WORKBOOK BROUGHT TO YOU BY JUSTIN BAEDER

Transcription

1 WORKBOOK BROUGHT TO YOU BY JUSTIN BAEDER

2 PART 1 NOTES FROM TODAY S VIDEO Initiatives have a life cycle. Initiatives don t ramp up to full implementation and stay there forever. Some initiatives are event driven, so when the event is over the initiative is over. Making something official doesn t make it happen instantly. Sociologist Everett Rogers states that there are five types of people we ll encounter during innovations and initiatives: 1. Innovators 2. Early adopters 3. The early majority 4. The late majority 5. Laggards Innovators and early adopters will most likely be on board with your initiatives before they are even put into place. In education, there is often a sixth category of people we ll encounter: fakers. 2

3 Fakers only pretend to be on board with initiatives and PLCs when they are aware that you are watching. According to Rogers, once the initiative has the early adopters on board, it probably has enough momentum to reach everyone eventually. The late majority will follow the early majority, and eventually the laggards and the fakers will come to terms with the initiative that is put in place. The biggest challenge is getting from the early adopters to the early majority, because of how different those two people groups are. Your earliest adopters tend to be the most motivated, and the most skilled. The further along your initiative gets, the more you will encounter strugglers and stragglers. The first major hiccup that usually occurs is when the early majority realizes they don t have the skills and the confidence they need to succeed. 3

4 As leaders, we usually underestimate the needs of the early majority, and the challenges that we ll face in getting them on board because they need more from us than the early adopter. Early adopters are usually quite self-sufficient, so it s easy to assume that the rest of the initiative is going to succeed just as effortlessly. To get past this point, we typically think of two things, b uy- in and support. We want our staff to want the initiative to succeed, and we want to make sure that they have the skills and resources they need. However, we often don t realize what buy- in and support actually look like. One of the biggest problems, as pointed out by author Robert Evans, is that we want people to keep doing what works, and at the same time start doing something new and unproven. Evans says that it is unrealistic and unfair to expect people to be open and flexible now when we wish for them to innovate, 4

5 and to be firm and resolute only later when we wish for them to persevere. Evans also identifies four costs of change: 1. A sense of l oss The feeling that we are abandoning something we previously valued. 2. Change challenges our sense of c ompetence This happens because we are g iving up something we are good at for the sake of starting something that we are not as good at yet. 3. Change creates confusion. It changes roles, rules, and procedures, as well as the sense of predictability that we rely on. This means that we need more communication to provide clarity. 4. Change causes conflict. Shifting roles and lack of clarity leads to conflict. 5

6 Late adopters tend to feel like s econd class citizens when the early adopters receive all of the praise. TAKING ACTION q Identify the six people groups innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, laggards and fakers within your staff. 6

7 PART 2 NOTES FROM TODAY S VIDEO Getting good at anything, or becoming comfortable with any changes, requires practice. As leaders, we tend to think of changes as an improvement or an adjustment, rather than as a disruption, but to our teachers a new initiative can in fact be disruptive. It is a lot more comfortable to stick a toe in the water rather than diving in headfirst, and that is one of the reasons that change initiatives seem to drag on forever. As leaders, we strive for fidelity of implementation, because we know that if people half implement something new, and the other half is still bits of what they were doing before, it will not succeed. In Chip and Dan Heath s book Switch, they identify three main factors that we need to consider when attempting to make practical changes in our schools: 1. The cognitive factors 7

8 2. The emotional factors 3. The situational factors The Heath s refer to these factors as the rider, the elephant and the path. 1. The rider The rider is the brains of the operation, and it s the rider s job to plan, make decisions and set the direction for the elephant. In this analogy, you are not the rider. Each of us has a rider, and each of us has an elephant, the cognitive and emotional sides of ourselves. The Heaths point out that what looks like resistance to an initiative is often the rider s lack of clarity. As leaders, we need to help 2. The elephant people establish clarity on the initiative. The elephant has the drive and the power to get things done. 8

9 The problem that the elephant often faces is a lack of motivation, and often what seems to be laziness is actually exhaustion. When we upset the established order of things, it can be exhausting, so the elephant needs to be 3. The path motivated. The Heath s say that what looks like a people problem may in fact be an e nvironment problem. If we re making it easy for people, they re more likely to succeed, because they can focus their energy on moving down the path, not climbing over obstacles. TAKING ACTION q Thinking in terms of your initiative: o How is it going for the rider, the elephant and the path? o Are the challenges you are facing rider related? o Are they about clarity and direction, or about motivation and energy? o Is it the path, the conditions and environment that is making change hard for people? 9

10 q Leave a comment on the Principal Center website with your answers to today s action items. PART 3 NOTES FROM TODAY S VIDEO You can increase an initiatives odds of success through achieving clarity, or what the Heath brothers refer to as, Directing the rider. In their book Switch, the Heath brothers break the recipe for success down three ways: 1. Finding the bright spots 2. Scripting the critical moves 3. Pointing to the destination 10

11 First, we have the bright spots. We are always better off when we can figure out what is already working, the bright spots, and see how we can get more of that. Rogers concept of early adopters is critical here, because in any initiative you are going to have bright spots among your early adopters. Second, we must give people clear directions for getting started. This is what the Heath brothers refer to as scripting the critical moves. We tend to focus more on the big picture vision, but it is critically important to be specific in the beginning when people have the least amount of confidence. If we want to give people a recipe for success, we cannot leave out the crucial first steps. Because these first steps are often simple and straightforward, we often don t think we need to hold people a ccountable for them. This can be a fatal mistake for your initiative. 11

