X - Xenacious, a yearning for change (A to Z Tips)
In the current climate with uncertainty our only certainty, we have come to accept that just about the only thing that seems to be constant is change.
Heads and senior leaders are experts at managing change. Each term delivers fresh challenges and progressively diverse parental expectations. Each year brings new pupils, new staff, procedures, policies, structures, legislation, technology and problems to be solved.
If you are constantly yearning for change, it could help you to identify why you feel the need for the adjustment and why many others struggle with it as a concept.
Change can be exciting and stimulating. Most senior leaders spend their days in a chaotic whirl of activity where reflective aspirations are abandoned simply for what to do next. So why add to the stress?
The job of a school leader is to focus on developing strategies to ensure that the increasing pace and demand is both managed and embraced. Your role is to cultivate and sustain learning under conditions of complex, rapid change.
However, the impact of change, rapid or constant change, can be detrimental to your team. In a recent survey, workers who described being affected by change, reported lower levels of job satisfaction compared with employees who reported no recent, current or anticipated changes.
So, how best to limit the impact on your team? People who face change experience a transition (the emotional reaction to change that happens as people move from their current situation to some future state). In short, the person living through change is going through a grieving process, in which they give up the old and eventually embrace the new. No wonder a few are resistant. Once you recognise this potential impact of change on your team, you may approach the subject with a greater level of empathy and understanding.
Many Heads have reached the top of the profession thanks to a powerful drive to succeed and a strong sense of perfectionism, which can lead to a desire to control. The consequence of this is often the inability to let go, and the first step towards effective leadership is for Heads to recognise that they are surrounded by highly skilled, professional people who are keen to support them and, above all, likely to do just as good a job.
The current trend towards collaboration provides schools leaders with one of the most useful mechanisms for coping with change.
For those not so much yearning for change, but considering how best to manage it, here are some further suggestions to consider before embarking on any major transformations within your school environment.
1. Concede control.
Some see change as something that is “done to them” without their agreement; something that happens outside their control. The more opportunity and encouragement staff are given to have input, the more control they feel they have and greater “buy in” is achieved. A sense of ownership is more likely to lead to successful change implementation.
2. Cultivate a change culture.
Just as some people are more comfortable with change than others, some businesses are better equipped for it too.
Where change has been doggedly resisted, transformation should be started with small but visible adjustments that make a positive contribution. Accumulated small “wins” can give staff the confidence to support further change. If a proposed change does not work, or does not meet its intended outcome, it must not be labelled as a disappointment or a failure. It is a valuable opportunity to test and refine, an important learning experience.
Learning to handle setbacks is critical if change is to become an accepted part of your school’s culture. Inflicting change on staff before they are comfortable with the proposal or processes is more likely to end in failure than it is success. For some projects, it can signal the end before it is even started.
3. Celebrate the cynics.
Utilise those questioning a proposed change to demonstrate that you have carefully considered the consequences. Whilst you may feel frustrated by the apparent resistance and lack of support, staff process change at different speeds and you may be moving a little too quickly for the more cautious members of your team. By taking the time to address their concerns calmly and openly, will help others in the team to feel confident in the decisions taken.
It is always good to have doubters in the team; they ask tough questions you should be asking yourself. If someone raises a question for which there is not a satisfactory answer, you may need to rethink your proposal. It is great to be optimistic about new initiatives, but the cynical members of your team are the ones to keep you grounded.
4. Check the chronicles of change.
Before introducing new ideas, it is always a good idea to take a look at what has gone before and apply the 5 Ws.
What was the last important initiative?
When was it undertaken?
Why did it have the impact it had?
Where, with the benefit of hindsight, could the initiative have been improved?
Who was responsible for the initiative and who in your current team would have added additional value to it?
Teams that undergo change too often tend to become jaded to new ideas, and businesses that have had less than positive experiences with change will be much more reticent to try new things. There are no hard and fast rules, but as with many things in life, looking to the past can provide pivotal evidence regarding how things may (or may not) work in the future.
5. Countenance the counterproductive.
All stakeholders in education have, themselves, been to school. They all have experiences they will draw on, preconceived views as to what school life should look like.
Maintaining the balance, trying to keep everyone happy is not only difficult, but counterproductive. Times are changing and leaders must convince the stakeholders that the proposal is for better, whilst respecting everyone’s views. However, not all preconceived beliefs can be dispelled. There are people that would rather not let common sense and reason get in the way of their opinion. Being mindful of people’s preconceptions can help, it will keep you on your toes as you devise your next strategy. After all, if you wanted to take the easy path you would not be in the job in the first place.
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