I tell my students that regardless of what they may represent, each of them is a leader in their own right and has permission to think and act like a leader in their role. I share a topic that I read, that learning is belonging and belonging is learning. If you identify with it, it's never too early (and therefore never too late) to develop leadership skills. Key strategies and community connection, fueled by a determined, challenging attitude, will equip leaders to be successful organizational change leaders. The following key strategies support this pathway.

 

What’s Your Why 

For change to happen and to be effective it must be lasting, leaders within schools and other organizations must first determine their “why”. Simon Sinek says, people accept why we do something. The "what" is much less important.

 

What is my personal “why”? Why do I want to strengthen a blended learning environment within my classroom with a Two dual way language program?

 

Students require the freedom to explore language and culture in a personalized way and develop respect for other people, cultures and places with a true understanding of how they learn.

 

To read more about my “why”, visit What is my “why”? What's My Why? | Roosty Tovar Teacher

 

Influencer Strategy

Once a leader has their focus and firm understanding of their personal "why," it's important to invite the rest of the team. In education, the team could be made up of many grade level teachers, or even the entire staff for a whole school or district proposal or transformation. Gaining acceptance from other teachers is not easy. There are teachers who already have their fixed routine, and are used to autonomy in their classrooms. Consequently, suggesting changes is rarely well accepted, or effective. This is where the influencer model with its six sources of influence seeks to be useful. The six ways leaders can influence others to join them in their proposal:

 

• Personal motivation 

• Personal ability

• Social motivation

• Social ability

• Structural motivation

• Structural ability

 

There are leaders who think that creating effective change only takes one or two influencers to bring to their teams. So your results, your proposals are unfortunately less effective. Joseph Grenny and his coauthors explain that leaders must use at least four, or all six, sources of influence to achieve the probability of success. I invite you to visit my influence strategy to encourage the acceptance of a two dual way language blended learning environment in class within my team and my school, consult my Influencer Strategy | Roosty Tovar Teacher

 

4DX

Once a leader has managed to impact the team members so that they participate in his change proposal, it is time to start implementing it. The Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) reveals a common mistake many make when implementing new innovations: people try to do too much, too fast. Regardless of the nature of the organization's work, all teams get caught up in the whirlwind of daily work. Therefore, if a leader tries to include several changes at the same time, the probability of success is weakened. Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling explain it in the 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving the objectives is fundamentally important, and for this we are guided by the four steps and obtain an effective and lasting change:

 

• Discipline 1: Focus on what is tremendously important

• Discipline 2: Law on Lead Measures

• Discipline 3: Keep a Convincing Score

• Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability

 

As I work to impact my peers to implement their own blended learning environment in class, I use 4DX to ensure that the innovative new approach is in line with the broader goals of the School District and the Elementary School, to make it possible and feasible despite from the whirlwind of teaching schedules and the multiple responsibilities of everyone, including myself, our weekly commitments that we make to establish a new learning experience for our students. Check out my 4DX plan and learn about the process to improve our chance of success and see an example of our scorecard.

 

Combining both processes, the influence strategy and the 4DX, creates a clear line to make effective changes and improve the probability of success of new proposals. To learn more about how these two models complement each other, please read my post 4 Disciplines of Execution | Roosty Tovar Teacher

 

Crucial Conversations

A leader can have a great idea to improve the organization, but if he cannot communicate and discuss it effectively, it is difficult for the idea not to generate attraction to be developed and implemented. Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to communicate effectively in crucial conversations. In the book Crucial Conversations: Presenting Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High, the authors stress the importance of staying confident when conversations are high-stakes, opinions differ, and emotions run high. It is necessary to maintain mutual respect and mutual purpose when communicating with another person. Please review my Crucial Conversation tips in my innovation plan Innovation Proposal Plan | Roosty Tovar Teacher

​

 

References

 

Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

 

McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2016). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. New York: Free Press.

 

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

 

McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2016). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. New York: Free Press.

 

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.