Six Secrets of Change - 3

Secret Five: Transparency Rules

When Fullan addresses Secret Five, he is referring to agencies, companies, and/or institutions allowing data to be clear and accessible to all, and specifically shared with employees. Fullan makes sure to clarify that data should not be used to punish employees. He explains that effectively transparency requires:

• Allow employees to compare themselves with themselves; for example, have a school see the data for its own performance over a three year time period
  
• Employees should compare themselves with their statistical neighbors. For instance, when Ontario collected data for its 4,000 primary schools, four bands for data comparison were created:

1. Most disadvantaged communities
2. Two in the middle
3. Least disadvantaged communities

• Compare their data with the absolute standard such as where a school's performance lies in the district overall.

Secret Five also continues to expand on the previous four Secrets. Once data has been made transparent and analyzed by the performers, then improvement plans can be made from the starting point of the institution. Next, the focus should switch to capacity-building (Secret Three) with involves peer interaction (Secret Two) and a love of employee feedback (Secret One). Finally, data can be examined over a three-year time period to properly assess performance improvement.

The sharing of data with employees is empowering and helps to create a bridge between employees and management. Since information is so readily available anyway, it really isn't secret. This "openness with results" defines Secret Five, "Transparency Rules" and works as an overall motivating force for change because it is impartial and punishes no one. It adds value to employees, which loops back to Secret One. As the author states, "The emperor has no clothes, and he doesn't look so bad after all" (Fullan p. 104).

Secret Six: Systems Learn

Just as our forefathers fostered in our Constitution that our government should be larger than our president, Secret Six, "Systems Learn" explains leadership as dispensable, and combines the other five Secrets to ensure a culture of learning that transcends leadership. Systems learn by:

1. Developing multiple leaders
   
2. An approach that incorporates humility and faith (Fullan p. 109)

Secret Six requires the enactment of the previous five. Employees will feel valued (One) by engaging in peer interaction that generates learning (Two) which will build capacity (Three) though on the job learning (Four). Progress should be marked with open, transparent results (Five) and then a culture of learning will develop within the institution--Secret Six, "Systems Learn."

For leaders to develop such a culture of learning, a balance of humility and confidence needs to be achieved. For instance, Tiger Woods is confident with the methods that consistently yield positive results, however, he's open to changing his game if it suits him. Interestingly, Fullan also warns that a positive outcome can never be guaranteed which is why leaders need to maintain humility, just like Tiger Woods doesn't win every golf tournament. Good leaders need to apply "integrative thinking" which is demonstrated when a leader takes two opposing resolutions and invents a resolution that combines what that leader feels is the best of each and is ultimately superior to both. The final characteristic of an effective leader is one who helps to release the positive energy that exists within those being led so they will ultimately make good decisions. I can't help but to compare the Six Secrets with what I desire in a president.

To confirm that Fullan is on the same page as me, I will conclude with this quote from The Six Secrets of Change, "when we contribute to the betterment of the environment in which we work, we are also serving our self-interest." This, I believe, explains the purpose for the Six Secrets and I hope to go forward as an instructional leader with the right balance of confidence and humility. I think the Six Secrets offers assistance with confidence--will I be able to inspire by displaying humility, too? I hope so. It sounds like a difficult task, though not impossible.

Six Secrets of Change - 2

Secret Three: Capacity Building Prevails

Each secret from The Six Secrets of Change by Michael Fullan builds upon the last. Secret One, "Love Your Employees" is applied to Secret Three because part of loving your employees means selecting them well and investing in their continuous development. Firms of endearment like Toyota apply Secret Three because their instructional designers contain these attributes:
1. A willingness and ability to learn
2. Adaptability and flexibility
3. Care and concern for others
4. Patience
5. Persistence
6. Willingness to take responsibility
7. Confidence and leadership
9. Questioning nature (Fullan p. 64)

Toyota's trainers contain these skills:
1. Observation and analytical ability
2. Communication skills
3. Attention to detail
4. Respect of fellow employees

Secret Three does not approach change with judgmentalism and blame, but rather with trust and a desire to discover where a "system" failed, rather than an individual. Building upon Secret Two, "Connect Peers with Purpose," capacity-building involves employing trainers who are not just individually talented, but also "system" talented in that they understand and know how to develop purposefull collaboration. Purposeful collaboration brings about motivation for change within the organization through peer pressure rather than finger-pointing.

