Transforming Schools: The Science of Strategic Change Management

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I would add that You'll never get the change that you want if you're not building the required supports and structure for that change to be successful. Change doesn't happen just because you want it to happen. Large scale change requires a lot of well thought out scaffolding for it to be successful.

You need to deeply understand the critical problems and ask the tough questions of the people In your organization around you, when you're trying to transform a culture and better retain your people, you can't afford to prioritize the wrong things you need to identify key priorities and then build both the capacity and the capability to drive forward.

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Heidi is currently the superintendent of Fenton Area Public Schools in Michigan and has been in that role for the last couple of years. so much. Prior to that, she's at a 20 year track record of successfully navigating various roles in the K through 12 space. She started out as an English lit teacher in a WOSO high school, and then rose through the ranks from there.

She's currently working on her Edd at central Michigan. So she's a full out nerd in that space. Hello, fellow nerd. Welcome to the show.

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[00:01:46] Dr. Jim: Transformation stories are pretty interesting because there's a lot of different ways to pull them off, but there seems to be some pretty distinct fundamentals that you need to keep in place in in order to have them be [00:02:00] successful. And I think this is one of those conversations where we get into the fundamentals of how you set yourself up for success.

But before we dive into that conversation. I think it's going to be important for you to share a little bit more detail beyond the four sentences that I mentioned about your background and experience and particularly the things that you feel helped establish the philosophical footprint or a foundation that you had that helped you lead effectively in this role.

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So it's your very traditional school setting. We would probably characterize our district as rural or suburban, rural a mesh between those two [00:03:00] kind of categories. And I think that the cool part of our district is the people we have just phenomenal people. And I think. When I was put into the role that I was previous to this role as the executive director of teaching and learning, we really had to set up the. people to be successful. And we had to have those kind of structures or scaffolding in place so that they could then take on more leadership roles and create more buy in and want to be in our district. So it, we have the perfect. District size to do something like this.

And because I am an organizational leadership type of nerd, I really look at all of the legacy things that you have to put in place and able to kind of institute change or to create an environment where people want to be. And so that's really what I was tasked to do about four or five years ago.

And that's I would say [: 00:04:00

[00:04:02] Dr. Jim: One of the things that I'm curious about is that when you step into a role like this and it happens to be The big chair, and it's it's potentially your first time in the big chair. You come in with a set of assumptions that you think are what the job involves.

When you look at you taking on this role as a first time superintendent, what were the things that stood out to you that were drastically different than what you had anticipated the role being and what it, what you expected it to look like?

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And that wasn't the case. You [00:05:00] still, no matter which position you're in, because of the responsibilities that you have to build that trust and you have to build that responsibility. You have a responsibility to build that trust, I should say. And I think that was one of the misnomers that I had.

They know me, they know what type of leader I am. They didn't know what type of leader I was when I was in the seat. So I think you had to build that kind of trust and you have to show people who you are more so than what you thought you needed to. being in the district for, like I said, a couple of years before that.

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[00:05:49] Heidie Ciesielski: I think the one thing that I can point back to as that kind of, that stepping stone to allowing me to be seen, who I am as a leader is just always letting those [00:06:00] people know that the people the. The students, the families, our staff our colleagues, they're the most important part of what we do every single day.

And so making sure that they were in a position either to see that, or they were in a position to take on more leadership so that they could then be a part of those decision makings, all of that. Was really intentional. And it's something that I really strive to do every single day. You can get caught up in the muck of this job.

It can get pretty mucky sometimes. But when you start to recenter yourself and focus on the people, that's really what will keep you in the position and keep you doing the position because it's a very hard position to navigate. And I think if you're doing it for the wrong reasons, if you're doing it for the.

people that you're doing it [: 00:07:00

[00:07:08] Dr. Jim: One of the other things that you mentioned was that your district was a little bit unique in that it's straddle the line between rural and suburban. And when you look at that sort of landscape, what are some of the unique challenges from a people strategy perspective that you had to factor in that may be a more Core suburban district or urban district wouldn't have to consider if you're leading that sort of district versus leading the type of district that you're in right now

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We are 45 minutes north of Ann Arbor, 20 minutes south of flint. So we do have commuters, we do have people who drive to Detroit or drive to Ann Arbor to work. But they live in our small little community. That has you know, grown and prospered. In the last few years, we've become quite a destination city to live in as well as a destination school district for school of choice.

