Apologies, this was not posted yesterday due to illness!
Module 9: Whakataurite i ngā Huringa (Navigating Change in Education): This module equips you with the knowledge and skills to effectively navigate and lead change within the education system, fostering a culture of continuous improvement while ensuring the wellbeing of staff and ākonga.
“Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua”
“Look back to the past, strive for the future.”
Due: 8th September
Module Objectives:
- Understand the change process.
- Develop change management strategies.
- Build a shared understanding of the need for change.
- Lead and support staff through the change process.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of change initiatives.
A Harvard University study published twenty years ago, and various other research sources, such as the more recent study by David Leonard and Claude Coltea from Gallup, (published in Business Journal in 2013), estimate that 70% of all change initiatives in schools fail. As recently as 2016 in New Zealand this statistic was still quoted as relevant to understanding sustaining change in the presentation by Randy Pennington, Business Strategist and author, to NZSTA and available here: https://vimeopro.com/nzsta/govtalks/video/145795736.
The National Aspiring Leaders programme is committed to supporting delegates and ensuring growth in leadership skills, in this case by reflection on your role in change practice in your school. This will be achieved by supporting your exploration of change research sources against your current experience, particularly of change management and change leadership.
Reading: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YcwSPqd5k3yWUMe1yFIvEz3-ulMqwQJE/view?ts=689bc6d8
Task: Reflect on this reading in light of your own practice and discuss your reflections with your learning partner. Post on the forum as a partnership, your joint reflections. You may use some of the following prompts to support your reflections:
- Understanding of change management vs change leadership
- Essential skills for leaders of change
- Key reflections/learnings about change leadership
- Creating a culture which supports change implementation
- What I need to develop further
Assessment:
- Completion of reading.
- Discussion with learning partner(s).
- Participation in the online forum discussion.
- Submission of reflection on the forum.
21 Responses
Reflection on John Kotter’s Change Model in Education
From reading John Kotter’s work on organizational change, I’ve come to understand that successful transformation requires a consistent and urgent approach. Change must be driven by a clear vision, strong leadership, and widespread commitment across the organization. Kotter’s framework highlights several common errors that hinder change, many of which I’ve seen firsthand in the education sector.
Key Learnings and Applications to Education.
1. The Importance of a Clear Vision
A shared and compelling vision is essential. Without it, change efforts become fragmented and confusing. In schools, this might look like introducing new systems or policies without explaining their purpose or long-term goals. A clear vision helps staff, students, and parents understand the “why” behind the change and fosters alignment.
2. Communication and Leadership Behavior
Change cannot succeed without effective communication. Leaders must not only articulate the vision but also model it in their actions. Communication should be ongoing, multi-channel, and transparent. I’ve learned that “walking the talk” is just as important as the message itself.
3. Overcoming Resistance and Removing Obstacles
Even when staff are willing to embrace change, they often face barriers such as lack of time, unclear expectations, or insufficient support. Identifying and removing these obstacles is critical to maintaining momentum.
Creating Short-Term Wins
Long-term goals can feel distant and abstract. Celebrating early successes—no matter how small—helps build morale and reinforces the belief that change is possible. These wins also help maintain urgency and engagement.
4. Anchoring Change in Culture
For change to last, it must become part of the school’s culture. This means aligning policies, leadership development, and succession planning with the new direction. Without cultural integration, change efforts risk fading when leadership or priorities shift.
Personal Observations and Experiences
I’ve seen firsthand what happens when a school tries to implement new systems without sufficient communication. For example, our transition from Google Classroom to Microsoft Teams was intended to improve collaboration and streamline digital learning. However, the rollout lacked clear communication with staff, students, and parents. This created confusion and anxiety, which became a significant barrier to change. The absence of adequate professional development and ongoing support led to a loss of urgency and momentum.
Another example is our attempt to make uniform standards a focus for the term. Initially, there was strong emphasis and visibility, but after the first two weeks, standards began to slip. Staff hadn’t fully bought into the reasons behind the initiative beyond “looking neat and tidy.” In reality, uniform plays a deeper role in fostering pride, community, and accountability. Without shared understanding and belief in the vision, the initiative struggled to sustain itself.
