Week 12 Reflection

Leading others through change this week was very challenging for me.   I ran into some disruptions, not in my mentorship but in another bigger project.  I am helping the principal and staff develop a new report card.  I have been using Michael Fullan’s Model for Change to lead the committee the principal organized.  The first thing the committee did was agree on a moral purpose.  We used it to guide our decision making.  We are always referring to the moral purpose in our discussions.   I have been really working on knowledge building & sharing, relationships and listening.  Things were going great until each committee member broke away to share and get input from their grade-level.  Three out of four of the grades had great meetings and understood the task, one grade level did not.  There was breakdown in communication and understanding.  As a result that grade level halted the process.  I had to step in and do some coherence making.  At first I was viewed by some (in that grade level) as a target because change was uncomfortable.  This was very upsetting to me.  I am volunteering my time so I thought maybe I should just walk away but instead I pushed through and lead through the disruptions.  I worked on relationships first then on knowledge building & sharing while at the same time emphasizing the moral purpose.   Interesting I discovered the source of all the discourse was an unclear understanding of the moral purpose.  When teachers didn’t agree at other grade-levels they used the moral purpose to help guide them.  The grade level that halted the process did not use the moral purpose to guide them and got lost so to speak.  I learned a lot this week and I know it will not be the first big disruption in this process but I am going to celebrate getting through it.