Culture Change: Building a College-Going Culture in Tennessee

GEAR UP TN KICK-OFF: YEAR 2August 27, 2013

Where most of us live and work…

So what does changing THAT look like?

The Harvard Change Model suggests the likelihood of change increases exponentially as any of these factors gets stronger.

But disconnected efforts may actually dissipate energy for change.

Why is it so difficult?

The Forum for Youth Investment www.forumfyi.org

C = D x V x PChange = Dissatisfaction x Vision x Plan

It’s emotional!

It requires many levels of work.

Individual SourcesHabit

Security

Economic factors

Fear of the unknown

Selective information processing

Sources of Resistance to ChangeFrom: Essentials of Organizational Behavior by Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2010.

Organizational SourcesStructural inertia

Limited focus of change

Group inertia

Threat to expertise

Threat to established power relationships

Threat to established resource allocations

Sources of Resistance to Change

Education and Communication: “Sell” the need for change. Explain the logic of change.

Fight the effects of misinformation and poor communication.

Participation: Include others from the start. Identify resisters to bring back into the process. Leverage expertise acknowledged by the group.

It’s difficult for individuals to resist a change decision in which they participated.

Building Emotional Commitment: Appeal to common vision and motivation. Understand what makes people “tick”. Adapt communications to individuals if needed

Validate and neutralize negative emotions.

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Implementing Changes Fairly: Invite participation in developing and implementing a change process. Articulate a clear change process.

Procedural fairness is especially important when outcomes are perceived as negative.

Selecting People Who Accept Change: Find the right people - research suggest some people simply have more

positive attitudes about change than others. Identify those who are open to experience, take a positive attitude

toward themselves, are willing to take risks, and are flexible in their behavior.

Start the process strong then bring others along.

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Getting Your Message Right: Social Judgment Theory

Building a College-Going Culture:What does change look like for you?

Pick a question based on either your strengths or your challenges to discuss with your table:

1. How would you describe the specific changes you are trying to make in your school or community? How are you communicating these change efforts to build support? How have the messages been received?

2. Who are the stakeholders you have involved? How are they involved?3. How are you working to create a shared vision? Plan? How would you describe

the level of dissatisfaction with the current college-going culture in your school or community?

4. What sorts of resistance to change have you experienced? How have you overcome them? Or not?

5. What supports and change leadership have you received from others? Who? How have they shown their support?

Building a College-Going Culture

As your partner, what can THEC and the Network do to help you?

“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction. “

- John F. Kennedy