Leading Change in Schools
Chris Daicos
Dip Tch ( Prim) BA BSW
Ph 94824418
www.chrisdaicos.com.au
The Call to Change
Implementing change in ways that benefit
student learning requires leadership skills.
All educators are being challenged to
become leaders who can make a
difference by helping implement changes
necessary to improve learning.
Leaders must teach others what they know
and how to do it in order to develop
others as leaders to share in the
responsibility of implementing the
necessary changes.
M. Fullan Leading in a Culture of Change
"In times of change, learners inherit
the Earth, while the learned find
themselves beautifully equipped to
deal with a world that no longer
exists."
- Eric Hoffer 1902-1983 ,
American social writer
Why teachers must become
change agents…..
Fullan agues that for teachers to
retain the sense of moral purpose
and commitment that lead them
into teaching they need to
`combine the mantle of moral
purpose with the skills of change
agentry.'
Moral purpose and change
agentry ...are natural
allies...moral purpose or making a
difference, concerns bringing
about improvements. Moral
purpose keeps teachers close to
the needs of children and youth,
change agentry causes them to
develop better.. strategies for
accomplishing their moral goals.
The qualities of change
leaders
• A commitment to personal change
• Comfort with complexity and
ambiguity
• High moral confidence
• A compelling vision
• Interpersonal engagement
• A willingness to challenge
authority
• Personal resilience and
sustainability
Stakeholder Analysis
High
A
G
R
E
E
M
E
N
T
Low
BEDFELLOWS
ALLIES
Fence
Sitters
ADVERSARIES
OPPONENETS
TRUST
High
Stakeholders
Allies – High Trust/High Agreement
share our vision are people in whom we have a high
level of trust
Bedfellows – High Agreement/Low Trust
Are aligned to our vision, goals and objectives but
there are issues of trust. They don’t always give us
the full story
Opponents – High trust/Low Agreement
Are those peole that we trust a great deal, but who
disagree with our purpose, direction or goals.
Fence Sitters - Low Trust/Unknown Agreement
Is someone who simply wont take a stand for or
against us. At the heart of the fence sitter is doubt.
The risks and uncertainty dominate the discussion.
Commitments are essentially soft and filled with
contingency
Adversaries – Low Agreement/Low Trust
People become adversaries only when our attempts
at negotiating agreement and trust have failed.
Engaging stakeholders
A stakeholder is anyone that will be
affected by the change
Stakeholder segmentation should be
detailed enough to allow you to shape a
focused communication campaign to move
other stakeholders to a positive position on
the change; you may need different
messages for different groups (Parents.,
students, teacher, admin etc.)
2 questions on stakeholders
minds
1. How will this affect me? Stakeholders
will evaluate a change in terms of how it
will affect them in terms of potential
benefits and real and feared losses.
2. What do I think of the person (s)
proposing and leading this change?
Relationships play a critical role in the
success or failure of change projects. The
change team needs to b, credible,
credentialed (in terms of the area of
change) and respected in order to have
access to and influence others
Stakeholders can become
adversaries or allies on the basis
of 2 dimensions:
1. Agreement ( about whether or
not, about where we are headed]
2. Trust (about the way we behave
to achieve that)
The Change Model
The Change Model describes the
reactions to change in three terms:
endings, transitions and
beginnings.
Endings- some things cease to be.
Transitions- becoming conscious of
what is ending and what is beginning
Beginnings- aligning yourself to a
common purpose and vision
Endings
The sense of loss
-job loss, loss of work colleagues, loss of
familiar work methods and procedures,
loss of a significant part of what is
comfortable.
Excess baggage is not stopping that
familiar job, tasks, personal
relationship, method but continuing to
do it or keep it in the new situation
Endings cont’d
Intellectual versus emotional endings
just because you can understand
something doesn't mean you accept it.
Emotional reservations result in a
constant energy drain
People can express emotional concerns
in more acceptable intellectual or
technical statements
Transitions
The process of letting go and moving
on. - The transition to what?
It can be taking what is good from the
past into the future.- namely your
skills, strengths and aspirations, the
department's achievements,
strengths.
Making connections between the old
and the new.
Beginnings
There needs to be a certain level of
ownership of the change
People are continually changing, are
continually changing places and not
everyone is at the same place.
The building blocks of beginnings
don't only rely on-goals, plans and
motivation but also on vision,
commitment, alignment and trust
Concerns-Based Adoption
Model (CBAM)
Managing Change
through
“Stages of Concern”
CHANGE:

