Getting Buy-in for Change…Without Letting on There’s a Problem

DUN-DUNNN-dun-dun. DUN-DUNNN-dun-dun.

DUN-DUNNN-dun-dun. DUN-DUNNN-dun-dun.

NA-na-naaa.  NA-na-naaa. Na-na! 

Could you sing it?  That was my meager attempt at Mission Impossible’s theme song.  Because that’s what this post is about.  Doing the impossible.

Talk about a doozy. 

Change leadership 101 is that you have to establish the need for change in order to generate buy-in for change initiatives. But as Christian school leaders, we may not have that luxury.  Many of us are barely balancing the budget, so stakeholders catching wind of problems, no matter how small they might actually be, could lead to a mass exodus that cripples or crumbles the school. 

Making significant changes to the school without letting on that there were problems was the task handed to me as a new administrator.  Basically, I was told to evaluate the entire program, identify the weaknesses (there were quite a few), and fix them.  But don’t let anyone know things might not be great.  And try not to ruffle too many feathers.

Sure, no problem. 

This meant I couldn’t look at school-level data with the staff, nor could I focus on particular subject areas because no one could know what was happening anywhere else.  All analysis and feedback had to be done at the individual level, but even there, with one teacher per grade level or subject, I couldn’t really dive into the data with anyone other than the leadership team or I'd expose my teacher. 

Not only that, but I jumped into the deep end of school leadership straight from the classroom without training.  I knew I wanted to pursue school leadership someday, but God’s someday had turned into now.  The odds were stacked against me, and the task was SO hard and oftentimes frustrating for both the teachers and me. 

Maybe you’ve found yourself in a similar boat.

Change leadership was the hardest venture of my life, requiring more of me than I’d ever given.  When my time there ended, I was bruised and battered, as was some of the faculty, but we accomplished a great work.  In four years, we increased our Terra Nova 3-8 math score average (previously our weakest area, but now a strength) by 24 points and our total score by 19 points. Something about what we did worked (Christian educators are some seriously hard workers), but in hindsight I see things I could have done much differently as a leader that might have allowed me to reach the same destination with fewer bruises. 

Leading in a Christian school is often like drinking from a fire hose of responsibility, and what seems logical in hindsight may be impossible to see while trying not to drown.  In an effort to save you some of the mishaps I experienced during those marathon days, this post will focus less on what worked and more on lessons learned the hard way about what not to do in change leadership.  We’ll call it a cautionary tale that might lead to some personal embarrassment for me, but hopefully greater glory for the Kingdom.  Here we go. 

Lesson #1: Start with Strengths

Sometimes, when looking around and seeing what I perceive as deficits, it’s difficult for me to see strengths upon which to build. Maybe you’re like me.  But strengths are always there, and it’s our job to find them.  I should have been better at this my first year.  If you have a similar personality to mine, don’t fall into the same trap. Here are some ways you can avoid it:

• Don’t skip prayer! It can be tempting to get right to the work at hand, seeing problems and wanting to fix them.  Be like Nehemiah and spend significant time in prayer before beginning anything else. Pray that your heart aligns with his, that your eyes see what his do, and that you value what he does.  Pray for wisdom.  Pray for your faculty, staff, families, and students.  Pray for patience and perseverance.  Pray for correct timing.  Pray, pray, pray.  Then pray some more.

• Observe, observe, observe until you can find several positive things to focus on in addition to the things you want to change.Don’t let yourself start the fixing until you find the things that are praiseworthy.

• Begin building relationships ASAP. Meet with the staff 1:1, before school starts if possible.  If you’re hired last minute like I was, do this important work as soon as it makes sense. Get to know them as individuals and not just teachers. 

• Survey the staff to find out what things they love the most about the school. Tread carefully in those areas!

Lesson #2: Some changes must be made quickly.

On our first day of school with students, I was flabbergasted.  It was LOUD. Middle and high school students yelled greetings to each other while wandering the halls during class, not just in between classes.  During pass time, at one point I saw shoes inexplicably flying through the air.  The students were obviously jovial and happy to be back at school (strength!), but learning was clearly low on the priority list. This felt more like summer camp than school.  Apparently I’d inherited a loosely-run ship.  I’m more a tight-ship kind of girl.  The two methods are not compatible, so establishing a culture more conducive to learning was a priority.

