Whenever you say the word ‘basics” around schools, you’re almost certain to get a predictable set of responses: reading, writing, maths and – for the ‘modern” thinkers – computers.
For those of us deeply concerned with successfully introducing OBE into the United States in the 1980s, the challenge of discovering and implementing a different kind of ‘basics” was daunting. We were searching for the ‘basics of successful change” – the magic elements that would enable educators to grasp, want and implement what we saw as OBE’s enormous power and potential.
Our search and discoveries went on for several years. Happily, they were aided by the stunning insights emerging from the rapidly developing body of research on successful change in business organisations. While we were deeply aware of the profound differences between business and education, we were as deeply convinced that they shared one major thing in common: people.
Organisations may want to change their strategies, structures, processes, communication patterns and role relationships for a host of good reasons, but it’s up to their people to make those changes happen. Our search, therefore, focused on what affected ‘people change”.
Over time, some clear answers emerged, which we tested and confirmed in the schools that had joined our projects. The research literature and our experiences both suggested that successful change depends on five critical factors, or conditions, that have to be established if any significant innovation are to take hold and be sustained. We simultaneously realised that, in fact, what real leaders do is lead change.
Successful leaders make successful change happen and keep it going. And to do that, they rely on these five basics:
1.Successful leaders create with their people a deep and compelling organisational purpose for the change they seek to implement – because without a purpose, organisational members lack a strong reason for pursuing the desired change. If there is no reason for change that resonates with their deeper personal values and sense of purpose, the change effort is doomed.
2.Successful leaders establish a detailed, inspiring organisational vision of the change they seek to implement – because without a defined vision, organisational members lack a clear road map for pursuing the desired change. Without a clear picture of where they’re headed and what things will look and be like once the change is in place, they won’t know how to get there.
3.Successful leaders develop broad stakeholder ownership for the change they seek to implement – because without ownership, organisational members lack the psychological commitment and motivation to pursue the change. If there’s no sense of having a stake in the success of the change effort, it will remain simply someone else’s idea and problem.
4.Successful leaders build strong organisational capacity for making the change they seek to implement – because without capacity, organisations and their people lack the ability to pursue the desired change successfully. Change inevitably requires people to understand and perform their roles differently than before, and need to be given the training to do this. Motivation is one thing; ability is quite another.
5.Successful leaders sustain the necessary participation and support structures for the change they seek to implement – because without support, organisational members lack the opportunity and encouragement to pursue the desired change. This is particularly true because many people experience the idea of change as a threatening ordeal. Assurance that their efforts to change are appreciated, acknowledged and supported is the remedy.
As you’re reading this, you may have in mind individuals such as the principal, district officials or school governing body members – those most usually tasked with carrying out organisational change. And I can hear teachers saying: ‘Boy, I sure wish he/she/they knew these five basics and would use them wisely at my school.”
But let’s turn the table around and put you, the teacher, in the leadership role – which you are in your classroom every day of the week anyway!
Let’s imagine that any new learning situation or material represents change to your learners, and their responses to that change effort may vary a lot – from optimism and to confusion to indifference to resistance.
How will you handle the change? What basics do you have at your command?
I’m suggesting that you go back and re-read the previous section and put yourself in the shoes of the successful leader. As you read, ask yourself how you could more effectively establish purpose, vision, ownership, capacity and support for the learning results you want to achieve every day.
You’ll be impressed with the answers that come to you.