A long time ago, in a middle school English class far, far away, I learned the difference between feeling anxious about something verses feeling eager to do something. Feelings of anxiety bring about nervousness, worry and concern, while feelings of eagerness cause one to look to the future with excitement. Fast forward to week 5 of EDLD 5304, Leading Organizational Change and I find myself doing a lot of soul searching when it comes to determining if I have what it takes in my head and in my heart to become a self-differentiated leader. My heart is eager to lead the charge in implementing digital learning initiatives but my head is anxious for all the resistance I am sure to meet along the way. Reading Friedman's book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, helped to boost my confidence on this long journey of technology integration by defining what a self-differentiated leader is and elaborating on the key factors needed to become a successful self-differentiated leader. Given the title of this course, Leading Organizational Change, I was locked into a sense of tunnel vision when thinking about how to apply my knowledge to change the views of my district and campus on teaching with technology. At first, I was only thinking narrowly of my campus as the organization. However, the more I got into Friedman's work, I saw myself as a vital organism with interdependent parts responsible for working together to maintain the life of the organization. I could not begin to change the organization without first examining the structures of the organism. In looking at the organization as an organism, I stumbled upon the work of organizational theorist, Gareth Morgan. Although published several years ago, his books Images of Organization and Riding the Waves of Change are definitely worth a look-see to supplement Friedman's Theory of Differentiated Leadership. In defining self-differentiated leadership, I found it best to use Friedman's chart comparing the qualities of a poorly differentiated leader to those of a well differentiated leader. Looking back on leadership roles I've held in the past, I discovered that I lived most of my days on the poor side of differentiation. I am a people pleaser. I rely heavily on the approval of others to feel like I've done a good job. It took me a long time to understand that the people I was seeking approval from were never fully going to give me what I crave. They were strategically and selfishly only going to give me "just enough" accolades to keep me invested in the cause. It was not until I moved away from a toxic environment that I had my greatest moments of clarity. I realized that if the people I worked to please ever fully validated my efforts then they would lose their power. From this point, I decided the only thing worth losing power was the "acceptance treadmill" I aimlessly ran on for so long. I pulled the plug, freeing myself to move on with a new found self-confidence in my abilities to lead.
Along with my new found self-confidence, I armed myself with Friedman's five key factors that all self-differentiated leaders need when attempting to institute change in environments filled with anxiety, re-activity and sabotage.
Consequently, having a good sense of self does not always work in your favor when entering a new environment you wish to change. Whether it is a new or familiar environment, everyone wants to be liked. Often, people go to the extreme just to fit in with popular crowd. In leading organizational change, Friedman cautions against letting the need to build relationships cloud your vision. At times in my organization, I've felt that giving up my goals for the sake of being accepted into the fold would be much easier, but who would I be giving in to? Again, by giving in, I was trying to please the people less resolved to the cause. The same ones who perceived me as a "headstrong" leader. I know enough now to recognize this and not sacrifice the goals for the sake of a little team-building. When you don't team-build or "hang-out" with the dominate campus cliques, you leave yourself exposed and vulnerable to the critics. With integrating technology, I've experienced my fair share of criticism. I often feel like I'm all alone on an island, but instead of trying to escape, I'm searching for ways to get others to join me on the island. For a leader, this is a challenging situation to be in but one I've grown to love. At times, my love for integrating technology has been met with great resistance and downright rejection, yet I find a way to manage my own anxiety and persevere. Recently, I sat in on a meeting to plan ways students can improve their organization skills for next school year. A group of teacher leaders decided students needed an expensive 3-ring binder decked out with numerous school supplies to take notes and keep them organized rather than renting the district's $25 Dell tablet for the entire year and using Microsoft Classroom for the same and better organization purposes. No matter what I said in technology's favor, the resisters came back with more reasons to justify stepping back in time to pen and paper. I had the hardest time maintaining an external non-anxious presence while the anger raged inside. I kept saying to myself, "Keep a smile, stay loose and the others will follow, be persistent in what my heart knows to be best for kids." At the end of the meeting, I did have a small breakthrough when one teacher reluctant to speak in front of the group came to me and admitted she needed help in accomplishing her technology goal. She asked if I could help her and I eagerly said YES! I hope this is the start to leading a little change within my organization. Getting resisters on board might sound hard but keeping them on board when unexpected hardships pop up is the hardest to accomplish. Hardships or attempts at organizational sabotage usually indicate an environment that is or is becoming toxic. In these situations, I like to think of myself as the "probiotics" of my organization's emotional immune system. I would much rather take a pro-active approach to leading change than a re-active one. Preventing the emotional triangles from forming or better yet taking those triangles and reshaping them into circles where positive group production is a continuous cycle is definitely one of my goals. Never in a million years would I have considered sabotage to be a good thing until now. I hope the high levels of sabotage I'm experiencing with integrating technology directly correlates to the amount of good I'm doing. As we reach the end of this course, it seems we have only just begun our introspective journey to leading organizational change. Five weeks ago, we started with the "why", "how" and "what" of leading organizational change. We looked at the purpose for change required in an organization and the motivations needed to see this change through to fruition. Starting with the "why" is the most important place to begin as the head won't go where the heart has not been. Next, we addressed the vital behaviors needed for meaningful change to happen within an organization. We used the Influencer model to develop a strategy to bring about change to our learning environment. It is here that the Six Sources of Influence matrix helped everything fall nicely into place. It was clear to see how the six sources of influence worked together to shape the vital behaviors we were trying to change, Continuing on the road to change, we were introduced to the 4DX model as a supplement to the Influencer model. Both models complimented each other well. I related more to the descriptions in the the 4DX model as I had previously dealt with the destruction the whirlwind can cause when attempting to implement campus wide technology. Five weeks of reflective study on how to become a self-differentiated learner culminated in the reading of Friedman's book, A Failure of Nerve. Over the last five weeks, I never would have imagined technology courses to be so introspective. I have learned more about myself than ever before. I see the benefits of my growth in digital learning and leading every day, not only in my professional life but in my personal life as well. I truly enjoy the psychological aspect of examining what drives my beliefs before I can get others to buy-in and follow the eager leader.
