Organizational Change Compilation
EDLD 5304 took me on a transformative leadership journey. Every required reading aligned perfectly and provided a clear path forward for my personal leadership endeavors. So often when we think of leaders, we envision an authority figure delegating tasks and responsibilities to other adults. What I've learned during this course is that I am a leader in my classroom, and I don't have to start my power of influence with a massive group of people. It can all start in my classroom, C222, and grow from there. I am grateful for every assignment and project completed for EDLD 5304 and I look forward to my continued growth as a leader and change agent.
My first assignment for EDLD 5304 was "What's Your Why?" This was an introspective way to begin a course that focuses on transformative change, leadership, and strategy. I've found as a newer teacher, that my students want to know why we are learning what we are learning and how it's applicable to them. Now when we start a new unit or I introduce a new concept my first slide is the why. This assignment transitions seamlessly into the Influencer Strategy and makes you look beyond of the surface your innovation plan.
Out of all the required readings, Grenny, Patterson, Maxfield, McMillian, and Switzler's Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change was my favorite. Unfortunately, when my students think about the word influencer they picture an Instagram or TikTok "model" or a social media personality. After reading this book I was not only able to find my power as a change agent, but I was also able to reconfigure how my students viewed their power as influencers in their circle of friends, in their families, and most importantly, in our classroom. Influencer was also helpful in creating a working incentive model for my classroom. When the authors talked about how ineffective incentives can be when people start to develop a sense of entitlement, I quickly recognized that my current model was faulty and in need of an update.
The 4 disciplines of execution and the 5 stages of change are priceless gems for anyone's leadership jewelry box. As I noted earlier, the assignments and reading flowed seamlessly, and applying or executing your plan and strategy was naturally the next step in creating change. The common thread in all the readings was managing behaviors, anticipating pushback, focusing on the goal(s), and planning for long-term success. 4DX details what you'll need to get your plan from paper to action. It breaks down into four steps how to activate your team or in my case, my students, to change their daily habits and behaviors which inevitability fosters long-term change in their practices. The 5 Stages of Change detail the phases of change as it relates to the roll-out of your plan. My favorite stage is the last stage, habits. Change is not something that only happens once, so how can we as leaders ensure that change is cultural? Celebrate the wins and adjust the success expectations as the team grows.
Crucial Conversations provides the necessary tools for effective communication when the stakes are high. The authors gives us 7 simple steps to use when engaging in crucial conversations. We also get introduced to Freidman's Differenritated Leader Model. Friedman details the emotional maturity needed to be a transformative leader. Both Friedman's model and the 7 principles of crucial conversations are skills that are immediately applicable in my classroom as well my innovation plann. Read my blog here.
