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Articles, Books & Publications | Contact InformationLeaders as Facilitators of Change
One constant in schools and school systems today is change. As one administrator recently remarked: "The landscape of educational practice has changed dramatically." Currently, educators worldwide are working hard to implement school reform efforts in a variety of contexts. They find it difficult to address the challenge of helping students meet or exceed rigorous academic standards and simultaneously develop responsive, caring, empathetic future citizens. This session will provide valuable lessons about the change process and practical strategies to facilitate change "bifocally" -- focusing on taking care of business and taking care of people.
The session will examine factors influencing individual and organizational change. Strategies to facilitate successful change efforts will be explained and modeled. Participants also will examine why resistance occurs and how to minimize it.
Participants will have the opportunity to:
- examine the role of beliefs in the change process
- identify how individuals' concerns about an innovation impact their use of it
- explore reasons for resistance to change and how to reduce resistance
- analyze a variety of strategies to facilitate individual and organizational change
- reflect upon the role of culture in the change process
- generate personal next steps