Chat+-+Chapter+2+Responses

Share your responses to your reading of chapter two, “8 Forces for Leaders of Change” in //The Challenge of Change.// This is an open response, but you might want to consider one of the following ideas: - What **assumptions** do the authors hold? - What do you **agree** with in the text? - What do you want to **argue with** in the text? - What parts do you want to **act** upon or **aspire to** in the text?

I agree with many statements in this chapter, such as "organizational capacity involves improving infrastructure," and "one of the most powerful drivers of change involves learning from peers." However, a few statements I would like to argue with are "shared vision and ownership are more the outcome of a quality change process than they are a precondition," and the change process "requires leaders to take into account factors that they would rather not have to stop and deal with." While I think a shared vision and ownership are an outcome of a quality change process, this has to be there at the beginning as well-with school leadership and with key teachers-otherwise there will be the great possibility of no "buy-in" the the change process. The author didn't specify what type of factors that would rather not be dealt with, but what comes to my mind are factors that are beyond our control, such as budgets, staffing issues, etc. While these issues certainly have to be acknowledged, they cannot stop the change process. A way has to be found to manage the process within the confines of these factors. What motivates me the most while reading this chapter is fostering a welcoming culture of change in our building, including a model of learning from peers. -For the most part, I am in agreement with Fullan's thoughts and tenets. I think the author assumes that change is needed and desired by the majority of educators. I totally agree with the notion that change is not easy. Furthermore, effective change requires unified effort and distractors are inherent to the change process. However, the manner in which one deals with the distractors is an area that needs further exploration. The reality is that more and more systemic constraints are being added with each passing year. What motivates me the most after the reading is to keep a positive attitude while going through the change process at my school. Also, I believe that it is crucial to build capacity within my school. Moreover, I am motivated to be actively involved in the data collection needed to measure change. I think it is so important for administrators to be actively involved in the change process as oppossed to being a bystander or merely a task assigner.

-Change is hard work. As an administrator, the two most important principles in the change process have been for me, Building Capacity and Fostering Coherence Making. I think they are the most difficult to achieve. Trust in an administrator begins the process. Much work is needed to listen to staff, encouraging those that understand the change and will carry it out with fidelity. That critical mass is essential. Once that is acheieved, managing change can be overwhelming to staff and cause overload. A good leader will delegate, share the spotlight with others and quietly bring a school forward. Real change is sustainable long after a true leader is gone.