Throughout this course I’ve become accustomed to a phrase that states, “If you want change you must lead it.” This way of thinking is applicable in almost every realm of life, whether it’s education, sports, or business. Change can be rewarding, but it could also be reckless. Change itself isn’t what people are afraid of, people fear not being prepared for the change that’s to occur. Some people cling on to the old ways of doing things because they’re comfortable, unfortunately those individuals pay a comfortability tax, whether it’s them being the cornerstone of a subpar culture or leading individuals who aren’t gleaning and growing. Some people operate out of the fixed mindset where they see possible struggles as a reason not to pursue their singular desires. Although we should because it builds character and resolve, no one wants to embrace adversity. We all wish to become successful, but we’d also like to take the path of least resistance.
When it comes to modifying a culture and giving your colleagues a context shift there is going to be some drawback, some people will be content with the initial systems in place. What they’ve accomplished may be enough for them and it’ll be perplexing to see new strategies and concepts being implemented that will challenge the status quo. The thing about organizational leaders such as myself, we aspire to accomplish more audacious goals and we have an understanding that in order to attain what we have yet to gain, we can’t continue to endorse old ways that’s insane.
As we creep further into the digital age, where technology has taken giant leaps, old methods are becoming less effective. The individuals who see the need for a pivot are visionaries, futurists, and innovators. These individuals are organizational leaders who have plans and strategies that if executed well can inspire big change, but unfortunately the real enemy of this execution is known as the “Whirlwind.” This is when individuals get so engulfed into their daily operations that the desire to execute anything new is extinguished. At times our day-to-day struggles can take precedence over our main objective of positive change. As an educator, we are asked to develop curriculums, prepare our students for tests, record student behaviour, provide sexual education, and mental health practices. All things that distract us from pursuing ultimate change. These things keep me occupied even beyond the allotted time that we’re compensated for. There’s definitely a sense of urgency to complete the tasks previously listed in a timely fashion, as we’re expected to uphold our duties as professionals. Furthermore, “The whirlwind isn’t bad. It keeps your organization alive, and you can’t ignore it. If you ignore the urgent, it can kill you today. It’s also true, however, that if you ignore the important, it can kill you tomorrow” (Covey et al. 2012, p.30). The biggest challenge is keying in on what’s important, while weathering the urgent.
The 4 Disciplines of Execution
Discipline 1: Focus on the Widely Important Goal (WIG)
As a visionary, innovator, and a futurist it’s easy to get caught up in pursuing multiple goals. It’s easy to get spread thin when we’re pulling ourselves in opposite directions trying to accomplish a different variety of objectives. Furthermore, we can lose sight of the goal that really makes a difference and subject the people we encounter to huge context shifts. If you really want to make sure that you evoke change, start by selecting one goal where you would be most likely to achieve breakthrough results, instead of trying to significantly improve everything all at once (McChesney, Covey & Huling, 2012).
WIG
- 85 % of my prevention team will Infuse ePortfolio-based-learning with our Love Notes Curriculum.
Discipline 2. Act on Lead Measures
For those who can’t quite grasp what a lead measure is, a good lead measure has two basic characteristics. It’s predictive of achieving the goal, and it can be influenced by the team members (McChesney, Covey & Huling, 2012). When it comes to distinguishing the difference between lead and lag measures, in essence, the lead measures are the new behaviours that will drive success on the lag measures (McChesney, Covey & Huling, 2012). For every cause there is an effect, just as for every action there is a reaction. Those are examples of how lead and lag measures feed off of each other. Oftentimes lag measures cultivate regret because they’re unchanging.
Lead Measures
- Set up specific times in the prevention office during the initial phases of the pilot.
- Current prevention members will train new educators as they gain repetition with implementing ePortfolios into the curriculum.
- Meet with educators monthly to pinpoint results and discuss any questions or concerns.
Lag Measures
- Schedule ePortfolio presentations by educators and students to wrap up the year and gauge competence. Educators must demonstrate proficiency in ePortfolio production.
Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
People play differently when they’re keeping score (McChesney, Covey & Huling, 2012). It’s no secret, people give a little bit more when they’re aware of their progress being tracked and then measured up against one another. Scoreboards tell us how far we’ve come and how far we have left to go when it comes to reaching our goals. Being able to see where individuals apart of the team are when it comes to the WIG is an effective way to gauge if we’re taking the necessary leaps to obtain this Wildly Important Goal (WIG). As far as the scoreboard I want it to convey collective efforts, rather than individual leaps. I don’t want the natural competitive nature that we have to mess up the camaraderie of our team. I want my colleagues to be team-oriented because united we succeed as we’re able to pool our minds and resources and divided we fall because we’re in competition with one another.
Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability
While working in a group setting it’s important that we don’t shy away from giving feedback/feedforward & constructive criticism. I feel that at least one time a week we should construct an All staff meeting. Our talking points will cater to the Wildly Important Goal (WIG) and the lead measures that will lead us to it. We also need to identify with our “Why” because this will be our motivating factor when we’re forced to endure the adversity that will be bestowed upon us. I would like for this meetings to be ran like a meritocracy, where everyone has a platform to voice their opinions, questions, and concerns. We will measure the meeting’s success by the increased level of competence after every meeting. Everyone should leave these meetings more comfortable with the educational tool that we’re building with. We will develop a scoreboard to track progress and collectively we will meticulously analyse the results to where we need to improve and what we need to expound on.
Accountability
- Facilitate ePortfolio cadre meetings to discuss the intricacies of ePortfolios.
- Group competent educators with the ones who are complete novices for adopters who function better in smaller groups.
- Review scoreboard and make necessary adjustments to ensure we’re on track to reaching the WIG.
5 Stages of Change
Stage 1: Getting Clear
It is extremely important that I convey to my colleagues my plan to infuse ePortfolio-Based-Learning with the Love Notes Curriculum. I want educators on my prevention team to communicate openly on the importance of giving students full autonomy when it comes to their learning experience. I believe that with guidance and technology our students could increase their emotional intelligence, control their learning experience, and archive their work progress. I set out to implement my innovation plan this upcoming year (August – June 2023). I will be using this time to gain hands-on experience by assisting my colleagues as well as my students on this great learning tool. I believe one foreseeable challenge will be urging my colleagues to give their students complete control over their ePortfolios, this will in terms increase their chances of maximizing this tool and potentially using it even beyond our classes. This will ensure that our students will embark on the path to being life learners.
Stage 2: Launch
In this phase we will iteratively push the ePortfolio initiative out with hopes of reeling in adopters. I understand that this will require extreme focus. This is where the leader of this organisational change reveal the WIG or the main objective of this practice. It is important that we lead with the WIG in this phase because things can go left which will in terms propel us to improvise, but if he we have an idea of where we want to arrive, we can use that desired state to gauge our next steps. There will be some individuals who endorse what we’re trying to do and on the contrary there will be some individuals who see no point in us leading change in this manner. We must hold everyone accountable, engage in praising yet for the people who haven’t arrived and reward the individuals who has had success during the initial stages of this endeavour.
Stage 3: Adoption
The adoption stage will be the recourse for all the effort that we put into the pilot, with our primary focus being on the WIG and the lead measures. In this stage challenges are going to occur and we must be assertive with our approach. Here is where I may encounter resistance from the Formal and non-formal influencers who don’t agree with my plan. As the lead innovator it is my job to pool together all adopters and formulate accountability groups, where we openly discuss our “WIG” and how it should be in tangent with our “Why.” This will lead us to surmount the whirlwind that we’re forced to reckon with being contracted professionals.
Stage 4: Optimisation
At stage 4, the team completely endorses the 4DX mindset and sets out to make the necessary adjustments to strengthen the plan. In this stage, adopters will use information received during accountability group meetings to tailor their individual needs as well as their students’ needs. Adopters have held each other accountable thus far. The lead measures are still intact. The team will see the plan improve as those involved experience growth. Here, adopters we see that the process of iteration has propelled them closer to the WIG. In terms, this will inspire adopters to double down on the pursuit to reach the desired state. During this phase there will be team members who are operating at a greater rate than others. These individuals will be asked to model the intangibles needed to further the plan to those who are less competent. This pilot will be run like a meritocracy where our teammates build on their individual strengths. Any progression is celebrated because it’s the small wins that generate the momentum we need to accomplish the more audacious goals. During this stage my team will become believers even more as we inch closer to our WIG. We will see that the thing that we desired from the start is very tangible.
Stage 5: Habits
In this stage, the 4DX will become second nature to the team. Adopters will have found that balance between the important goals and the urgent ones. The WIG is something that we will uphold, but continue to seek improvement on. Now that the culture has been shifted the new standard is one of supreme excellence. In the end we’ll establish more audacious WIG’s where we would use lead measures to guide us towards them. It becomes a perennial cycle accomplishing goals and rearranging newer ones.
Connecting The 4DX Influencer Model
While there’s a distinguishing difference between both the influencer model and the 4DX Model both are very effective. These two practices are implemented primarily to propel an organization to their desired goals. The 6 Sources of Influence and 4 Disciplines of Execution can work together in harmony to create ultimate change.
Both models specialise in boosting their participants’ morale, present ways to track progress, and compel adopters to focus on the little things they could do to arrive. The Vital Behaviours of the Influencer model are almost identical to the lead measures of the 4DX model being that they both generate the momentum adopters need to catapult themselves to newer levels. Lead measures as well as vital behaviors inspire changes within our colleagues. These processes are about participants changing themselves, embracing the struggle, and trudging forward.
As I move deeper into the process of piloting my innovation plan, I feel it would be beneficial to lead with the 6 Sources of Influence along with the 4DX model. Ultimately the vital behaviors will point my team in the right direction, then I will lean on the principles from the 4DX model to alter behaviors enough to procure our goals and objectives.
Reference
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2015). Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change. McGraw-Hill.
McChesney, C., Covey, S., Huling, J., Walker, B., & Thele, S. (2021). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. Simon & Schuster.