Imagine you have just taken on the role as leader of an educational program in your specialization and have been told to implement a change process that is part of a district initiative. As a new leader, you have yet to establish trust with your colleagues, so that when you start to implement the initiative, you are surprised to get immediate push back from your colleagues. How might you work to shift your colleagues’ dissatisfaction and disengagement and support them in their roles as change agents? What leadership strategies would win the trust of your colleagues and help them see the merits of the initiative?

For this Discussion, you will analyze evidence-based strategies to establish stakeholder trust and buy-in for change and counteract resistance to change.

To prepare:

• Review the assigned chapters in the Fullan (2016) text. Consider the difference between adopting an innovative program, the complexity of actually implementing it, and why stakeholders resist      change.
• Read the Gurley, Peters, & Collins (2015); Day, Gu, & Sammons (2016); Covey (2009); and Adams & Miskell (2016) articles. Think about the process of initiating and implementing change, the influence of leadership on change, and how to gain buy-in and trust from stakeholders throughout the change process.
• Reflect on experiences you have had in your professional practice where staff were resistant to a change in your specialization. What attempts were made by leadership to establish trust and buy-in for the change? What strategies were (or were not) used when staff members refused or pushed back during implementation? As a leader, what strategies would you have employed?
• Research evidence-based strategies for establishing trust and buy-in from staff prior to implementing change and for supporting staff when they resist changes during implementation.

An explanation of the following:

• Background information on an experience from your professional practice where staff were resisting a change in a program or practice in your specialization
• At least two strategies you would have used to establish trust and buy-in from the staff prior to implementing the change. Provide a research-supported rationale for your selected      strategies.
• At least two strategies you would have employed when staff members refused or pushed back during implementation of the change process. Provide a research-supported rationale for your selected strategies.

For this Discussion, and all scholarly writing in this course and throughout your program, you will be required to use APA style and provide reference citations.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this module’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

· Chapter 4, “Initiation, Implementation, and Continuation” (pp. 54–81)

· Chapter 6, “The Teacher” (pp. 97–122)

· Chapter 10, “The District Administrator” (pp. 177–208)

Gurley, D.K., Peters, G.B., & Collins, L. (2015). Mission, vision, values, and goals: An exploration of key organizational statements and daily practice in schools. Journal of Educational Change, 16(2), 217-242. doi:10.1007/s10833-014-9229-x

Day, C., Gu, Q, & Sammons, P. (2016). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: How successful school leaders use transformational and instructional strategies to make a difference. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 221-258. doi:10.1177/0013161X15616863

Adams, C. M., & Miskell, R. C. (2016). Teacher trust in district administration: A promising link of inquiry. Journal of Leadership for Effective and Equitable Organizations, 52(4), 1-32. doi: 10.1177/0013161X16652202

Covey, S. (2009). How the best leaders build trust. LeadershipNow. Retrieved from http://www.leadershipnow.com/CoveyOnTrust.html

Giancola, S. (2014). Evaluation matters: Getting the information you need from your evaluation. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/sst/evaluationmatters.pdf

Note: This resource is an essential guide for the completion of the Course Project. Be sure to read it for your work in this module, and refer to it often as you complete your Course Project.

Peurach, D.J., Glazer, J.L, Winchell Lenhoff, S. (2016). The developmental evaluation of school improvement networks. Educational Policy, 30(4), 606-648. doi:10.1177/0895904814557592

Required Media

Grand City Community

Go to the Grand City Community and click into City Hall to review the following for this module:

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016b). Grand City education and demographic data files [PDF]. Baltimore, MD: Author.