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A question that most of us have pondered at some point in our lives. For me, finding an answer to this age old dilemma is not something I lose sleep over. I like them both and see necessity in all their forms and functions. (However, I would love to know if Paul Simon really did steal the name for his popular song "Mother and Child Reunion" from a chicken and egg dish on the menu of a Chinese restaurant.) Last week, my post focused on using the Influencer model from the book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change as a guide to implementing a plan that will be the catalyst for change in our learning environment. This week we were introduced to yet another valuable resource to use on our quest to bring about organizational change. The book, The Four Disciplines of Execution, is the perfect compliment to Influencer as it gives you more strategies to create and sustain change. In reading and viewing the resources for this week, I had two "ah-ha" moments. One, the whirlwind, defined by 4DX as the urgencies of your day-to-day job that rob you of your time and energy, is most likely to blame for all of the failed campus initiatives I've seen come and go over the years. Two, the synergy shared by the Influencer model and the 4DX model is a thing of beauty leaving me to ponder which model is the chicken and which one is the egg. After much research and comparison of both models, I find myself again liking both models and seeing the necessities in their forms and functions. Understanding the 4DX whirlwind and its significance in limiting the execution of strategies begins with understanding the role urgency plays in day-to-day organization operations. The urgency felt in completing the daily "real work" often clashes with the goals of the organization. This is so very true in educational organizations. As a teacher, I've been a part of several district wide initiatives that in August are the greatest things to grace our campus since casual Fridays. Thinking Maps and 7 Steps to a Language Rich Classroom are two programs that were swallowed up by the whirlwind and disappeared faster than free food in the teacher's lounge. Schools are lucky if a handful of teachers are still trying to balance the initiative when the whirlwind spawns an outbreak of tornadoes during high-stakes testing season. Both the Influencer and 4DX models compensate for the whirlwind by allowing an organization a system to achieve their goals in spite of the whirlwind's demands. Each model in its own unique verbiage and lay-out promotes the idea that programs tend to go away while systems, when implemented with fidelity, are here to stay. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Influencer model identifies 1-2 vital behaviors that must change in order to produce beneficial results within your organization. Comparably, 4DX addresses the lead measures (aka Influencer's vital behaviors) and the lag measures (aka Influencer's results) in its model. 4DX goes on to describe the difference between the lead and the lag measures is that the lag measures the goal and the lead measures what brings us to the goal. I liked how the 4DX model and the Influencer model used losing weight as the real world example to explain their models. Lag = lose weight, Lead = reduce calories (diet) and run (exercise). Just as in the Influencer model, the idea of leverage can be applied here by focusing on a predictive and influenced measure. We tend to focus more on the lag because that is the thing we believe matters the most, plus the data on the lag measure is easier to gather. Take the weight loss example: stepping on a scale produces data fast but taking the time out to write in a daily food journal or go to the gym is not as easy. When it comes to quick assessments of progress, the Influencer model has its motivation and ability matrix and 4DX provides a compelling scoreboard component. In creating a compelling scoreboard, the atmosphere needs to feel like a game with simple rules that are highly visible to the players. Players need to feel they have the power to affect the score (lead measure) and that they are making a real difference in the score (lag measure). Ultimately, at any point in the game or during the work day, knowing whether or not you are winning or losing is vital to a team's moral. When an employee can easily see their progress and feels as if they are winning, moral goes through the roof. Moral is a huge factor in an organization's success. Having focused, clear, and accountable goals leads to high employee moral. People tend to respond well when given a "from X to Y by when" model. Players are more engaged and eager to keep others motivated. 4DX continues to supplement Influencer by emphasizing the importance of weekly team meetings called WIG sessions. Key questions of the wildly important goals are kept to a minimum as to not overwhelm the key players. Focusing on 1-3 important items lends itself to better results because players are not caught up in the whirlwind of other tasks. Team WIG sessions serve their purpose by helping players account for prior's weeks commitments, review, and update the scoreboard along with making future commitments. Consistently practicing these measures ensure that things will get done correctly and on time much like the Influencer Model does in getting people to focus on 2-3 vital behaviors that continuously produce winning results. In an effort to lead much needed change in my organization, I created a plan using the 4DX model to assist teachers in meaningful and purposeful integration of technology into their personal and professional lives. Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Sounds sugary sweet and relatively easy, just change yourself and you will change the world. Not so fast...Change is extremely difficult to create and sustain but not too difficult that it is impossible to achieve. Organizational change takes a great leader with great vision and the capacity to influence others to alter their behaviors for the betterment of their self and the organization. This week in EDLD 5304, we were challenged to use the book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change as a guide for implementing a disruptive innovation that will serve as a catalyst for change in our learning environment. After reading Influencer, I believe my organization could definitely benefit from a little change. Currently, my campus is 3+ years into a district wide 1:1 initiative and to put it mildly, the honeymoon period for technology use is definitely over. Teacher apathy towards daily device usage has led to a lack of parent and student buy-in of the technology initiative. When asked why they hardly ever bring their devices to class, students say teachers do not use it, so why bring it everyday for just one class. Parents share similar concerns with the lack of teacher use and often choose not to let their child take the device to school rather than risk it getting broken, lost or stolen resulting in hefty repair fees or replacement costs. All of these are valid concerns that tug at my educator heartstrings. I know there has to be a way to change teachers current feelings towards technology use before it is too late and one to one becomes one to none. In avoiding a one to none outcome, my job as an influencer of change is three fold. First, I must identify the vital behaviors that can be leveraged to bring about change in my organization. Second, I must pinpoint my organization's influencers and third, I must determine the six key sources of influence and explain how they will be used to shape the desired vital behaviors I am trying to change. Starting out any project, I have a tendency to think "too big" in what I want as my end result. Ideally, I want all teachers district wide to integrate meaningful and purposeful technology into their classrooms daily. As exciting and audacious as that sounds, I need to narrow my focus if I want to create rapid, profound and sustainable change. So, more specifically, I want teachers to integrate the use of Microsoft OneNote into their personal and professional lives. I plan to to see this through to fruition by meeting with teachers bi-monthly in an informal setting to celebrate the positives, troubleshoot the negatives, discuss concerns and hear suggestions for improvement. In talking with teachers in a relaxed environment, I hope to quickly identify the other organizational influencers willing to join me in creating positive change. First up in my plan, was to figure out which behaviors needed to change and determine the desired results. VITAL BEHAVIOR #1: Teachers use Microsoft OneNote on their district device for personal organization. Teachers create personal notebooks allowing for all important information, meeting notes, to-do lists and much more to be stored in one convenient location. OneNote can also be downloaded for free to all personal devices for instant use anywhere anytime. RESULT: Using the district device more personally creates a sense of attachment and necessity much like the feelings we have for our cell phones. VITAL BEHAVIOR #2: Teachers use Microsoft OneNote on their district device for professional organization. Through the use of Microsoft Classroom, teachers can easily carry over those important behaviors learned from personally using Microsoft OneNote into their daily classroom routines. Teachers can quickly manage all classes from any device, create and grade assignments, provide immediate feedback to students and collaborate with other teachers. RESULTS: Because teachers are excited about using OneNote, students will be excited to use OneNote. Students will see the necessity in bringing their device charged and ready to go everyday. Why? Because teachers are continuously modeling the expected behaviors for technology use in a fun and engaging way. Students do not want to feel excluded from daily activities because they did not bring their device. Now that I have carefully identified two very vital behaviors to creating organizational change, let's see how using the six sources of influence will shape those behaviors and increase my odds for success. The Influencer Model is broken down into two main factors: motivation and ability which are then subdivided into three categories that apply to one's self, society and the environment. When combined, all of these factors comprise the six sources of influence. Sorting through the plethora of resources on the Influencer Model, I found the devil can definitely be in the details. However, the simplistic layout of the influencer matrix is easy to understand and easy to draw out for visual learners. With a goal of having 50% of campus teachers using Microsoft OneNote both personally and professionally by the end of the first semester, I set out to use all six resources as an analysis for change.
Personal Motivation: Do teachers enjoy using technology to stay connected with friends and family, gaming, entertainment and organization? Personal Ability: Do teachers possess the knowledge and skills to successfully integrate technology into their classrooms daily? Social Motivation: Do teachers model technology integration even when met with resistance from other reluctant teacher friends? Social Ability: Do teachers practice behaviors that create a sense of value and help to build a community of like-minded influencers strong in numbers rather than resistance? Structural Motivation: Do teachers create an environment rich in visuals promoting technology use? Do teachers display student's digital accomplishments campus wide? Structural Ability: Do teacher's actions change the environment to promote a technology driven culture of success? I firmly believe in using ALL six sources of the influencer model to create change. Anything less than that and you open yourself and your organization up to failure. Gandhi was onto something when he suggested for people to be the change they want to see in the world. Hopefully, in finding my inner influencer, I can avoid failure in leading organizational change and become the rapid, profound and sustainable change I wish to see in the world. |
AuthorMadeline Brandi Collins is a Louisiana girl through and through. Raised by her beloved Maw Maw and namesake, she moved to Texas 13 years ago to pursue a career in education which proved to be one of the best decisions EVER!
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