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The Principals Role as a Leader of Change

Critical Element Paper #3 Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education University of Northern Iowa

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts in Education

by Amy L. Miehe Waterloo East High School November 17, 2012

Dr. Charles McNulty

Michael Fullan (2012) stated, Change really isnt as hard as we thought if we capture peoples interest and give them enjoyable, worthwhile experiences (Change section, para. 18) This shows that change must be meaningful and relevant to those involved to make the complexity of change more simplified. In Fullans book, Motion Leadership: The Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy, he describes eight elements of how to go about change through the idea of motion leadership. Motion leadership involves the work of leaders helping move institutions and individuals forward. According to Fullan, the eight elements include: change problems, change itself, connecting peers with purpose, capacity building trumps judgmentalism, learning is the work, transparency rules, love, trust and resistance, and leadership for all (p.2). The elements are essential in knowing how to approach change and successfully implementing it. The first of Fullans eight elements of how to go about change is change problems. Although a difficult task, an educational leader must be willing to attempt at making change. Change involves different types and different levels and an extensive amount of time, but is vital in schools. According to Marzano (2005), one of the 21 responsibilities of the school leader is a change agent or a leaders disposition to challenge the status quo. Fullan stated, Change problems come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have one thing in commonthey are mired in inertia (p. 15). Inertia is common in many areas in life, but what is important in education is to attempt to change the direction to make improvement. As a future leader, it is essential to get inside the change and be part of the experience. Throughout the experience, it is important to maintain strong communication. In the beginning, we must break down the big picture into smaller, attainable tasks. This approach is key in preventing the feeling of being overwhelmed before implementation. ISSL 1 Collaborative Learning Community, directly ties in with identifying a vision. A vision must be identified before change is attempted. I experienced the

negative impact of implementing change. I was involved in a grading pilot that lacked preparation time and when implemented, and was not successful. The change itself is the next element described in Fullans (2010) book. Relationships must be developed and maintained before change can be attempted. As stated by Marzano (2005), one of the 21 responsibilities, relationships, refers to the extent to which the school leader demonstrates an awareness of the personal lives of teacher and staff (p. 58). Herold and Fedor (2008) state the following for good advice for change-savvy leadership: careful entry to the new setting, listening to and learning from those who have been there longer, engaging in fact finding and joint problem solving, carefully diagnosing the situation, forthrightly addressing peoples concerns, being enthusiastic, genuine, and sincere about the change, obtaining buy-in for what needs fixing and developing a credible plan for making that fix (as cited in Fullan, 2010). In most situations, new leaders will not be placed in a culture that is free of negative people, therefore it is essential to form relationships and eliminate the toxic influences. According to Whitaker (2003), it is never about programs; it is always about people (p.8). In the first stages of introducing change, let everyone be aware of problems they may encounter so they can feel better about it. Throughout the process it is important to communicate and learn during the process. I have experienced the change of a new leader in my building this year. I have witnessed all the advice Herold and Fedor stated for change-savvy leadership. Connect peers with purpose is the next element Fullan (2010) described as important to bring about change. As stated by Fullan, the role of the leader is to enable, facilitate, and cause peers to interact in a focused manner (p.35-36). Collaboration must happen for change to occur, but it must be meaningful collaboration. To create meaningful collaboration, a leader must participate directly to work towards improvement and help as a guide. As stated by Whitaker

(2003), great principals focus on studentsby focusing on teachers and providing students with outstanding teachers. (p.35). The collaboration between the leader and staff directly ties to ISSL 4 Collaborative Partnerships. I have experienced PLCs since I first began teaching and it is evident the collaboration has a tremendous effect on the relationships between leaders, teachers and students. Another element Fullan (2010) describes as necessary for change to occur is capacity building trumps judgmentalism. As said by Fullan (2010), capacity building concerns the knowledge, skills and disposition of people individually but especially collectively (p.45). An important component is to hire people with the necessary skills and potential, or make necessary changes immediately. It is important to hire people who can work well with others and strengthen skills when working together. Judgmentalism, as stated by Fullan (2010), means perceiving something that is not working and wittingly or unwittingly conveying a negative or pejorative message (p.46). The concept of judgmentalism is imperative with change because change is about moving people and they must not feel personally judged. As a future leader, it is important to support people making improvement to a difficult problem. ISSL 2 Culture of Learning relates to Fullans (2010) element of learning is the work as an essential part of change. As a future leader, getting involved in the learning process is significant. In my own experience, as part of a grading pilot the leader involved had previously researched their work prior to implementation. When the pilot was implemented, the leader was actively involved in the learning process and acted as a guide while being the expert. A vision should be in place and then the process should include a number of small things done well. Consistency is essential and the key to attaining this is examining data and attending workshops. The knowledge gained from that should be applied to practice to enhance improvement. As

