored equilibrium;
spiritual integration; internalization and
transformation of self.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Conventional Wisdom: Raise the Volume…
 Declare war, demonize the enemy, mobilize the
public
Problems with Raising the Volume in School
Culture…
 Skepticism: Teachers are intellectuals--declarations
of imminent collapse are met with suspicion.
 Good is the enemy of great: Jim Collins’ Good to
Great. Absence of provoking crisis makes avoidance
easy.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Problems with Raising the Volume in School Culture…
 Success: Track record of independent schools the
greatest impediment to change: We can’t declare war
when schools are enjoying decades of peace and
prosperity. So why advocate change????
 Increasingly the public identifies high quality schools with
innovativeness, and least identifies innovativeness with
independent schools.
 The independent school model may not be financially
sustainable in it current incarnation of skyrocketing tuitions.
 What’s best for kids needs to be reasserted as institutions
almost always over time gravitate towards doing what’s best for
adults.
Effecting Change
Developing Followership for Change:
 Coercive model works (“We’re about to close unless all
faculty including department chairs teach five classes
instead of four with 20-25 kids in each class”)…
…but it works at a high cost to morale.
 Appeal to idealism works (“We have an opportunity to
create a new model here and become pioneers”)…
…but it works only if you have a highly committed
“band of brothers” and strong, visionary, and
inspirational leadership.
Effecting Change
Developing Buy-in for Change:
 Mutual benefit (“What’s in it for me?”) model works
(“Beyond supporting this direction because ‘it’s the right
thing to do,’ we are designing a new framework that is
mutually beneficial to the school and its staff”)…
…but it works only if you build in significant
incentives.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Alternative to Conventional Wisdom (Raise
the Volume)…
Lower the Noise…
By…
 Talking about/Personalizing Change:
Anticipating the Seven Stages
 Betting on the Fastest Horses
Acknowledging Denial & Mourning
Stages of Change
All change begins not with a beginning but an
ending.
• Example: Getting married = end of…
being single
unconditional love
having your own bathroom (and towels)
the sports car
Effecting Change
Abstracting and Personalizing Change
Faculty exercise: What are your own major change events? A move?
Marriage? Admin job? Can we predict & prepare for stages?
Change Agency: Bet on the Fast Horses
 Main Impediment to Change:
Consensus model of decision making.
(“My biggest challenge is convincing my faculty
members that they are not self-employed.”) ~Lou Salza
 Coalition-building Model: Betting on the Fastest Horses: targeted
buy-in via modeling. Ride the “tipping point” horses. (Malcolm
Gladwell’s mavens, connectors, and salespeople).
 Recruiting “the coalition of the willing.” Margaret Mead Dictum:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the
world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Case Studies
 Professionalizing the
Profession
 Student and School Outcomes
for the 21st C:
Demonstrations of Learning
Change Agency Case Study #1
Professionalizing the
Profession at your School
Strategic Issue: Professionalizing the Profession
Source: Katherine Boles, HGSE/NAIS Seminar, Nov. 2006
Characteristic
Not a Profession
Career Path
Egalitarianism — no career
ladder
Isolation — practice is a
freelance craft
A Profession
Professional Development
Recognition for achievement
— clearly defined career path
Teaming — practices
characterized by teamwork
and collaboration
Poor preparation — "anyone Rigor — High entry
can do it"
requirements: standards,
skills, testing
Little or no mentoring
Mentoring is the expectation
& the norm
Weak or nonexistent
Integral to the career
Research
Practice unrelated to research Research informs practice
Accountability
Outcomes unrelated to
Accountability across the
promotion and salary
board
Little impact on institutional Shared decision making
decisions
Professional Relationships
Entry and Training
Induction
Power Structure
The End!
“So what’s it gonna be, eh?”
A Clockwork Orange
NAIS Strategic Planning: Breakout Groups
(partnerships; school of future;
sustainability, etc.)
Why doesn’t anyone want to sit at the innovation table?
Design Thinking by IDEO (Fred Dust)

Know the threats to your value proposition. For Higher Ed? For
independent schools?
– Fred Dust: The moment Google starts hiring smart self-educated
people who submit digital portfolios of what they can do instead of
college transcripts of what they know, the higher ed value
proposition is in jeopardy.
– PFB: High Tech High. The Big Picture schools.

Think people first, not business or technology first. Failures?
– Fred Dust: Walmart milk container & Segway
– PFB: Microfiche. Filmstrip projectors. Encarta.

Question assumptions about your users. Look but don't ask, because
you'll get misinformation. Watch people in context. (IDEO design
teams include psychologists and anthropologists.)
– PFB: What assumptions do we make about our students? Parents?
Design Thinking by IDEO (Fred Dust)
 Expand your competitive set. For schools?
– PFB: Gaming. Military. Museums. Summer Camp.
 Expand your Ecosystem. School 2.0. Do you really need a
new building?
– PFB: New School in NYC & Lighthouse School in
Nantucket (and all the Semester Schools).
– PFB: Dartmouth quarter plan. Blended learning ½ time.
 Build your own metrics.
– PFB: Demonstrations of Learning. Digital portfolios.
 Undertake small scale experiments. Figure out what do
you immediately.
– PFB: Challenge 20/20
Return
RSAnimate’s 21st C. Enlightenment
Play
Demonstrations of Learning:
“What you do, not what you know, the ultimate
test of education.” ~PFB Tweet
1. Conduct a fluent conversation in a foreign language about
of piece of writing in that language.
2. Write a cogent and persuasive opinion piece on a matter of
public importance.
3. Declaim with passion and from memory a passage that is
meaningful, of one’s own or from the culture’s literature or
history.
4. Demonstrate a commitment to creating a more sustainable
and global future with means that are scalable
5. Invent a machine or program a robot capable of performing
a difficult physical task.
Demonstrations of Learning
6. Exercise leadership in arena which you have
passion and expertise.
7. Using statistics, assess if a statement by a public
figure is demonstrably true.
8. Assess media coverage of a global event from
various cultural/national perspectives.
9. Describe a breakthrough for a project-based team
on which you participated in which you contributed
to overcoming a human-created obstacle.
10. Produce or perform or interpret a work of art.
Tiananmen Square