Capacity-building is best summarized from an anonymous 1924 business leader, "victory comes to companies...through knowing how to get the most out of ordinary folks."

Secret Four: Learning is the Work
"Relentless consistency, 50 percent; willingness to change, 50 percent." (Accenture Tiger Woods ad). Secret Four, "Learning is the Work" includes the application of a "consistency-innovation continuum" for all jobs (Fullan p. 75). In other words, companies, agencies, institutions, and systems should seek to consistently apply what they know, while continuing to work on improvement.

Fullan again refers to Toyota as being an exceptional example for the consistency-innovation continuum because it applies three concepts to improve performance:

1. Identify critical knowledge
2. Transfer knowledge through job instruction
3. Verify learning and success (Fullan p. 78)

Because consistency and innovation go together, "learning is the work," in other words, it is part of the job (see image above of Toyota applying Secret Four). The last part of this chapter discusses "learning in context" or learning on the job. Fullan is not fond of professional development because it is learning that takes place away from the job setting. Using education as an example, he explains that teachers observing one another while on the job would be more effective than a workshop. Secret Four applies the implementation stage of ADDIE more than any other part of instructional design because it requires training to take place while directly on the a job, or in context as part of the job, because "Learning is the Work".

Six Secrets of Change - 1

Instructional designers are frequently hired on to companies or agencies with the intent to train employees on some sort of systematic change taking place within the company or agency. The best instructional designers in the world, however, cannot be effective if the audience has not bought into the need for change. The Six Secrets of Change by Michael Fullan is a guideline for leaders to help their organizations survive and thrive by successfully bringing about change when necessary. The six secrets are not meant to be hidden, but rather, are often difficult for leaders to access because they are simple and profound. The first two secrets are:

1. Love Your Employees
2. Connect Peers with Purpose

Secret One: Love Your Employees:
A report by McKinsey and Company that focused on the world’s top-performing schools confirmed that, “the quality of the education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers,” (Barber et. al. 2007). Though Michael Fullan is a Canadian education official, he ironically chose to address an example from my school district, San Diego Unified (SDUSD), to discuss a non-example for Secret One. To address the low performance scores of teachers with SDUSD, superintendent Alan Bersin and chancellor of instruction, Tony Alvarado pushed for change from the top without figuring out how to love staff by involving them in the improvement drive. Inevitably, they were pushed out of the district by 2005.

On the other hand, so-called “Firms of Endearment (FoEs)” such as Trader Joes and REI take a much different approach to change. These FoEs’ apply Secret One, which decreases employee turnover and increases employee loyalty. With the love of employees in mind, designers implement reform with less resistance because the employees desire the continued growth of the company for their own sake, and analysts often receive the best information from employees who work directly with consumers. Between 1996-2006, public FoEs yielded a 1,026% return compared with the 122% return by S&P 500 companies.

Secret Two: Connect Peers with Purpose
Secret Two requires not less, but more leadership, however, rather than tight accountability, drift and inertia are gained by decentralizing the creativity. For instance, public schools in England public schools had experienced rising literacy scores from 1997-2001. Then, for three year, no growth ensued. Instructional leaders employed a strategy that grouped six schools together. 1500 groups of six schools each collaborated with one another to learn from each other. It turns out there were some terrific strategies that were being kept and once the collaboration occurred, literacy rates once again improved. The reason Secret Two requires more leadership is to organize such group collaboration. If instructional designers approach the design of learning activities with the need for peer collaboration in mind, then employees develop an “our” attitude rather than a “me” attitude. English teachers in the above example replace a “my classroom” attitude with an “our district” one and positive results ensue.