High Performance Schools Transformation: The Culture Change Journey
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself” Andy Warhol
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" Lao Tzu
The Question
"So how long did it take to change your school culture from low trust silos to high trust collaboration?"
The question was on everyone's minds as we sat listening to the journey of cultural transformation of a large P12 school with 3 sub-schools as part of our experience share during the afternoon session of a recent combined schools Community of Practice (CoP) leadership forum.
The question was not only topical because of the importance of promoting collaboration through professional learning communities (PLCs) within schools, but also because our group of 17 school leaders had repeatedly identified the issue: ‘moving beyond compliance and supporting staff with change’ dominating our hot issues feedback sessions over the last 6 months.
This realization led us to ask a very challenging question of our leadership group – why had this become a re-occurring hot issue for our cluster? Was this due to deficits in us as leaders and our inability to deal with the issue effectively OR, did it keep re-appearing as a hot issue because it was a bigger issue then we had expected? Whatever the answer, perhaps this issue would take longer to change than other issues we were facing as school leaders...
So to return to the question of how long does culture change take, let us continue to hear from the school leaders sharing their experiences as well as have a quick look research on cultural transformation in schools.
Research on Cultural Transformation in Schools
A quick look at the research shows us that there is no universally agreed benchmark timeframe for culture change in education (or any other profession), as it largely depends on a range of local variables and the scale and context of the change itself. However, there are some quite good papers on change management within education which can shed some light on our central question. My favorite is from our own Australian based researchers, Peta Blood and Margaret Thorsborne who address the difficult question of the timeframes for changing school culture.
As you can see in the table above they share some of their experiences around timelines for change over a 4 to 5-year cycle. However, they also highlight the overlapping nature of various change stages and the shortening of the timeline where interventions may be run in parallel (excellent news for us!).
Changing Culture Akin to Learning New Language…
For some staff involved in schools undergoing massive cultural transformation, the experience is akin to learning a new language or being uprooted into another country - old habits, routines, jokes, jargon and norms are swept away with new organisational values and ways of working often accompanied by restructures and new teams being formed with new and unfamiliar people.
In this context we can compare the 3-5 years of workplace change with the time taken to learn a new language fluently - you guessed it - a similar time period to consider. However as the table above shows you can fast track a new language by increasing your exposure and practice. Based on our work in high performance schools, we believe the same principle of increasing exposure and practice applies to fast track workplace culture change (but more on that later...).
Experience Share Continued: Our Guest School Leader…
So returning to the question of how long culture change took across the large school being discussed at our CoP forum experience share session our guest answered the following:
“We had different experiences across the sub-schools of our school – the fastest group to change took 2 years whilst another group took 4 years and yet another is only now getting to the point of transformation needed – 5-6 years later. So if I was to offer some advice on timelines for changing school culture I would say 2 years is fast, 4 years is average and 6 years is slow but still a reasonable timeframe based on my experience.”
4 Years to Change Culture – Is This Too Long?
What did he just say...? Four years as an 'average' time to change school culture?
Whilst this may be the reality many schools must face - let’s be honest, 4 years is just too long for students, staff, leaders, administrators, and community members and politicians – all of whom need quicker results to enjoy better lives.
Four years is far too long for students exposed to poor school cultures and sub-optimal learning opportunities, disadvantaging their future educational and career opportunities.
Four years is far too long for staff who suffer the health problems associated with unhealthy workplaces, and too long for school leaders who have to maintain the energy and motivation over the longer term.
Four years is far too long for community members and politicians who expect quick results, and too long for the regional administrators who make school leadership changes based on annual results.
Something has to change, and quickly!
How Do We Fast-track School Transformation?
Once our guest had told us the 2, 4, and 6 year timeframes for the various sub-schools (junior, middle and senior schools) we naturally jumped to the question: how do we effectively fast-track the change process?
One of the audience asked: What were the key differences between the slower and faster changing schools?
“Well, one of the most important things we learned was to start slow and not rush getting engagement and alignment around vision and values. Where we took additional time to ensure everyone was fully on board with change and work through the 'yes buts' so they became 'what ifs' we ended up moving much faster in the latter stages of change. Where we rushed through initial engagement we later suffered all sorts of setbacks due to unspoken concerns and fears that were never addressed at the start.”
