This is getting better and better!! With every class we take, we are learning soooo much and everything is so interesting that I am getting more and more excited waiting for the next class to come. Sometimes I go back to my ePortfolio to check the learning we’ve been having and I can see the growth in many aspects. I am starting to see life in a different way: I have seen the Why on milk cartons, I understand now why my school applies the WIGs and the scoreboards, I keep looking for clues on how companies influence our decisions, and I see how my principal applies influencer strategies and keeps crucial conversations. Besides, I have noticed how people react with crucial conversations and I am starting to try to listen more and try to see the other person point of view.
This course started with the Why. I would say the really important matter of our innovation plan because it is the heart of what we want to implement. We learned that the head will follow the heart because the why appeals to the feelings and it is the real purpose of what we want to accomplish. I had problems finding the Why (purpose), the How (process), and the What (result) because I think I mixed everything and didn’t have a clear focus. The professor helped me a lot with his video, that by the way gave me a great idea of something that I can use for my blended learning, and at the end I had something a little bit more focused on what I really want to accomplish.
On the second and third week, we learned about the influencer model and the need of changing vital behaviors. How it is important to have clear results of what you want to accomplish, how you are going to measure them, the vital behaviors you need to change in order to get the desired results, and the six sources of influence that will help you to have better chances of success with your innovation plan. This part gave me a hard time too because again, I could not focus and put the ideas together. I am glad we’ve had a lot of guidance through the assignments to be successful and to learn with real world experiences. It was really cool to imagine the implementation of the six sources of influence because I could see myself applying all of the strategies.
Next, we learned about the 4DX model. This is the model I have seen at my school. We are a Leader in Me school so we have WIGs and scoreboards. Even though we are missing some components of the 4DX model, I can see the purpose of it now. With this step, we had the chance to plan how to put in action our change. We learned that it is necessary to take time out of the whirlwind to change behavior and to achieve new goals. At this point, we learned about the 5 stages of change and how to use them as a starting point for our plan. We practiced to set the WIGs, the Lag and Lead Measures, the Scoreboards, and set Accountability sessions for our innovation plan. Here the focus was to work as a team and how all of the stakeholders are part of every step to make the plan more personal and doable.
Finally, we learned how to be self-differentiated leaders. Here is where we learned how to transform in a healthy way the inevitable anxiety that comes when change is present. We learned about the key factors when we have crucial conversations. I know I will have to re-read the book many times to practice and to be ready when the inevitable crucial conversations come.
In conclusion, with this class we learned about the needed tools to have better chances of being successful with our organizational change, and we ended with three more really good books in our hands. I finally set an appointment with my principal to talk about my plan because I feel that I am more prepared now to have a good case and to guide the team through a path of learning and success.
References:
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2012). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. New York, NY: Free Press.
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations, Tools for talking when stakes are high.New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Sinek, S. [Steven Briginshaw]. (2013, September 29) Start with why [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=sioZd3AxmnE
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