Kotter’s model has helped me reflect on the importance of vision, communication, and cultural alignment in leading change. In education, where transformation often involves multiple stakeholders and deeply ingrained practices, these principles are especially relevant. As a leader, I aim to apply these insights to ensure that change efforts are purposeful, inclusive, and sustainable.
Kia ora Matthew,
I really like how you’ve connected Kotter’s Change Model to real-life examples in your school. Your reflections on the importance of vision, communication, and cultural alignment show a strong understanding of what makes change effective and sustainable. Great how you’ve recognized the challenges of implementation, such as the roll out of Microsoft Teams and the uniform initiative, and used these experiences to draw practical lessons. Your commitment to applying these insights to ensure purposeful, inclusive, and lasting change is inspiring. Ngā mihi nui!
The key things I took away from this was the 8 stages and how this is a process. Fluid and dynamic.
The core idea is that a successful transformation requires leadership, which is about creating a vision and inspiring people to act, rather than just management, which focuses on planning and controlling. Sleep and repeat. It needs careful planning, driving and energy.
1. Understanding Change Management vs. Change Leadership
Change Management: Traditional change management is a set of processes designed to keep a change effort under control. It focuses on the planning, budgeting, organising, and problem-solving aspects of a change. While necessary, it is often insufficient on its own.
Change Leadership: This is the critical component. Leadership has the ability to establish a direction by developing a vision for the future, aligning people to that vision, and motivating them to achieve it. Change leadership inspires the organisation to move toward a new direction, overcoming resistance. This is something I have experienced recently. If energy, passion and good rationale are present, most people will jump on the waka.
2. Essential Skills for Leaders of Change
Leaders of change, need a diverse set of skills to navigate the eight steps.
These include:
Vision and Communication: The ability to develop a clear, compelling, and concise vision that can be easily communicated and understood.
Coalition Building: The skill to assemble a powerful guiding coalition of people who have the positional power, expertise, and credibility to lead the change. Empowerment and Obstacle Removal: The capacity to identify and remove barriers that hinder change, and to empower others to take initiative and act on the vision. Inspiration and Motivation: The ability to inspire a “volunteer army” by generating short-term wins and celebrating successes to build momentum and maintain morale. Perseverance: The discipline to consolidate early gains and produce more change, without declaring victory too soon. I am going through something similar with setting up a futsal academy in Rotorua. These are the skills I am drawing upon to help drive it and move it forward. Especially around coalition building.
3. Key Reflections/Learnings about Change Leadership
Several key takeaways:
Urgency is Paramount: Change efforts often fail because leaders do not create a sufficient sense of urgency from the beginning.
It’s a Process, Not an Event: Skipping any of the eight steps can be a fatal error. Change is a multi-year process.
Culture Follows Behaviour: You cannot change an organisation’s culture directly. Culture changes only after new behaviours are successfully adopted and proven to work over time.
The Power of a Guiding Coalition: No single person can lead a major transformation. A diverse, powerful, and cohesive team is essential for success.
4. Creating a Culture Which Supports Change Implementation
The final and most difficult step is anchoring new approaches in the culture. This involves:
Visible Linkage: Consistently demonstrating the connection between the new behaviours and the organisation’s success.
Integration: Ensuring that new norms and values are integrated into all aspects of the school.
Reinforcement: Creating new systems and structures that reinforce the new culture and prevent a regression to old habits.
Leadership from the Top: Leaders must exemplify the new behaviours to make the change stick.
5. What I Need to Develop Further
To focus on the areas where you feel the most challenge.
Urgency: Do I have the skills to identify potential crises and communicate the need for change in a way that truly motivates people?
Vision: Can I articulate a clear, concise, and compelling vision for change?
Coalition: Am I able to build and lead a diverse team with the necessary power and credibility?
Communication: Do I communicate the vision frequently and through multiple channels to ensure it is understood and adopted?
Execution: Am I skilled at identifying and removing barriers for others and celebrating short-term wins to build momentum?
Lastly for me is about trust. Trusting my team to have the best interests and values at heart when they are on this journey. To believe.