He went further…
“...Another really important difference between the faster and slower changing schools was the clarity of processes and documentation that supported improved practices - staff meetings and professional learning community forums were very well structured with clear agendas and good governance of meetings and outcomes sent out quickly and reminders were put on designated notice boards between sessions…
….Also trust, and people's willingness to be open and vulnerable and to respect each other's individual ideas and journeys as teachers - was also a big factor between slower and faster changing schools. Not only was trust important in the initial engagement it became even more crucial as the change journey progressed and the opportunity to present, lead and receive feedback was rotated among all staff members. This was helped greatly by role modelling humility and vulnerability among the leaders as well as initial team building exercises sharing career highs and lows, personality profiling and morning or afternoon teas prior to (or after) meetings.
Trust also played an important part in dealing with performance challenges brought about by work/life problems. In the fast change groups where there was a high level of trust people were much more likely to proactively seek support when struggling to deliver on their team accountabilities due to personal problems. This proactive approach meant the teams could show empathy and compassion rather than feel frustrated at a lack of performance and thus avoid misunderstanding the cause of issues due to personal stress as opposed to poor work ethic.”
Adjusting Our View of Timeframes for Change
Prior to this watershed moment our school leaders typically looked at a 3-6 month timeframe to implement change and also had 12-month planning cycles to consider - yet this was entirely out of sync with the reality of timeframes for genuine transformation of school cultures.
Our short horizon thinking had set up unrealistic expectations for our staff and had left us no room for errors and setbacks, which are a normal part of the change journey.
Clearly, we as school leaders needed to change our expectations around the time needed to transform school cultures, as well as manage upwards more effectively with our regional and statewide education administrators to develop a school improvement planning cycle which was less reactive and short-term focused over 3, 6, and 12 months cycles and focused on more long-term sustainable change over 2 to 4 years!
Getting on the Fast-track for School Transformation…
So how do we get our school transformation and culture change agenda on the fast track in order to complete the transformation process in as little as 2 years compared to the average of 4?
The answer lies in the comments of the experience share above – we need to deeply and genuinely engage with staff around the change agenda; set very clear processes, structures and accountabilities to support staff and drive the change agenda; ensure that all staff are actively participating in, and driving the change process (and respecting each others’ individual perspectives and contributions); and foster a climate of trust and openness to genuinely manage the setbacks and unexpected work/life challenges that may impact upon the change process as the journey progresses.
Developing Leaders for High Performance Schools: A 2-Year Approach
From a leadership development perspective fast tracking change also means that school leaders will need to stretch and grow their strategic management and leadership capability – learning new skills and perspectives and applying these in a consultative manner within the school context. In our work maximising school performance over a two-year window we spend the first 12 months of the High Performance Schools program focused on their leadership team’s development through 3 stages as a structured cluster or site based program followed by a series of semi-structured community of practice forums in year 2.
The Year 2 addition of the Community of Practice approach ensures that as the roll out of transformation strategies continues across the school, school leaders are able to leverage peer relationships from other local leadership teams to troubleshoot difficulties and maximize success.
Your School’s High Performance Transformation Journey…
Where is your school currently at on the stages of transformation journey? Are you in the beginning stages, middle or towards the end of the journey and enjoying the benefits of change?Are you stuck at some point in the change process at the moment? Are there more – ‘yes buts’ rather than ‘what ifs’ dominating the conversation and blocking the innovation?
Would a more structured approach to transformation help you get on the fast track to being a high performance school? Remember the saying two steps forwards, one step back and don’t be afraid to take a step back as needed to clarify, support and re-engage when roadblocks appear on the school culture change highway!
Ride The Waves of Life!
Dr Pete Stebbins
"iTeams: Why High Performance Teams Fit In AND Stand Out"
Dr Pete Stebbins, PhD is a Workplace Psychologist and Executive Coach. With many years of research and professional practice behind him he has managed to complete and evaluate numerous leadership and team transformation projects providing the ground swell for the common sense approach of the High Performance Teams Framework. Pete is a regular on LinkedIn writing on Leadership, Teams, Resilience & Life Strategy. Contact Pete at: [email protected] or visit drpetestebbins.com
Drama Teacher at Kingaroy State High School
8 年Hi Peter We are slowly beginning our journey in this area. I agree with what you are saying and time is always the most critical factor. The measurable gains are at the core of every decision. Our goals are 3, 6 and 12 months as a plan but realistically perhaps 3 years is more the reality - and we are aware of this.. not so she about 4 years though. If we hurry the rewards will not come as deeply nor consistently. The "what ifs" still need to be addressed more often than the "yes, buts" but people are listening to each other and this is a good start. Undertaking this journey requires some risks and challenge but it also brings excitement. It is nice and timely for this to be shared as there is support and knowledge in those who have already taken this journey. Thank you!