Cognitive Investment
When parents reach their wits’ end when scolding a teenager who made a poor choice because of peer pressure, they might ask, “If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” This common question calls for pragmatism. Parents want their children to use good judgment, gather facts, and come to a rational conclusion. To understand why something is important and reach a logical and beneficial conclusion requires examining evidence, weighing options, and engaging in a dialogue, both internally and externally. We believe that leaders often deny educators these opportunities to logically understand the why of change, and this frustrates them, leading to pessimism and withdrawal from change.
Emotional Investment
Not all experience is good experience. As we will note in chapter 2 (page 23), school leadership has an astronomical turnover rate. When a leader surveys the environment and assesses its readiness for change, he or she has to consider the experiences that educators had with leaders who came before. Ignoring this reality is not wise. Past experiences leave an emotional imprint on a person. This imprint impacts anyone who seeks to enter into a relationship with that person. Would a person be wise to become engaged to a fiancé who has had five divorces in ten years, ignoring how past experiences have shaped the current reality? We believe that most people would say, “No!” Likewise, would a new superintendent be wise to ignore the fact that he or she is a district’s third superintendent in five years? Shouldn’t he or she consider the effect those previous experiences had on school district employees? Leaders must consider emotions when trying to create intrinsic commitment to change in a staff. When leaders ignore people’s emotions and experiences, that alone can stimulate a pessimistic view of change.
Functional Investment
Leaders cannot fairly require someone to complete a task that they have not properly prepared him or her to complete. In our work, we witness many instances where school or district officials introduce significant changes to professional practice and expect that one half-day workshop will sufficiently provide all the skills necessary to perform the newly introduced task. Considering that teachers receive at least four years of university-level practice to simply enter the classroom door, it is unrealistic for leaders to think learning needs stop once they become licensed. Poorly constructed professional learning experiences, inadequate resources, and little time for full implementation can be enough to give teachers a negative view of change.
Return on Investment
If a person clearly understands why change is logical and essential, has trust in leaders, and has received extensive training, adequate practice time, and essential resources to effectively execute the task, all that remains is to complete the task. This moment—when action can take place—marks the tipping point between support and accountability. Once leaders have made their investments, it is perfectly logical to expect a return on those investments. Demanding that a person change for the good of the organization takes courage; leaders must be willing to have some dislike them for the sake of a cause bigger than any individual. Here, the leader protects the organization’s heart and soul and draws a line between personal preference and organizational purpose. The willingness to coerce others when faced with illogical resistance solidifies a leader’s status as a person of principle. Allowing a few outliers to disrespect the will of the entire organization sends the message that change is a personal choice and, ultimately, that improvement is a choice. A transformational leader does not send this message, because it stifles change.
These investments tie in with the four skills of a transformational leader that we advance in the chapters that follow: (1) communicating the rationale, (2) establishing trust, (3) building capacity, and (4) getting results. Figure 1.1 illustrates this system of four skills.
Figure 1.1: The Why? Who? How? Do! model.
Conclusion
In an organization, resistance to change in practice or behavior is a symptom of individual or collective needs not being met. Those needs vary from person to person and from school to school. They include cognitive (why), emotional (who), and functional (how) needs. These needs are rational; they emerge out of negative personal and professional experiences. A perceptive transformational leader knows how to diagnose and respond to rational needs without taking the resistance personally.
While some resist change because of rational needs, others resist change out of an irrational and selfish need for power, without consideration of the impact that it will have on the organization, and ultimately on students. This behavior requires a leader to demand a return on investment and properly exercise leadership authority to ensure compliance without intellectual or emotional consent from the resisting party (do).
In the chapters that follow, we provide deep insight into developing a balanced leadership skill set that will equip leaders to meet these diverse needs.
Communicating the Rationale: Building Cognitive Investment
A principal stands before her staff, appearing unsure and apologetic, as she asks teachers to fill out a set of new compliance documents and templates from the central office. This latest mandate requires that teachers document every formal and informal intervention interaction they have with individual students during the course of instruction. The principal hears chatter from the back of the room as teachers ponder the purpose of yet another task that seems meaningless.
The principal reluctantly shares that completion of the task is mandatory and failure to do so will have a negative impact on their formal yearly performance evaluations. The principal appears defeated, and now the staff look defeated. The lack of dialogue and intellectual consent makes the staff feel devalued.
The lack of intellectual synergy and communication in the school has led to a culture of hopelessness and pessimism. This environment is not ripe for improvement. A leader who understands the power of communication could greatly improve the culture and productivity of this school.
As we discussed in chapter 1 (page 11), research and experience have shown that attempting to control others with external forces such as punishments and rewards is an exercise in futility. We argue that a crucial factor in motivating people lies within the individuals themselves. To set the stage for motivating those they lead, transformational leaders create the right environment and seek to critically understand the needs of the organization and motivate others to work together to collaboratively meet those needs.
Psychologist Frederick Herzberg (1966) believes that people’s internal capacities, both cognitive and emotional, give rise to feelings, aspirations, perceptions, attitudes, and thoughts that can lead to either motivation or demotivation. Herzberg (1966) states that leaders must recognize human beings as complex and need stimulation on several different levels in order to unleash their followers’ intrinsic commitment. When leaders do this, they create conditions that will more likely