Online Only
Twitter Chat on Change
Join us at 8 p.m. EST on Thursday, July 6, for ASCD's monthly Leader to Leader Twitter chat. The topic of July's chat will be the theme of this Educational Leadership issue—Gearing Up for Change. Our editors will moderate the chat (@ELmagazine), along with special guests David B. Cohen (@cohenD, see his article) and Ariel Sacks (@arielsacks, see her article). Use #ASCDL2L to join the conversation about how you can prepare for and lead change.
Research Alert
How Do Department Chairs Drive Change?
Secondary school department chairs often play an important role in leading instructional improvement. A study published in Educational Management Administration & Leadership looks at the change barriers that chairpersons commonly face and the strategies they use to overcome them.
The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with six science department chairs about successful and unsuccessful change efforts they had led—for example, implementing common assessments, creating new course sequences, and increasing the use of inquiry lessons. Three common change barriers emerged:
- Teacher satisfaction with the status quo was the most common barrier. To overcome it, department chairs shared data that supported the need for change and tried to develop a common vision and mission.
- Teachers' lack of knowledge and skills to implement the changes. Department chairs addressed this challenge by providing professional development and by asking teachers who were currently participating in the change to share their successful lessons with colleagues.
- Teachers' lack of participation in decisions. Department chairs overcame this barrier by actively soliciting teacher views and feedback. Even when the change effort was unsuccessful, such involvement made the decision to abandon the effort more collaborative.
The study also unearthed an unexpected and more intractable barrier to change: the presence of a contentious resister, an influential veteran teacher who worked against change through subtle acts of resistance, open displays of disrespect, and behind-the-scenes conversations. Unfortunately, none of the department chairs had found a successful way to neutralize this person's influence. Even when contentious resisters didn't scuttle the change effort completely, they caused great stress for everyone.
"Department Chairs as Change Agents: Leading Change in Resistant Environments" is available for purchase.
Relevant Read
Persuadable: How Great Leaders Change Their Minds to Change the World by Al Pittampalli (HarperBusiness, 2016)
Most of us associate effective leadership with decisiveness, conviction, and confidence. But in this lively and well-researched book, business writer Al Pittampalli argues that there's a "vastly underappreciated" counter-trait that may be more essential: persuadability. Pittampalli defines this characteristic—a by-product of (gasp!) humility—as "the genuine willingness and ability to change your mind in the face of new evidence."
Although our cultural conception of strong leadership sometimes seems to be stuck on iron-willed figures like General George S. Patton, most industries and fields—education emphatically included—have changed a great deal since the general's time. "In environments characterized by complexity, uncertainty, and dynamism, it's impossible to have all the answers," Pittampalli writes. "If you want to succeed, you must be prepared to change your mind."
Pittampalli provides examples of successful leaders—including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, and former U.S Special Operations Commander William McCraven—who've made a habit of being "far from unwavering." Such leaders tend to prize feedback and scrutiny, to distrust certainty, and to take little shame in revision.
Because resistance may still be strong, however, Pittampalli also highlights cognitive and social psychology research and outlines actionable practices for cultivating persuadability, including "Kill Your Darlings," "Take the Perspectives of Others," and "Take on Your Own Tribe."
And yes, he acknowledges that leaders can become too persuadable. The bottom line: Try to be actively open-minded, but beware of over-analysis and meetings addiction.
Screen Grab
Teachers of the Year Talk Change
What advice would you offer a colleague about responding constructively to change? In this exclusive video, 2014 National Teacher of the Year Sean McComb poses that question to 2017 National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee and three State Teachers of the Year, Chris Gleason, Megan Gross, and Athanasia Kyriakakos. Among their points: "If there wasn't change, we wouldn't have butterflies," says Gleason, a music teacher from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
<!--el interview ( jun2017)bcove links:https://bcove.video/2sj7XUnhttp://players.brightcove.net/10228042001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5456367375001--><!-- Start of Brightcove Player --><!--div style="display:none"></div--><!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <!--<iframe src="https://players.brightcove.net/10228042001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5456367375001" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;"></iframe>--><!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soonas the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only afterthe rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line.--><!-- End of Brightcove Player -->
Page Turner
"Once you have trust, transparency, specificity, evidence, and nonjudgmentalism, you get a constellation of conditions that make progress possible."
—Michael Fullan