stated by Fullan, the work is harder because people are not good at it, as capacity is developed; the work gets easier (p.58). Another element of importance for change to occur according to Fullan (2010) is transparency rules. According to Fullan (2010), transparency is about openness of results in all of its subcategories and deprivation of practice (p.59). Openness about results and practice leads to improvement. Schools need to compare themselves to themselves or to other schools facing similar circumstances to make improvements. Transparency is extremely sophisticated and it is important to teach individuals risk-taking and the benefits that come. In an article written by Steve Forbes (2012), he identifies five powerful things that happen when a leader is transparent (para. 7). The five powerful things he identifies are: problems are solved faster, teams are built easier, relationships grow authentically, people begin to promote trust in their leader and higher levels of performance emerge. Through my teaching and internship experiences, it is critical that leaders are human and are not afraid to make mistakes or admit to mistakes made. This is beneficial in the learning process. It encourages people to be more willing to attempt change. ISSL 3 Safe Learning Environment directly ties to Fullans (2010) element of love, trust and resistance. As stated by Fullan (2010), people will respond according to how they are treated (p.66). Leaders must create an environment that consists of love and support. People are more willing to put forth meaningful effort when they feel important. As a future leader, mistrust is common at first. It is vital to work your way through that through modeling integrity and competence. According to an article written by John Hamm (2011), trust is a matter of human nature (para. 2). If we do not trust our leaders we do not feel safe. It is the most notable and powerful attributes of leadership. As stated by Fullan (2010), We must maximize trust and effectiveness to reduce resistance to a minimum (p. 68). A powerful example Fullan uses is the

explorer Ernest Shackleton, who led a crew of men on an expedition to the South Pole. About halfway to the South Pole, the ship was destroyed and the men made their way their across ice flows that took 18 months and all men survived. The incredible leadership qualities of Shackleton consisted of love, empathy, transparency, problem solving, and most importantly his trustworthiness. The last of Fullans eight elements on how to go about change is leadership for all. As stated by Fullan (2010), Becoming change savvy makes you more confident and humble at the same time. In this respect, leaders have two responsibilities: to be always learning and refining the skinny of change and to realize that they have an equal responsibility to teach others the same (p.75). As a leader, it is important to be comfortable and excited about change in a situation. Another important role of a leader is being an expert in change and providing guidance but also being a learner as well. One of the 21 Responsibilities of the School Leader is order, and as stated by Marzano (2005), once structure exists, energy moves through that structure by the path of least resistance. In other words, energy moves where it is easiest for it to go (p. 57). Through my own experiences, with any new initiative or plan, the more energy the leader displays, the more I want to get involved. From the experiences I have had through research, teaching and internship hours, I have learned an incredible amount about change leadership. The eight elements Fullan (2010) explores as necessary for how to go about change are obviously important. Most importantly, it is clear that change is time consuming and that a leader must be trusted. If we, as future leaders,

adopt this type of leadership we will see success in our schools. We must be willing to understand it and practice it patiently. Change leadership creates an improved system which ultimately creates long-lasting sustainability.

References Vander Ark, Tom. (2012, Sept 6). The Skys the Limit: 16 Must-Read Quotes from Michael Fullans Stratosphere. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_innovation/2012/09/the_skys_the_limit_16_mustread_quotes_from_michael_fullans_stratosphere.html Forbes, Steve. (2012, Sept 9). Five Powerful Things Happen When a Leader is Transparent. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/09/10/5-powerful-things-happen-when-aleader-is-transparent/ Fullan, Michael. (2010). Motion Leadership: The Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Hamm, John. (2011). Trustworthy Leaders. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5b932e3aafd8-4003-a2f5-eca8b497268c%40sessionmgr110&vid=2&hid=119 Marzano, Robert J., McNulty, Brian A., & Waters, Timothy. School Leadership that Works: from Research to Results. Denver, CO: McRel.

Whitaker, Todd. (2003). What Great Principals Do Differently: Fifteen Things That Matter Most. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.