Influencing Change

Leading organizational change is not an easy thing to do especially at the beginning of the school year. It is a time when teachers are bombarded with new policies and programs to incorporate into the new school year. That's why it's important to choose a few vital behaviors that will give you the most bang for your buck to avoid overpromising and underperforming. Have you ever written a New Year's Revolution resolution only to abandon it come February? It’s possible you did not maximize your sources of influence. 

Grenny, Patterson, Maxfield, McMillan, and Switzler (2013) studied influential people around the world and discovered six sources of influence when it comes to change. These sources are broken into the categories of personal, social, and structural and then split into motivational and ability subsets. They conducted further research and observed that when people or organizations used four or more of the sources of influence, the likelihood of success increased tenfold. 

When thinking of my Innovation plan, my desired result is for all teachers to develop a technology-rich learning environment by the end of the 2020-2021 school year. I then looked for vital behaviors for my teachers to develop in order for this to happen and reflect on who will be part of my influence team. Next, I need to maximize my sources of influence in order to have the best results possible. 

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Below you will find my Six Sources of Influence Matrix showing how I intend to influence my teachers to be the best they can be when using technology. 

Now that I am aware of the importance of personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability; maybe it's time to look back at my New Year's resolutions. If you want to make a change, look for your sources of influence and never underestimate the power of peer pressure or accountability partners.

References:

Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.