Pillar #4: It's not a checklist. It is a
statement. Put the pieces together.
HOW TO BUILD URGENCY AND JUMPSTART CHANGE
Have you ever known that a change on your campus was needed but struggled with how to put that need into words?
Do you find that when addressing the need for change, the people on your campus focus more on why the problem exists and less on what they need to do to fix it?
During the last three weeks of this series, we built and clearly articulated a real-life Urgency Message about a desired change. By succinctly linking these three components, your message will have the power needed to jumpstart change.
Welcome to the last of this series titled, Four Pillars of Urgency.
4. It's not a checklist.
It is a statement.
Put the pieces together.
Let’s see how the first three components work together in action. Again, we look at two possible principal meeting introductions at the start of a teacher development session.
How are these two messages different?
More importantly, how would the differences in these two messages change the urgency your teachers feel about a new initiative?
Creating a clear and compelling Urgency Message for organizational change that motivate people to see and want a different future are not the norm in most schools and districts. Instead, we buy new materials, get tempted by a seemingly easy innovation, or copy something we heard about at a meeting. Then we tell teachers to just go do it.
Not surprisingly, things easily acquired are easily discarded, and the initiative goes nowhere.
The science and practice of creating an Urgency Message that accurately describes why the status quo is unacceptable, why changing it is worth our time, and what could be the result if we all did something new or different is the subject of hundreds of books and articles. It works. It’s based on decades of psychological research and application. Give it a try!