Self-Differentiated Leadership & Crucial Conversation

I tell my students that each of them is a leader in their own right, empowered to think and act like leaders in their roles. I share the idea that learning is belonging and belonging is learning. If you identify with this, it's never too early or too late to develop leadership skills. By focusing on key strategies and fostering community connections, along with maintaining a determined and challenging attitude, they can become successful organizational change leaders. The following key strategies support this pathway.

What’s Your Why

For change to be effective and lasting, leaders in schools and other organizations must first determine their "why." As Simon Sinek says, people accept why we do something; the "what" is much less important.

What is my personal "why"? Why do I want to strengthen a blended learning environment in my classroom with a dual language program?

Students need the freedom to explore language and culture in a personalized way, developing respect for different people, cultures, and places, and gaining a true understanding of how they learn.

To read more about What’s my Why

Influencer Strategy

Once a leader has a clear focus and a strong understanding of their personal "why," it's crucial to engage the rest of the team. In an educational context, this team might include grade-level teachers or even the entire staff of a school or district. However, gaining buy-in from other teachers can be challenging. Many educators have established routines and value their classroom autonomy, making them resistant to change. This is where the influencer model, with its six sources of influence, becomes valuable. Leaders can leverage these six sources to encourage others to support their proposals:

Personal Motivation
Personal Ability
Social Motivation
Social Ability
Structural Motivation
Structural Ability

Some leaders mistakenly believe that using just one or two sources of influence will suffice. However, Joseph Grenny and his coauthors argue that employing at least four, if not all six, sources significantly increases the likelihood of successful change.

I invite you to explore my influence strategy designed to foster the acceptance of a dual-language blended learning environment within my team and school. For more details, consult my Influencer Strategy.

4DX

Once a leader has successfully engaged team members in a change proposal, it's time to begin implementation. The Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) highlights a common pitfall: attempting to implement too many changes too quickly. Regardless of the organization's work, teams often get caught up in the whirlwind of daily tasks. When a leader introduces multiple changes simultaneously, the chances of success diminish. Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling explain in "The 4 Disciplines of Execution" that achieving goals requires a focused approach, guided by these four steps for effective and lasting change:

Discipline 1: Focus on what is wildly important

Discipline 2: Act on lead measures

Discipline 3: Keep a compelling scoreboard

Discipline 4: Create a cadence of accountabilityAs I work to encourage my peers to implement a blended learning environment in their classrooms, I use 4DX to ensure that this innovative approach aligns with the broader goals of both the School District and the Elementary School. This alignment helps navigate the whirlwind of teaching schedules and multiple responsibilities. Our weekly commitments establish a new learning experience for our students. Check out my 4DX plan to understand the process, improve our chances of success, and see an example of our scorecard.

Combining the influence strategy with 4DX creates a clear path for making effective changes and increasing the likelihood of success for new proposals. To learn more about how these two models complement each other, please read my post on the Four Disciplines of Execution

References

Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2016). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. New York: Free Press.

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations tools for talking when stakes are high, Second Edition (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

VitalSmarts India. (2012, February 10). Crucial Conversations Explained in 2 Minutes [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ixEI4_2Xivw

Successful By Design. (2021, February 23). Crucial Conversations Summary & Review [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Q2yG142cyNg