1.6 Step-up-to-excellence:a change navigation protocol for transforming  (Page 17/20)

Objection #3: Yes, Nice Idea. But, We Can Not Stop Doing What We Are Doing

Another important and significant obstacle to gaining support for whole-system change is that school districtshave a core mission; i.e., they must provide children with approximately 180 days of classroom teaching and learning. Giventhe complexity of whole-system change and given the time required to plan and implement this kind of change, some educators andpolicymakers will object by saying,“Nice idea, but we can’t stop doing what we’re doing to participate in this kind of change process. We have to show up each day and teach kids.”

Of course, this objection is based on the realities of life in school systems. That is why it is so difficultto respond to this objection. But there is a response and it is derived from the experiences of real people making real changes incomplex organizations with core missions that cannot be ignored. The response is that the Strategic Leadership Team and ChangeNavigation Coordinator must create a parallel organization after the launch decision is made during the Pre-Launch PreparationPhase.

The concept of parallel organizations is from the fields of organization theory and design and systemic change(e.g., Stein&Moss Kanter, 2002). A parallel organization, which is sometimes called a“parallel learning structure”(Human Resource Development Council, date unknown) is a change managementstructure.

A parallel organization is created during the Pre-Launch Preparation Phase of SUTE and it is represented by thecollection of change navigation teams and change processes that are temporarily established to transform an entire school system. Asimple illustration of this concept is found in Figure 5.

The parallel organization is created by temporarily“transferring”carefully selected and trained educators into the parallel organization, which is constructed using thevarious change leadership teams. These people then create the new system.

Educators not transferred into the parallel organization continue to operate the current school system, therebyhelping the district to achieve its core mission; i.e., educating children. Even though they are performing within the boundaries ofthe current system these educators are participating in Organization Learning Networks to help them learn the new knowledgeand skills that they will need to perform successfully in the transformed school system.

In Step 1 of the SUTE protocol a master redesign proposal is created. At some point during Step 1 thatproposal is implemented. As it is implemented the“old”system is transformed into the“new”system and the district continues to achieve its core mission, but it does so within the framework of atransformed system.

Conclusion

New change theory is based on the concept of flux. It recognizes that change is nonlinear and requires schooldistricts to function at the edge of chaos as educators seek controlled disequilibrium to create innovative opportunities forimprovement. New change theory tells us that to improve the performance level of a school district the system must first movedownhill before it can move up to a higher level of performance. New change theory requires school districts to use a networkedsocial infrastructure where innovations are grown from within andused to create whole-district change. New change theory requires a simultaneous ability to anticipate the future and respond quicklyto unanticipated events. New change theory requires a protocol specifically designed to enact the concepts and principles that arepart of the theory.