So navigating all of that and then trying to push forward change, it's a unique position to walk a tightrope on because you want to. Enable people to make changes, but you also don't want to step on or over those traditions and you want to keep them to the forefront. So that people know you're not changing who we are.

We're just making us even better than what we were.

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And if you already recognize that people are commuting to some degree in or out of your district to get done what they need to get done, that creates an interesting scenario when you're trying to drive change because anything that's too drastic can lead to an exodus. When we think about what we open the show with, and this is the whole idea of driving change and putting the appropriate infrastructure in place so that you can actually navigate that change, where did you start in that change management exercise, knowing that you don't have a surplus of teachers that you can bring in if you have an exodus?

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And so in taking that role, we really were very deliberate about increasing capacity with our teachers and increasing. The leadership capacity. So we, previous to that department being created, we really didn't have a lot of leadership roles when it came to teacher leadership. And we knew that was something we had to put in place if we wanted to do any type of organizational change or push student achievement to a place that it had never been.

We knew we had to empower our teachers. And being able to do that, we were able to increase our capacity by double. So we doubled the amount of teacher leaders that we had in that department at that time. And I think that was a key step because a lot of teachers sometimes will push back against increased responsibility or leadership responsibility because they're just.

So [: 00:11:00

And so leveraging that buy in continues to help us in the area of retaining good teachers and attracting good teachers. I think the minute you see our organizational chart and that we have so many teacher leaders that are help guiding their colleagues. And if you look at the studies, they'll show that it's not just about money that drives people to, to maintain or retain people.

elping us create where we're [: 00:12:00

[00:12:01] Dr. Jim: So I like I like the context that you added where you mentioned that, when you look at the research on why people stay money is obviously a factor, but when you look at the broader picture relationship with immediate managers plays a strong role. And so does growth opportunities within an organization that plays a strong role, too, and I'll try not to soapbox too much because this is actually my area of nerdom when it comes to talent retention, but I want to wind this back a little bit when you were talking about increasing leadership capacity at the teacher level. And before we get into the details of what that actually means, I think I'd like to take some time to have you define what leadership look like in the context of your school district, because everybody can define it any number of ways. So I want to get a little bit more specific on what leadership looks like it means within your district.

So tell us a little bit about what that looked like.

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An assistant principal or a principal and do the admin track. There wasn't really a lot in between. There was a few department heads, but they were just when you think about it in the terms of they would, collect inventory of books. They would look at some data. They weren't really change agents.

n size because we put all of [: 00:14:00

The work of running a school district is very. Complex and there's a lot to it. And so when you empower people or teachers to be team leaders, and that's essentially what that Department of Teaching and Learning does, it allows the administrators to walk alongside them and to help Move those change agents again.

A lot of the building administrators have the final say On things when it comes to the black and white of that type of you know ruling and they're in charge of their own buildings, but They are dependent on those teacher leaders because they help move that change So if we wanted, a strategic plan initiative to go through It's those people.

Those are the boots on the ground. That's the people who help us commit to that change and do those strategic plan goals with fidelity.

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Where this can appear as a added workload onto an already stretched teacher's plate. How did you thread that needle and manage that process so that everybody is feeling like, oh, this is a productive use or initiative or direction that we're taking?

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So that was like the best part ever. And I think that people genuinely. If you show that you're going to try to pay them or try to compensate them as much as possible you will. However, I also think having good relationships with your union leadership is key. [00:16:00] I think you have to sit down and talk with them and say, listen, we have this strategic plan initiative that we have to get get through and here's.

Here's how we think we're going to do it and show how we're empowering their membership in some of those decision making that really has helped tremendously, having those relationships with the executive leadership of the union has really, truly.

Helped our strategic plan initiatives because they're seeing the buy in they're seeing that their members are a part of the decision making that their members are a part of the path that we're taking to get those goals. And we have an excellent executive leadership in the union. I couldn't, we couldn't do what we do without them.

