The Challenge of Change

1
The Challenge of Change

• Reinvigorating a Student Learning Outcomes
  Initiative
• Kris Abrahamson, Ed.D.
• Dean, Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Santa Rosa Junior College

2
Research Questions

• Problem The SLO Initiative at SRJC appeared to
  be losing momentum and had not yet produced
  desired results.
• Could John Kotters model for leading
  organizational change help SRJC reinvigorate an
  SLO initiative and encourage faculty to actively
  participate in the identification and assessment
  of SLOs?
• As a result of using Kotters model, was SRJC
  better able to meet ACCJC Accreditation Standards
  (2002)?
• What aspects of Kotters model for leading change
  work well in a community college setting, and
  what aspects needed to be changed or modified?

3
Action Research Methodology

• Action research case study research concurrent
  with action.
• The goal is to make action more effective while
  contributing to a body of scientific knowledge.
• Action research puts theory into practice.
• Action research takes action, solves a problem,
  develops holistic understanding in a real life
  setting, includes multiple methods of data
  gathering, fundamentally about change.

4
Kotters Change Model

• 1) Establishing a sense of urgency
• 2) Creating the guiding coalition
• 3) Developing a vision and strategy
• 4) Communicating the change vision
• 5) Empowering broad-based action
• 6) Generating short-term wins
• 7) Consolidating gains and producing more change
• 8) Anchoring new approaches in the culture

5
Establishing a sense of urgency

• By far the biggest mistake people make when
  trying to change an organization is to plunge
  ahead without establishing a high enough sense of
  urgency in fellow managers and employees. This
  error is fatal because transformations always
  fail to achieve their objectives when complacency
  levels are high.-John Kotter

6
Establishing a sense of urgency

• Avoid happy talk (Were the best CC in the
  state, or even the nation).
• Set challenging goals and targets for SLOs and
  assessment.
• Remind faculty that reaffirmation is no longer
  assured accreditation warnings, probation, and
  midterm visits are now common.
• Encourage all leadership groups to convey this
  sense of urgency.

7
Faculty Perception of Urgency
8
Building the Guiding Coalition

• Because major change is difficult to accomplish,
  a powerful force is required to sustain the
  process A strong guiding coalition is always
  needed -- one with the right composition, level
  of trust, and shared objectives.-John Kotter
• The Guiding Coalition must have position power,
  expertise, credibility, and leadership.

9
Building a guiding coalition at SRJC

• In 2005 a Steering Committee was created, but it
  lacked a clear structure.
• In fall 2007, the structure of the Steering
  Committee was clarified, along with roles of task
  committees and SLO Coordinators.
• A formal charter was approved by the Board in
  spring 2008, granting standing committee status.
• The Steering Committee role was to provide
  vision, direction, coordination, goals,
  strategies, trainings, communications,
  scholarship.
• Interviews with committee members suggested that
  the necessary elements of positional power,
  expertise, credibility and leadership were
  realized in the guiding coalition.
• All members of the committee agreed that there
  was trust and a shared commitment to change.
• The Committee felt that more visible support from
  Senior administrators was needed.

10
Full-time faculty perception of visibility of
leadership
11
Developing a vision and strategy

• Vision refers to a picture of the future with
  some implicit or explicit commentary on why
  people should strive for that future. - John
  Kotter

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Project LEARN Vision at SRJC

• SRJC is a learning centered institution. The
  College, through Project LEARN, provides a
  foundation for a community of inquiry, where
  ongoing dialogue, collaborative review of
  evidence, and deliberate reflection support the
  improvement of teaching and learning.

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Faculty perception of Vision
14
Communicating the Change Vision

• A great vision can serve a useful purpose even
  if it is understood by just a few key people. But
  the real power of a vision is unleashed only when
  most of those involved in an enterprise or
  activity have a common understanding of its goals
  and directions. -John Kotter

15
Full-time Faculty perception of frequency of
communication from different sources
16
Empowering broad-based action

• The purpose of stage five is to empower a broad
  base of people to take action by removing as many
  barreirs to the implementation of the change
  vision as possible at this point in the process
  -John Kotter
• Four biggest obstacles skills, systems,
  structures, and supervisors.

17
Empowering broad based action acquiring skills
18
Faculty Perception of Quality of Trainings
19
Faculty perception of obstacles to broad based
action
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Generating short-term wins

• Major change takes time, sometimes lots of time.
  Zealous believers will often stay the course no
  matter what happens. Most of the rest of us
  expect to see convincing evidence that all the
  effort is paying off. - John Kotter
• To overcome resistance to change generate
  short-term wins and never let up before the job
  is done.

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Short term wins faculty perception about making
a difference
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Consolidating gains and producing more change

• Major change often takes a long time, especially
  in big organizations Whenever you let up before
  the job is done, critical momentum can be lost
  and regression may follow. -John Kotter
• SRJC continues to use this change model to create
  long-term, sustainable change.

23
Anchoring new approaches in the culture

• Anchoring a new set of practices in a culture is
  difficulty enough when those approaches are
  consistent with the core of the culture. When
  they arent, the challenge can be much greater.
  -John Kotter

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Alignment of SLO initiative with faculty culture

• What aspects, if any, of the new accreditation
  standards and/or the SLO initiative do NOT align
  will with your own values and beliefs about
  teaching and learning?
• 30 felt that the standards and SLO initiative
  align well with their own values
• 12 werent sure what the standards were
• 20 concerned about standardization of learning,
  testing and measuring
• 12 thought SLOs bureaucratic or a waste of time
• 4 thought SLOs threaten freedom to teach and
  love of learning
• 3 thought SLOs only pursued for accountability
  and accreditation

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Progress in identifying SLOs
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The Big Challenge Assessment

• 2482 Courses
• 254 Programs (174 certificates and 80 majors
• 16 Institutional Outcomes
• 18 Student Services

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Findings

• Establishing a sense of urgency for SLOs is
  possible by stressing accreditation mandates, but
  this emphasis may undermine more intrinsic
  motivations, such as improving student learning.
• A guiding coalition and faculty coordinators are
  capable of providing visible leadership, even
  with low visibility from the Academic Senate and
  the President.
• An SLO vision can be crafted that aligns with the
  values of most faculty.
• Frequent communication is critical, and frequent
  email updates is an effective communication tool.
  
• The initiative did not successfully demonstrate
  short-term wins, a making a difference quality,
  to most faculty, but this is still a goal.
• Aspects of the SLO initiative do not align well
  with faculty culture and this represents a
  significant challenge.
• This case study is not generalizable, but it
  suggests that Kotters model could be a useful
  tool in reinvigorating an SLO initiative in a
  community college setting.

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Change model John Kotters Leading
ChangeHarvard University Press, 1996

• Kris Abrahamson Ed.D.
• Dean, Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Santa Rosa Junior College
• Kabrarhamson_at_santarosa.edu
• [phone]