Tag: change management

Final Reflections – LRNT 525 Unit 5 Activity 1

Lorri 2 Comments

This is truly a final reflections blog for me as I have completed the Grad Diploma program.  Based on this, I am going to talk not only about the course, but the program as a whole in this final reflections post. 

Has my perspective changed?

Within this course, I feel that the information and discussions regarding change management and analytics have given me some new lenses with which to study situations.  Coming in to the course, I was unfamiliar with change management.  This is clear in my first post when I said, “I trial or pilot new technology in a specific context first before applying it to every course.  This allows us to focus on ensuring that the pilot is successful and allows the opportunity to capture lessons learned before a wider role-out” (Weaver, 2018, para 6).  I now realize that this is also an example of creating small or quick wins as described in Kotter’s (2012) change model.  This is an area that I would like to continue to research and explore on my own to add more tools to my leadership toolbox. 

Coming in to this course, I was very familiar with performance metrics as I have been responsible for them during several of my postings, but I have never seen them implemented in a way that provides value.  Therefore, I am always sceptical of performance measurement and the additional workload it can add to a system with seemingly little benefit.  However, when faced with the excellent examples in Sclater, Peasgood, & Mullan (2016) showing the innovative way many organizations are using performance metrics to achieve success, my perspective changed.  Based on this inspiration, I am looking forward to developing a training-specific performance metric in my own organization.  Additionally, I have enjoyed picking up some tools such as weaving and a little more knowledge about the capabilities of interactive .pdfs. 

Over the last year, the program has not only developed my knowledge of instructional design, but it has sparked a passion in me for active learning and engagement.  I am lucky to be able to apply this in my current job and as a sideline to help instructors I know improve courses. 

In your current role, how can you help lead a change within your organization?

My passion for active learning and engagement is helping me lead change in my organization – developing our courses with this in mind.  This is a change for my organization and I am approaching it somewhat slowly, keeping the quick wins in mind!  I have a meeting coming up shortly where we are pitching the course redesign concept for a five-day course that is currently running.  At the moment, the course has no activities or engagement (other than students asking questions) and is composed of thousands of slides of powerpoint (I am not exaggerating).  We are proposing something with more engagement opportunities and demonstrating three complete activities during the proposal (showing all the tools the instructors will have to run the activities).  The involvement our stakeholders have had so far in generating ideas and the solid materials that we have to present makes me optimistic that they will accept the proposal.  I am leading change by developing relationships with stakeholders and helping them change from a “sage on the stage” mentality to one where they look for engagement opportunities. 

What can you envision doing in the future?

There are so many things I would like to do!  To list a few:

-Use my new knowledge to create engaging human factors courses (hopefully at the University level)! 

-Help redesign or design courses to support engagement and active learning (act as an instructional designer)!

-Mentor instructors in instructional techniques!

-Develop professional development mini-courses for instructors!

-Explore e-learning software!

-Finally, spend more time with my kids and husband!  This year has been fantastic, but they have been incredibly supportive of me working weekends and evenings to complete it.  Now they deserve more of my time and focus!

So, next, it’s time for family, some camping and more exploration and learning at a little more leisurely pace!    

Thank you to all of my fellow students!  It was a pleasure learning with you!

References:

Kotter, J. P. et. al. (2012). Leading Change : Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review, (June).

Sclater, N., Peasgood, A., & Mullan, J. (2016). Learning Analytics in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1002/aehe.20121

Weaver, L.A.  (2018, February 11).  Personal leadership – assignment 1 LRNT 525.  [blog post].  Retrieved from https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0037/personal-leadership-assignment-1-lrnt525/

Leading Change – Unit 2 Activity 1

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How have the theories/models for change adapted to take into consideration our current technological, economic and societal contexts?

Based on Al-Haddad and Kotnour’s (2015) descriptions of change methods and Biech’s (2007) History of Change Design, theories and models have generally adapted to include more emphasis on involvement of all stakeholders early in the change process.  More specifically, using facilitation strategies has become more common.  An example of this is shown in Hamel’s Insurrection method in the “create a coalition” stage (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015). 

