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By Deb Page, Executive Director, Georgia's Leadership Institute for School Improvement
 When I was first introduced to the Change Toolkit in 2002 during a Harvard Business School seminar lead by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, my immediate reaction was, "At last, a tool that guides leaders to use proven, research-based strategies for change in the actual educational working context!" As the Executive Director of Georgia's Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI), a public/private partnership which supports, equips and inspires educational leaders in our state to drive change for student success, I have worked with thousands of educational teacher-leaders over the last three years. One of the things I've seen most clearly is the critical need for effective tools that support for re-culturing schools and school systems to focus on teaching all children to achieve at high levels.
When I saw the IBM Reinventing Education Change Toolkit, I knew this was the tool that would meet this need. Since that 2002 course, GLISI has integrated the Change Toolkit into our Superintendent training, and more than 70 Superintendents across the state of Georgia have been introduced to the Change Toolkit website and content. Many of these Superintendents have taken the Change Toolkit back to their districts and are using it in their ongoing work.
The Change Toolkit has allowed these Superintendents to key in on the important cultural changes that need to happen in their schools. When reflecting on the need for this tool, I remembered my experiences as a classroom teacher and the many times that the traditional, or, in some cases, toxic cultures, in schools and school systems could win out over individual teacher or leaders' efforts at improvement and alignment. Plus, as a career performance consultant and corporate training executive, I knew that the leaders we served needed to become skilled change masters if they were going to transform the cultures of their schools and school systems to allow the type of collaboration, the intensity of focus and degree of alignment needed to overcome the drag of the status quo and resistance to change.
However, I also knew that few change management programs that were truly effective, primarily because they usually taught the theory and practices of change, but required the leaders in training to relate and assimilate what they learned into their work context: most could "get it," but few could translate the knowing into doing back on the job.
The difference with the Change Toolkit was that it was made specifically for educators, in a language they could relate to and understand, with specific examples to bring the theory to life. I also loved the diagnostic tools so people could get real immediate feedback on their work. The straightforward design of the Change Toolkit site, coupled with Dr. Kanter's superior content, have allowed us to teach change practices, model them in the actual school environment, and to help our leaders diagnose how well they were doing as change leaders and identify what they needed to do to start and sustain momentum for change and improvement.
We introduced district leaders to the Change Toolkit by using a blended learning model which first engaged leaders in classroom sessions using the Change Toolkit as a resource, and provided guided practice in using the tool. By allowing the leaders to network and share their challenges and then introducing the tool as a support for their challenges, we both generated interest in use of the tool and overcame any hesitancy the leaders had for using an electronic tool.
As we work with leaders across the state to implement a wide variety of best practices to improve teaching and learning, we frequently use the Change Toolkit, and particularly the Change Wheel, to guide discussions and diagnose the steps the leaders must take to effectively execute their plans for improvement. In some cases teams of leaders have organized themselves around the spokes of the Change Wheel in networking groups or learning communities to drive specific changes, such as improvement of SAT scores or systemic improvement of high schools. The Toolkit provides the content, tools and diagnostics, and we connect Georgia leaders with the passion and focus needed to drive change for student success. The pairing of the two is powerful, and is driving a sea change in educational leadership change practices in our state.
About GLISI: Georgia's Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI) is a public/private partnership which supports, equips and inspires educational leaders in Georgia to drive change for student success.
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