Is a PROCESS, not an event

Is made by INDIVIDUALS first, then
institutions

Is a highly PERSONAL experience

Entails DEVELOPMENTAL growth in
feelings and skills
The Phases
of transition
through
change
Denial
Numbness
Work as usual focus on the ‘way we
were’
It will be over real soon
Apathy
There is activity but not much gets
done
Resistance
Self doubt, anger, blame, anxiety
depression ,fear or uncertainty
People are upset and negative
Productivity dips dramatically
‘retirement on the job’ – “whats the
point this place doesn’t care
anymore.”
Exploration
Energy released, people focus on the
future & external environment
‘chaos’ ( figuring out new responsibilities,
searching for new ways to relate, how will
things work out?”
“Lets try this and this and what about this?’
Lots of energy and new ideas but a lack of
focus
Uncertainty and excitement
Internal energy drawn on to figure out ways
to capitalise on the future
Commitment
Teamwork
Ready to focus on a plan
Willingness to re- create mission &
build action plans
Prepared to learn
Re-negotiated roles and expectations
Those who are committed are looking
for the next challenge
Stages of Concern About
Innovation
0 Awareness
1 Information
2 Personal
3 Management
Consequences
Collaboration
Refocusing
Little concern or involvement
Desire to know more
Analysis of how the innovation
will affect me
How to work effectively with the
innovation
Effects of using the innovation
Ways of co-operating with other
people
Refining the ideas of the
innovation
self
task
Impact
Stage of Concern Types of expressions you would
expect to hear:
6. REFOCUSING
“I have some ideas about something that would work
even better.”
5. COLLABORATION
“How can I relate what I am doing to what others are
doing?”
4. CONSEQUENCE
“What impact am I having? How can I refine it to
have more impact?”
3. MANAGEMENT
“I seem to be spending all my time getting materials
ready.”
2. PERSONAL
“How will using it affect me?”
1. INFORMATIONAL
“I would like to know more about it.”
0. AWARENESS
“I am not concerned about it.”
Stages of Concern
Self Concerns: Stages 0, 1, & 2
Most frequently expressed prior to beginning a
new innovation. Concerns reflect a need for
more information and answers.
“What is this all about?”
“How does this affect me?”
Stages of Concern
Task Concerns: Stage 3
Most frequently expressed just prior to and
during the initial stage of implementation of a
new innovation. Concerns reflect a need to
know how to manage the innovation.
“How do I find the time to do all of
this?” “How do I manage these new
materials?” “How do I group
students?”
Stages of Concern
Impact Concerns: Stages 4, 5, & 6
Most frequently expressed once the person
feels comfortable managing and implementing
the new innovation.
Concerns reflect questions about the impact on
student learning, how to improve the
innovation, how effective it is, or how to
collaborate with others to improve it.
“Are my students learning anything?”
“I have ideas about how to make it
better.”
Conditions for Implementing
Change
Intelligible
Plausible
Feasible
Fruitful/
Beneficial
Time, personal understanding,
support reflection on practice
Existence of a problem does not
mean it can be solved at this time
and in this place.
Policies represent intentions to
solve problems. What can be
achieved depends on resources
and priorities in the school
Time personal understanding,
experience
To successfully implement change
you need to address the following
human needs
For meaning
For some control
For some positive
reinforcement
For experimentation to try out
new skills and not be
ridiculed.
Interventions to Address Concerns
Stage 0:
Awareness
Concerns
Involve them in
discussions and
decisions.
Arouse interest.
Give permission not to
know.
Provide information
and encourage
sharing.
Interventions to Address Concerns
Stage 1:
Informational
Concerns
Provide clear and
accurate
information.
Share information
often and in a
variety of ways.
Show how changes
relate to current
practices
(similarities and
differences.)
Interventions to Address Concerns
Stage 2:
Personal
Concerns
Draw out and
address personal
concerns directly.
Use personal notes
and conversation.
Connect people to
others who are
influential and
supportive.
Interventions to Address Concerns
Stage 3:
Management
Concerns
Focus on specific
areas for change.
Answer specific
“how to” questions.
Identify sequences
of activities and set
timelines for
implementation.
Interventions to Address Concerns
Stage 4:
Consequence
Concerns
Gather data and
provide feedback.
Provide
opportunities for
users to share
knowledge and
skills.
Provide evaluation
strategies.
Interventions to Address Concerns
Stage 5:
Collaboration
Concerns
Train people to
collaborate.
Arrange for people to
help each other.
Rearrange
schedules so people
have time to work
together.
Interventions to Address Concerns
Stage 6:
Refocusing
Concerns
Train people to
experiment and
collect data on
results.
Document changes
being made and
monitor impact.
Peoples responses to change
Victim/owner
Loss/gain
Rigidity/resilience
Disengagement( withdrawal)
Disidentification ( sadness/worry)
Disorientation ( confusion)
Disenchantment ( anger)
Fullan ( 1997) …”With greater emotional intelligence
and empathy, initiators of change learn form resistors.
They know that emotion is energy.
The three negative strategies that
are usually used to deal with
resistance:Break it down ( threats,
coercion)
Avoid it
