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.
19 Responses
Around 70% of school change initiatives do not succeed, which highlights the importance of following a clear and deliberate process. Randy Pennington notes that resistance can be seen as a friend, as it provides insight into concerns that may be shared by others. Understanding these perspectives can help strengthen the overall approach to change.
Currently, there is pressure to meet new government requirements quickly. Our school is struggling with trying to lead the way vs doing it right and once.
Slowing down and taking a more deliberate approach allows changes to be implemented thoroughly, creating stronger buy-in and a greater likelihood of long-term success.
Couldn’t agree more Caleb with this statement: “Slowing down and taking a more deliberate approach allows changes to be implemented thoroughly, creating stronger buy-in and a greater likelihood of long-term success.” The Ministry need to listen to schools and slow down to give time for successful and sustained change to occur.
Sanet and I reflected- Both change management and change leadership are essential to driving effective and sustainable change in schools, but they serve different purposes. Change management is task-oriented, focused on the “how” and “what”, timelines, procedures, and ensuring compliance. It provides the systems and structure needed to make sure initiatives are operationally successful. In contrast, change leadership focuses on the “why” of change, mobilising and inspiring people, creating buy-in, and fostering a sense of shared purpose. It is relational and empathetic, requiring skills such as active listening, emotional intelligence, and trust-building.
From our own experience, we see how both are needed for initiatives to succeed. For example, when introducing new practices at school, strong systems and planning are important, but success has ultimately relied on the relational side: giving staff voice, creating space for honest dialogue, and ensuring people feel heard and supported. Without leadership that values collaboration and emotional buy-in, even well-organised change risks being short-lived.
A key reflection for Sanet and I is the importance of building a culture that normalises open feedback and professional dialogue. Sustaining change requires more than just following steps; it requires a culture where staff feel safe to challenge, question, and contribute to solutions. This builds ownership and reduces resistance. Leaders play a crucial role in modelling this, showing resilience, being adaptable when plans shift, and even demonstrating vulnerability by learning alongside their teams. Change leaders need resilience and the ability to adapt when things don’t go to plan. By modelling vulnerability and a willingness to learn alongside staff, leaders can encourage others to take risks too.
Moving forward, Sanet and I see the need to continue developing our confidence in leading conversations about change, ensuring they remain solutions-focused rather than compliance-driven. By doing so, we hope to strengthen both the systems and the culture that allow change to take root and last.
I agree 100% Amy that relationship is a key component of successful change and for effective change to happen we need both change management and change leadership.
Reflecting on conversation with Amy: Both change management and change leadership are essential to driving effective and sustainable change in schools, but they serve different purposes. Change management is task-oriented, focused on the “how” and “what”, timelines, procedures, and ensuring compliance. It provides the systems and structure needed to make sure initiatives are operationally successful. In contrast, change leadership focuses on the “why” of change, mobilising and inspiring people, creating buy-in, and fostering a sense of shared purpose. It is relational and empathetic, requiring skills such as active listening, emotional intelligence, and trust-building.
From our own experience, we see how both are needed for initiatives to succeed. For example, when introducing new practices at school, strong systems and planning are important, but success has ultimately relied on the relational side: giving staff voice, creating space for honest dialogue, and ensuring people feel heard and supported. Without leadership that values collaboration and emotional buy-in, even well-organised change risks being short-lived.
A key reflection for us was the importance of building a culture that normalises open feedback and professional dialogue. Sustaining change requires more than just following steps; it requires a culture where staff feel safe to challenge, question, and contribute to solutions. This builds ownership and reduces resistance. Leaders play a crucial role in modelling this, showing resilience, being adaptable when plans shift, and even demonstrating vulnerability by learning alongside their teams. Change leaders need resilience and the ability to adapt when things don’t go to plan. By modelling vulnerability and a willingness to learn alongside staff, leaders can encourage others to take risks too.
Moving forward, we see the need to continue developing our confidence in leading conversations about change, ensuring they remain solutions-focused rather than compliance-driven. By doing so, we hope to strengthen both the systems and the culture that allow change to take root and last.
Sanet I concur that sustaining change requires more than following steps. Relationship is a key component for sustained change to happen.
Key reflections/learning about change leadership
I found it really interesting that R. Pennington said that 70% of all change efforts failed 20 years ago and 20 years on, 70% still fail. That means that leaders are making the same mistakes.
I love distinction between change management and change leadership. For change to be successful, the management process and the people process are both crucial.
I liken the change process to a vine on a lattice. For growth to happen, there needs to be structure (change management processes) but there needs to be life/the vine too (the people in the process).
I also liked the idea to create the culture of “we change every time we see an opportunity to be better” rather than “we change things because they fail”.
