1 The Principals Role as a Leader of Change ---------A Paper Presented to The Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Post-Secondary

Education University of Northern Iowa ---------In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Education ---------Loren C. Velasquez January 2013 Charles R. McNulty

2 From what I gathered through researching Change Leadership it all comes down to the individual leader. According to Bernard M. Bass ,Transformational leadership refers to the leader moving the follower beyond immediate self-interests through idealized influence (charisma), inspiration, or intellectual stimulation (p.11) I believe what he is getting at is that change leadership starts with the person in charge of the change, in this case it would be the principal. In the educational world, we like to change and raise scores, as well as compete with other schools to be on the top. According to Bass, the followers are the teachers who are moving with the change leadership of the principal. Gill (2003) in the Journal of Change Management describes the problem with change as, While change must be well-managed, it must also be planned, organized, and controlled- it also requires effective leadership to introduce change successfully: it is the leadership that makes the difference (p.307). The effective leadership in this manner comes from the leader of the school, the principal. I believe that at the root of effective leadership with change is the relationship piece. Fleck (2008) stated that Its all about relationships. If you focus on building positive relationships, then everything will take care of itself (p.27). As a currently practicing high school teacher and coach, I know that from day one along with setting expectations, that is vital to start building positive rapport and relationships with whoever is sitting there in the once empty desk, or shows up for their first high school practice ever. If I do not make a great first impression with that student, depending on how big the high school, he or she may walk to the counselor right after class and have it switched. If I do not make that great first impression and get the athlete to buy-in from day one, he or she may not be out for track for the rest of their career.

3 A principal that wants to get the school to change has a difficult path in front of them. If the principal is going to want to implement change, they are going to have to start with team buy-in. Martineau (2012) states that; Building a sense of buy-in for school change among teachers is critical to success (p.55). We all know the importance and sometimes struggle of getting everyone to buy-in on change. I think back to my first year of teaching and running into difficulty in getting a few 8th grade boys to buy-in to the fact that they needed some extra help with their math before and after school. Now the principal did an amazing job of getting me to buy in (my mentor) because here I am the new social studies teacher getting there early and staying late to help a few students who were difficult to reach with basic math concepts. Fleck (2008) goes on to state Leadership is serving others. Students and adults want leaders who put others before themselves. If you learn to support and serve others, you will have an abundance of followers who want to be part of your team (p.28). In this case after a year of serving the students and guidance from the principal in getting many teachers to change, our school won the districts Most Improved School Award for Academic Excellence (Waterloo Community Schools Annual Report 2008-2009). Fullan (2001) discusses having moral purpose in his book Leading in a Culture of Change. He states: Developing a passion and treating others well are a part of the development of moral purpose. If you dont treat others well and fairly, you will be a leader without followers (p. 13). Starting from day one in the community the principal must start building relationships with not only the teachers and staff but community members. The change that needs to happen will be much easier if the leader who is in charge of the change is well-respected and trusted. The passion that Fullan describes is the passion that is evident daily in the school

4 and outside of it. The principals passion for change and getting everyone on board must come from within. In his newer book Motion Leadership, Fullan (2010) brings up the point about focusing on the relationships in the building first. The first problem the newcomer faces is the too-fast-too-slow dilemma. If the leader comes on too strong, the culture will rebel (and guess who is leaving town-cultures dont leave town.) If the leader is overly respectful of the existing culture, he or she will become absorbed into the status quo (p.18). The relationship building is vital to the principal if they even want to think about bringing change. I agree with Fullan and know exactly what he is touching on when he talks about being overly respectful, it is the same as the teacher who is overly friendly and too laid back at the beginning of the school year. Then the teacher wonders why the students play around too much in class. A principal that has change on their mind must build these relationships naturally from day one. Schmidt-Davis (2012) pinpoints the problem with all the ideas of change. He brings up the argument that: America is too wealthy, talented and gifted to accept as inevitable the current state of our lowest-performing high schools. Improving those schools will require thousands of school leaders we do not currently have but we can find and develop these leaders. Collectively, states, districts and communities need to commit to do what is necessary to put a great principal in every school in the country (p.30). According to Schmidt-Davis, we need to have supports in place for the principals who are heading into tough jobs. Low performing school principal jobs are often a revolving door. In