Minimize it ( discount, trivialise)
A Positive Approach to Minimise
Resistance to Change
Step 1.Surface the Resistance
Step 2.Honour the Resistance
Step 3.Explore the Resistance.
Step 4.Re-check
Step 5.Follow-Up
HOW DO I MOVE MYSELF AND
OTHER PEOPLE
TOWARD BEGINNINGS
The CSE Support System
Clarify concerns and issues through
listening, focusing, restating
Sharing- signal the shift, explain the
purpose of the information, overview the
change in general, link the change to their
concerns, summarise the concerns
Engage- ask for understanding and
agreement, ask for ideas, suggest ideas,
agree to finite steps
Change process and conflict
Change means movement. Movement
means friction. Only in the frictionless
vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world
can movement or change occur without
that abrasive friction or conflict
Alinsky (1971)
The process of change is, at its core
a process of conflict resolution E. Marcus
Three critical psychological
components involved in any change
process:
1.Motivation
2.Resistance
3.Commitment to change
Unfreezing
Developing openness toward
something different
Melting of the solidity of the current
state
Driving and Restraining Forces
relevant to understanding the process of
unfreezing
Useful method for portraying the array of
forces acting on a system at any given
moment
Serves to illustrate the current state of the
system
Forces that promote the change (driving
forces) and those working in opposition
(restraining forces)
Driving forces are those motivations,
attitudes , behaviours, or other
characteristics of a situation that help
move toward the goal or unfreeze
from the present situation.
Restraining forces are the opposite,
they are the constellation of forces
working against the change
The Process of Change- cont’d
Movement
Once openness has been achieved
this is the next step
Taking some action that changes or
moves the social system to a new
level
Restraining forces which are also a
form of resistance make movement
difficult.
Resistance:-…….
Is a key psychological component
playing a strong role in the transition
process
Is mobilization of energy to protect the
status quo in the face of real or
perceived threat to it.
May be thought of as bhr intended to
protect from the effect of real or
imagined change
Refreezing
Involves establishing actions or
processes that support the new level of
bhr and lead to resilience against those
resistant forces encouraging old
patterns and bhrs.
Deliberate steps must be taken to
ensure new bhrs ‘stick’ or remain
permanently unchanged in the system.
Restabilising the system to its new or
changed level of bhr.
Motivation and Unfreezing
A common method used to generate
motivation to change centers on providing
feedback to the system
The intent is to identify and make salient
discrepancies between the current state and
the desired state or ideal state
Feedback or information obtained about a
system from outside the system
Information constituting feedback is intended
to stimulate the kind of conflict that motivates
change
Social support is a critical resource in
managing significant personal change.
Movement and Resistance
“Resistance is a naturally emerging part of of the
change process or any movement away form the
status quo”( Connor 1992)
“A necessary prerequisite of successful change is
the mobilization of forces against it” (Klein 1966)
Conflict that emerges as expression of resistance
can be viewed as an expression of the central
conflict in any change – between what we want to
be ( a desired future) and what we are ( the
current state)
We uncover the central conflict early on when we
highlight the gaps between where we are and
where we want to be
Resistance and Conflict
A system cannot change without
conflict. How it is handled determines
the success of the effort to change
There is a strong similarity between
the process involved in in successful
change effort and that involved in
constructive conflict resolution
Things to consider re- resistance
Increase the groups understanding for
the need for change and participation
in its planning.
The strongest forces of resistance are
expressed by those with the greatest
interest in preserving the status quo
Resistance is aggravated and hence
strengthened as more energy is
directed to eradicating it.
Constructively Handling
ResistanceA smaller change ( or amount of deviation
from the status quo)
Keep parts of the system stable
Give parties the chance to mourn the loss
that any change entails
Abundant availability of resources ( time
money people) to support the change
Involve those most affected by the change in
its planning and implementation- serves to
increase their commitment to any change
Gaining Commitment
Commitment by a critical mass of
people is the sufficient condition
needed to sustain any change. It is
the force that refreezes a system to
its new changed state.
How?
Involve them in planning and
implementation
During early stages of conflict we can
commit to constructive conflict resolution
People Support Change
When They…
 Relate to the vision.
 Expect personal gain.
 Give input.
 Respect the leader.
 Believe the time is right.
Source: 1996, Leading Change, John Kotter
Eight Common Errors








No sense of urgency
No guiding coalition
Lacking vision
Under communicating
Permitting obstacles
No short-term wins
Declaring victory too soon
Not anchoring changes
Source: 1996, Leading Change, John Kotter