1.6 Step-up-to-excellence:a change navigation protocol for transforming  (Page 13/20)

Implementation of new ideas and practices will require the school system, all the clusters, all of the individualschools and work units, and all individual faculty and staff to move through a learning curve, which always starts with a downhillslide in individual and organizational performance followed by an upward climb toward excellence (this learning curve ischaracterized as the“first down, then up”principle. Organizational Learning Networks (OLN) can facilitate and supportthe“first down, then up”experience. OLNs are informal communities of practice that focus learning on issues, problems, oropportunities related to the implementation of a district’s master redesign proposal. They can be designed using Dufour and Eaker’s (1998) principles for organizing learning communities. Tofacilitate the development and dissemination of professional knowledge throughout the school system, the OLNs are required toshare their learning with everyone in the district.

Most large-scale change efforts fail during the implementation period; especially if the change timeline islong and if the transformation activities and outcomes are not periodically evaluated (Sirkin, Keenan,&Jackson, 2005). Because of the possibility of failure it is important for changeleaders to design and facilitate On-Track Seminars. On-Track Seminars are specially designed seminars that engage faculty andstaff in periodic evaluative inquiry (Preskill&Torres, 1998) about the change process and its outcomes. The formative evaluationdata from the seminars are used to keep the transformation journey on course toward the district’s grand vision and strategic goals. These seminars also:

• Facilitate individual, team and district-wide learning;
• Educate and train faculty and staff to use inquiry skills;
• Create opportunities to model collaboration, cooperation and participation behaviors;
• Establish linkages between learning and performance;
• Facilitate the search for ways to create greater understanding of what affects the district’s success and failure; and,
• Rely on diverse perspectives to develop understanding of the district’s performance.

During the period of formative evaluation it is important to assess the quality of discontent among peopleworking in the school system and among key external stakeholders. The quality of discontent is a diagnostic clue about the relative success of a school system’s transformation journey. In less healthy organizations, people complain about littlethings—low-order grumbles. These gripes are manifestations of what Abraham Maslow (in Farson, 1996, p. 93) called deficiency needs. Insuccessful organizations, people have high-order gripes that focus on more altruistic concerns. In very successful organizations,people engage in meta-gripes—complaints about their need for self-actualization. When change leaders hear these meta-gripes theywill know that their system is stepping up to excellence.

Step 2: Create Strategic Alignment

After redesigning the district as described above, step 2 invites change leaders and their colleagues to alignthe work of individuals with the goals of their teams, the work of teams with the goals of their schools and work units, the work ofschools and work units with the goals of their clusters, and the work of clusters with the goals of the district. Combined, theseactivities create strategic alignment.