We focused on creating silent hallways while class was in session to minimize distractions in the classroom and teaching bell-to-bell. We had a pretty loose execution of time on task before these changes were made, so tightening up the amount of focus and instructional time was important because nothing else would improve until this area did. 

I think I got this one right.  Some changes must be made early in order for other improvements to follow.

Lesson #3: Some changes should be made more slowly.

I got this one less right. 

I’m an ideas girl.  My personality sees what’s not working and how to fix it pretty easily. And I feel compelled to fix. Immediately.  Like, yesterday.  In hindsight, what felt like a crawl to me was probably a sprint for my teachers.  Tightening up time on task was a major undertaking, and probably should have been the only undertaking.  So, my cautionary tale is this: though you may look around and see things that seem pressing on all fronts, choosing the one biggest or most impactful area on which to focus should probably be it for that first year. Gather your data, observe, observe, observe, and let that first area become a new part of the school’s identity. This can be done by focusing any professional development efforts on the area from lesson #2 and using staff or team meetings to check in on how it’s going.

Lesson #4: Don’t spread yourself so thin that you can’t follow through on initiatives well.

As administrator of a K-12 school, I mentally broke our faculty down into grade level bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, specialists) or subject area.  So, it seemed reasonable to me for these different groups to have individual areas of focus as needed.  After all, it was just one area per group, so it should be manageable for the teachers. And it was only five or so groups for me, which also seemed manageable. 

I. was. wrong. Not manageable at all.

I found myself the frequent victim of my own folly of launching a new initiative well, then getting bogged down in the myriad tasks of running a school and not following through with these initiatives well. New initiatives should be nurtured, revisited regularly with opportunities for parties to reflect, report out, and get support.  The days so often flew by, though, that weeks would pass without this required nurturing. I’d hope teachers were following through with the things we discussed, but time flew by for them, too.  By not making it my focus, it slipped out of their focus as well.  It also cost me credibility each time I failed to follow through well.  Double ouch.

Again, the pressing call of “NOW” hurt my efforts. 

Yes, each group could benefit from the new initiatives, but only if they were done well. 

It would have been better to minimize the number of initiatives to only those I could do with excellence than attempt to address too many areas at once. 

These strategies can help with this problem:

• Set reminders on your calendar so too much time doesn’t pass between your check-ins.

• Set aside specific times to meet with teachers about these areas of focus.

• Give all group members something so do between meetings for which they are accountable. Be specific.  Work with the group to find out what is reasonable, but a basic element should be something about the initiatives that teachers will try to implement, then report out their experiences and findings at the next meeting.  This will help develop camaraderie among the team members and keep new initiatives on the front burner. 

• Once you feel you know your staff well enough, identify leaders to help keep initiatives going when you’re bogged down with the many other aspects of school leadership.

Lesson #5: Start collecting new, specific data.

This one may be a no-brainer, but while being drowned by the fire hose, I didn’t see it.  While you may be unable to share prior years’ or school-wide data with the faculty, you can start to gather new information to be discussed. 

Choose small focus areas for data collection so that larger areas of deficiency are still held in confidence.

In this way, begin chipping away at areas needing major overhaul.  Not only will this help you generate buy-in for changes that must be made, the work will feel more manageable to everyone involved. 

Some Final Thoughts:

Leading is not for the faint of heart.  Think about our Nehemiah and all he encountered and endured while doing his great work.  Badly broken walls, burned gates, mockery, and constant threat of attack.  He had to make smart choices while facing seemingly insurmountable odds.  That’s us.  This seemingly impossible task of generating buy-in for change without letting on that things aren’t going as well as we’d hoped is HARD.  But, with God’s grace, a heaping dose of his wisdom, thick skin, and some patience, it can be done.  If this giant task is yours right now, know that I’m on your team. If I can help you in your efforts, please let me know. 

Know that I am praying for you and cheering you on as you do your great work. Don’t come down off that wall!

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