Change management is definitive whereas change leadership involves an ongoing process where people involved in the change are considered, effective communication takes place, and in my experience, the vision is clearly defined and intentionally brought to people’s attention often. Change leadership involves helping all stakeholders understand the ‘why’ of the change in a meaningful way. And setting the tone for the change that draws people in.
Leaders of change need to be able to set and communicate the vision with a sense of urgency so that stakeholders understand. They need to be able to collaborative and bring people along through the process through shared responsibility and effective communication. They need to be able to keep track of the process, gathering data, reflecting and refining the change process and celebrating the wins.
The change process also needs to be transparent for stakeholders to keep the ‘buy in’. People need to feel heard and their opinions during the change process considered.
My further additions to this one (Liezel was superbly patient with me!)
In our roles as deans or middle management, we can see this culture-building as grounded in relationships with students and whānau — when they feel supported and included, they are far more open to engaging positively with change.
Acknowledging that sometimes we feel the limits of middle leadership, but that small, relational changes — how students see themselves, how whānau feel heard — can be just as powerful in preparing the ground for bigger shifts.
This can mean being clearer in how we explain the ‘why’ of change to students and whānau in everyday language, and finding simple ways to gather their voices so the processes feel co-constructed rather than imposed.
Great that you acknowlege the importants of the “why for students” and whanau in the change process Dionne.
Liezl, love the quotes you use and your comments around the difference between change management and change leadership and their functions in the change process.
Love the collaboration everyone!
Our reflection and discussion on what we need to develop further:
Randy Pennington 70% of all change initiatives in schools fail. This is massive and shows why following a clear process is so important. He commented about using resistance as a friend making a great point. Diving deeper into why people feel the way they do, knowing that others may feel that way as well.
We are rushing to implement changes to meet new government requirements, and we are concerned we might skip essential steps in the process. This hurried approach could create a weak foundation for the new changes, significantly increasing the risk of failure down the line. The overwhelming pace we feel may also negatively impact team culture.
We believe it’s crucial to be deliberate and slow down. We need to resist the pressure to rush so we can be more thorough with the process.
Our understanding and discussion about the difference between change management and change leadership:
Purpose: Change management is focused on the practical, process-oriented side of change. It aims to control the change effort and minimise disruptions to the organisation. In contrast, change leadership is about driving large-scale, transformative change and is concerned with creating a vision and movement.
In order to successfully lead change, the overall vision needs to be clear and we need to have buy-in from as many as possible. If the urgency rate for change is apparent/recognised then people may be more easily driven out of their comfort zone? Kotter stated that there is a risk in playing it too safe and suggests that when 75% are honestly convinced that business-as-usual is totally unacceptable, the transformation process can succeed. What I take from this is that it is key to openly acknowledge and give reasons for the need for change.
Approach: Change leadership is centered on influencing and motivating people to align with the new vision and culture. It requires leaders to be strategic thinkers with qualities like enthusiasm, empathy, and strong communication skills to guide people through uncertainty and promote long-term shifts in mindsets and values.
Real transformation takes time, so in order to not lose momentum, Kottter emphasises the importance of celebrating short-term wins. These would also provide an opportunity to take stock, reflect on the process so far and make sure that we are still in line with the overall vision. I also resonated with his statement that pressure can be a useful element in a change effort. If deadlines are too far in the future, urgency levels drop. This is also a way to avoid another error listed by Kotter: declaring overall victory too soon.
Our first discussion/reflection from the reading:
Change needs really good communication. In my past change ventures, I have communicated to a small group and got them on board with the vision, but did a poor job of getting stakeholders and the wider community convinced. I think this is a helpful experience for me in my future initiatives. I would like to make sure I communicate more fully in the future.
I also really liked Randy Pennington’s reflection on when we look for change. I have been surrounded by people who are nervous around change, and only want change when something is not working. I liked the concept of change being about the opportunity to make something better, which is something I want to hold on to when I try to communicate change to others.
Alongside this, I liked the reading’s words about establishing a sense of urgency. My own impatience often tends to create too much urgency for those around me. I often want things to change yesterday and as a result I can make others feel uneasy about change. I love change, and, for me, I find that I need to make sure I create change at a manageable pace for others. I think that this has meant that I have broken trust with others, and so I want to work at my pace and take people with me.
To sum up, I would say that I have been reasonably keen and proactive with change management, seeing systems and processes that I want to change. I do think my key next steps are in my change leadership, where I can communicate my vision effectively to others and take my stakeholders with me. I have found that I can sustain change in my spaces, but may lose the key people to back me!
