Leadership: The Ideas of Michael FullanPresented by

William Allan Kritsonis, PhDWilliam Allan Kritsonis, PhD

ProfessorProfessor

PhD Program in Educational PhD Program in Educational LeadershipLeadership

Prairie View A&M UniversityPrairie View A&M University

Texas A&M University SystemTexas A&M University System

EDUL 7043 Organizational EDUL 7043 Organizational Development and ChangeDevelopment and Change

Spring 2010Spring 2010

                           

Leadership Is…

1) Strategy of the decade.2) About the number of other leaders you

cultivate and remain after you leave.3) A matter of building trust amidst high

expectations.4) Good succession planning--- “not

turnover, but discontinuity of direction is the problem.”

The Change Puzzle…

Why Is Change Complex…?

Fullan sees complex change as a process that cannot be understood and handled simply in terms of cause and effect. Instead of managing such situations by applying local fixes, we should go with a developed and refined process. For those complex changes, the leader should “be committed to certain values, but uncertain to pathways.”

What is Change…?

1) New Materials

2) New Behaviors/Practices

3) New Beliefs and Understandings

New Insights…

Fullan is a proponent of mentoring. He believes that mentors gain as much from their protégés as their protégés do from them.

He believes that thinking outside of the box is sometimes difficult because of overload and vulnerability but a new mindset on new insights can help a person truly lead.

Brain Barriers

1. Failure to See

2. Failure to Move

3. Failure to Finish

Failure to SeeThe

comprehensiveness mistake

The “I get it” mistake Illuminate the right

thing

Failure to MoveThe clearer the new vision,

the more immobilized people become.

Right Thing PoorlyThe clearer the new vision, the easier it

is for people to see all the specific ways in which they will be incompetent and look stupid. Many prefer to be competent at the wrong thing than incompetent at the right thing.

Failure to FinishPeople get tired.People get lost.

Ways to Break Through Ways to Break Through BarriersBarriers

ConceiveBelieve Achieve

Eight Elements of Sustainability

Sustainability is the capacity of the system to engage in the complexities of continuous improvement with values of deep human purpose (Fullan, 2005).

1. Public service with moral purpose. Raise the bar &

close the gap of student learning

Be respectful Improve the social

environment

2. Commitment to changing context at all levels

Mandatory initiatives such as NCLB only change a tiny slice of the context.

In order for transformational change to occur, it must motivate or give people the ability to succeed.

3. Lateral capacity building through networksCollaboration

rather than competition

Link the ineffective with the effective

4. Vertical and co-development relationships.

Vertical relationships (state/district, district/school, etc.) must be strengthened through…

SUPPORT & RESOURCES

5. Deep learningLearn from your actions.Fail intelligently. Exchange of ideas fosters

the cohesiveness of a group.

6. Dual commitment to short-term and long-term resultsAscertain long-term

results while committing to short-term objectives

7. Cyclical energizing Sustainability is

cyclical and continuous.

Energy (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) is required.

Time and ingenuity are required for the next breakthrough.

8. The long lever of leadership Long term impact:

EMPOWER

OTHERS

To

LEAD

Relationship Building as a Change Agent

Successful principals reach out to their parents and community and work hard to expand the professional capacity of the teachers to develop a coherent professional community.

Professional Learning CommunitiesFoster the conditions required for school

growth Develop a commitment to a mutual

purposeShared belief in ongoing common

actionsDevelop school capacity

The New Meaning of Educational Change

Create conditions to develop the capacity to learn for individuals and the organization as a whole.

Focus on changing the culture of classrooms and schools

Emphasize relationship building and values

Develop Shared MeaningAll learning is a continual process of

making meaningShare and sustain ideas within the

organizationAvoid the imposition of top-down reformTeacher and schools should be seen as

moral change agentsMake democratic communities possible

Change and the Pedagogy of Constructivism

Always involve your teachers in the process! Never innovate the most.You can’t just have the best ideas.Appreciate the implementation dip.Involve those that resist you and transform culture.

Key Players of Change: School Principals- Teachers- Schools School Principals- Gatekeeper of change. Teachers- It depends on what each individual

thinks and do! Teachers’ skills and dispositions are important to the success of the organization.

Schools- Must build professional learning communities, have program coherence, and technical resources.

Key WordsExtinctionMoral purpose Understanding changeDeveloping relationshipsKnowledge buildingCoherence making

Dr. Fullan’s Beliefs “Leadership, then, is not mobilizing others to

solve problems we already know how to solve, but to help them confront problems that have never yet been successfully addressed.”

Moral purpose cannot just be stated, it must be accompanied by strategies for realizing it, and those strategies are the leadership actions that energize people to pursue a desired goal.

Leading in a culture of change is judged by what leadership you produce in others.

Causes of Ineffective Change Leaders not guided by moral purpose. Leaders that do not fully understand the change

process, but may have moral purpose. Leaders that innovate the most and do not improve

relationships. Leaders who think that it is enough to have the best

ideas. Leaders who do not appreciate early difficulties when

trying something new. Leaders who do not redefine resistance as a potential

positive force and never re-culture.

Main Agent of Change in Schools

“The single most important factor ensuring that all students meet performance goals at the site level is the leadership of the principal.” Michael Fullan

Leadership for Change Engage people’s moral purpose Build capacity Understand the change process Develop cultures for learning Develop cultures of evaluation Focus on leadership for change Foster coherence making Cultivate tri-level development

On Going Journey to Better Schools

Reform in schools through cultural change and school capacity is the key to success

Component 1- teacher’s knowledge and skills Component 2- professional community Component 3- program coherence Component 4- teacher resources Component 5- principal leadership

Recommendations for the Future

There must be a moral purposeUnderstand the change processBuild relationshipsKnowledge buildingCoherence making

SummaryLeadership building and knowledge

building will continue to be the twin buzzwords for the future.