I have used the picture below a number of times with my staff and I am pretty sure they are sick of seeing it and/or hearing about it. The fact of the matter is that it is a good reminder to us all that change is dirty and we need to respect the process.
As you can tell, it has the ability to be adapted to almost any organization and the changes that take place on an ongoing basis.
What I find interesting is that in the education world today, it appears that we are constantly stuck in the anger and resignation phases. It is rare that we find a collective group of educators who have accepted and are committed to the change being implemented on their behalf. In fact, right when we are on the cusp of moving forward, another change comes down the slope and gets people all fired up again.
I personally have seen this in action over the last couple of years in my school. As a young thirty-something in my third year as principal, I went on a quest to change a few things. The problem was that I didn't communicate the change well enough and thus, kept a lot of folks in the anger and resignation phase. Call it a rookie mistake, but communication is the key and explaining the reason for change is a MUST.
Overall, great leaders are going to facilitate change in a thought provoking way where folks feel as if they are being heard. As I stated in my post about The Paradox of Leadership, this is an unnatural way of doing things until it becomes natural. Change is more manageable and meaningful when:
1. Teachers are satisfied with their job and the workplace in which they work.
2. Everyone understands the "crappy stuff" that is going to need to take place to accomplish the change and is committed to working through it together.
3. We stop trying to sell people something as the best thing to do and seek "buy-in." If it truly is the best thing to do, we shouldn't have to seek buy-in, but rather, we should seek a better understanding of why the change is necessary.
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