Getting in front of the change

Last week Madeleine Heide, our Assistant Superintedent, talked to us about the importance of the right mindset.  In small groups we discussed what sort of mindset was needed at ASB to bring about the goals identified in the strategic plan.  Our group identified the following:  open, courageous, a culture of being early adopters, a positive attitude towards failure, the importance of sharing our learning with others.  Other attributes included being single minded and purposeful - always keeping our eyes on the vision.

The reason ASB is changing so rapidly is because the world is changing and we just cannot ignore this.  Many schools are not changing, and Madeleine challenged us to consider why not.  She suggested such schools are "exhausted from the mundane", or perhaps they already think they are at the top.  This school is different.  With our values and strategic objectives we cannot afford to sit back and do nothing - we have to change, not just tweek things.  We have to go below the surface, we have to go beyond simply "getting by", we have to get in front of the change. Other schools may refuse to change, some may wait for the change to happen, they take a wait and see attitude and copy what the successful schools are doing.  The decision of ASB was not simply to participate in the change as it happens,but  to lead the change.

Madeleine showed the above graphic and explained there are two possible ways to change.  If we are a blue triangle then we could choose to simply become a bigger blue triangle.  This is what most schools are doing.  Or we could decide to transform ourselves into something entirely different.  This is what ASB is doing.  How blessed I feel to be a part of this transformation.