At the start of a new year there is a lot of change that needs to be implemented. Staff will have left, new staff have arrived, roles may have changed. Subjects may have been discontinued and new subjects are on offer. New ways of learning may be being put into place and there might be different expectations, changed rules and new processes. These are just a few. Each change needs to be embraced by the community and if they are going to embrace it they have to believe it is going to be worth the time and energy they invest in it. This applies to everybody involved, staff, students and parents.
How are you delivering the message so that you are getting buy-in, people are coming ‘onboard’ with the change and can feel the benefit to them of the change? It starts with your messaging.
Have you designed a clear message to the staff that is easily repeated by each of them to students and parents?
This message needs to tap into the benefits for the community of the change. There is often a ‘private’ story that you don’t necessarily want to share, perhaps to protect reputations, or reduce office politics, or to avoid confusion. It is therefore important to design the ‘public story’ that clearly and simply explains the ‘why’ behind the change and the benefit to the community ( the what’s in it for them).
Make the public story easy to share, document it, so that everyone is able to share it if asked at a parent meeting, in the corridor, out on yard duty, at a school evening function. Your community must be hearing the same message for consistency and reassurance.
What happens if you are not in control of your messaging?
If you are not in control of the story about a change, any void or confusion or difference between what one person is saying compared to another, creates doubt, mistrust and uncertainty. And the way the community will fill that void is to create their own story. This is how rumours start and they can quickly go viral and negatively impact your change efforts.
So this week, think about the changes that are being put into place. Take control of the messaging, develop the story you want to be shared and help everyone involved in getting that message out. If you are not responsible for a change, share this email with the person who is and ask them to design the story that you need to be sharing.
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I have been doing work on my website and there are some new pages that you will enjoy.
1. Events – we have mapped out the whole year for you so you can match your calendar with which programs are available at that time.
2. Shop – all of our products are now listed on one page. If they have multiple dates, you can see them once you click the icon.
3. Monday Motivation – I have been gradually uploading the Monday Motivations from last year onto the Blog page. This page will continue to grow.
4. Podcasts – Recently I had a great conversation with Julia Padgett, on her podcast, Launch Into Teaching for early career teachers. We talk about managing the adult-adult interactions; an area not covered through the university teacher -training programs.