Which theories/models do you think best align with your own approach to leadership? Do these approaches align with your organizational context?

The change model that really resonates with me at the present time is Kotter’s Leading Change method (Kotter, 2012).  The method is straight forward and logical, but highlights things that I think are important functions of leadership: creating a team to develop and lead the change, facilitating the development and communication of a vision and enabling people by removing obstacles (Kotter, 2012).  I also do focus on creating small or quick wins early in the change process as my experience has shown this is inspirational and creates motivation to fully implement or continue the change.  This method is actually one that I currently employ in change management.  Recently we introduced our new Instructor Professional Development Program.  I created a sense of urgency by expressing using literature and quotes from instructors why implementing the program was so necessary.  I hired two Masters of Education students to form part of the program development team (along with my existing staff).  Together the team refined the vision of how the program would work and specifically developed the introductory session.  I focused on removing barriers for the Instructors within the program and ensuring it would be a positive, beneficial experience which we started by focusing energy on developing an engaging introductory session that involved learning and self reflection.  Feedback from this session was excellent, so it was a short term win.  We ensured that we followed this session up with an e-mail summarizing their learning and providing them guidance on their next step.  It works well within my current organizational context because I work with a lot of specialists with knowledge, skills and experience to contribute to the vision and leading change itself. 

What role does leadership play in managing change?

Weiner (2009) states that the consistent messaging and actions of a leader makes team members more confident that they can succeed in change as well as more committed to the change itself.  Kouzes and Posner (1999) actually outline five practices essential to exemplary leadership and these items coincide with many of the change models (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).  So with respect to change, leaders do in fact “challenge the process, inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, model the way and encourage” (Kouzes & Posner, 1999, p. xiii). 

What are the unique challenges in managing change for learning in digital environments? Weller & Anderson (2013) offer a model based on resilience. What attributes do you think would work well within your own context?

I believe communication and collaboration are two of the biggest challenges in managing change for learning in the digital environment as often face-to-face communication with all stakeholders is not possible.  The organization that I currently work in supports airworthiness.  The Air Force has several different systems in place to manage change related to airworthiness (Sharpe & Leversedge, 2014).  There is the flight safety system which responds to accidents or incidents by ensuring the route cause is discovered, tracked and actioned.  Additionally AF9000, the Air Force quality management system promotes continuous improvement related to technical procedures.  The DND Airworthiness program as well as procurement processes supports change management related to air assets.  These systems are all designed to enable change within the system itself as well as change within knowledge, procedure or physical assets, that is they have a high degree of latitude (Weller & Anderson, 2013).  They are also designed to make change as straightforward and simple as possible while maintaining safety of flight, so they are reasonably resistant (Weller & Anderson, 2013).  To maximize operational capability, systems are designed to operate close to the threshold of the acceptable level of safety, so they are precarious (Weller & Anderson, 2013); however, they are also very resistant to any external factors (Weller & Anderson, 2013) as the programs are very strong.  In addition to these systems, the Air Force has recently Operation Innovation focused on enabling innovation and change (Thatcher, 2017).  Among other things, the program enables pitches and suggestions from all levels to be heard by the decision makers (Thatcher, 2017).  Some of these pitches have already been successfully embodied.  

References:

Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2), 234–262. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-11-2013-0215

Biech, E. (2007). Thriving Through Change: A Leader’s Practical Guide to Change Mastery. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=cFJ3iwaE7MwC&pgis=1

Kotter, J. P. et. al. (2012). Leading Change : Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review, (June).

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1999). Encouraging the heart: a leader’s guide to rewarding and recognizing others. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Sharpe, E., & Leversedge, T. F. J. (2014). A Knowledge-Management Proposal for the RCAF. The Royal Canadian Air Force Journal, 3(2), 39–50.

Thatcher, C. (2017). Operation Innovation. Skies, January/February, 24–35. Retrieved from https://assets.skiesmag.com/digital/2017/CSV7I1/html5/index.html?page=1&noflash

Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67