5 this article he brings up the point about investing in the school leaders, preparing them for schools that need strong leaders of change. We need to support change on a macro level, but first have to support it on the micro level in our own schools and districts. The change leader is going to need to constantly communicate and coach during the motion of change. Fullan (2010) states that; Communication during implementation is far more important than communication prior to implementation (p.26). The change leader cannot get team on board, get the change moving, and then just sit back and watch it happen. We as leaders of change must be ready to communicate effectively, sometimes it might be immediate feedback or praise, and other times it could be redirecting a teacher who is struggling with the motion of change. I believe that the coaching experience I have gained will benefit me when it comes to the communication and coaching aspect of implementing change. ISSL Standard 1- Shared Vision connects directly with the change leader with having creating and sharing the vision of change with the school and community. The leader of change is clearly defined in sub point b Provides leadership for major initiatives and change efforts. Martineau (2012) warns about going ahead on this without getting everyone bought in; Principals get in trouble when they come in as newcomers, implement a vision without buy-in or input from their staff, and move too quickly to change things (p.57). ISSL Standard 2- Culture of Learning connects to the change leader in its description of nurturing and sustaining a school culture. Fullan (2010) touches this in Motion Leadership by explaining the concept of nurture, he states to love and trust your employees (p.65). I have experienced this as a teacher and a coach. Students will be willing to do push themselves further academically if they feel a strong connection with the teacher. In the coaching world, I have seen experienced this with quite a few athletes who will try a different running event than they

6 are used to or comfortable with because I have built the strong relationship with them. This applies to the leader of change in their motion of the change. The teachers and staff will be more willing to go and actually push the change right alongside of the principal if they feel the love and trust. I have learned a lot from being a classroom teacher in the areas of implementing change. In this case I was getting the students to buy-in from day one and building relationships with them before I even thought about bringing change. I could have attempted change right away, but without those students on board, or without any bit of positive rapport, it would be a fast track to resistance and rebellion. The coaching world has also taught me the lesson of effective communication and learning how to get even the most stubborn athletes to see their strengths and potential of becoming a leader. As a leader of change I know that it will be nearly impossible to do it on my own especially if my first job is in a place where I am brand new. There will be veteran teachers in the school already, and I plan on starting with them to get the positive rapport going from day one. One key field experience that sticks out to me was going to a conference with my principal and bringing back the information to the staff. I was extremely nervous about presenting the information, my principal coached me and gave me the confidence to do the presentation. I was in my 4th year of teaching and had a very good rapport with the students, as well as a strong rapport with all of the staff. I built the relationships with teachers while working with them for a couple of years. What I failed to notice was how my positive rapport affected the change in instruction I was presenting. The teachers were already bought-in and they trusted what I was presenting. I was questioned for advice about what I presented to them, little did I know I was

7 coaching them through the change, and this was one of my first big time experiences for a leader of change.

8 References Bass, Bernard M. (1999). Two Decades of Research and Development in Transformational Leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 8(1), 9-32 Fleck, Franzy. (2008). The Balanced Principal: Joining Theory and Practical Knowledge. Education Digest 73(5), p.27-31. Fullan, Michael. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass. Fullan, Michael. (2010). Motion Leadership: The Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Gill, Roger. (2003). Change Management- or Change Leadership?. Journal of Change Management. 3(4), 307-318. Martineau, Pamela. (2012) PRINCIPLES of Good Principals: Effective leadership brings a boards vision to the school level. Education Digest 77(8), p.53-58. Schmidt-Davis, Jon. (2012) Turnaround High School Principals: Recruit, Prepare and Empower Leaders of Change. Southern Regional Education Board. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtS earch_SearchValue_0=ED533122&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED5331 22) Waterloo Community Schools Annual Report. (2010). Report to the Community 2008-2009 [Brochure] Retrieved from http://www.waterloo.k12.ia.us/schoolandcommunityrelations/files/2010/12/2008-09APR.pdf