Written by: Joel McLean, Guest Writer
As a leader, it is my responsibility to facilitate change initiatives based on goals and action steps chosen by my teams. As a connected leader, I have access to resources (people, information) that can help my organization implement change. But this isn’t always easy. Public education is a static organization: change is slow and often complicated. Even more reason to be proactive (anticipate), and to seek out all opportunities to collaborate with team members.
Translate Ideas and Vision into Action
Being able to facilitate doesn’t come automatically. As leaders, we must continuously grow and improve our skills. By adding value to ourselves, we are then able to add value to others.
There is a quote from John Maxwell that has always rang true for me:
“Successful leaders have the courage to take action, while others hesitate.” – John Maxwell
A change leader must be equipped to be able to translate ideas and vision into action. Actions always speak louder than words. A leader must possess the necessary skills, training, and support to answer this call to action. I learned very early in my career as a leader that action is a key factor in gaining people’s trust, and without trust, people will not follow.
Getting People Moving
A great leader understands the need to grow others in their organization. They can’t do it alone. The 3 most important elements to develop are relationships, relationships, and relationships. A leader must discover what drives each person on their team. What are their passions, and how can they be leveraged? What is their zone of proximal development? As a leader, if I want to get people moving, I must invest in them and walk the path with them. I must provide opportunities for them to step up as leaders. I must celebrate their successes and allow them to make mistakes. This helps to build trust, and trust helps to get people moving.
Maintaining Forward Momentum
Being able to sustain change and make it a reality takes patience, faith, resilience, skill, humility, and a growth mindset. Throughout the years these have been key elements of my growth plan. Being intentional with my growth has given me the tools and the understanding that are necessary to implement and sustain change initiatives. It is what helps me to keep moving things forward.
Creating The Right Environment for Change to Work
I often make the time to stop and “zoom out” to see the big picture of where my schools are regarding change. This allows me to identify the areas we need to “unfreeze”, and target change initiatives with a laser-like focus. I then identify key players within these areas and start having conversations to seed ideas and ask questions. But before having these conversations, I must be clear about how we can improve this area and why it is important to bring change. I offer different forms of data to help support the change initiative. Once unfrozen, I provide whatever support I can to facilitate the change.
Spreading Ideas and Challenge Positions
As a leader, I must be ready and willing to have the courageous conversations needed to implement and sustain change. Although I can plant the seeds of change, I believe that once people are motivated, the best ideas will come from them. Intrinsic motivation can move mountains, and collaboration is the vehicle that drives positive and healthy cultures.
The culture I want to develop as a leader is one in which we constantly challenge positions. We need to be comfortable doing this. That is how we manage to unfreeze processes or habits to improve or change
them. We should always ask ourselves, "How can I make this even better?”.
Anchoring Change
Once a change has been achieved, I like to leave a little bit of “wiggle room”. We know that we are implementing change for the better, but we also know that eventually, we most likely will improve it again. Always looking to improve is the “wiggle room” that we must allow ourselves. Therefore, we can fully support a change initiative by refreezing, however, I believe that we need to also provide that “wiggle room” to honour the continuous change process.
Being a leader today means that we must continuously transform ourselves. Not only because of the fast-changing environments that we work and live in but because we cannot hope to lead and improve tomorrow if we keep relying on yesterday’s abilities. Leaders who actively champion change demonstrate their commitment to growth and improvement, which in turn sets the stage for long-term success. Ultimately, organizations that embrace change are well-positioned to navigate the complexities of the modern world and thrive in an ever-changing environment.
Joel McLean, Brainz Magazine Guest Writer
Joël began his career as a science and chemistry teacher in 1997 and for the past 17 years has served as a principal, guiding improvement initiatives, and providing instructional leadership to staff and students in elementary, middle, and high schools.
From 2014 to 2018 he coached French Ontario principals as an Instructional Leader with the CFORP. He supported the development of leadership skills of principals and accompanied school board educational teams regarding teaching and learning in the era of global competencies.
Joël is presently Principal / School Efficacy Leader at Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est (CSPNE). He is the founder of Inspire Leadership Coaching (Keynote speaker, consultant, and leadership coach), and the host of 2 leadership podcasts (Inspire Leadership Podcast as well as This Is LeadershipPodcast).
