Part of the TLRBSE experience for FTTs has been an introduction to how we, as leaders, should expect to bring about change. This change would be in both our own teaching styles, the teaching styles of our second tier teachers and change within our district and or schools. We were introduced to change via "The Change Game" as demonstrated to us by team leader Kathy Stiles. The goals included:

• to engage us in a simulation for organizational change in a simulated K-12 district
• with the hope that we would understand the barriers to successfully implementing new programs in school settings
• acquire strategies for creating effective change
• learn to work as a team to promote change
• understand the actions leaders take to promote positive changes in schools

Stages of Concern | Components of Successful Change | Reasons for Resistance to Change | Strategies for Addressing Resistance

	The simulation illustrated by "The Change Game" pitted teacher leader teams against the task of bringing about improvements to a fictitious school district. Working with descriptions of the players and a knowledge of the stages through which a person or an institution must go through in order to implement change of any kind, we set to the task at hand. Moving all the playing pieces from purely informational stages to routine use of the intended goal wasn't nearly as easy as it appeared on our first attempts.
	(Left) Ed Roberts         (Right) Lauren Chapple and Rick Donahue
When we were first introduced to the game, we were told that it simulated life. There was no clear cut way to win. Don't expect that things would always go exactly the way we wanted them to. Some groups were just better at working the politics of the simulated Veryfine School District than others.   (Right) Ardis Maciolek, Stephen Burke, Connie Walker and Linda Stefaniak
	(Left) Jeff Lockwood, Bob Groover, Dara Norman, Andy Miller and Theresa Roelofsen       (Right) Lauren Chapple, Rick Donahue, Ed Roberts and Travis Rector

Effective Leadership

• Support the leadership of key people
• Leaders use systems thinking
• Leaders model effective practices
• Formal and informal leaders influence others
• Leaders help create a shared vision

Attention to People

• People move through stages of change
• People need different activities at different points in the change process
• Ongoing communication is essential
• Critical mass of stakeholder support necessary to change
• Focus on learning and personal mastery for both staff and students
• Effective teamwork/team learning requires team work skills
• Representative teams are needed to reflect stakeholder needs

Using Systems Thinking

• Involve representatives of all stakeholders in the system
• Create a shared vision
• Change underlying support systems to support vision
• Most effective improvements are based on systemwide view
• Create opportunities to share assumptions and understand how actions/choices reflect our assumptions/beliefs about system
• Identify and use high-leverage activities - those with the greatest payoff

Using and Understanding Processes

• Change is a process
• Change takes time and persistence
• Choices/decisions are driven by current data, successes and failures
• Continuously improving organizations use a cycle of change that moves from Planning to Doing to Checking to Acting
• Reflection and revision of plans are essential to the change process

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Reasons for Resistance to Change

• People do not know enough about the change
  
• No one has made a clear case for the change
  
• There has been poor communication about the change
  
• People do not believe the change is worthwhile
  
• People are afraid they will fail
  
• The change is not aligned with the school culture
  
• Stakeholders are not adequately involved
  
• Lack of trust
  
• Lack of leadership for change
  
• Inadequate resources

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Strategies for Addressing Resistance

• Build stronger relationships among all members of the organization.
  
• Practice communicating negative as well as positive aspects of change.
  
• Learn to dialogue.
  
• Gather data to understand the basis of people's resistance.
  
• Develop plans for addressing the concerns and needs people have with regard to the change.
  
• Create a shared vision for what you are trying to accomplish.
  
• Hold high expectations for each other in the organization.