Kia ora Mark,
Great how you’ve connected Kotter’s Change Model to your own experience with the futsal academy — it makes your reflections practical and relatable. Your emphasis on coalition building, urgency, and anchoring change in culture shows a strong understanding of what makes leadership effective. I also like your honest reflection on areas for development, especially around trust and communication, which are so important for motivating and empowering a team. Your approach demonstrates both insight and a real commitment to learning as a leader of change. Ka rawe!
Kia ora e te whānau,
Understanding of change management vs change leadership.
In the video, Randy highlighted the importance of discussing strategies for leading change, not just managing it, noting that 70% of all change efforts fail. Not because of a lack of management, but people not connecting with people. The reading focused on leading change, and noted that a renewal process often stalls until enough real leaders are in senior-level jobs, or when a new leader who recognises the need for major change takes charge.
Essential skills for leaders of change
Of the essential skills that leaders of change require, we felt that ESTABLISHING URGENCY was a key driver. In brief no one will be willing to change if they don’t see the need. While this requires the challenge for people within the organisation/school to move outside their comfort zone, the change needs to be communicated as urgent to speed up the process. Tony Robbins said “People don’t change until they realise that the pain of staying the same is GREATER than the pain of change”. So having the courage and the skills to communicate the necessity to change is of utmost importance to help staff see the pitfall that awaits at the end of “status quo”.
FORMING A POWERFUL GUIDING COALITION: Kotter mentioned that successful transformations require building a coalition of 5 to 50 individuals, beyond just the head of the organisation, who share a commitment to renewal. In school this would include board members, senior leadership and heads of departments, student voice and local iwi. But beyond that other stakeholders within the business and educational community create a gravitational pull towards change. This group should possess power through titles, information, expertise, reputations, and relationships, and often operates outside the traditional hierarchy because the existing system is ineffective. Leaders for change must try to bring these individuals together to develop a shared understanding and build trust.
KEY REFLECTIONS: In summary, we underestimated how much is required to invoke systemic change. These readings remind us that real transformation takes time, and without short-term wins, momentum can be lost, and people may resist or give up. So this reinforced to us the need to lead by example: Kotter said that executives must “walk the talk” and consciously become living symbols of the new corporate culture. Inconsistent behaviour by important individuals will undermine any change efforts. So in a schooling setting, senior and middle management leaders need to be “all in” when it comes to systems change, otherwise, all the planning and work that has been put in can crumble a lot faster than it took to establish the change.
Damon, Heath & Leanne
Kia ora Damon and Heath,
You’ve captured so well how much thought and effort it takes to move beyond managing processes and really lead people through transformation. I like how you’ve highlighted the importance of establishing urgency and building a strong coalition—it’s clear you understand that real change depends on relationships, trust, and consistent modelling. Your focus on “walking the talk” shows confidence and integrity as leaders, and it’s inspiring to see how you’re shaping culture while keeping people engaged. Ngā mihi nui!
Change being led opposed to managed from Randy was something I really took from this too guys. It makes sense when you break it down. If the energy, drive and passion are there alongside a strong vision/philosophy. Then it should naturally occur without the need to manage it. The 70% stat really stunned me. But if we aren’t connecting with the people that need to support the implementation, then that makes sense.
As part of this reflection, I considered the ideas from the reading alongside my own leadership practice. With a focus on the differences between change management and change leadership, the skills required to lead effectively, and what I personally need to develop further to better support change within my department.
– Understanding of Change Management vs Change Leadership
In my role as a middle leader, I often have to lead change that may not always align with my own preferences, whether it’s a school-wide initiative or a national directive. I’ve realised that having a clear understanding of both the change and the “why” behind it makes the process more effective. For me, change management is about structure—a clear vision and strategic plan—while change leadership is about inspiring others, modelling the vision, and helping to shift the culture so that the change is sustained.
– Essential Skills for Leaders of Change
I believe the most important skill in leading change is clear communication. When everyone is on the same page, confusion is reduced and trust is built. I’ve also learned that consistency, active listening, and modelling expectations are vital in helping others feel engaged and supported through the process.
– Key Reflections/Learnings About Change Leadership
Urgency matters: Sharing achievement and gap data often creates a sense of urgency, making the status quo riskier than the change itself.
Vision in action: People are more willing to shift when they see leaders “walking the talk,” such as joining moderation, giving feedback, or doing marking alongside them.