Our in depth discussions, thoughts and reflections Al, Tom and Nicola
Excellent collaboration and reflections Al, Tom and Nicola. Although we want to establish a sense of urgency, I agree that change can’t be rushed if we want the change to be successful, sustainable and imbedded. We need to resisit pressure from outside agencies deadlines.
I too discussed this module with Lindi… Here are some of our reflections after an email discussion:
(Femke)
I found Kotter’s 8 steps for leading change really interesting! After reading it, I went and had a chat with my principal to get some more in depth understanding about implementing changes in schools and the dynamics around making these changes in a positive way.
My understanding of change management vs change leadership is that we need to have certain people we know we can rely on and we can invest in to help our vision come to life. As a leader, we need to be set on selling the vision and actually having the data and the understanding to back it up as being something we can accomplish and work towards together. Bringing people above the line is so important – knowing who are our stakeholders in creating the end result of the vision is so important. These people become the ‘managers’ and are led by someone who can provide the vision and understanding to all.
I found the reading really interesting when it talked about making chats with the staff really short and sweet – you are more likely to sell your vision this way rather than a long winded meeting or written context.
Upon talking with my principal, he made it really clear that there needs to be a plan before we can implement change. Will the change be a small thing that can be implemented in a couple of weeks, will it need a term? Or does it need to be put into the three year plan?
We can’t rush change. Being prepared is so important – knowing who we need to help us with, ensuring there is a good reason behind the change – is it data driven? or is it a realistic need.
We make changes because of things that need to work better.
(Lindi)
I recently was advocating for a change of bell times. I put up 2 new options and a final option to remain the same. As a lead team, we had a clear ‘why’ for the change but we also believe in democracy and wanted the process to be a collaborative decision. As a result, there was a strong desire to keep the bells times the same. I realised after reading Kotter’s Eight-Essential steps that I had not spent enough face to face time explaining the reasoning behind the proposed change and I hadn’t spent enough time ‘planting the seed’ as you put it, Femke.
With Beth and Al, we also talked about understanding the importance of creating and nurturing a collaborative and trusting culture at our school in order for change to happen and stick. Looking at change through leadership instead of management, reminds us of just how important the vocabulary we use around this really is as the two different words communicate very different ideas. “Change
management” communicates that those at the top will drive change with clear steps on how and when it will happen – like it or lump it.
“Change leadership” can better be interpreted as a more collaborative process of implementing change together and for a greater purpose. Both are important but leadership is essential in order for change to become embedded. We also talked about how change has to be communicated in small amounts and regularly, prioritising face to face – as you mentioned, Femke.
Both Lindi and I shared some examples of where we have tried to implement change within our schools and both realised that something within Kotter’s 8 steps were missing – it was a really insightful reading and it does make sense to if long term change is to happen in a positive manner.
Femke and Lindi, it’s so interesting to read your different experiences. I fully agree with a short and sweet approach to conversations. It forces you to make your point succinctly and also shows others that you value their time! I resonated with your points about vocabulary, such a subtle difference in wording can make all the difference!
Femke I really appreciated your reflections on managing vs leading change and the points your Principal made about effective change.
Lindi these two statments really resignated with me: “understanding the importance of creating and nurturing a collaborative and trusting culture at our school in order for change to happen and stick. Looking at change through leadership instead of management, reminds us of just how important the vocabulary we use around this really is as the two different words communicate very different ideas.
Reflections and discussions with Lindi Newth after looking at this module together.
Understanding of change management vs change leadership:
Looking at change through leadership, instead of management, reminds us of how important the vocabulary we use around this is. The two different words communicate very different ideas.
Change management communicates that those at the top will drive change with clear steps on how and when it will happen.
Change leadership can be interpreted as a more collaborative process of implementing change together and for a greater purpose.
Change management is important but change leadership is essential.
Essential skills for leaders to implement change:
Having a clear vision and understanding the ‘why’ for change.
Having the ability to empower others. Ensuring we have the majority of staff on board to help communicate and drive the intended change. This is in line with the Reggio way which models inclusion of non teaching staff in everything that we do.
Communication skills. Ongoing communication is essential otherwise change will not become embedded. We have been driving significant change in our PB4L journey and ongoing PD and communication around this has been a game changer in having everyone on board.
Modelling from the top. Being able to teach the new behaviours and values by us as leaders modelling the way forward.
We appreciate establishing a sense of urgency. For us, we would like to think more deeply about how and when to push others out of their comfort zone and ensure that we are also working outside our comfort levels as leaders.
Other key reflections:
Don’t wait for failure for change to happen. Change to continually improve on where you are now.
The creation of a nurturing, collaborative and trusting culture at our school is essential in order for change to happen and be maintained.
Beth I concur with the essential skills for leaders to implement effective change. Well done for achieving consensus and buy in from staff and parents in PB4L.