Leading Change: Creating a Culture of Learning

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Leading ChangeCreating a Culture of Learning

• KDP
• February 25, 2009

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Marilyn Sudsberry, Ph.D.Director of Experiential
Program for Preparing School Principals

• Butler University
• Indianapolis, IN 46208
• msudsber_at_butler.edu
• 317.940.8494

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What is a culture of learning?

• Professional development is embedded.
• Collaboration regarding student achievement,
  guaranteed and viable curriculum (Marzano),
  assessment, and best practice instruction is the
  norm.
• Work is results-focused, data-driven.
• Leadership is shared. Teachers become leaders.
• Relationships are fostered.
• Expectations are high.
• Accountability is present.

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Why change?

• It is not necessary to change. Survival is not
  mandatory. W. Edward Deming
• If we continue to do what weve always done, we
  will continue to get what we always got.
• If the horse is dead, its time to dismount.
• Because the iceberg on which the penguins lived
  was melting.

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8 step process to successful changeJohn Kotter

• Set the stage
• Create a sense of urgency.
• Pull together the guiding team.
• Decide what to do
• Develop the change vision and strategy.

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• Make it happen
• Communicate the vision and strategy.
• Empower others to act.
• Produce short-term wins.
• Dont let up.
• Make it stick
• 8. Create a new culture.

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Not a linear process

• May start with step 2, building the guiding team,
  and the team sets the stage, creating a sense of
  urgency.
• May move step 6 to early in the change process to
  give a sense of a win.
• HOWEVER, all steps are necessary.

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Two approaches to changeKotter

• Analysis-think-change
• Gather and analyze data.
• Drop old ideas.
• New ideas change behavior.
• See-feel-change
• Hits the emotions.
• Ideas charged by emotions change behaviors.

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Create a sense of urgency.

• Four behaviors act as barriers to change
• Complacency
• Fear self-protection
• Anger
• Pessimism Kotter

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• Confront the brutal facts. Data can help show the
  need for change and move people from complacency.
  However, it can increase fear, anger, and
  pessimism.
• Create a risk-free, trusting environment. Were
  all in this together. If fear remains high,
  change will not happen. Everyone will be in
  self-preservation mode.
• Build relationships.
• Create a success.

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• Must move people from analysis stage to emotion
  stage. Change does not happen until we are
  motivated and motivation is not a thinking word
  its a feeling word. Kotter
• Change the behavior and the attitude will follow.
• If not, time to get the right people on the bus,
  others off.
• School improvement is people improvement.

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Pull together the guiding team.

• Right people and sense of teamwork
• Right People
• Power of influence credibility, connected,
  leadership skills of communication, motivation,
  vision
• Stakeholders
• Sense of teamwork
• Work well together
• Trust
• Meetings effective

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Develop the change vision and strategy.

• What do we want and how are we going to get
  there? A compelling vision can appeal to the
  heart and motivate anyone. Kotter
• Select strategies that connect with peoples
  emotions.

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Communicate the vision and strategy.

• The goal to get as many people as possible
  acting to make the vision a reality. Kotter
• Address anxieties, accept anger, evoke trust.

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Empower others to act.

• Remove barriers.
• Shared leadership/teacher leadership promotes
  sustainability.
• Leadership succession.
• Distributed leadership means creating a culture
  of initiative and opportunity, in which teachers
  of all kinds propose new directions, start
  innovations Blankstein

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Making shared leadership/teacher leadership more
than delegation

• As I listened to staff discuss questions like
  Should we close the parking lot at 230 to keep
  parents out? Who will have recess duty when it
  rains? Is 25 too much for the coffee fund?, I
  wondered how I was going to make instructional
  leadership the priority of my day. After awhile,
  I realized there were certain things I had to do
  myself and other things I could delegate.
  Empowering others to make the decisions about
  rainy day schedules, coffee funds, and parking
  lots brought me good will. A new principal
  Lovely

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Teacher leadership Danielson

• is more than delegation.
• may be exercised spontaneously.
• may be demonstrated by any teacher in the school.
• is not a permanent state.
• is fluid.
• can transform a school.
• does not arise by itself.

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The role of the principal in creating teacher
leadership

• Establish and maintain a culture focused on
  inquiry and student learning.
• Insist on data analysis and instructional
  practice adjusted accordingly.
• Convey confidence in teachers.
• Assist in idea clarification and planning.
• Provide support (with central office, with
  resources, with public).

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Produce short-term wins

• Gives an emotional uplift.
• Brings others on-board.

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Dont let up.

• Dont let urgency sag.
• Be aware of exhaustion plan to prevent.
• Celebrate success.
• Recognize best practice implementation openly.
• We shower recognition on pupils, but deny it to
  adults. Schmoker

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Create a new culture.

• Culture comes last, not first. Creating a new way
  of operating causes a shift in the norms and
  values.

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A culture of learning

• Professional development is embedded.
• Collaboration regarding student achievement,
  guaranteed and viable curriculum (Marzano),
  assessment, and best practice instruction is the
  norm.
• Work is results-focused, data-driven.
• Leadership is shared. Teachers become leaders.
• Relationships are fostered.
• Expectations are high.
• Accountability is present.
• Getting the right people on the bus.

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Bibliography

• Blankstein, A. 2004. Failure is not an option.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
• Kotter J., and D. Cohen 2002. The heart of
  change. Boston, MA Harvard Business School
  Press.
• Kotter, J. and H. Rathgeber. 2005. Our iceberg is
  melting. New York St. Martins Press.
• Lambert, L. 1998. Building leadership capacity in
  schools. Alexandria, VA ASCD.
• Schmoker, M. 2006. Results now. Alexandria, VA
  ASCD.
• JSD Spring 2005, Vol. 26, No. 2