Slide 1

Lack of Understandingand/orResistance to Change

Hall & Hord (2015) share their theory of deficiency of widespread change throughout the school/district being contributed to lack of understanding of what the change is or what it will look like when it is implemented in the envisioned way.

Resistance To Change

Hall & Hord (2015) recognize that change can be difficult to implement. In lieu of this revelation they offer the following reasons as to why resistance to change happens to help us better understand.Avoidance.There is a need to know whether the new change would really be an improvement.Change is painful (nerve racking & uncomfortable).Stubbornness.

Change Principles

Hall & Hord (2015) understand that there are many factors that influence the change process and offer the following change principals to assist in a smoother change implementation process.

Change is Learning - People need to be taught and coached on the new process.

Change Is a Process, Not an Event - Change should occur in steps, rather than all at once.

The School Is the Primary Organizational Unit for Change Most of the time changes come from the district and state levels, but the primary place of implementation will be the school.

Organizations Adopt ChangeIndividuals Implement Change - Change cannot happen until it is released into the hands of man.

Change Principles cont...

Interventions Are Key to the Success of the Change Process - Interventions are events that occur or things that happen. The success rate of the change process can be a success or failure depending upon the nature of the intervention.

Appropriate Interventions Reduce Resistance to Change.

District- and School-Based Leadership Is Essential to Long-Term Change Success - Leadership is the captains of the change ship. The longevity of change is contingent upon the modeling, mentorship, support, and monitoring demonstrated by leadership.

Facilitating Change Is a Team Effort - Change in organizations is a uniform event. The ideal end result is that it be adopted by everyone. It takes a village to raise a childand to implement change!

Change Principles cont

Mandates Can Work - Mandates, or any expectation for that matter, must be monitored in order to ensure it gets done.

Both Internal and External Factors Greatly Influence Implementation Success - Objective input, community resources, outside agencies, etc. are all needed to increase success rates.

Adopting, Implementing, and Sustaining Are Different Phases of the Change Process.

Focus! Focus! Focus! - Know where you are going (desired end result), and give your attention to the change process; never losing sight of your goal; assessing/evaluating your progress along the way.

External Communication

According to Hall & Hord (2015) communicating with external entities is an important intervention that is often neglected, but needs to be executed in order to keep them informed and gain their support.

Levels of Use

According to Hall & Hord (2015) concrete understanding of the constructs of Levels of Use (LoU) makes it easy for facilitators to foresee what is likely to unfold as a change initiative unfolds, and provide appropriate interventions that will be relevant and helpful to those involved, or expected to be involved, in change.

Level 0 Nonuse - Knows nothing of the innovation/never heard of it.

Level I Orientation - Attends information sessions.

Level II Preparation - Has a plan and start date for when and how they will begin implementation.

Levels of Use cont...

Level III Mechanical - Uses the manual.

Level IVA Routine - Stuck in their ways/not changing/doesnt want to buy-in.

Level IVB Refinement - Reflects and assesses their own performance and makes changes accordingly.

Level V Integration - Collaborates with other users of the program and synchronizes progression.

Level VI Renewal - Looking to do major revisions of the innovation or find a new innovation altogether.

Measuring Stages of Concern

Hall & Hord (2015) recommend conducting regular and ongoing assessment of the change process by measuring the Stage of Concern (SoC) of all participants.

The three ways to assess concerns are One-Legged interview (OLI), Open-Ended concerns statement (oeSoC), and SoC questionnaire (SoCQ).

OLIs - Brief conversations between a Change Facilitator and an implementer about the use of the innovation.

oeSoCs - A systematic measure of concerns in which the implementers of the innovation are asked to write a description of their concerns, which are then content analyzed are able to assess the change process through the candid, subjective and honest words of the implementers.

SoCQs - The most rigorous technique for measuring concerns; a 35 item questionnaire that has strong reliability estimates and internal consistency are able to construct concerns profiles.

You may not necessarily be the one experiencing roadblocks to participation in PLCs. However, you may have a colleague that you were prompted to reflect on as you read through the information in this roadblock section of Lack of Understanding and/or Resistance to Change. Regardless of who this roadblock pertains to you should now be able to:

Recognize the characteristics of a lack of understanding of change or resistance to change.Understand the change principles that can assist in implementing the change process more smoothly.Understand the ways in which to measure levels of use and stages of concern.

As a result, you should be better equipped to advocate for yourself or your colleague(s) to increase participation in PLCs by constructing a plan of action utilizing the information from this section. Remember the ultimate goal of PLCs is collaboration and sharing of professional knowledge and experience to help each other grow both personally and professionally.

Reference

Hall, G. E., & Hord, S. M. (2015). Implementing change: Patterns, principles, and potholes. Boston, Mass.; Munich [u.a.: Pearson.