The Challenge of Change

This past week, I spent a lot of time in conversations about change.

Wednesday - a staff meeting about report cards and complex change.

Wednesday - two meetings to try and get our PTO off the ground.

Thursday - RtI meetings focused on changing the way we use data to guide interventions.

Thursday night - panel presentation on Personalizing/Project Based Learning.

Friday - PD conversations about what we want learning to look like in 3 years.

And those are just the big ones in three days last week.  Really, every conversation I have seems to be a change conversation, right down to the hallway conversations with students about behavior.  

There are people who enjoy change.  But most don't like to admit it.

I'll own up to it right now.  I enjoy change.  I thrive on change.  

Here's the problem that I've realized about enjoying change, and maybe those of you who like change have realized this about yourself as well:

People who like change see themselves as optimists, 

but most other people view them as pessimists.

Why?  Because when you like change, you see possibilities everywhere, even when things are going well.  But some others will look at you and see a person who is never satisfied.

It's something I've tried to be keenly aware of as a leader.

Being aware of ourselves and our perceptions is key to working together as a team.

~~~

Speaking of change, a new iPhone just came out.  That makes me think of a great post by David Jakes.  (Mr. Jakes is a solid voice in the area for design thinking and innovation in schools, and some of his local clients include Racine and New Berlin.)  It was an innovative process that brought the iPhone to dominance.  But the money line is this:  "No one stands in line in the rain for the process." Ultimately, innovation leads to a product.  Our product is a re-imagined learning experience.  That's what we're building, and it makes all the changes worthwhile.