Time is essential: I’ve learned not to expect culture to shift in a single term. Anchoring new expectations takes time—often two years or more of consistent reinforcement.
– Creating a Culture Which Supports Change Implementation
In technology, I regularly ask students to refine and improve their work, but I’ve noticed how difficult change can feel for us as teachers. Longstanding habits make change uncomfortable. I believe that when change becomes part of the culture—normalised and encouraged—it reduces resistance and builds momentum. In that environment, change is seen as a pathway to improvement rather than a disruption.
– What I Need to Develop Further
I recognise that I need to lead deliberate change in two areas of my leadership:
1) Raising achievement: Using the recent data we collected to drive a change strategy that embeds higher expectations and shifts classroom practice toward lifting student outcomes.
2) Improving behaviour: Collecting more targeted behaviour data to inform a department-wide change in how we respond to and manage student behaviour, creating a more consistent and supportive environment for learning.
Kia ora Sean,
You’ve done a great job unpacking the difference between change management and change leadership, and linking it so clearly to your own practice. I like how you’ve highlighted communication, modelling expectations, and creating a culture that embraces change—it’s clear you understand that sustainable change depends on both people and systems. I also really value your honesty about areas to develop, like raising achievement and improving behaviour, which shows real self-awareness and commitment to growth. Ngā mihi nui!
Understanding of change management vs change leadership
All successful change requires clear leadership, but I would argue that it also needs a clear change management strategy. Without either, change is often directionless and unguided, and that will lead to failure.
Essential skills for leaders of change
I like Kotter’s change management strategy. The first and most important skill is communication and providing education to the organisation. In our context of schools, this means clear leadership can communicate about what the change is and how it will impact the school, the community and employees. If this first step is managed and led well, then the subsequent steps of the model will scarcely be needed. I also believe that transparency, accountability and honesty are also integral skills that leaders of change need to exhibit. Without honesty, you cannot build trust; without trust, people will not believe in the change process.
Key reflections/learnings about change leadership
I have seen both successful and unsuccessful change at an organisational level, and those who adopt clear change leadership with a planned and communicated change management strategy are the ones that are successful.
Creating a culture which supports change implementation
I think that this comes back to communication and transparency. That is not to say that all aspects of a plan need to be shared with stakeholders, but enough of the plan to give stakeholders confidence in the process does. The more that can be shared and communicated, the less employees will fill in the blanks themselves (which is often to the detriment of the process as a whole)
What I need to develop further
Managing change as a middle manager in a school is often controlled by the parameters and directions given by SMT. To further develop my change management skills, I would need to ensure strong working relationships with my team, a culture of trust and communication so that if change is required, team members would intrinsically understand that I am doing what is required in the best interests of the team and department as a whole.
Kia ora Leanne,
I like how you’ve highlighted the importance of pairing strong change leadership with clear change management, and your focus on communication, transparency, and honesty shows a thoughtful approach to building trust. Your insight about fostering strong team relationships shows self-awareness and a practical commitment to leading change effectively. Ka rawe!
Kia ora
What stood out most to us was the statistic that around 70% of change initiatives fail. While this sounds daunting, we don’t necessarily see all failure as negative. At times, unsuccessful attempts provide valuable learning, showing us what needs to be adjusted and what may be beyond our control. In schools, some projects falter not because the change itself is wrong, but because the wider conditions or influence required to sustain it simply aren’t there.
We also connected with the idea that change should be seen as an opportunity rather than a burden. Creating urgency and improving how people think and talk about change felt especially important. From our own practice, we know that not everyone moves at the same pace. Some colleagues need more time and engagement, and it reminded us that leadership is about building trust and credibility rather than dictating from above. When leaders model change themselves, it makes a difference in how others respond.
Another point that resonated with us was the danger of celebrating wins too soon. While small successes should be acknowledged, if they are not reinforced and embedded, the momentum can quickly fade. We recognised this in our own experiences—after an early success, it can be tempting to ease off, only to find the next project does not automatically succeed. Sustaining change takes stamina, ongoing communication, and a commitment to seeing practices become part of the culture before moving on.
