{"id":289,"date":"2025-02-16T22:02:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T06:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/?p=289"},"modified":"2025-02-16T22:02:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T06:02:41","slug":"assignment-1-external-scan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/assignment-1-external-scan\/","title":{"rendered":"Assignment #1 – External Scan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In reading the literature and interviewing two previous change management colleagues, I will share my research and personal experience with change leadership, as expressed in the infographic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheninger, 2022 posits that the mindset a leader should foster is to understand how change occurs and create an environment that embraces innovation.  A leader\u2019s language should be communicative and engaging toward the results and communicate often and in many ways.  When speaking to Wanda Hellevang, a Senior Change Manager, she states that you should communicate each message at least seven times over various channels to ensure the message has been captured and understood.  It is like marketing, says Wanda (W. Hellevang, personal communication Feb 10, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strategic approach when implementing change mitigates high failure rates, and a strategic, systematic approach is needed to retain the necessary skills. Without this approach, employee burnout may increase, and the initiative may lack innovation and other factors (Antwi & Kale, 2014).   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A leader should understand change models to understand how employees move through change. The Kubler-Ross model teaches us that there are five stages of emotions that one must go through when moving through change (Tarnoff et al., 2021). These phases are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally acceptance. Everyone moves through these emotions or stages at their own pace, and there may not be a linear line between them.  This model teaches us that people often perceive change as a loss, and leaders need to understand that emotions are inevitable and have plans to support them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motivating others through change requires change leaders to create a culture of trust and empowerment within the teams (Castelli, 2016). Fostering this culture can create motivation, engagement, and commitment to the change process and ensure that change is adopted or adapted successfully (Castelli, 2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Providing purpose, reason, and a clear vision for all to review and understand as they move along the change journey with the leader will enhance change commitment, Foster that shared understanding, and reduce resistance (Weller & Anderson n.d). In my interview with Stefanie Van Hoodikoff, VP of People Experience at Prospera Credit Union, she shared that change needs to be provided by fast, light touch messages along with a more prolonged regularized engagement of stakeholders, and this will drive the purpose and clear vision more frequently and towards deeper understanding (S. Van Hoodikoff, personal communication, Feb 1, 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When leading change, it is important to provide learning space and professional growth areas for the employees to feel confident and have a safe space to practice while being allowed to fail in order to innovate (Brown, 2023).  This approach also supports empowerment and trust components and the emotions of the change. I learned from my interview with Wanda Hellevang, Senior Change Manager, that there is a need for more just-in-time and self-serve learning alongside in-person learning due to the rapid pace of change projects (W. Hellevang, personal communication, Feb 10, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know that it is human nature to resist change and develop a strategy to support and gather employee feedback along the journey to understand all perspectives, measure adoption along the project, and provide support and resources.  In my interview with Wanda, she validated my thinking and added that leaders should provide regular companywide time\/meetings to share high-level milestones reached that can help with resistance, adaption, and adoption (W. Hellevang, personal communication, Feb 10. 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0In order to remain healthy and focused, it is best practice to ensure that leaders practice resilient strategies and bring these strategies into view for the teams and employees to use as well.\u00a0Anderson, n.d posits that leading with humility, encouraging autonomy and capacity building, appreciation, caring for each other\u2019s well-being, and leveraging feedback without judgment can help remain resilient in the face of change.\u00a0 Stefanie Van Hoodikoff shared that leaders across the organization would lead meetings with mediation and relaxation exercises to focus teams towards wellness and focus as they moved through large-scale digital change at the Credit Union (S. Van Hoodikoff, personal communication, Feb 1, 2025). These seven approaches can help support and drive effective change leadership within digital learning environments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Haddad, S. and Kotnour, T.(2015), “Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change”<\/em>,\u00a0Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 234-262.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/JOCM-11-2013-0215<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andersen, C. (n.d.). Principles of Indigenous leadership and self-care in the academy<\/em>. Times Higher Education. https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/campus\/principles-indigenous-leadership-and-selfcare-academy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antwi, M., & Kale, M. (2014). Change Management in Healthcare Literature Review<\/em> (pp. 1-35). The Monieson Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown, M. (2023). Leading in Changing Times<\/em>. In: Zawacki-Richter, O., Jung, I. (eds) Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education. Springer, Singapore. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-981-19-2080-6_28<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castelli, P.A. (2016), “Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance”<\/em>, Journal of Management Development Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 217-236. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/JMD-08-2015-0112<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheninger, E. (2022, August 31). 7 Pillars of Digital Leadership in Education<\/em>. HMH. Retrieved January 20, 2025, from https:\/\/www.hmhco.com\/blog\/pillars-of-digital-leadership-in-education<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarnoff, K. A., Bostwick, E. D., & Barnes, K. J. (n.d.). Assessment resistance: using Kubler-Ross to understand and respond. Organization Management Journal<\/em>, 18(5), 176\u2013186. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/OMJ-03-2021-1177<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weiner, B.J. A theory of organizational readiness for change<\/em>. Implementation Sci<\/em> 4<\/strong>, 67 (2009). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/1748-5908-4-67<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weller, M., & Anderson, T. (n.d.). Digital resilience in higher education<\/em>. Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University. Chrome-extension:\/\/efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj\/https:\/\/oro.open.ac.uk\/36988\/1\/Weller_Anderson.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In reading the literature and interviewing two previous change management colleagues, I will share my research and personal experience with change leadership, as expressed in the infographic. Sheninger, 2022 posits that the mindset a leader should foster is to understand… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":306,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/306"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions\/292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0281\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}