And they are, they're phenomenal.

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So how did you tackle those conversations?

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They're more apt to be happy in their current position. So those are the details and the why that you build and show. Hey, this is why we want you to be a part of it. is because it's good for everybody. And the why of that starts out with what's good for it as an individual, but then you start to see and you build what's good for the organization because it's good for you as an individual.

n your organization. You can [: 00:18:00

[00:18:19] Dr. Jim: So when you're looking at that conversation that's happening, there's an element of the discussion that probably falls into, okay how are you as the district leadership going to put your money where your mouth is? Beyond just like delegating stuff down to our teachers. So you have a clear plate what was your plan in terms of the development side of that leadership?

The other side of that conversation that I'm wondering about is that You're explaining the why And if I'm on the other side of the table, okay, that makes sense. What's the district going to do in terms of investment into the membership that gets them upscaled?

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And to do that, we have to give people we have to have succession planning in place. We have toe look at a department. Let's say it's even just a department head. And we have to say, okay, if So and so wins the lottery and moves to Hawaii, who is going to take over for them? And so then building those legacy kind of secessions plans in place has helped us have those conversations with union leadership about, okay, so who do we have within our ranks that could have the potential or maybe wants the potential?

organizational structure and [: 00:20:00

As far as administration goes, what can we do? We not the year that I became superintendent instituted a scholarship a year for somebody to go get their admin degree. And we give one scholarship every single year for somebody who thinks they may want to move from the teacher ranks into the administrative ranks.

ges that you make to show an [: 00:21:00

[00:21:04] Dr. Jim: So I really liked the the scholarship idea. So that's something that That's easily visible. I think one of the other things that I'm thinking about is you have an entire district of educators that have all sorts of different development potential needs. And you're thinking as a district leader from a succession planning perspective, okay I need to account for somebody winning the lottery or whatever.

How did you get line of sight into the entire district's makeup? And what those individualized development areas would be for all of the people across the district and especially at the educator level.

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We did a whole bunch of curriculum pilots that we did when it came to purchasing resources. I was able to work with teachers a lot. And the minute you start to work with teachers, Or the minute you get into classrooms to see any type of resource that you're purchasing, or hey, everybody's coming over to somebody's classroom when you have these lab classrooms and you're able to get in as the director you get to see the potential of the people that you are leading.

And that is huge. And I know it's not always easy for every superintendent or every, CEO to get in and see all of the workings of their organizations. But It's truly the best way because you start to see, Oh, my gosh, they have a tremendous amount of potential. We need to tap into that. Or, we see somebody who needs a spark.

nge what they're teaching or [: 00:23:00

Just because I make it a point to know them. I make it a point to know what position we're hiring them for. Try to see them in their element and try to see them doing the job that we're asking them to do. The other thing, and I know it's cliche, but I am, I never asked somebody to do something.

I'm not willing to do myself. And I think that's huge. That's huge for building buy in a school district or in an organization because then they know you're invested and that you care about what they do on a daily basis. I

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Because if you're already talking about an educator, that's got way too many things on their task list and not enough time to do it. And then you're adding. This sort of leadership development component to it. How did you create space for that to happen?

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If there's a way that we can figure out how to work smarter instead of harder because they're already working so hard every single day that they appeal to that. So I think [00:25:00] showing them how They can work smarter and not harder is definitely appealing for educators because they work very hard.

And I think that helped when we're starting to talk about leadership and in this collaborative type of way they were able to see, okay, This might actually help all of my colleagues, not just me. It might help my colleagues not work as hard because we are putting these legacy systems in place, or we're utilizing the strategic plan to focus our efforts on a few goals as opposed to 90, right?

So I think that was the other thing. It, you have to also simplify where you can and make it black and white where you can for people because then it's much clearer and easier to see.

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[00:25:54] Heidie Ciesielski: Yeah, a strategic plan that they can read a strategic plan that they can understand [00:26:00] what the goals are. A strategic plan where there are four focus areas as opposed to 15 or 20. Some key tenements that you want, it's all about the people. We, some of the things that I did in our back to school kickoff meetings is I really celebrated who we are as people.