Finally, we found it useful to reflect on the importance of collaboration and vision. Change is rarely carried by one person; it needs a coalition of people who share ownership and can help remove barriers. We also valued the reminder that management and leadership serve different roles—management keeps systems running, but leadership provides the direction and inspiration for change. For us, the challenge is to be more intentional about pacing and communication, ensuring that small, manageable shifts are fully embedded before we take on new initiatives.
Wessel, Jess & Laura
Kia ora Wessel, Jess & Laura,
I really enjoyed your reflection. I love how you reframed the 70% “failure” statistic as a learning opportunity—it shows a strong growth mindset. Your focus on trust, modelling change, and pacing demonstrates a deep understanding that leadership is relational, not just directive.
I also liked your point about embedding small wins before moving on and your emphasis on collaboration and shared vision. You’ve clearly thought carefully about how to make change meaningful and sustainable in your practice. Ka rawe!
*To establish urgency for change I would present data at departmental meetings showing areas needing improvement. Inviting outside experts to share expectations. Surveys for students and parents. Highlight or visit if possible successful innovations happening at other schools.
*Powerful guiding. Ensure there is opportunity to organize planning with key staff. Trust needs to be built through open communication and shared problem-solving. Include all leaders like principals/department heads and informal influencers. As an area school we ensure representation from different year levels, subjects. We can however work on developing school communities.
*A clear vision is essential! A vision needs to be refined through multiple discussions and feedback sessions. Create strategies for achieving the vision, you need to plan the journey. Test the vision with various stakeholder groups.
*Communicating and dedicating time to the vision can be done in various ways. Time in every meeting to discuss the vision could work. Creating visual displays and materials showcasing the vision in the staffroom works well. Sharing success stories that align with vision goals helps everyone stay positive. Walk the talk and ensure your teaching practices reflect the changes you’re advocating.
*To remove obstacles for change you need to be aware of what is going on around you, identify possible barriers like outdated policies, resistant colleagues, inadequate resources, or conflicting priorities and address these. Systems that prevent innovation require change.
*Short term wins should be improvements you can demonstrate within 12-24 months. Make success (wins) visible and measurable, opinions need proof. It is important to remember positive changes must be recognised and celebrated.
*To anchor changes in school culture you can document and share evidence of improved student outcomes. Mentor new teachers in the transformed practices. “A candle loses nothing by igniting another candle”. Ensure change-supportive staff are part of the team. Sustainability is important, careful consideration needs to be taken to ccreate systems that will maintain improvements over time.
Kia ora Monique,
I like how you linked practical strategies—like using data, inviting external perspectives, and sharing successes—to each stage of leading change. Your focus on trust, collaboration, and including both formal and informal leaders shows a strong understanding that sustainable change is relational as well as strategic.I like your approach to vision-setting, celebrating short-term wins, and embedding practices into school culture. Your thoughts on mentoring and sustainability, along with the saying about the candle, really highlight your awareness of building capacity in others. Ka rawe!
Totally agree Monique. Often we create change or run with new ideas quickly without considering their sustainability and the need to have a team to drive it.
After working through the reading and reflecting on my own practice, it has become even clearer how complex leading change in schools really is. Something that stood out to me was the research showing that about 70% of change initiatives fail. For me, this reinforced the idea that while change is necessary for improvement, it is also challenging and requires much more than just good planning.
A big learning for me was the difference between change management and change leadership. It is all well and good to focus on systems and logistics, but true leadership is about building trust, inspiring others, and creating a culture that is open to trying new things. This is backed up by some of the messages from the book “Legacy” by James Kerr, which followed the success of the culture shift in the All Blacks, which led to their most successful era. How there were plenty of honest conversations that needed to happen, that everyone had to understand the WHY behind what they were doing and walk the talk. One of the key things from that book that is relevant to this is that it required leaders to step up on and off the field to enforce standards and behaviours that aligned with the team they wanted to be.
I also reflected on the importance of school culture in supporting change. Staff are far more likely to get on board if they feel listened to and included in the process. I was reminded of the need to celebrate small wins, keep the focus on student outcomes, and make sure that people feel supported along the way. The whakataukī “Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua” really resonates with me here. It’s a reminder to learn from what has and hasn’t worked in the past to guide how I approach the future.
For my own practice, I can see areas where I want to grow:
– Learning to view resistance as part of the process, rather than a setback. Figure out HOW to get those who are resistant on board and empower them to be a part of that change.
