Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Remember: one man's ceiling Is another man's floor (Paul Simon)

The perspective of change over time is interesting - it varies according to individuals.

I was recently accused of 'bulldozing' through a change at school that involved the organisational culture generally and a move to vertical Home Room classes specifically.  

Interesting seeing this first flush of resistance from different viewpoints. The resistance, btw took a while. I was expecting it earlier but it took a term (roughly 10 weeks) to eventually...um...eventuate.

From my perspective, having started thinking about the potential for this change a year ago (check the blog posts), the time frame is about right. Allowing for my bias and impatience, I think a year to enact a change is okay. I'm basing this on the fact that I'd like to do more and do it quicker and others would take much longer and maybe not at all. In my experience a big change takes about a year to plan and execute.

From others' point of view it was 'bulldozing'. I'm unrepentant.

If we had waited the impetus could have waned with second guessing and more hand wringing possibly putting the change on permanent hold. That would have resulted in an opportunity missed from my pov.

If anything we didn't go far enough. The mix of horizontal and vertical systems at school is driving me batty. The two don't mix and the frustration it creates was both predictable and avoidable.

As I said to a colleague - if it was a bulldozer, it's only got to second gear so far.  

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