Influencing behavior change . . .

Connie and I finished two days of teacher leadership training today focused on what leaders do to support and influence change. From the Influencer we learn that there are two critical questions that we ask ourselves in a change process.

• Is it worth it? (If not, why waste the effort?)
• Can I do it? (If not, why try?)

We share the importance of leaders needing to ensure that the answers to these questions must support continued participation in the change effort if behavior change is to sustain over time. As leaders, we usually spend time using verbal persuasion to try and convince teachers of the importance of the change. This works for some, but others need more than this to open the door to change. In our work, we have learned that there are at least two other strategies that may yield better results; personal experience and vicarious experience.

When we move to the second question around can I do it, I share my belief that we make assumptions that almost all teachers believe that they can be successful at changing their behavior to align with that of the stated goal. I believe that these assumptions are made based upon the leader's personal experience not on data and information from those being asked to make the change.

This is because most teachers in leadership roles are among the "early adopters" of any change initiative. This means that they are among the first to find out about it, learn it, and try it. When it comes time to share the initiative with others their experience base leads them to believe that others will embrace the change as they do and not see it as difficult to do. I believe that this is not always the case and that more teachers than we think question whether they can do it for many reasons. I have no data other than personal experience from our change efforts to base my assumption on and would like to hear from you. Do teachers question their capacity to successfully implement a stated change or do most just need to know that it is worth it?