This week's lesson and in class activities were very reassuring. Whenever I have tried leading something, whether it be a meeting, a club, or an organization, there have always been tough cookies to deal with. I would try different approaches, ask them what they would like to see incorporated, and let them participate in the logistics. Unfortunately, some individuals are still going to resist the idea of change. I know in the simulation, we continually tried to incorporate the people that were against new ideas so we could pull them along the way. It was obvious that they individuals weren't going to agree to anything that was going to occur. What I learned through this simulation is teaming up invididuals who resist change with influential leaders can produce positive results, but incorporating a array of individuals, including students, community members, and leaders will result in an agreeance by everyone on the idea of change.
By teaming up a variety of parties, students, parents, and leaders, it is much easier to implement new ideas into the school setting. When our school first started to implement our Project Lead the Way program, pre-engineering, there were many people resistant to change (principals and core subject area teachers). Part of the problem was when our department first tried implementing the program, we went at it with only our department, not including the community, fellow teachers, and the administration. After numerous headaches from people resisting the program, we starting including other teachers and administration members. We took these teachers and administrators into different schools so they could see the program being implemented. After hearing and seeing the success stories of the program, our administration decided to run with the program, which has been a great success since its implementation. If we wouldn't have stepped back and added the administration and fellow teachers, we may have not had the program implemented at all.
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Nick,
ReplyDeleteI think you are right in that seeing is believing when getting people (especially administration) to buy into change. By showing administrators other schools that had successfully implemented the changes that you wanted, they could see your plans in action. I would think that teachers, even ones that resist change, could not argue with the results of the programs at other schools. By going against the obvious successes, they would prove themselves a real horse's butt. I have found that one of the major factors that people are unwilling to change is because they think of the negative results that could occur. Showing successful programs would eliminate that excuse, and hopefully get people more willing to entertain change.
I wish I was as optimistic as you concerning having everyone agree to the idea of change. There will always be those who will never agree to change regardless of the possible upside. Like we saw in the simulation, you try to bring those people along, and if they don't follow, they finally need to be cut loose. Hopefully you are in a district where there are not too many of those people, because that level of stubbornness can really test your patience. :)
Sounds like your strategy to show the program as being successful at another school worked wonderfully. Many people are uncomfortable with sticking out their necks for something new. They often just need to see that it's been done before and that the world won't fall apart.
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