12 Finally, we need to point to the destination. This meets the needs of both the elephant and the rider. It motivates the elephant and it gives direction to the rider. The more vividly we can paint this picture, the clearer we can make this vision, the more compelling it s going to be. What we don t need to do is specify everything in between those first steps and the ultimate destination. That s where we leave room for people to learn and take ownership of the process as professionals. If we re clear about where we re going and how to get started, that will give the rider, the rational side of each our staff members, clear direction so they can get the elephant moving. TAKING ACTION q List the critical moves that you want your staff to take for your initiative, and describe the ultimate destination. q Think of three to five things that you want all of your staff to do immediately, and where you want them to end up. q Comment with your answers on the Principal Center website. 12

13 PART 4 NOTES FROM TODAY S VIDEO If there is not proper motivation, good intentions won t matter. Seven transitions need to take place in order to help your staff move from being truly unmotivated to being fully motivated. 1. The shift from fear to confidence. People tend to feel that they will fail, or the initiative will fail, leaving students worse off than they were before. 2. The shift from complacency to urgency. Most people aren t complacent about everything, just the one particular issue. Emotion, not data, is the best way to create a sense of urgency. 3. The shift from indifference to passion. People need to want to do something, not just see the issue as important. 13

14 Our job as leaders is to light a fire in our staff so that their passion can give our initiative the energy it needs. 4. The shift from powerlessness to efficacy. People need to know that they can make a difference. We must identify what has happened in the past to damage peoples self- efficacy as well as create experiences to build skills and increase efficacy, 5. The shift from exhaustion to energy. Change requires a ton of energy, and it s our job to help people tap into the energy they need to move forward, and renew that energy when it runs low. 6. The shift from resistance to commitment. Figure out what specifically is being resisted and address that, rather than treating it as a personality issue. 14

15 7. The shift from individualism to collectivism. As with efficacy, this shift is largely about people s experiences in the past, and it s our job to help people see how they can move forward by working together. TAKING ACTION q Download and fill out the motivational worksheet provided on the Principal Center website. q Leave a comment on the Principal Center website, telling us which shift is most important to you right now for your initiative. PART 5 NOTES FROM TODAY S VIDEO Now that the importance of motivation has been analyzed, we will take a look at the Heath brothers framework for motivating the elephant. 1. Find the feeling. It is emotion, not logic that motivates people to act. 2. Shrink the change. 15

16 This targets the issues of confidence, efficacy, and energy. If people feel like they are starting from zero, it can be too dramatic of a change. Just because we aren t where we need to be doesn t mean we don t have anything good going on. It s critical that we recognize how far down the right track we already are. Look for ways to capitalize on strengths that already exist. 3. Grow our people. If we want to make our changes look smaller, we need to help our people take on a b igger identity. After you get past a certain point your growth doesn t come from attending a training. It s selfdirected. 16

17 The people who do the most self-directed growth are those who have the strongest professional identity TAKING ACTION q Think of two ways you can engineer a head start in some small wins. o What are some existing strengths or successes you can build on and give your staff credit for achieving? q Think of an aspect of your professional identity that you can start to appeal to. o If your initiative is about reading, how can you help all of your teachers identify with the idea that we re all reading teachers? o If it s about classroom culture, how can you help teachers see themselves as skilled culture builders? o What identity do you want your teachers to take on, and how can you engineer some progress toward that identity? q Comment with your answers to these questions on the Principal Center website. 17

18 PART 6 NOTES FROM TODAY S VIDEO What looks like a people problem is often a s ituational problem. If we treat every problem like a people problem, we miss out on a critical opportunity to shape the path ahead. The Heath brothers list out three main ways to shape the path: 1. Tweaking the e nvironment 2. Building h abits 3. Rallying the h erd The Heaths emphasize that tweaking the environment can serve as an antidote to a tendency known as fundamental attribution error. Fundamental attribution error is our propensity to blame our own failures on the circumstances but to blame other people s failures on some sort of character flaw. With our staff we tend to make the fundamental attribution error about resistance. We assume that people are resistant 18

19 because they re lazy or mean or stuck in their ways. When often times, resistance is a natural self-defense function against poorly implemented ideas. Even if it is in fact people causing the problem, treating it as a situational problem can be more effective. When we tweak the environment, we re making the right behaviors easier and we re making the wrong behaviors harder. Second, the Heaths say that we need to build habits, and the environment people work in can either reinforce or undermine their habits. Habits are our default path. They consume little willpower, and serve as a pre- made plan for dealing with situations that might come up. When we can rely on a habit, we tend to be more consistent in our decisions because we re not forced to make so many decisions in the moment. The Heaths recommend using action triggers to shape habits. These triggers are a pre-made plan for something that is 19

20 not yet habitual, for when a certain circumstance comes up. When A happens, do B. Third, the Heaths tell us to rally the herd. This taps into the power of social pressure because people tend to do what the people around them are doing. If you don t know what to do, you can watch your peers and see what they are doing. As the administrator you have a very powerful asset information. You know what teachers are doing, and you can share that information to point out trends that are going in the right direction. TAKING ACTION q How can you shape the path for your initiative? o Take a moment to think about whether there s anything you could do to make it easier for your teachers o Are there any action triggers you could suggest to help people build habits? o Are there any celebrations of progress you should share to rally the herd? q Share your ideas about this in the comments on the Principal Center website. 20

21 PART 7 NOTES FROM TODAY S VIDEO 1. Clarify your agenda. Even if you have many competing priorities, the reality is that not everything can be a top priority. 2. Create regular channels for communication. Create a weekly staff newsletter, which you can do in a simple . It doesn t have to be fancy, but it does need to be consistent. 3. Keep track of each project, and be crystal clear on all of your steps. Use an electronic to- do-list for the steps in your projects. 4. Use the motivational worksheet to plan out specific celebrations and professional development opportunities for your staff. 21

22 The real challenge is maintaining momentum, especially when things get tough. 22