Team of Extraordinary Educators Final Response to Team Change Makers
Team Extraordinary Educators Final Rebuttal
There is no intent in trying to simplify the change process. Change is difficult in any shape or form. We believe God intended human being for constant change because that means trusting His providence more than what we know or what we have done in the past. Our fallen nature has hardened our ability to process change. Hughes, Colarelli-Beatty, and Dinwoodie (2014) mentioned: ”if you always look at what you know and what you’ve always done in the past, you will never do anything” (p.119). We like sameness more than change.
May I say that when God called Abraham, God created change in the life of Abraham and had a problem in mind. It was something spontaneous yet God recognized a problem. God called Abraham to save the world. God, as the leader, saw the problem, that no human being recognized, the salvation of humanity. A leader might do something spontaneous but not without reason or purpose. God created the nation of Israel to bring salvation to the world. In Isaiah 49:6 it says: “I will also make you (Israel) a light for the nations, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” Also, a teacher might spontaneously create a club but not without purpose. The purpose is to create a change, to spark new passions in students or to unit students with similar passions. Everything should have a purpose and if we as leaders have a purpose we will bring change.
In your argument one and two, it seems you are actually not just suggesting charismatic leadership qualities, but authoritative and dictatorial leadership values. It seems that following the leader and his charisma is more important than constructive dialogue about the necessary change process needed for success. You are implying that if one does not follow the leaders first decision, he or she can take the door. Personally, in the last six years as a principal, I have offered the door to many people. Actually, at the end of my first and second year as a principal I had to “fire” one third of my staff. I “fired” people who did not understand the need for change and did not follow my leading. That does not mean that I did not have to spend an incredible amount of time during those years, dialoguing, discussing, and convincing those staff members for about the need to change and the behaviour they needed to change. Only those that have started a school know how much it takes from a leader to before one can justify his or her resignation. We are called today to be servant leaders who engage in the process of change with dialogue and not simple charisma. Some of the servant leaders qualities that one is called to demonstrate are empathy, healing , listening, awareness, and persuasion (Spears, 2010).
Change Makers’ rebuttal to arguments 3 & 4 belittles the importance of communication as a necessary vehicle for change as well as casting aside the need to foster the nearly imperceptible internal changes evident in individuals prior to participating holistically in required organizational changes. Resistance to change is inherent in human nature but does not deny the need or opportunity to change. Strategic leaders create a mindset for change in their employees by making “the unconscious conscious” (Lepsinger, 2010, p. 59) and encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone. Strategic acting requires clarity of focus and is understood as an opportunity for learning and changing (Hughes et al., 2014, p. 114). The tendency toward more positive change is developed by small movements toward the new requirements. As Change Makers’ referred to the need to adapt to the newly-acquired laptops in SD35 (2018, para. 4), change from previous practice to the recently returned laptops would have been necessary when those laptops were newly introduced as part the digital sustainability plan (SD35, 2018A). Desiring to remain in the accustomed way of doing things is the bottleneck for continued change occurring in the need to stay competitive and current, even in education (SD35, 2018B). Efficient continual communication is critical for employees to understand their required participation in accepting change in their own practice.
“Motivation is the most significant predictor of success” (Taylor, 2012, para. 1) and internal motivation is the most powerful and sustainable engine for change which is where employees and leaders should always be in their practice (para. 11). Humility is a key agent in change as it prepares us for the understanding that there are better ways than what we are doing right now (Ephesians 4:1-3). Inability to change is a death knell for many living things as well as an organization which assumes employees will change as the needs arise. Even charismatic leaders require their employees to give more than lip service to company policies for sustainable, strategic change (Northouse, 2013, p. 189). By instituting continual retraining, repurposing, and renewing commitment to company MVV, an organization will maintain employee adjustability to the required changes for market competitiveness in business or education as indicated by the interconnected elements of the Star Model (Galbraith, 2014, p. 132).
Change is a spiralling and scaffolding process where approximations of desired behaviour bring stronger collective change of both-and thinking rather than either-or which tends to lead to eventual demise. (Atha, 2018, para. 21). Changing behaviours is necessary when the previous behaviours are not in line with the MVV whether an employee takes on a new principalship but wants to retain former relationships with colleagues or whether colleagues are mentoring each other. Were those previous behaviours beneficial personally or professionally? If an employee lived with the acknowledgment of visible leadership in all aspects of daily living, change would be a ready mindset. An organization and its people can adjust quickly when necessary due to constant preparation for change in line with MVV. Lock-downs, the example provided by Change Makers in their rebuttal, are a prepared process which require constant practice and adjustment for newly-discovered needs (WGSS, 2015). We must constantly evaluate our decision-making model to come to closer approximation to perfection (Matthew 5:48; Philippians 3:12) and live so that others—leaders and followers—may see Christ in us and glorify God (Isaiah 43:7-8).
Change Makers (2018) posit “visible change should be applauded as a precursor to the larger victory” (para. 10). This assumption cannot prove the inaccuracy of argument 5, on the contrary, is a powerful supportive point. As we mentioned in argument 5, “looking for more improvements and building on the visible progress” (Extraordinary Educators, 2018, para 7) represents creating short-term wins and preparing for the long-term wins. Quick wins, representing periodical targets or visible changes, indicates celebrating each visible change which can further motivate staff to achieve more targets towards change; it is also the beginning of what needs to be done to achieve long-term change (Kotter, 2012) which is the “larger victory”.
Abundant time does not mean endless time. The example of Una losing weight only represents one type of change. Some kinds of change might take less than one month, such as changing to a new phone or finishing reading a book. Abundant time, therefore, can be construed as relatively long quality time according to the type of change. Strategic transformational servant leaders need to do the right thing at the right time (Lepsinger, 2010), acknowledge the MVV to the entire staff, and better empower them to make the change happen (Northouse, 2013). The change we want to implement should be solid, reliable, aligning with the company’s MVV, and helping the organization gain long-term wins. Abundant time, also relatively long quality time, is vitally necessary yet not invariable for all types of change.
Lepsinger (2010) states “new behavior does not require a great deal of conscious thought” (p. 145). In other words, an individual could naturally exert new behaviors without conscious thinking process, such as when we speak our first language. But it does not mean we could not reflect and consider what has happened when we try to learn it. The reflective results are very helpful for people to gain significant methods to learn other languages. In terms of the changes happening in an organizational level, the “new behavior” work both for the formation of the current change and the experiences gained from the process of change to prepare the company for more changes in the future. The methods and experiences of past changes also increase the competitive advantages for the organization to survive in the VUCA world (Ungerer, Ungerer, & Herholdt, 2016). In general, the five levels help the organization recognize what would happen in the process of change and consciously be aware of the coming changes by taking the work of the well-researched and reliable model of studying addiction.
References
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