– Using more structured ways to evaluate the impact of change, so I can adjust and improve along the way.
– Identifying what the stats tell me in regards to what areas NEED change, and then identifying what change is actually needed.
Kia ora Jarrod,
Your reflection shows a strong understanding of the challenges involved in leading change in schools. You effectively highlight the importance of building trust, inspiring others, and modelling behaviours, drawing on Legacy by James Kerr. I really like your focus on school culture—engaging staff, celebrating small wins, and prioritising student outcomes—which is reinforced by the whakataukī “Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua.” Identifying growth areas such as managing resistance, evaluating impact, and aligning change with evidence demonstrates both practical self-awareness and a clear commitment to ongoing leadership development. Kia Kaha!
Aē Jarrod. It has identified for me that it is more important than just have a “good idea” and some “hopes” it takes much more.
Kia Ora
I am not sure if I have done this right, aroha mai, but here goes.
The idea and culture of change and navigating it while trying to promote it is something I am very interested in. Change is hard and as we’ve looked at their are many defaults or traditional ideas that can make these ideas of change difficult to get over the line. Biases, time, energy and resource are huge factors that can be road blocks in the path of change and as educators, we know there are a number of them. But what is most important?
I have discussions with colleagues about what it would take for ‘things’ to change and the long road that is needed for change to take place, the pushback that would be inevitable, what might be said or done about the idea and who would be best to help implement change. Which sort of Segway’s into the points listed:
Understanding of change management vs change leadership – my take on this is about having genuine skin in the game where you can identify the need for change and be a visionary or at least share the vision. To be part of the coalition driving inspiration and momentum captivates the idea of change for me. Though delegating tasks and structured processes is important, the leadership of change seems ever present and promotes the idea of continuous improvement by living in the narrative. Obviously both are important and the idea of structured ‘wins’ resonates with me too. Playing the long game can be grueling so planning ‘wins’ is a great idea.
Essential skills for leaders of change – living the narrative as I touched on above is necessary. “culture is based on what we walk past, not what we say” – Gilbert Enoka. Small purposeful actions that lead the way toward change is significant in the want for a change that is positive. Reflecting on performance and exploring or being curious about what could be done differently is necessary but ideally if there is no clear, defined vision that there is no sight for what we are aiming for.
Key reflections/learnings about change leadership – I thoroughly enjoyed the step process outlined in the Harvard article, steps and processes like that provide the tangible resource to follow and explain the reasons behind the necessity to stay in the game. Some of the conversations I have had have outlined the length of time it would take to see a change, perhaps a change in personnel or influence could benefit or hinder the progress too but reflecting on the main reasons as to why a change is necessary keeps the desire to explore change. I fully understand the need for a driven coalition who are passionate about the vision for change. It does require bravery, sometimes the coalition may take time to form. Especially to find the right people. “70% of change implementation fails” is huge. My worry is that leadership have control over change and therefore may resist change.
Creating a culture which supports change implementation – vulnerability and resilience are two key characteristics that would need to be harnessed in this space. The traditional ways in which “it has always been done” can be overwhelming. Having the facts, stats, plan for change is important because even if these aren’t present or available in favor of the traditional way, resistance is met. Protecting what we’ve always done because it’s easy and human nature.
What I need to develop further – Understanding what it takes to persuade change. But how do you spell it out to leadership if they see no issue? Or are in the frame of “our school is doing ok” as per Randy Pennington
Patience I guess, but at what cost? I may not be the one that is missing out, but will it be the rangatahi?
Knowledge, stats and facts. To be able to implement change, emphasise its need, and deliver a more in depth ‘argument’ it pays to have these understood I am guessing. But perhaps that comes back to wanting to model change management or change leadership. “Change management is important but change leadership is essential.” I am for change leadership.
Kia ora Leighton,
Your reflection demonstrates strong self-awareness and strategic thinking. You clearly recognise the challenge of persuading leadership when they may not see an issue, and your focus on using evidence, data, and clear examples shows a practical, considered approach. Balancing patience with urgency for the benefit of rangatahi, and emphasising change leadership over management, highlights your commitment to inspiring others, sustaining momentum, and fostering a culture open to continuous improvement. Kia Kaha!