Leading Change Step-by-Step Tactics, Tools, and Tales

Unfortunately many educational change efforts fail or are less successful than originally conceived. A missing ingredient for many practitioners has been how to translate concepts into action, continuous improvement, and sustainable results. Although most school leaders know that change is necessary, they have trouble mapping out where to start, how to win support and cope with opposition, and how to institutionalize the change-in short, how to translate vision into a series of coordinated action steps. This book is designed to meet that need.Leading Change is both comprehensive and tactical in addressing several key areas of the change process: developing results-oriented strategies and plans; assessing and improving participants' readiness; engaging stakeholders; planning "early wins;" minimizing resistance; building a supportive culture; using collaborative planning methods; and developing ways to bring initiatives to scale and sustain them over time.The book contains field-tested, actionable tools supported by key change leadership concepts and success stories demonstrating how the tools have been used in 16 states at the school, district, and state levels to bring about important education reforms. Examples are drawn from urban, suburban, and rural schools and districts. The tools address how the leader analyzes the situations and groups needed to get the desired results and also engages the leader in self-analyses to inform his/her leadership of the initiative.

Jody Spiro, Ed.D., has worked extensively with nonprofits, governments, universities, districts, and schools in the U.S. and abroad on leading change. Currently she serves as adjunct professor at NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and senior program officer at The Wallace Foundation.