If you have spent any time in an educaitonal environmnet, you know that change is the cornerstone of existence. Educators can be pretty snarky about change and with good reason. Often the mantra you hear is, "Well, this is the flavor of the month. Wait it out and something new will come along." This is a familiar mantra from my 25 years in the educational system. I could argue (and perhaps will later) that there is a fallacy in that statement, but I am turning my attention to how do leaders lead change? I have spent most of my educational career in a leadership role, and I have made many mistakes in leading others. As I work now in a district where there is a great deal of curriculum and instructional change, I am turning my attention to how to support other leaders in navigating these changes. As I have been reading up on the topic, I find myself drawn back to the work of Bob Garmson and Bruce Wellman.
I have spent most of my educational career in a leadership role, and I have made many mistakes in leading others.
In their book, The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups (3rd Ediiton), there is a great section on Adaptive Leaders. In the book, Garmston and Wellman assert that the central question is not How do we manage change, rather How do we lead adaptive change? It is this adaptive change that we are seeing in our organization and change that requires a great deal of support. As the authors state in the book, "Technical problems are head and shoulders issues, adaptive changes are processed lower in the gut." Often, we treat adaptive change as technical change, and therein lies a mistake.
Changes that we are asking teachers to do in our district has to do with major shifts in thinking about the curriculum and the delivery of the curriculum. As we work to align our curriculum practices with the standards and shifts that are needed for a rigorous and robust curriculum, we are asking our teachers and staff to be adaptive. As I work with leaders "in the trenches," it is important that we understand how to navigate through this change. As Garmston and Wellman point out, "As both stability and change are needed, the adaptive leader is both a member of a group and an observer of the group and its environment." This idea is especially true of our teacher-leaders, who may very well have the most difficult job in leadership. I think that through my experience and through reaffirming research, there are a few factors that we have to consider when helping others through change:
As a leader, you have to accept the change-- not blind compliance--but acceptance. Often change in education comes from outside. This external change may or may not include the teacher-leader being involved with creating the change initiative. So, our job then becomes both internalizing the change and supporting others through the change. One lesson that I have learned that in order to be a leader, I have to cautiously accept the change. This is a hard one because, admittedly, I may not agree with the change or I may not have trust in the others who have initiated this change. However, as a leader in order to help others, I have to at some level accept the change. This is a gut-check moment for leaders. If I fundamentally cannot accept the change, I may need to remove myself from the leadership of this work.
You ask yourself questions about the change: The reflective leader seeks information. Often this reflective stage of leadership includes the resources that you will use to guide others through the change. This is where in our Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching work, I would draw on the five states of mind or energy sources to see how I feel. Is this an efficacy issue for me? Does this change challenge my efficacy, and make me vulnerable to the idea that I might fail? Is this an issue of flexibility? Do I, myself, not see the different perspecives that have led to a decision being made to change? Is it consciousness? Am I too isolated in my own world that I cannot see the varying perspectives? Is it craftsmanship? Am I afraid that I will not be able to be as precise in my work if something changes? Is it interdependence? Have I become so used to being egocentric in my work that I am fearful of being allocentric? I often draw on these resources when thinking about how I process change? These are fundamental questions that I need to ask myself to lead adaptive change.
Understand Phases of Change: In his Article, "Helping Emloyees Embrace Change, " Howard Teibel draws on the research of Swedish psychologist Claes Janssen. Jassen identified 4 stages or rooms that people inhabit during change: the Contentment Room, the Denial Room, the Confusion Room and the Renewal Room. The metaphor here is how we move through the 4 rooms. In the contentment room, we are happy with what we have always done. Then a change is introduced, and we enter the denial room. The denial room is where I think we as leaders need to ask ourselves the quesitons I pose in the above section. The denial room is a place where you long for the past and just wish things were how they used to be. Janssen then proports that we move to the confusion room. As he explains "confusion" is often misundorstood. As Teibel points out in his article, " This [confusion] is an emotional state that actually signals the beginning of learning and the foundation for accepting something new." Another way of processing this idea is to look at some research from the Center for Creative Leadership. In an article titled, "Navigating Change: A Leader's Role," the authors assert that there are three types of Change Style Chracteristics: The Conserver, the Originators and the Pragmatists. The conservers are those who want to keep the status quo and conserve the way that things are already done, the Originators are those who are likely to adapt the quickest because they see change as an integral part of the organization, and the Pragmatists are the ones who embrace change if there is a practical reason to do so. With this model in mind, the work of the leader is to support those who are Originators, ensure the Pragmatists see the connections between the change and the need to change, coach the originators to reflect on how the change is impactful and necessary. Of course, all of this depends on where you are as a leader on this continuum.
Complain up-- do not complain with: This is one area that I have messed up a lot. As a teacher leader ( a department chair in high school), I found this role really hard. As a department chair I was a teacher and colleague but also a leader and navigating that duality is very hard. I had to learn that complaining with my colleagues was not healthy in any situation, and that if I needed to complain or vent frustrations, it had to be upward or laterally with other leaders experiencing my work at the same level. As change occurs, it is important, I think, to help others navigate that change by listening. Often the change that is occuring in the system is not something that you have control over, so complaining with those you lead, give them permission to not accept the change and weakens you as a leader of adaptive change.
"rather than resist change...people resist loss." Loss is a deeper construct than change, and requires some adaptive leadership skills.
Ask others questions to promote reflection-- Admittedly, if you have not done some reflection on this part, you cannot support others. As I turn back to Garmston and Wellman's work, one idea that really struck me is the assertion they highlight from Heifetz and Linsky (2002) that "rather than resist change...people resist loss." Loss is a deeper construct than change, and requires some adaptive leadership skills. In their book, Garmston and Wellman offer some attributes that adaptive people possess such as leaders moving from problem solvers to "problem framers," asking questions with no answers (mediative, reflective questions), supporting change through mediating rather than telling, and being open to coaching. In addition, the authors offer some questions that teams experienceing adaptive change can ask:
According to Garmston and Wellman, "the adptive leader helps normalize the processes and offers tools for making the psychological changes necessary." Of course, the adaptive leader needs to have tools to be able to effectively mediate others' thinking. These are skills that leaders can consciously develop. Among these are understanding the five states of mind, asking mediative questions, pausing for reflection, and paraphrasing for reflection.
Model: Of course, it is always important for leaders to model. Modeling in leadership requires that you as the leader has gotten to a point that you are able to support others. At the minimum it is importnat to model self-reflection and question asking throughout the change process. Since "adaptive change is disruptive" according to Garmston and Wellman, "[L]eaders have to sell the problem and not the solution. When we work to sell the problem, we are then able to help other people navigate through solving th eproblem rather than spending our energy on finding a solution that is likely different for every person in a change process.
Change is constant in our school environments and the urgency is clear today. In our rapid chaninging society, we have to be adaptive. As educators we need to be able to respond to the shifting needs of students. With this change may come uncomfortable moments where we have to question and evaluate our own beliefs and understandings. As leaders, our complex job is to be able to support others through change, and that requires more than ever leaders who are themselves reflective, adaptive, and skilled at navigating change to support others and "lead adaptive change."