One of the things that I did. As a superintendent is, we re instituted, we used to do this probably 20 years ago before me, they did service awards and they did, Hey, you've been in the district for five years, you're going to get recognized, or you've been in the district 10 years, 15 years, those little things that you do.

eadership roles because they [: 00:27:00

[00:27:07] Dr. Jim: So when you look at all of these things that you are working on implementing, what was the biggest obstacle that you ran up against and how did you get over it?

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I would say that's not the case in education these days. It's the lack of people. So you have to work with what you have and then build the capacity and build the understanding for the need and the want to have more. And. We're able to do that. We're in a really good financial standing right now.

se the capacity as well. And [: 00:28:00

[00:28:20] Dr. Jim: Great stuff, Heidi. I I think This conversation is really useful because we don't really get into the foundation setting. Everybody wants to talk about what's the actual chains that you implemented? But very few people like to talk about systems or processes. Now, before we get into, the framework that other leaders need to think about when they're trying to execute this, you've Gotten this off the ground.

What's been the impact in the district when it comes to issues of educator, morale, educator, retention, building leadership, bend strength. Tell us a little bit about what that looks like.

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They know they're empowered to help make change. They know that ultimately, sometimes they're not going to agree with every decision that you make, but they're going to understand why you're making those decisions. And I think that's very important because you have key people in those leadership positions that will help.

Explain the why of it. The other thing that I would say is, having an organization where they know who you are is very important. And I think that transcends whether you are in a school district or whether you're in a fortune 500 company, I think you really, truly want people to know who you are.

And I think I would [: 00:30:00

[00:30:09] Dr. Jim: Really good stuff, Heidi. I appreciate the things that you've put into place to set yourself up for success, and this is actually been in place for a little while. So what have you seen from an impact perspective on? Your team morale your ability to retain educators building, bench strength amongst your leadership candidates Tell us a little bit about what changes you've observed since this initiative was launched

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We are a part of that kind of collective family. And so we've seen that take shape. We've seen this be a destination district for educators as far as wanting to teach here because they see we, we do a bang up job of promoting all of our people. If they're doing something fantastic, you can bet it's going to be on social media.

And so I think. That has helped pull educators in. The other thing is it's helped really retain our enrollment. For the last, everybody in Michigan has had declining enrollment basically because COVID put a stall on birth rates that we hadn't seen in years. And so I think.

place to show our investment [: 00:32:00

The passing of the bond this last November, it's the largest bond that the school district has ever seen. That is a testament to people believing in what you want to do with those bond dollars for kids. So I think that's a huge success. I

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What are the key things that you would mention to that new leader who wants to do something similar to what you did? What are the key principles they need to have in mind?

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And you can't do it on your own. Just like a CEO cannot run a company. There's, there's lots of people who support that superintendent or that CEO and you have to rely on those people and then celebrate them when they're doing a bang up job, you have to show that's the case.

To not only their peers, but to the community as well. I think the other thing is having a clear organizational structure that you want in place that allows you to get your strategic plan goals or to get your district goals accomplished. If your organizational chart is willy nilly and people don't necessarily know who's in charge of what, that, that doesn't necessarily help your cause.

on your own and you have to [: 00:34:00

[00:34:25] Dr. Jim: Great stuff, Heidi. If people want to continue the conversation, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

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And again, I have a fantastic executive assistant. She'll track me down to one way or another, but I would be happy to share. I am a collaborative organizational [00:35:00] leadership nerd by nature. So if people want to talk about how that's relative to what they want to do, I would be more than happy to help anybody in the profession or anybody outside of the profession.

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Comes with how effectively you communicate a couple of key principles. One, you need to be really effective in terms of communicating what's in it. For them, if you're not focused on how this particular change will benefit. One of the stakeholders associated with that change, you're going to have trouble getting it launched.

mmunicating what's in it for [: 00:36:00

And that's what I really like about what you describe because it wasn't just a talking exercise. There were resources that were deployed through either grants or scholarships. That are designed to help teachers and other people in the district get to the next level, which then creates bandwidth and depth across the district.

us a review on your favorite [: 00:37:00